Short Science Fiction – Do We Need More Positive Sci Fi Writers

A couple of weekends ago, I was doing my writing and watching the Sci Fi Channel in the background – it was announced that it was “Disaster Weekend” on the Science Fiction Channel. Okay so, they played back-to-back dooms day scenario movies. One thing occurred to me as I got to the fifth or six movie; they were basically all the same you see. That’s too bad when you think about, where is the creativity there. And before you condemn me for my critique realize I am a Sci Fi short story writer myself, and also, I am not alone in my comments, others feel the same way, okay so, let’s talk shall we?
There was an interesting piece on Kurzweil’s “Accelerating Intelligence” online news on March 21, 2012 titled; ” Dear science fiction writers: stop being so pessimistic!” and this was a reprint of a comment which also appeared in the Smithsonian, which stated;
“Stephenson has seen the future – and he doesn’t like it. Today’s Sci Fi, he argues, is fixated on nihilism and apocalyptic scenarios – think recent films such as The Road and TV series like “The Walking Dead.” Gone are the hopeful visions in the Mid-twentieth century.”So in Fall 2011, Stephenson launched the Hieroglyph to rally writers to infuse science fiction with the kind of optimism that could inspire a new generation to, as he puts it, “get big stuff done.”
Okay so, let me start by saying I am a fan of Stephenson’s project. It seems to me this challenge is much like Jerry Springer’s quote; “don’t blame me, it’s entertainment, I am just giving people what they want.” In other words, the Sci Fi writers are delivering what the “public” wants, and they create scenarios, mostly scary, cataclysmic events, then they attempt to solve the crisis, after 1/2 the world’s population is taken out, yes, not good, but people pay for those types of Sci Fi stories and movies like that.
We do need to change that, I concur, but maybe we need to put forth really compelling Sci Fi stories and start the trend change, we need to get the public okay with the positive future genre too, and then perhaps we can move it forward. The human psyche seems to like conflict in their stories, but they also like the underdog winning, if we mellow out the conflict and increase the underdog triumph, perhaps it’s fixable.
We’d only need a few really great stories like that to really put a dent in this “real” problem Stephenson points out, still, if people don’t watch those movies, or read those futuristic Sci Fi multimedia eBooks, then all that creative genius will be lost, and that talent wasted. I’m with Stephenson, I agree, but as an entrepreneur, I am also a free-market realist, not that I appreciate Jerry Springer’s reality, it’s just that we have to also be cognizant of that hurdle ahead of us with regards to the viewer, reader, and Sci Fi enthusiast. Indeed, maybe we need to consider all this and think on it. If you’d like to talk, shoot me an email sometime.