Why Sci-Fi is the last bastion of philosophical writing

[pippadaisy[$]]

From Wired.

Clive Thompson on Why Sci-Fi Is the Last Bastion of Philosophical Writing

[eplovejoy]

It's an interesting argument, but it misses something. Sci-fi might be last bastion of philosophical writing in fiction, but philosophers still write. In non-fiction, one can find a lot of philosophy without turning to science fiction.

[Helen_B[$]]

I think what Clive Thompson is saying is that he finds much of present day fiction very shallow and ordinary, and that he turns to Sci-fi for depth. Certainly some Sci-fi makes us think about ourselves and our universe in different ways than a Tom Clancy or Mary Roberts Rhinehart novel. But honestly he seems to have missed out on the good stuff. Even the historical murder mysteries that I love touch on philosophy, their authors using the settings to make the reader think about how life should be lived, and what values are important.

[pippadaisy[$]]

And I'd have to say that I'm starting to wonder how much of SciFi is actually fiction. I'm re-reading Neuromancer and aside from Gibson's estimates of what a large amount of data would be (3 MB!), it's eerie how close reality is getting to what used to be the imagination of cyberpunk authors.

[Helen_B[$]]

It's true; Gibson's world seems possible now. And to think, the Commoder 64 was a big deal when Neuromancer came out. We put men on the moon with what again?

[drmomentum[$]]

Kurt Vonnegut didn't really consider himself a science fiction writer, and Vonnegut would definitely fall into the category as described in the article. I can see Vonnegut's point, so he might say that some philosophical writers have their work interpreted as science fiction.

-JP