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Reading science fiction for a more critical view of our society?
15 minutes of your time to think about the next 100 years of humanity.
I am currently working on a research project where I try to prove that reading science fiction can help adolescents to develop a more critical regard of our society. What do you think?
How can science fiction serve as an educational tool for adolescents? Is it possible to analyze the dreams and fears of society with science fiction narrations? Can we encourage young people (13-16) to develop a more critical view of society by explaining society's problems in science fiction to them?
If you want to help me answer this question, I would like to invite you to fill out my questionary: http://bit.ly/sfqu2011 Please don’t hesitate to send me a message or to reply with your (critical) thoughts. If you want to find out more about my current research, here’s a brief explanation on my website: http://sinaspace.net/?p=368
Thank you very much!
PS: I just recognized a few typos and the question about the profession is listed twice. I am sorry about that. However, I don't dare to edit the form, since Google already overwrote my whole survey once.
Closing Statement from Simone Lackerbauer
First of all, I would like to thank everyone for participating in my questionary. It has now been removed and I am currently working on analyzing the results. In total, 123 people took the survey and most of them probably came from the TED website, as it can be seen in the stats here: http://bit.ly/pqsf110603-2
The discussion here has been an amazing source of inspiration and it will also be a part of my analysis -- including the respective references of course, I do not intend to steal anyone's ideas :)
I will be trying to have my thesis published after it has been reviewed by my instructor (via GRIN.com), but if they deny it, I will publish it on my website, sinaspace.net -- it might just take a while, because usually, they need a few weeks to review what people upload there. The detailed results of the questionary will also be posted there.
Nevertheless, I would like to share the table of contents (*.PDF) with you -- in French, that is: http://bit.ly/pqsf110603
I'd be happy to continue the discussion, so if you want to add something, don't hesitate and send me a message via TED. Again, thank you very much for your participation -- be assured I will launch the next discussion with the next nasty questionary in October.
Oh, and one thing about the questionary: as you can see in my plan, I am discussing the relationship between the human being and the machine. I just wanted to say that the questionary is a paradox and was meant to be constructed the way you saw it (except for the errors I mentioned in my initial post, of course). What does that mean? It means that I meant to limit the way you can answer to *important* questions about values, fears or preferences -- with those scales that did not really make it possible to express a nuanced opinion -- to show how we act and judge or are classified by the rules of the code, as a source for a debate (without judging it). So everyone who criticized the questionary: thank you -- you were absolutely right.
Simone
Dan Grahn
By the way, that is an interesting research topic. I am currently researching using games as an immediate feedback tool to teach kids programming. Very similar ;)
Tariq West
Alexandre Robichaud
Michael White
Many of the classic SF novels could have easily taken place in another genre such as fantasy with the same message, but perhaps would not have been taken as seriously. The 'science' element of SF lends credibility to the possibility of the imagined world that is portrayed.
Ib Margido Grønmo
Well, entertainment is a virtual reality. And the great thing about a virtual reality is that it can be explored and experienced without any consequences. Keep in mind, I use the word "entertainment" in the sense that it actually produces intellectual or intra/extra - personal growth. Television these days is 95% hogwash, science fiction however, has great potential in this regard. What I mean by " without consequence", is that the situations and/or terrifying conclusions do not happen in reality.
It might be hard for a closed mind to experience the true beauty of a virtual reality, because one is so entangled in the society/world one lives in. But if the mind is open to experiencing it, there's a wealth of knowledge, opportunity for self-reflection and thought in this art.
Have you by any chance, done some research on science fiction in games or games in general? Now that's a platform for creative growth! Because in a game you not only observe as you do in other forms of entertainment, but you take active part in it, you make decisions that affects the space you inhabit.
I personally would love to see some sci-fi masters(or great educators for that matter) collaborate with game developers, to create interesting scenarios for students in the "classroom", if such a room is truly needed.
And by the way, LEGOS! We need more legos, not barbies or action-men. Any thoughts on this? =)
Sarthak Pranit 500+
James Walker 30+
Perhaps thinking more of J G Ballard's books, maybe like Kingdom Come, a realistic vision of disutopia is an interesting warning to adolescents. It is truly the case that Fiction can help young people cast a 'critical" eye over society.
That said, I am most interested actually in Simone's choice of words in framing the question - especially the words "our" and "society".
