ALL SCI-FI

[Krel]

Pow posed some questions to me about "The Bedford Incident", where I proposed that it was science fiction. This got me to thinking about what SF is.

First, I don't think that there is really a definitive answer.

I used both "Doctor Strangelove" and "Fail Safe" as examples of humanist SF as opposed to hardware SF. The doomsday device in "Doctor Stranlove" was certainly possible for the time. I don't know if 1964 RADAR was sensitive enough to detect if an aircraft had air breathing engines or not, so that may be a hardware SF angle.

"Doctor Strangelove" and TBI have the abuse of technology and the failure of people that send the situations spiraling out of control. "Fail Safe" is about the failure of the technology we depend on to keep us safe. To me this is science fiction, but am I correct?

Does Sf have to have future hardware or Aliens to be SF, or can it be how current technology is abused and it's failure can lead to horrible situations.

Like I wrote, I don't think that there is a firm answer, and it is probably a personal subjective thing with no right or wrong answer.

But I am very interested in others views on the subject.

David.

[Gord Green]

Another term I've heard referring to Science Fiction is "speculative fiction". That may seem like another broad definition as most fiction is "speculative" to some degree, but I think it means speculation about some topic relating to science and technology and it's relation to society or culture. The subject may or may not deeply involve those subjects of science and more involved with the effects of it.

Orwell's 1984 is not about some great technological advance (television...maybe?) but how the society of his future could be affected by political pressures. There are many other examples. Heinlien's "BEYOND THIS HORIZON" for example. Many, many more!

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There comes a time, thief, when gold loses its lustre, and the gems cease to sparkle, and the throne room becomes a prison; and all that is left is a father's love for his child.

[Bud Brewster]

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According to Merriam-Webster, this is the definition of science fiction.
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science fiction noun

Fiction dealing principally with the impact of actual or imagined science on society or individuals, or having a scientific factor as an essential orienting component.
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Admittedly I don't stick strictly to that definition on All Sci-Fi when placing movies and shows into sci-fi forums.

However, I can make a good case for productions like the Bond and Bond-like spy movies being sci-fi, simply because the whole spy craze was (in varying degrees) about agents with high-tech devices and advanced machines, battling villains who used cutting-edge science for nefarious purposes.

And since those spy movies and shows often delighted us by presenting science that wasn't yet reality, they were sort of like Flash vs Ming, or Buck vs Killer Kane.

Those kinds of productions fall under "fiction dealing principally with the impact of actual or imagined science on society or individuals".

The second part of the definition says that sci-fi is fiction which includes "a scientific factor as an essential orienting component."

That's a fancy way of saying that Destination Moon was sci-fi because it was a journey from point A to point B — which required scientific advances that didn't exist yet.

Another example is Ice Station Zebra, which is science fiction because the story revolves around an orbiting satellite equipped with a highly advanced camera, using special lenses and a new type of film that took thousands of hi-rez images showing military bases all over the world.

So, in that case the advanced photographic system was "a scientific factor as an essential orienting component", and the images of military bases caused "the impact of actual or imagined science on society or individuals."

I realize that many folks have a broader definition of science fiction than the one I've described, but I just wanted to lay down a basic foundation which was generally agreed on.

Now I'll let the really deep thinkers of All Sci-Fi do the "heavy lifting" by addressing the less obvious forms of science fiction.

Gentlemen . . . start your search engines! D:
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)