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Spider Robinson And The State Of Science Fiction

Posted by simoniker on from the many-legs-and-many-opinions dept.

pcb writes "There is a rather decent rant in today's Globe & Mail from Spider Robinson (of the Callahan series fame) regarding the dismal state of science fiction, in which he laments that the future is not what it used to be. While attending Torcon 3, the 61st World SF Convention, he notes that SF readers today seem to prefer the Tolkienesque fantasies of some forgotten past, rather than the forward-looking works of science and space travel that used to dominate the genre. Are SF stories from authors like Heinlein, Clarke or Asimov irrelevant today, as people look into the past to dream rather than the future? Robinson asks: 'Why are our imaginations retreating from science and space, and into fantasy?'"

4 of 854 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Technophobia by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    Let me also point out that the "golden age" of Sci-FI was pulp. Pulp=crap. There is very little of what Bear, Robinson, and co think of as "great sci-fi" that is actually readable.

  2. YOU REALLY ARE A COMPLETE FUCKING MORON!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Flamebait

    I don't know what else to add.

  3. Re:The end of the future by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Flamebait



    I hate to point this out, but to a large extent the reason for this is environmentalism and green ideology. There are tons of technologies, many of which revolve around nuclear power, that are shelved due to public phobia fueled by green propaganda. The greens have succeeded in halting progress on several fronts.

    </politically>

  4. Summation by Henry+V+.009 · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    Let me sum up this article: "If you don't read my science fiction, then the terrorists have already won. (P.S. D&D is for losers.)