Science Fiction. What is science fiction? Is it a contradiction? What is fiction that cannot be science and science is certainly not fiction. (Confused isn't it? Even I did not understand this myself!)
Science Fiction is a widely used term. the correct definition would be- 'Science fiction (abbreviated SF or sci-fi with varying punctuation and capitalization) is a broad genre of fiction that often involves speculations based on current or future science or technology.'
Yeah, yeah, we understand. But why called science fiction? Why not something else? I mean, it doesn't sound right isn't it? Science and fiction do not match together at all. The world of science has no room for lies, only for true facts. But fiction is all imagination. Take an example, the 'Time Machine' by H.G Wells talks about a scientist who makes a time machine to boost up into the future. There he meets the new kind of species which are our descendants. Ok, but this may not be true!! It may be just fantasy. Then how call it science ? How? Can anyone explain? Mary Shelley's 'Frankenstein' (not as scary as dracula), is abot a fiend created by a scientist. A robo, maybe. But a robo with emotions? That is the future dude, (according to what scientists say) but it may not be completely true. But wait a second. What if it were true. What if these perticullar robots, whom humans are wanting to make more and more, really turn against us? Um.... scary, isn't it?
So, talking abou the term, 'science fiction', the term itself is kinda' wrong, according to me. Why not...... um....... anything else? That must be it. The same stupid person who made the term, may have not got anything else? But who cares...... 'science fiction' is just fiction for us. We really do not care much about the boring facts, isn't it (really!! my mind was boggled after i read the first chapter of 'The Time Machine'. a fourth dimension? space warps? what was that again? Mr Wells, u sure are great, but have pity on me!! [i'm not saying anything against him, u know])
Now lets ask the authors themselves.
Author and editor Damon Knight summed up the difficulty by stating that "science fiction is what we point to when we say it".
Vladimir Nabokov argued that if were we rigorous with our definitions, Shakespeare's play The Tempest would have to be termed science fiction.
Um.... yeah, right....... I understand.
6 comments:
Adi,
You are correct - fiction is something that is not real. So science fiction is science that is not real. But is that correct? Isn't science all reality. Science is built on top of axioms that we take for granted. For example, we believe there is a force called gravity and we have equations that hold true given the assumption of a gravitational force and compliant with all our existing knowledge. Science fiction is just based on a another set of axioms which may or may not be true in our system of science but could possibly be true with further knowledge or maybe in another universe :)
Thats a good thought. I always assumed when people wrote fantasies about things noone understood, that became Sciende Fiction :-D
hi,
the very contradiction in the coinage 'science fiction ' is the beauty of it. any piece of literary work with a bit of fact and a lot of fiction may be called sci fi.
OMG! Adi
You think so mu8ch bro...good....great actually! Well thought....I wonder too now LOL!
Adi, My dear,
It is 5.00 AM. It was raining in this part of Kerala through out in the night. I am listening to b'ful Nanak bhajan by Rajan Sajan Mishra saying that the entire universe is a drama of science fiction played by the Lord!
I liked your posting. Your grand father never kept a novel in his vast library thinking that fictions are non-fact. But he went all around and purchased all poems of the world! He always thought that poem is fact! Dear, it is the way you look at. History of Science itself says that a new invention manytimes called an old invention a non-fact or false. Can you call a false thing, a fiction? No. Am I confusing you. I do it to provoke you. Go wild. Think wild as all the scientists and writers as well did all the time in our b'ful world.
I love you
Keep going
Ache
thanks everybody. I appreciate ur comments!!
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