I'm not much of a believer in the idea of Society, it seems to imply that we don't have much choice but to be part of "Society", which is ironic giving the general meaning of a society being something that you choose the join (eg: The Science Fiction Appreciation Society). An acceptance of "Society" is not how I'd choose to live my live, as opposed to freely contracting to interact with friends, colleague etc on mutually agreeable terms, and not having to bother about strangers etc. So, it seems relevant that we're talking about a very artificial construct (Society) in this question. Science fiction can help us understand "Society" possibly because Society itself is a fake idea, a make up concept, a Fiction.
Then, there is the use of the word "our". Hmmm, does this mean there another society that is not "ours"? The idea of creating boundaries, my society, your society, my commonwealth, your commonwealth, is all a bit strange... socialist and nationalist? "Our Society" implies a kinship, that you want to share and redistribute wealth, love or whatever, amongst this defined group, and NOT share it with another. I don't care for these ideas of nationalism, or fake loyalty to a fake community, be it town or football club or whatever.
So, again, I do think Science Fiction can help.... there are many great Fiction examples of nationalism and socialism and fake loyalty to bogus icons that lead us down the wrong road.
In summary, a great question, with some really interesting nuances, and the answer is YES!
Simone Lackerbauer 100+
1) socialité - our affiliation with a nation, an ethnic background, a cultural heritage. We do not choose it, it is rarely actively addressed (e.g. when you go to war for your country) and although there are parts about it that change (e.g. moving to another country), it has a certain stability.
2) sodalité - our affiliation with groups, such as enterprises and our network of colleagues, our family (we can or cannot be friends with our colleagues or cousins, but not being friends with them won't make them go away), our classmates.
3) sociabilité - our affiliation with friends, people we are close to. This has to be reciprocal, both partners have to agree on the social link, even though it may be weak or earmarked.
We are at the same time in multiple spheres of all those three concepts.
I think it was Claude Romano comes up with two other notions I find highly inspiring when you talk about the self: identité for the part that is stable, that stays (e.g. your skin color, the values your parents taught you) and ipséité for the part that is fragile and under continuous recreation. Your ipséité will for example change when a hurricane destroys your home. When your sister gets married. When you get a new job.
So why am I explaining all this here? Because I wanted to use the words in a provocative way. There is no society -- except for the virtual...
Simone Lackerbauer 100+
And I wonder when someone will start talking about how the questionnaire predetermines the answers due the lack of really writing down one's own opinion... A little cybernetic, after all :)
cormac murphy
"The intention here is not one of retrenchment or negative criticism, but of broadening our concept of reason and its application. While we rejoice in the new possibilities open to humanity, we also see the dangers arising from these possibilities and we must ask ourselves how we can overcome them.
We will succeed in doing so only if reason and faith come together in a new way, if we overcome the self-imposed limitation of reason to the empirically verifiable, and if we once more disclose its vast horizons. In this sense theology rightly belongs in the university and within the wide-ranging dialogue of sciences, not merely as a historical discipline and one of the human sciences, but precisely as theology, as inquiry into the rationality of faith."
The overcoming of the self-imposed limitation of reason to the empirically verifiable is exactly what good science fiction attempts to do.
Simone Lackerbauer 100+
Yes, the extrapolation from our current society to think about possible futures without being within the bourdaries of what is realistic is a very important argument. Benedict's statement is surprisingly open-minded and indeed something we need to analyze very carefully and put it into the right context. Thank you for bringing it up.
Paul van Zoggel
So I believe if we want them to be critical thinkers, it needs to be done from the age of 4, slowly building up.
From 0-4 : a child does everything with passion, elswise he/she refuses (with screaming force).
From 4-8 : this is systematically kicked out, 'you shall do what we grownups think is good for you'. What is good for them should include balancing selfesteem and compassion. There is 'Me' and 'Us'. We teach them on hygiene of the surface of our body and brushing teeth. We should also teach them hygiene of healthy thinking and healthy eating. In an implicit (cartoony/funny) way, as they are only small.
From 8-13 : This is the age their eyes really open for the world around them, before it was tribal. So what we did implicit before, can become explicit. They can be confronted with real world issues, their brain is ready to see both sides of people in it; as a person with survival instinct and as a compassionate community. This can be guided by science fiction narrative to create a path through details and intersections in scientific fields.
From 13-16 : they have the right luggage and with the right science fiction incentives, they can feel empowered to start rebalancing society as we got it.
Simone Lackerbauer 100+
Paul van Zoggel
Honestly, I do not read much scientific research other than neuro science, as the schools should already have been a better place if pedagogical science would have solved the issues.
So, yes! for SF in schools! Many reasons.
