Neal Stephenson Takes Blame For Innovation Failure

itwbennett writes "Neal Stephenson is shouldering some of the blame for discouraging budding scientists and engineers, saying in a interview that perhaps the dark turn science fiction has taken is 'discouraging budding scientists and engineers.' For his part, Stephenson has vowed to be more optimistic. From the article: 'Speaking before a packed lecture theater at MIT yesterday, Neal Stephenson worried that the gloomy outlook prevalent in modern science fiction may be undermining the genre's ability to inspire engineers and scientists. Describing himself as a "pessimist trying to turn himself into an optimist," and acknowledging that some of his own work has contributed to the dystopian trend, he added "if every depiction of the future is grim...then it doesn't create much of an incentive to building the future."'"

Comments

Re:SciFi don't dictate what I love, or dis-love

[ChrisMaple]

Much of science fiction in the 1950s and 1960s was heroic fiction, which is what "new wave" SF sought to destroy. The anti-heroic philosophy is part and parcel of the leftist glorification of failure which deliberately degrades social systems.

with much of western society turning back to Dark Ages-style fundamentalist religion

The major "turn" to fundamentalism is actually an invasion by Islam. The fundamentalist Christians have pretty much always been there; they're just noisier now.