Whether it was H.G. Wells taking us on a ride in The Time Machine or Isaac Asimov unveiling the secrets of robotics in I, Robot, children have always been fascinated with science fiction. It is a literary source that truly lends itself to all sorts of media incarnations from television to the silver screen.
Science fiction can be poignant with male readers as it contains some of the bastions of successful boy-centred literacy.
Science fiction has become the heir apparent to the nursery rhyme or children’s story. The genre asks us to reach beyond the possible and suspend our belief when we delve into a new world that has some surprisingly conventional and moral messages. These tales of the future are particularly poignant with male readers as they contain some of the bastions of successful boy-centred literacy: action, a definable antagonist and protagonist, mystery, a struggle, new inventions, aliens or monsters, and hope for an exciting future. Above all, science fiction might be the key to our own future. Perhaps there exists a direct correlation, a type of paradox, between the decline of male literacy and that of innovation and original ideas? As an example, at one time there were 220 manufacturers of television sets in North America. There are now only 24.
As we slide further into becoming a consumer-driven economy, the aspirations for a more lofty future rests in the minds of our students who may forge an alternative economic paradigm based on a patent driven, knowledge-based information economy. While we won’t manufacture very much in the future, perhaps this might be replaced with the production of ideas and technological breakthroughs in the fields of science, engineering, robotics, communications, information technology, medicine and other such domains. The creative drives for these innovations are first inspired by connections that are made by children through experience, media and literacy. Gene Roddenberry, the creator of Star Trek, often remarked that the technology only dreamt of in his series came to fruition within decades of their presentation as fictional gizmos of the future. While the “experts” predicted flying cars and personalized jet packs, Roddenberry’s Star Trek ushered into existence such things as the cellphone, laptop computers, microwaves, lasers, and the big screen monitor (the real reason everyone wanted to take over the Enterprise). There was most certainly a direct correlation between written science fiction and its propensity to inspire young minds in the fields of engineering and design. It appears as if each successive generation could be inspired by some vision of the future.
The Quest to Dream, Design and Delve Into the Future
Although it was presented as occurring “A Long Time Ago, In a Galaxy Far, Far Away,” Star Wars captivated three successive generations and counting, with an alternate vision of the future. George Lucas’ stunning, six-part saga placed the innovation bar into the stratosphere. The assumptions of these movies included the yet-to-be-designed light saber, faster-than-light hyperspace, advanced artificial intelligence, and an answer to the ever elusive “Are we alone?” question that it seemed by Star Wars’ reality a commonplace status quo. A fascinating dichotomy exists within these films and books that is quite striking. Even though the technology was so far advanced, it is all held together by ancient yet most relevant truths regarding the active role of good and evil. One of its central morals was that while technology may be extraordinarily advanced, basic spiritual notions unique to the core of the soul are tangible and relevant regardless of the setting. The phrase, “May the force be with you, and also with you,” is as sincere on an intergalactic spaceship as its religious counterpart. Thus, one can forge great scientific strides without abandoning what is true and eternal to existence. This variant of truth will ultimately veer humanity toward destruction or utopia. George Lucas once said, “Whatever has happened in my quest for innovation has been part of my quest for immaculate reality.” This is in essence the nature of the hermeneutic circle of meaning behind science fiction and real-time innovation.
If we stop reading and connecting, the quest for “the perfect world” will increasingly cease to exist in increments of chronological time. It is not ever possible to attain a complete utopia. However, should we freeze in our ability to dream, design, and delve into the future, we, too, will lose opportunities for immaculate realities to manifest themselves in brief epochs of time. It is encouraging to see students reading the classic narratives and new ones with a gleam in their eye that surely marries the concepts of science, literacy and faith. Science fiction passes the torch of innovation to a new generation of eager minds who will undoubtedly light an inspirational path from what could be to what is.
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Do you agree science fiction can hold a key to the future? Should science fiction have a place in the curriculum? Share your thoughts in the Comments section below.
About Manfred J. von Vulte
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I recently finished editing a book written primarily for boys as a vehicle to stimulate interest in science. It is set in the near future and is an adventure story with slightly futuristic technology based on science principles we understand today. As a science educator I am looking forward to the reaction from a teen audience. The adults who have read it already have enjoyed the story.