ommadawn.dk

Goodbye to one blog, hello to another blog

Mon, 12 Jun 2017 00:00:00 +0200

Tags: Me, Science fiction

Quite quick: In the future I will blog on https://stuff.ommadawn.dk/.

Science fiction and predictions, II

Sat, 30 Apr 2016 00:00:00 +0200

Tags: Quotes, Science fiction

"Science Fiction: Its Nature, Faults and Virtues", Robert A. Heinlein

Are the speculations of science fiction prophecy? No.

On the other hand, science fiction is often prophetic. There was once a race track tout who touted every horse in each race, each horse to a different sucker. Inevitably he had a winner in every race�he had extrapolated every possibility. Science fiction writers have "prophesied" (if you will excuse a deliberate misuse of the word) so many things and so many possible futures that some of them must have come true, with sometimes rather startling accuracy. Having bet on all the horses we can't lose. But much has been made of the "successful prophecies" of science fiction�the electric light, the telephone, the airplane, the submarine, the periscope, tanks, flamethrowers, A-bombs, television, the automobile, guided missiles, robot aircraft, totalitarian government, radar�the list is endless.

The fact is that most so-called "successful prophecies" are made by writers who follow the current scientific reports and indulge in rather obvious extrapolation of already known fact.

"Sci-fi special: Stephen Baxter", Stephen Baxter

It�s true that many of the old dreams of science fiction have been fulfilled, or bypassed. And it does feel as if we�re living through a time of accelerating change. But science fiction has � rarely � been about the prediction of a definite future, more about the anxieties and dreams of the present in which it is written.

Italics added by me. This is part of a series, part 1 is from 2015. If you are aware of any other interesting quotes on this topic, say from Verne, Wells... Please let me know.

Science fiction and predictions

Fri, 29 Apr 2016 00:00:00 +0200

Tags: Quotes, Science fiction

"How America�s Leading Science Fiction Authors Are Shaping Your Future", Eileen Gunn

But the task of science fiction is not to predict the future. Rather, it contemplates possible futures. Writers may find the future appealing precisely because it can�t be known, a black box where �anything at all can be said to happen without fear of contradiction from a native,� says the renowned novelist and poet Ursula K. Le Guin. �The future is a safe, sterile laboratory for trying out ideas in,� she tells Smithsonian, �a means of thinking about reality, a method.�

"Predicting the Present", Diane Coutu

Science fiction author Frederik Pohl said that sci-fi writers don�t predict the automobile�they predict the traffic jam.

That�s a really interesting position for him to take, because I don�t think that science fiction writers predict the future. Science fiction has always been about the present, even when it�s dressed in futuristic trappings. We write stories that try to address the effect of technology on society and vice versa. Mary Shelley, the author of Frankenstein, was not predicting that in the future we would all build men out of corpses and animate them with lightning. Her point was that we might become technology�s servants rather than its masters. She wasn�t really being predictive. She was worrying about the present.

"Introduction" (not sure to what), Ursula K. Le Guin

Science fiction is not predictive; it is descriptive.

Predictions are uttered by prophets (free of charge); by clairvoyants (who usually charge a fee, and are therefore more honored in their day than prophets); and by futurologists (salaried). Prediction is the business of prophets, clairvoyants, and futurologists. It is not the business of novelists. A novelist's business is lying.

"Science Fiction Predictions: Truth or Misconception? (Part 1)", John DeNardo

Asimov was a scientist and a writer, and even though his scientific background informed his fiction, making accurate predictions in science-fiction stories is not what sci-fi is about. In fact, it's a common misconception that science fiction attempts to predict the future. It's an easy assumption to make; science is a relatively strict discipline, after all, and anything associated with it must therefore be rooted in facts and evidence. Well, yes, that's true, but just because science fiction is a literature that leverages science doesn't mean it has to ignore the rules and demands of fiction, nor the whims of the person writing it. The simple truth is that predicting the future is not what science-fiction writers set out to do.

A writer's main focus is on writing a story. Stories are set in the future because it's a great way to remove readers from the familiarity and comfort of "now" and give them the unique perspective of someone looking in from the outside. Literature even has a fancy name for this: cognitive estrangement. It forces you to question what you are seeing in a story even though, more than likely, it is merely a reflection not of the future, but of today. Setting the story in the future is a convenient and illustrative way of making you, the reader, an outside observer. In other words, science fiction forces us to look at ourselves through the eyes of others.

If you are a writer who is setting your story in the future, then one of your jobs has to be making that future noticeably different than the present day. The degree to which you make that future different will obviously vary on how far into the future the story is set. A book set 25 years from now may feature a world that still looks recognizable, but one set a million years from now may look more foreign. The writer needs to come up with story elements to portray that future, be they cool gadgets or creatures, societal norms or unheard-of technologies. All of them are discrete parts that combine together to depict "another world"�something for which science fiction is known.

The difference between predicting the future and a writer including these elements in their stories is subtle. When predicting the future, the focus is on accuracy. Futurists can use historical trends and current situations to extrapolate where technology is heading. They look at current and emerging technologies to support their predictions and make a reasonable projection as to where that technology is headed. Writers can use extrapolation as well, but the focus is not so much on accurately predicting the future as it is on making up a future that serves the story, which is their primary focus. Saying science-fiction writers are predictors of the future is thus a bit of a misnomer. A better way of looking at this is that a futurist predicts the future but a science fiction writer invents it.