Richard Sanders
Besides that I strongly believe that technological and scientific development is given direction in a large part by prominent science fiction writers like Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, etc.
Unfortunately, science fiction has gotten a bad reputation because purely fictional works without scientific bases are called science fiction as soon as a mutated monster, alien or space ship appears in the story.
To much of such pulp has acted as "the boy who cried wolf."
If we look at the real science fiction genre, so many fiction has become reality in one form or another that in ancient times, science fiction writers would have been deemed prophets.
This fact however has become near invisible by the truckloads of cheap fiction without scientific bases that has been dumped over it.
Personally I blame Hollywood and it's uninspired screenwriters that still seem able to produce such filth by the truckload. Of course, if no one would watch this stuff... It's the curse of the entertainment industry to produce anything and everything a large audience will swallow.
I do think speculation about future development of science and technology as well as society and politics should be an integral part of education from as early an age as possible.
I think we would be astounded by the accuracy and directions of speculation young children will pose.
I believe it would be a strong addition to our creative thinking as a species. After all, no adult can ever match a child's innate ability to imagine. Why not leverage that resource for the betterment of mankind.
Paul van Zoggel
As you say you are a 36yo fan, which writers/books/comics should we hand out at primary and secondary schools?
Richard Sanders
If you want to go contemporary, try some other media then books.
I've seen some interesting kid shows on TV too.
I think the worst thing we can do (and it is still done today) is teaching kids out-dated and superseded science. Why do kids still learn Newton if all the world has accepted Einstein or maybe quantum or string theory even.
We teach top down. We start with that which they can see and feel and touch, and then zoom in to show what's underneath.
Why? The sense of wonder is in that which they can't see, feel or touch. The abstract is where the sense of magic is.
Start at the bottom. Start at the quark, the string or the neutrino. Start at the science fiction. Make that a magical world for them and then zoom out to relate that magic to the real.
Why does teaching still primarily aim at transferring information instead of promoting curiosity and interest. Has communication sciences still not taught us that the goal is leading, not the message.
We want our kids to become curious and inquisitive.
So teach them that instead of bludgeoning them into apathy with facts.
When I look back at school, the only time I was really enjoying the process of learning, was when I started extra curricular discussions about Einstein's relativity theories and quantum theory two or three years before the subject was to be taught. Einstein made me understand Newton instead of visa versa. When I was taught the newton laws, I knew, I felt, they where too simple too flat to be the truth.
We underestimate our kids by thinking they can not see that what we teach is only part of the truth.
We waste their metal abilities if we don't show them the full picture from the start.
I think our educational systems are limited by a need for measurable results each year.
But I'm no educator so.
Simone Lackerbauer 100+
But reversing the top-down approach is a very interesting concept I would also favor. I am a little younger, so when I look back at school, I really hated math, physics, chemistry, but I still got curious about the things I didn't understand, because it annoyed me I couldn't get them straight in my head. Science fiction sometimes really helped me to think more abstract (I had a great series of books about Einstein's theories involving a girl that was sent to space and experienced almost getting sucked up by a black hole...) and to not just see science as a construct of abstract facts, but to get a more "meta" point of view. All in all, I liked going to school, even though it meant learning things I wouldn't ever need again. School made me curious. So even though the educational system -- whether in the US or in Europe -- needs a big fat overhaul, I don't think it's all black and white. It also depends on the children themselves -- and especially during puberty, they will always have a hard time accepting a teacher's authority, no matter how good the educational model is.
Ken brown 30+
a great astronomer Margaret burbidge once said "there's more to the universe than we think" Cosmology quest pt 1.
I'm all for sci-fi creativity,if you teach the next generation a possible wrong it will take a generation to fix it.
i love julian may,what a brilliant author
Richard Sanders
You are both right of course. We can't stop teaching kids all points of view and we should be carefull not to sell theory as fact.
My point;
Let's not teach kids to accept things like Newton as "Law" as "Fact" when current science has shown it to be incomplete or even partly wrong. Einstein's theories are still theories. But Netwon's laws have been proven to be nothing more either. Yet we still teach the "Laws" of physics.
I say, let's be honest and explain to our kids that we have theories and ideas but no complete proven construct.
As Ken says, It takes a generation to fix teachings of a wrong. Perhaps even more.
We have been taught facts, truths that turn out to be only a part of the story. Because of those absolutes, our generations have been obstructed in thinking creatively of other truths and theories.
I think this limits the progress of science because we have to unlearn so much.
