On Fri, 2014-09-12 at 20:03 -0400, Bruce A. Metcalf wrote: > Exactly! Both films addressed technological advances, not social or > psychological ones. A bit harsh to criticize them because they didn't > do > something they hadn't tried to do.
This is precisely what I am trying to point out. The psychological and social cannot be divorced from the technological without arriving at garbage. Please don't get upset at my criticism. I did not demand that Sci Fi should do this or that. I only asked why sociology and anthropology did not seem to be dealing with these issues and it was on this thread that I have been informed that Sci Fi writers are dealing with such issues. I can't tell if Sociology and Anthropology are sciences, but science comes with the responsibility of getting things right, or alternatively correcting itself when it gets things wrong. Sci Fi does not even pretend to be science - and by using Sci Fi as a medium to study real world issues the situation appears to me like a state where Sci Fi is being unofficially anointed with the task of studying and guiding society but with no accountability whatsoever. Science demands facts and accountability, both of which can be glossed over with fiction. Why pull Sci Fi into an arena where it cannot be held responsible for errors and then make the specious claim that Sci Fi is guiding soceities? On the topic of finger pointing, I did not start with pointing any fingers at science fiction. It was simply thrown into the discussion as if it had answers. It has answers but carries no responsibility or accountability. How is that different from religion or superstition? Would I get better answers if I "read more" science fiction as opposed to reading more religion? shiv