Italics added by me. If you are aware of any other interesting quotes on this topic, say from Verne, Wells... Please let me know.

Niels Klim Award presented

Sun, 09 Jun 2013 00:00:00 +0200

Tags: Danish, Science fiction

Saturday 8 June the winners of this year's Niels Klim Award were announced, and the (physical) prizes were given out in a succesful ceremony during the annual Danish science fiction convention, Dancon.

The winners are:

Novella:

"M�nebase R�dh�tte" ("Moonbase Little Red Riding Hood"), Lars Ahn Pedersen, M�nebase R�dh�tte

Novelette:

"Fredag formiddag" ("Friday Morning"), Jesper Rug�rd Jensen, Fremmed stjerne (Alien Star)

Novelle:

"Jeg husker alt" ("I Remember Everything"), Richard Ipsen, Fremmed stjerne

The prize is given out annually after nomination and voting among Danish science fiction readers. This was the second time the prize was given out. Last year the prize was split between Danes and foreigners (Alastair Reynolds won in the category Novella); this year all 3 winners are Danes.

The 3 categories together cover shorter science fiction texts (less than 40,000 words) published in Danish for the first time the previous year.

The practical circumstances are mostly handled by Lise Andreasen (member of Science Fiction Cirklen among other qualifications), and her blog is the primary information source.

Lars Ahn Pedersen
Large format

Jesper Rug�rd Jensen
Large format

Carl-Eddy Skovgaard accepted the award on behalf of Richard Ipsen; Carl-Eddy was editor for Fremmed stjerne.

All 3 winners
Large format

Enterprise, Season 4

Sun, 23 Sep 2012 00:00:00 +0200

Tags: Science fiction, Star Trek

Number / Name	Why I liked it
077 / 4:1 Storm front I	If our crew had been in WW2. USA invaded. Touching to see Earth is still there.
078 / 4:2 Storm Front II	The fake news reel: well done! Enterprise over New York among tiny planes.
079 / 4:3 Home	The victory speech. Vacation. Romance. Visiting her parents! Having a very polite family fight. And the ex shows up. Arranged marriage. Xenophobia. War changes people. Sacrifice. Fascinating.
080 / 4:4 Borderland	A family / an actor, we've seen before. Genetic engineering. Super humans. A father and his children. Slavery.
081 / 4:5 Cold station 12	Instinct and intellect out of sync. A pacifist father and his violent children. Megalomania.
082 / 4:6 The augments	Leadership issues.
083 / 4:7 The Forge	Vitality can be viewed as dangerous. Deaths. Terrorism. Or a frame up? Hm. Iraq? How do you interpret correctly a text, that's thousands of years old? Hm. The Bible? Pilgrimage. In a baseball cap ;-) Telepathy.
084 / 4:8 Awakening	Rejuvenating a society, returning to the intended path. Pacifism. Preemptive strike. WMD. Wow! Imagine being able to talk to Jesus about modern day Christianity. Possession. Wire taps. A mother dies.
085 / 4:9 Kir Shara	A new commanding officer. Interrogations, torture. Divorce. An original version of ancient texts.
086 / 4:10 Daedalus	Meeting an idol. And the possibility of a scientific breakthrough. Grief? Isolation. Guilt. Over the lost, but not yet dead. Taking a chance. A new identity. And a broken relationship.
087 / 4:11 Observer effect	Observing without interfering. Experimenting (versus exploring). Testing intelligence. Preparing for a first contact between species. Is it okay not to interfere/help? Possession. Energy beings. Old "friends". Compassion. Empathy.
088 / 4:12 Babel one	Total honesty. Trying to trust a former enemy. Stirring up trouble, by impersonating other species. The ultimate in remote control.
089 / 4:13 United	Cooperation. A twisted kind of diplomacy.
090 / 4:14 The Aenar	Telepathy. Unlimited expansion. We are all soldiers. A sub-species. Courage. A transfer, for personal reasons.
091 / 4:15 Affliction	Coercion. Means and ends. A new job. Telepathy? Spying? Lying. Conflicting duties. A new approach to an old problem. One crew member abducted, another transferred, a third imprisoned! A new ship. A new beginning. Interesting.
092 / 4:16 Divergence	Speed. Guinea pigs.
093 / 4:17 Bound	Dancing. Physical attraction. Slavery. A Spock-like final comment.
094 / 4:18 In a mirror, darkly, part 1	Twists on terribly familiar scenes. And on the credits. If our crew were more aggressive. Racist. Parallel universe. Time travel. Telepathy. And the kitchen sink. Good fun.
095 / 4:19 In a mirror, darkly, part 2	A fight for equality.
096 / 4:20 Demons	Suddenly parents. A human/alien hybrid. Xenophobia. Reminiscents of terrorists. Communists. Purists. Ex girlfriend.
097 / 4:21 Terra Prime	Life is change. Mourning parents. Refreshing to see the father in tears. And touching. Diplomacy.
098 / 4:22 These are the voyages	A cross between 2 series. An alliance. A dead crewman. A sacrifice. Mourning. The final speech, in 3 parts - had me in tears.

Quality online SF, 33rd and final

Fri, 07 Sep 2012 00:00:00 +0200