Let's teach our kids ideas instead and help them create their own new ideas as well. Let's not teach too much fact. After all near every fact can one day be dis-proven, until we have proven how all of the universe works.
Paul van Zoggel
the funny thing is not everybody learns in the same way, and some are lucky they have great teachers and 'get' the educational methods to become curious.
A lot of kids, every year more, simply don't get it. It's alarming (am in the numbers of Netherlands). Ken Robinson makes a great point on 'industrial education' we should get rid off. SF is a great deal off the solution, though one step closer to Star Trek as computers can do the math whether an SF is plausible.
My TED wish;
There should be written a book 2084
And a SF book/comic on global empathy how it can work with 'do more with less'
Simone Lackerbauer 100+
I would also recommend Verne, Asimov, Clarke. I would even recommend Stanislaw Lem's Cyberiade, because there are a lot of funny short stories about two robots trying to build perfect machines. A little slapstick sometimes, but very thoughtful.
Besides, I would always recommend to read science fiction written by the kids themselves. TeenInk has a book with some SF stories written by teenagers, but there are not many books of this kind. Why not have a science fiction short story writing competition? That's one thing I propose in my thesis: explain science fiction, how it is different from fantasy and fantastic literature, give them some ideas, let them read a few short stories of well-known authors and let them write themselves. You'll be amazed by the results.
I also did brainstormings with school classes to ask them what they thought science fiction was. It was a little chaotic, but they liked discovering the principles of SF together with me. Then I did some smaller focus groups with teenagers who were self-proclaimed SF fans and we got into the details of what they thought about SF, the future of society and which stories they really liked.
Jimmy Romero
Tim Colgan 50+
. 1984
. All the Kurt Vonnegut books
. Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
. Utopia
. Brave New World
. A Clockwork Orange
Now that I look at this list, it seems that most science fiction is incredibly pessimistic about the future. But perhaps that is it's greatest value - as a warning about what might happen if we screw up.
Nicholas Lukowiak 50+
To learn from the bad ideas and/to make our good ideas better.
griffin tucker 10+
bordering on the topic of creating and/or predicting the future, if we teach adolescents that bad things will happen when they grow older, will they then be the very people who create the disasters or bad things?
i wouldn't count it as being a particularly good _or_ bad thing, as the yin and yang states that there is some good in evil and some evil in good.
but, then again, perhaps yin yang came from an old sci-fi type of story too...
Simone Lackerbauer 100+
Griffin, I don't think there is this deterministic cause-effect model. It's rather to show adolescents what could happen -- to confront them with the positive and negative possible futures, so they can make up their minds and decide themselves: what do I want my future to look like? What do I want the future of humanity look like? Is there anything I can do or can avoid to make happen what I think is best for our future?
Utku Mun
Debra Smith 200+
Simone Lackerbauer 100+
Well, for reading advice, why not Stephen Hawking? I always feel very insignificant when I read confront myself with theories such as his. I would also recommend Bill Bryson's "A Short History of Nearly Everything".
I think your statement about the insignificance of man compared to the universe is an interesting, very specific point of view. I agree that we are small compared to the entirety of the universe, but nevertheless, we strive for happiness and that is what matters for me.
Meher Like Spring Rabbit 10+
Simone Lackerbauer 100+
Salim Frontin
Novels about mutants, like Slan by A.E. Van Vogt, are often about racism and intolerance.
Novels about androids, like Tower of Glass by Robert Silverberg or Blade Runner by Philip K. Dick, speak indeed of slavery and civil rights. Remember these novels were written around 1970 (not long after the Civil Right Act)
In the novels of the Robot cycle by Asimov, you can notice the relationship between Terrans and Spatians recall those between Europe and America (with a quite critical point of view).
What about Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 and the dictatorship of television in our society?
In brilliant works like Frank Herbert's Dune or Dan Simmons's Hyperion you can find the theme of religion and fanatism, which sounds very "contemporary"
Some anticipation authors, like Frenchman Pierre Bordage in Wang, also imagined what kind of hell our world could become in the following decades based on the current trends.
So, I'd say, of course science-fiction is full of references.
Either explicit ones like in anticipation, or through similar contexts or through myths, like in long-term science-fiction.
And it can (should) be used to ponder on our own societies. I think the authors meant it. Not only for teenagers.
Simone Lackerbauer 100+
Anna Czyrska
Laura Bickle
Not only can we expect that an alien's language will be difficult to understand and decode, but we should also NOT expect that they communicate by vocalization and interpretation via a brain.
