sci-fi

this is more of a repost because its something i wrote about a couple of years back.
the topic resurfaced when discussing with a friend studying in lasalle the relevance and integration of art and science.

"How would you define Sci-fi"?

The themes I have come across are

1) Inter-galactic worlds

2) Interacting with/ searching for more intelligent life forms

3) A.I & Robots

4) Time travel

5) Destruction of mankind/planet earth

I think its pretty philosophical in nature (granted B-grade stuff like Star-ship Troopers) because it usually deals with the ambition and pride of mankind and our self-destructive consequences, while at the same time placing it in a feasible (arguably) speculation of the future.

I saw time machine with eric this afternoon. He's been always fascinated with the notion of time travel and we discussed things like the different schools of thought of time travel; one being the return to the past from a 3rd person perspective i.e., u see yourself in action vs. you can only be at one place at one time. With regards to time travel on earth, I think the assumption is that the linear time line of the future has already been established based on present developments till.... earth extincts, if not there is no future to travel to.

Speaking about the existence of earth, its been predicted according to present available information that the Sun will burn out. A morbidly funny thing I came across in a science info book while researching for my science project said "If the sun is producing so much heat and light, why doesn't itself out like a coal or a match? The answer is that it will burn itself out, one day. It will swell up into a giant red star and burn up the earth. But don't worry, that day is about 5,000 million years away!" [Young Scientist, Using Energy. Singapore: World Book International (1990)]

I was thinking, that is something to worry about. It will not affect a million generations but say the earth and mankind exist a century away from this giant red star burning out earth...how will people in that time and age react then? With the impending destruction of the entire solar system and nowhere to escape (assuming) will there still be a reason to be progressive and work/save for the future?

I think in general sci-fi is sprinkled with quote-worthy lines and everyday issues, like in Issac Assimov’s notion that man should not feel inferior to his own creation and H.G.Wells (Time Machine) which explores the question “What If?”. It’s not all about the speculation of the future in technological advancement, but more importantly sci-fi explores the humanistic aspect of people’s reaction when things get out of control. Although the context is usually based on the ingenuity of man, more often than not, it angles back to the reality that Man cannot possess utter control of everything. In the plot, something often goes wrong either because of Man’s character flaws or the lack of foresight (some loopholes they don’t see).

The message is - Man cannot predict everything.

Man will still be plagued by uncertainty.