The Fear of Boundlessness

[jordan179]

The Fear of Boundlessness - An Explanation for the ‘Mundane SF Movement

Comments

[astroprisoner]

I've never heard of this movement before. It's the dumbest thing I've heard of in a long time.

There has always been a "mundane science fiction." It's called "fiction."

[operations]

Best. Quip. Evar.

[jordan179]

Well ... it certainly is a possibility that

1) The human race will go extinct before significantly expanding offworld (*), and

2) at some particular time in the future humans may only be living on the Earth (**).

And, certainly, there's nothing wrong with a science fiction story, even a far-future one, being set on the Earth. I've read some very good SF stories of such a nature.

What's wrong is the idea that offworld expansion is somehow a fantasy, and that we should build some sort of consensus sf future that specifically precludes human expansion beyond the Earth's surface.

===
(*) We have already made very minor expansions offworld, such as the Apollo Program and the International Space Station, so the one where we make no such expansions is already Alternate History.

(**) For instance, if six months from now for some reason there is no one on the ISS and at some moment no spacecraft are aloft, this would be true.

[astroprisoner]

I agree.

If you want to write a story that assumes we won't get out of the solar system, fine with me.

But don't limit my stories (assuming I had any) to that same extent.

[brownkitty]

I'll have to come back when my brain has recovered from "What human endeavour has lasted tens of thousands of years?"

There's this little thing called CIVILIZATION, you see...

Anyone got any duct tape? I think my brain is slightly broken.

[banner]

Isn't the term 'Mundane Science Fiction' and oxymoron?

And these guys definitely aren't Sci-Fi writers, because they really don't seem to understand science, nor do they seem to have the ability to consider reasonable alternatives. Many sci-fi writers have written stories about the colonization of other stars WITHOUT the benefit of FTL drives. In fact, an FTL drive is not needed, it just makes it a lot easier.

To be honest, people with such small minds and a low intellects shouldn't be writing sci-fi, or even talking about it.

[tinymammoth]

I've enjoyed some of Ryman's work, but it reads to me more like magical realism with a scifi aesthetic than real science fiction. Things happen in his books that are clearly not even intended to be realistic.

I just read The Child Garden, and while there was some neat stuff in it, I found it really bizarre that there was crippling overpopulation in a world with reliable birth control where no one lives past the age of 35.

[stokerbramwell]

I think C. S. Lewis once said that it's children who insist the loudest that they are "all grown up" and want to make others acknowledge it.

First We Must:

[anonymous]

The root cause of US decline is fossil fuel addiction.

ONLY Energy Independence and a move to an ALL Electric economy based on Nuclear and Fusion Reactors is a must.
We must begin to think and plan Long Range and not Quarterly, the Warren Buffet approach to success.
We must let Science and technology lead the way before it is too late.

Re: First We Must:

[jordan179]

The move away from fossil fuels is inevitable: on the time scales I'm discussing there is no real way for it not to happen. What America accomplishes by delaying the transition is her own weakening. Notice that I never said that America had to be the leader of the human expansion into the Solar System.