A friend recently said that science fiction is just a story set in space.
That got me to thinking. Sci-fi should be more than just a story set in
space. Good sci-fi should ask questions and explore issues. By doing so it can
help us prepare for the future. Many ideas that were first explored in science
fiction become realities.
Some of the questions sci-fi authors and film makers have explored are: What happens if there is a world war and civilization is wiped out? (Apocalypse books) What happens if aliens attack earth? (Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card or Star ship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein) What will our first contact with other intelligent being be like? (ET)What if we use robots to do much of our work and they start acting strange? (HAL in Space Odyssey) What if we develop AIs that look and act like humans. Should AIs have the same rights as humans? Do we have the right to develop AIs as sex slaves? (Ex Machina) What if we could time travel? How would that change our present-day events if we went back and changed a past event? (The Outlander series) What if we can travel to other planets with space jumps. (Star Wars and Star Trek)
In my Star Rider series I explore many topics. Some of the questions I
explore include: How would you fight an evil ancient sorcerer that has declared
himself a god and is trying to take over the galaxy? What if there is an
interplanetary war over desirable planets with air, water, animals and plants
that can support life? Should we protect planets that have less advanced
intelligent beings from invasion? What is it like to dogfight in space knowing
you can’t eject out of the ship because you’d die in space? What would it be
like to be from a technologically advanced planet and find yourself in a
primitive planet cut off from any way to contact your starship? What kind of
plants and animals would there be? What would the landscape look like? What
would it be like to live in a dome city where you can’t go outside without a
spacesuit on? What would it be like to live on a spaceship and never be
outside? What will people in the future wear? What might other intelligent life
forms look like? What would it be like to use androids that look like us? How
would you travel faster than the speed of light? How would you contact someone
on another planet?
Next time you read a science fiction book think about the questions being explored and how this genre has enriched the world.
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