Using the panel discussions of the most
recent World Science Fiction Convention in Spokane, August 2015, I will jump
off, jump on, rail against, and shamelessly agree with the BRIEF DESCRIPTION
given in the pdf copy of the Program Guide. This is event #2600 (page 59). The
link is provided below… ?Zz
The Changing Face of Hard Science Fiction:
Hard science fiction has roots that at least go back to Verne, and it’s been a
major part of the field—some would argue it’s been the center of the field, or
even the only real SF—since at least the 1940s. But like the rest of SF, it has
evolved and change. Where is it now and where is it going? Stanley Schmidt (m),
David Hartwell, Nancy Kress, Karl Schroeder
I would have loved
to have been to this one! All of these authors/editors are ones I LOVE: Stan
Schmidt goes without saying – editor of ANALOG for years, hard SF writer in his
own right. David Hartwell – started the STAR TREK line at Pocket Books, started
Tor Books, and administers (with Gordon van Gelder) the PK Dick Award. Nancy
Kress, aside from being a spectacular short story writer, also wrote two of my
favorite series – the BEGGARS books and the PROBABILITY books. Karl Schroeder
invented and wrote stories in a totally absorbing world that exists as “bubbles”
of air in zero-g.
With a biology
major – and having taught astronomy, biology, chemistry, physics, geology,
meteorology, zoology, as well as various and sundry fifth, sixth, and seventh
grade “general science” classes – I naturally gravitated to hard SF.
That being said,
I’ve been exploring themes of my own in science fiction that have their roots
in hard sciences – mostly biology – but tap into “less hard” sciences like
psychology and sociology. This isn’t to say that I’ve gotten it all down and I’m
ready to move into the “pros”; but I’m working on it.
In particular,
in my first novel, I look at how the future will treat young people on the
autism spectrum or with learning disabilities. Unfortunately, I don’t think
that anything will change because neither of those has a specific “genetic home”
– at least that we know of today. With politicians flailing about, trying to
acquiesce to teachers unions (and make no mistake about it – Washington is
talking to teacher-politicians. REAL teachers don’t have time to waste talking
to politicians. They’re busy teaching kids) and return us all to the bad old
days where we pass kids on without knowing what they know (http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/10/24/obama-calls-for-less-standardized-testing-in-schools-addressing-nationwide/).
I explore
education and how genetic manipulation of Humans will intersect and the effect
that intersection will have on society. I look at unexpected results of genetic
manipulation. I wonder what would happen in an interstellar civilization if
none of them had ever made use of animal and plant domestication – we think it’s
“normal”, but just as “psychic powers” might be normal for aliens, the practice
of large scale domestication might be something Humans do that is unique.
It’s hard
science with a soft science intersection.
The thing is,
isn’t this what SF writers have been doing all along? They just vary the mix of
science and psychology; science and sociology; science and parapsychology;
science and politics; science and business management, economics, finance, and
advertising; science and anthropology; science and education; and science and humor.
ANALOG and PERIHELION, and others, tend to be stronger on the hard science.
ASIMOV’S and F&SF tend toward the softer science. None of them are
exclusive, but all have tendencies. Nebula and Hugo Awards tend to reward the
softer science mixes more often than the harder science stories.
If I had to make
a guess, these people – as well as the field at large – would say that “hard SF
is dead” and that mixed SF is the “wave of the future”. I think we’ve already
been there and come back. We’ll see, but I think the field will swing back into
hard SF again – because it’s the exploration of current technology’s impact on
the future.
Program Book: http://sasquan.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/ConGuide.toupload.pdf
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