Why I Love Science Fiction
I’ve been thinking for a while about how I can turn this blog into more than my personal project of reading through the best science fiction of all time (though that part will definitely continue). And while I haven’t nailed down the answer quite yet, I thought I would start by simply writing this post on why I love science fiction in the first place. In my first post, Why This Blog? Why Now?, I wrote that I love sci-fi but didn’t really elaborate on that too much. In another post, I’ve written about why I love robots, but that only covered part of my love of this genre. It’s something I think about a lot, so I wanted to finally nail it down.
So here goes.
Science Fiction Is a Mirror & a Lens
I love science fiction because it’s a mirror and a lens through which we can look at ourselves, at where we’ve been, where we are, and where we’re going.
It’s a lens because we’re looking at the human condition through a different set of circumstances than our own, whether those circumstances are a futuristic world with crazy cool technology, or our current world revved up a little.
And it’s a mirror because it has the ability to reflect who we are and what we’re doing in a way that offers us clarity and insight.
Science fiction can be a mystery, a romance, a political thriller, or all of these!
But most of all science fiction gives me hope. Even a dystopian story gives me hope because I see it as a guide to what not to do, and a chance to discuss ideas pertaining to right and wrong, and good and evil.
And science in real life also gives me hope. Something like the mission to Mars, or simply pushing the boundaries of space travel, gives us something to look up to, literally, and a reason to look outside of ourselves for once, and unite.
All I want is to connect with other people. Reading and writing are how I do that. The dissemination of stories and ideas are how we can connect with people we’ve never met in places we’ve never been.
Science fiction, I think, is a great way to do just that.
And, of course, crazy cool technology is just super cool.