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--- On Tue, 2/12/08, Dr. Johnson C. Philip <calvin@satyam.net.in> wrote:
From: Dr. Johnson C. Philip <calvin@satyam.net.in> Subject: [indiansciencefiction] Perplexing question To: indiansciencefiction@yahoogroups.co.in Date: Tuesday, 2 December, 2008, 3:52 PM
Dear Friends,
Something that has always perplexed in Science Fiction
is the crime-question. Let me put it this way:
We know that the ultimate aim for which mankind is working
is to establish a better world. Whether it be research
in science, technology, medicine, or even in economics, the
aim is to make this earth (eventually, the inhabited world)
a better place -- a man made paradise, which will be
free of inequality, exploitation, crime, and tyranny.
However, when we project our history into future using
science-fiction, somehow the crime, the intensity of crime,
the exploitation of people, only seem to become more
prominent, more intense, and more evil.
The question that I have been toying about for the last
three decades is:
1. Why is it that we dream of a world free from ills, but that the
world of science fiction conceived by the very same persons
is full of evils.
2. Is it that the future world will be much better than what
we conceive in Sci Fi, but that the people and events of
such a world will not give rise to enjoyable science fiction.
3. Or is it that we will remain evil in spite of progress for
a millennia, or even a hundred thousand years?
It would be good if a serious discussion can be initiated around
Dear Friends, Something that has always perplexed in Science Fiction is the crime-question. Let me put it this way: We know that the ultimate aim for which...
If everything goes very smoothly, where is the chance to enjoy. The story will be generated only if ups and downs. Â CMN Dr. Chandra Mohan Nautiyal MSc...
Now who will answer to these genuine questions raised by Dr.J.C.Philip ?Why an sf writer should at all depict a dystopian future full of gloom and darkness ?...
arvind mishra
drarvind3@...
Dec 2, 2008 1:59 pm
Mishraji. please see my humble comments on the question. I am for positivism. It is the way I write too....
Hello Group, Why is science fiction so full of crime while the world is getting progressively better? Because science fiction is not written for the future,...
Do you mean to say that the scenario we WANT for future will not be suitable for writing stories about future. That perplexes me much because what social set...
Dr.Philip, future as depicted in sf denotes a probable future that may come or may not .Its the imagination /some sort of a prophetic vision of an individual...
arvind mishra
drarvind3@...
Dec 3, 2008 2:09 am
Hello, Arthur C Clarke has famously said that we underestimate the scientific progress in the next 100 years, and overestimate in the next 1000. The point is:...
Aren't you reading too much into it? It's fiction - & a lot of us read it just for entertainment rather than any kind of enlightenment. Means a lot of authors...
The end shown i sci- fi is usually not gloomy.  What is shown inSci-Fi i not necessarily right or wrong. It's a scenario, one of the several possible...
Friends I was busy preparing for a Seminar 'Is Cultural Renaissance necessary in India today?' in Hindi organized by Aurobindo Society for Hindi area. Today...
I agree VMT it was perhaps the reason why Asiomov had a penchant for detective sf stories and had many penned himself. arvind mishra ... From: Vishwa Mohan...
See inline. ... A lot of us actually doubt it. Couple of weeks back, I was looking at a bunch of some 200 odd pictures of nature a friend brought on a pen...
crime is a human behaviour. though we are progressing in science &technology, we are going backwards and deteriorating in good human values. Cheating finds...
Although everyone, readers as well as SF writers, dream of a world free from ills, I believe that we lack conviction in that dream. SF writers are always more...
Many questions are arising here. What should contain in SiFi stories? Good, bad or both the things? I think a story containing only good powers or only evil...
Zeashan who himself is an accomplished sf writer when speaks on sf I have to value his views on the genre as it omes straight from horse mouth ! Any querries...
arvind mishra
drarvind3@...
Dec 11, 2008 3:15 am
So here is at least one sf author who doesn't believe that any amount of progress, in terms of science or at the social/cultural/ judicial levels can rid the...
Reema, There is something in most of us that like crimes ,loves the thought of huge destruction,the grandeur of disasters and warfare.Dr.Jekyll and Mr.Hyde's...
Dear Discussants, I find Arvindji's perspective about SF providing a canvass where crime can be taken to its ultimate zenith without actual harm worth further ...
Science is just a tool, by using it we can change our physical status. But it is not a set of rules, regulations and laws so can¢t help in rising moralities,...
Not directly in response to anything you say below, but related. There was a post at Tor about a month back by Katherine Cramer. She once interviewed Hal...
Dear Friends, I am very happy to note that my crime-question about future did generate wide interest from all of you. Many replies have brought in new...
1. No. As we march forward, new ways to commit crime (aided by continuously progressing sci and tech.) will be found. However, parallely S&T will help us...
Dr.Johnson C. Philip 1-The basic nature of man is not going to change for long time as genes take longer to incorporate changes .Therefore developments in S&T...
Reema- The evil and good spirits are just two faces of human persona -it depends a lot on the concerned society how to shape and cultivate that? We all have...
The following is my attempt to answer parts of these large and difficult questions. 1. Why is it that we dream of a world free from ills, but that the world of...
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