The Hive Queen is the central consciousness and physical embodiment of the group-mind the "Formics"- she never had to communicate because her consciousness was instantaneously known by all of her species.
Another aliens species communicates by interpretation of DNA messages sent back and forth. They are also the species that supposedly created the "virus" capable of terraforming planets.
And with regard to Artificial Intelligence, it's not a robot that became sentient, it's Jane. A non-physical entity that exists within the network used by humans for cross-space communication. She hides herself from humans because she knows she is the embodiment of the fear we have of an AI being, but she revealed herself to Ender because she wasn't afraid he would try to wipe her out.
Well rather than explain the entire series to you, I should summarize why these things are significant.
I think it demonstrates what a wonderful tool sci-fi has in exploring ideas using what we know of science to what COULD be scientifically speaking. It really takes incredibly divergent and creative thinking, which is why I agree with another poster that encourages not only the reading, but writing of sci-fi. Not only that, but if well done it teaches us real principals of science, human nature, and our place in this world. It is both an artform and a tool for teaching that actually gets kids excited.
Laura Bickle
I read the Ender's Game series for the first time a year ago, at age 26. Orson Scott Card does his research, that much is obvious. It is by far my favorite sci-fi and I think it should be a curriculum requirement in middle-high school.
(Spoiler alert)
Just some of the insights it contains include:
You can't buzz around the universe and expect to see your family when you get home. They will be dead, and you will be nearly the same age as you were when you left. Many sci-fi stories completely disregard this principal. It's the principal of time dilation.
Empathy will save us. The only way Ender was able to achieve his goals thru out were by using his incredible talent for empathy. "Know your enemy." In this case, empathy saved the Earth, humanity, and eventually other alien species as well.
We must expect that an alien species will be so vastly different from anything we have ever witnessed, we must be prepared for anything. Such as an engineered virus that rearranges DNA in order to terraform new planets. Talk about divergent thinking!
I also learned a lot about politics and how culture/religion accentuates our differences, while in the end we are all one. There were Muslims, Brazilians, Indians, Hindus, Buddhists, Japanese, Russians, etc. characters that really led to insights regarding their culture and ideas. More importantly, the characters were extremely well-developed and (I hope) culturally accurate. Ender's brother is a somewhat Machiavellian character, and despite the great things he did with his leadership ability, I still have ambiguous feelings about him.
It really raised some poignant questions in my mind and was a really great story as well.
Simone Lackerbauer 100+
Empathy is a value that is today abandoned in many parts of our existance. With all the mass of information in the media about suffering all around the globe, we experience emotional blunting, because we need to shield ourselves.
In the common sense, aliens are either those small green men, E.T. or the aliens from the Alien series -- so yes, we are not prepared for something "alien" that does not fit into these schemes we have made for ourselves to cope with the fact that there might be life somewhere else.
I'm glad you mentioned the point about cultural diversity -- for me, culture is one of the most interesting and most succint aspects of identity.
Austin R 20+
So, yes-- I do believe reading science fiction is a great way to be more critical (same with satire)!
The exaggeration and oversimplification that separates science fiction from reality, opens our eyes and gives us new outlooks on society. I hope your research project goes well. Best of luck!
Simone Lackerbauer 100+
The only difficulty is to establish links for the readers with their real life and the imaginary world in SF -- teachers would need to find a way how they could use things the young ones already know (for example using smartphones and computers) and find analogies in SF. A great example I am currently working on is Stanislaw Lem's Cyberiad where two roboters (with human characteristics) try to outperform each other by building more or less useful machines that cause lots of trouble. A good way a) to show the imperfection of the human and the machine b) to criticize the human desire to play God c) to analyze the machines themselves and to find analogies to machines that already exist.
Karl Smithe
It altered my perspective on what I was being taught by teachers. They waste too much time on too much unimportant information. Their objective is to propagate the culture. All of the worlds cultures are obsolete. We have not figured out how to create a cyber-techno-culture but it is inevitable.
It is very funny that double-entry accounting is 700 years old and invented in Italy but it is not mandatory in all of the schools in the West. But now we have cheap computers and accounting was one of the first things corporations did with computers but they want us playing games and doing SOCIAL NETWORKING.
But now some old sci-fi is free.
Subversive, by Dallas McCord Reynolds
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/23197/23197-h/23197-h.htm
Cost of Living, by Robert Sheckley
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/29458/29458-h/29458-h.htm
And of course we cannot forget Isaac Asimov.
http://users.aber.ac.uk/dgc/funtheyhad.html
The educational system is obsolete, but do the teachers want to make optimum use of the computers?
