514- Literature that Celebrates Fiction in Science (Free)

What this episode covers

In 1953 the Hugo Award was created to honor “notable achievement” in science fiction. That almost sounds like an award based on how well one can be fooled into accepting fantasy as scientific. The actual award takes the shape of a rocket ship and is named after Hugo Gernsback who in 1926 published the first science fiction-based magazine called Amazing Stories. There are many writers from antiquity that wrote fantastic tales, but they differ in one key area when compared to modern science fiction. The writers of old made no effort to merge fictitious ideas with science in an effort to make the fantasy seem plausible. What if I told you that no human being, or craft of any kind, has ever left this world and travelled in what we call space? If true then it would follow that all the ideas and images you have in your mind regarding space travel were placed there primarily by science fiction. But, is it true? How is it that we even have to ask if it is true? And therein lies the power of science fiction to lead adult minds into fantasy-based realities. Consider the ideas and imagery you have in your mind regarding dinosaurs, aliens and atomic bombs. Literature, movies, TV and storytelling, in general, are powerful influences on the world mind. Science fiction is a beloved and powerful genre, now respectable and normalized, and recently, allowed to win best picture at the Academy awards, which was taboo not too long ago. But a sober mind might ask – how many world-wide plague (contagion, zombies, etc.) movies were released in the decades running up to 2020, and what was the effect? And what is the reason for all the post-apocalyptic movies that have become a favorite theme in Hollywood? Is it just entertainment? Whatever the answer, keep in mind that a sci-fi writer invented satellites, which do not exist as described. And yet, most of us accept that they are real and exist exactly as they are described… and shown in film. Don’t ask why a magical satellite in space has never been filmed in real life though. Not to worry… Hollywood has that covered, and they can show you what landing on the moon looks like as well.