Shiv, read Heinlien. On 08-Sep-2014 10:27 pm, "SS" <[email protected]> wrote:
> On Mon, 2014-09-08 at 11:37 +0200, Dave Long wrote: > > (to what degree do the philosophers and the priests differ from the > > fiction writers?) > > Please correct me if you think I am wrong, but Sci Fi writers ( to the > extent that I have read scifi in recent decades) generally do not deal > in questions of morality except in terms of some power or entity who is > a threat to humanity or something that restricts rights. > > Philosophers and priests tend to address morality. Morality is generally > a restriction of rights. > > Sci Fi can be taken as one type of literary output from societies where > science and technology have profoundly influenced the lives of people in > those societies. The creation of science fiction (as opposed to pure > fiction) I believe has occurred only in some societies. If the "mood" of > SciFi output has changed over many decades from positive to negative, it > could possibly indicate a change of attitude about the future in that > society. But this would be a sociological judgement, unless I am > mistaken. > > Strictly speaking I don't think the societal issues that Sci Fi writers > deal with coincide with the issues that priests and philosophers deal > with. The common areas are restricted to where science has affected > morality - and to that extent science and morality have come into > conflict. I am not sure if Sci Fi writers have taken sides on these > issues. > > Once again, please correct me if you think I am wrong. The "science" (if > that is what it is) of sociology came up only because of the need to > study non western societies and document the differences between the > "normal" society of the sociologist with the exotic "other" society. Not > a lot of effort was expended in "observing" western societies from the > outside because all sociologists were from within western societies and > were unable or unwilling to comment on western societies that funded > their work and left it to the priests, philosophers and more recently > Sci Fi writers. > > But surely it would have to be sociologists, more than any other people > who would be able to comment with authority and knowledge on all > societies and express some opinion on features of societies that may be > negative or positive. If they don't know who would? > > shiv > > > > > > >