It would change the culture. Critical thinking is a threat to the culture.
You would end up with VULCANS! LOL
Simone Lackerbauer 100+
In fact, we have already succeeded in creating "cybercultures", because I think there is more than just one. But we haven't learned to channel this cultural movement yet and make use of it in a positive way. Collaborative consumption, philantrophy online (my favorite: the "daily deals" at http://www.philanthroper.com/ ), autodidacticism -- those are all bigger parts of a movement, but it's still in a phase of childhood with lots of tinkering, infantile experiments (think of memes, lolcats, 4chan). But I disagree, world cultures are not obsolete. In a pragmatistic approach, we can surely replace heritage by experience, but a part of our identity is bound to where we come from and we cannot -- must not -- ignore this. The more we will opt for a global culture, the more every national culture itself witll also be strengthened, because people need this feeling of belonging.
Budimir Zdravkovic 20+
Collin Sine
Simone Lackerbauer 100+
Philip van Schalkwyk
From my own perspective as a writer of science fiction, the medium allows me to take the current environment that we live in, and from that postulate to a future that is completely different from that which we are plodding along in now. I can take the technology that is being developed right now, and dream about how that can be used to better the future for all of us.
And finally, going back to my teenager, she is now entering that part of her school career where literature is being presented to them that tries to embed the wrongs of current society in them, but even in her mind at the age of 14, it is clear that the wrongs are being held up to them, BUT no alternative is presented, whereas novels like "Enders Game" and other similar stories provide alternative and better futures or plans of how the wrongs of today can be addressed.
Well, that's my two cents worth
Simone Lackerbauer 100+
As an author, what is it you want to tell your readers about the future? Is there an educational aim behind your writing? Do you write about your own dreams and fears of the future? Do current political events inspire you?
Philip van Schalkwyk
There is one big theme in just about all scifi though, once man leaves the boundaries of earth, we are much more likely to leave behind the prejudices introduced by the borders of earth, BUT unfortunately that does not necessarily mean that we won't create new prejudices based on the boundaries introduced by space.
Simone Lackerbauer 100+
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Simone Lackerbauer 100+
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Simone Lackerbauer 100+
George Spilkov
It takes a while to understand what it really means when the author talks about robots, super human powers, super computers, aliens, etc.
Let me demonstrate with random example:
"John retired to his apartment. He had a stressful day monitoring the moon mining operation and the robots he recently had to reprogram. As he entered the apartment he was greeted by his favourite gynoid. She offered to help him relax and to relieve some of the stress".
What exactly I am talking about? Is it robots, the future of humanity, relationships or something else?
In many cases science fiction is just a form of escapism from reality.
Simone Lackerbauer 100+
SF does have an entertaining fuction that allows you to escape from reality. But nevertheless, you'll always automatically think about what you read and make up your mind about it -- more or less consciously.
George Spilkov
With this statement he breached the gap (if any) between the books of science fiction and the books in which magic exists.
Now every magic conjured could be considered an advanced technology of a kind.
I used to read a lot of Sci-fi and as you said it depends what the "the moderator" hints about. It is almost like when one reads the bible and listens to the "hints" the priest implies.
.... And we all know where religious hints took us for centuries - the Dark Ages.
I personally ended up poor and disillusioned because I believed Sci-Fi realities would become true one day.
Debra Smith 200+
I thought Jean Luc Picard said that!
Simone Lackerbauer 100+
But the danger you mention there about being disenchanted is a very important point teachers have to keep in mind when talking about science fiction. It's really easy to believe when everything seems so logical as it does in science fiction. But belief can in some cases cause harm.
Bernd Fesel 30+
To me science fiction encourages to develop an out-of-the-box thinking; to dare to think new realities and to develop an own view.
I recommend "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy". However I admit that an interesting girl recommended this book to me some 20 years ago and shortly thereafter we got married.
Simone Lackerbauer 100+
I think it depends. Look at Orwell's 1984 - the vision of being under permanent surveillance and observation itself is old, but it can still be translated into today's society by talking about Facebook, Google, the collection of personal data, transparent individuals leaving traces everywhere.
SF definitely is about out-of-the-box thinking -- which is why I will introduce a writing contest as experimental activity and real challenge to actively create and not just think about what someone else has already said.
Debra Smith 200+
http://www.ted.com/conversations/2551/at_what_point_in_modifying_our.html
Simone Lackerbauer 100+
Richard Horowitz
Nicholas Lukowiak 50+
Simone Lackerbauer 100+