I am looking for examples of interdisciplinary work/researchers who explore the relevance of fantasy and science fiction literature beyond the text, so how it can impact lives, promote wellbeing.
Snowpiercer, Jacques Lob. The graphic novel, not the movie. Timely message in this age of climate change denial.
Yes and no. It strikes me as a bit humorous that we write to each other via high tech Internet groups, take planes to conferences where we then proceed to list only the failings in present and future science and technology.
When I was in the Ph.D. program in English with a husband who is an astronomer, I did encounter this view over and over. I mean, the saying that "Science will be the death of humanity."
I love the writing of Karel Capek, of course, and note that he combined much self-deprecating humor with his visions. This allows some distancing--maybe like Brecht's Verfremdungseffekt--between the writer and his didactic points. "Maybe I am wrong or we can do something about this before this not-too-funny thing occurs," Capek says in his witty way.
The ethos problem exists not just in scientists like Victor Frankenstein but in all powerful figures. Science doesn't exist in a vacuum tube to be approved or condemned.
Rather science, its findings or inventions, are poured into a vessel of some kind of governing philosophy, monetary gain option, level of societal corruption, and pressure to conform to needs of the state. While some scientists grow rich and use their innovations for personal gain even when dangerous, others stay poor and try to give away helpful discoveries (Nicola Tesla). Why?
I like to interrogate positions and draw out the systems pulling on a subject from as many directions as possible just as the best SF does. One example I have used in class is Isaac Asimov's 1941 story "Nightfall." That story proposed the coming of "night," which nobody in the society understood because it occurred only once in a thousand years on a planet with six suns. (Still a unique plot.) The ways science is applied and the reactions of various groups in the society is both enlightening and very droll.
The best science fiction work which meets the question asked is the little known Floating Worlds by Cecilia Holland. Its incorporation of sophisticated politics and interplanetary conflict and intrigue into space science is incomparable.
Holland is principally an author of historical fiction; it is astounding that her one foray into science fiction is so brilliant and sophisticated as to be the best work I have read in that genre.
See her WIkipedia entry and her website, http://www.thefiredrake.com/. See Washington Post acclaim: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/01/AR2010110105578.html.
Thank you all so much for your considered and eminently helpful responses!
The 26 most underrated science-fiction books
https://www.techrepublic.com/pictures/the-most-underrated-science-fiction-books/2/?ftag=TRE684d531&bhid=26515897512689358169344413145444
The science fiction genre is one of the most important genres in film art. Thanks to science fiction movies, many interesting futurological visions, many new inventions, etc. were created.
Many films from the science fiction genre were created in the film art, in which many prophetic visions and futurological projections appeared. For example, in the film "Return to the Future" directed by Robert Zemeckis appeared many futuristic products, some of which are currently in operation. Apparently, some inventions arose thanks to this film, especially the second part of this trilogy. The Hendo company from California launched in 2015 the first levitating magnetic skateboard. Apparently, Nike is working on creating shoes that will be automatically laced at the touch of a button that works similar to those that Marty McFly had in the second part of the trilogy. At the McFly house in 2015, we have a rich futuristic gallery and mostly hit ideas. Family members wear goggles with colorful LEDs at home, whose idea vividly resembles Google Glass or Oculus Rift. When the videophone speaks at the McFly, information about who the addressee of the call is displayed in the goggles. The interlocutor, the head of Marthy named Needles, appears on a completely flat screen TV and announces with satisfaction that McFly throws him out of work. Could the scriptwriters have predicted Skype? What's more, during the conversation next to the Needles likeness, information about his age, family, interests and preferences is displayed. That is the prediction of social media. A flat McFly TV moment later reveals yet another futuristic feature: multifunctionality. This happens when Marthy calls (voice!) Various TV channel proposals. The iconic time machine created by Dr. Emmett Brown is a converted DeLorean DMC-12. In the film, it is an electric car that uses 1,21 gigawatts of energy to travel in time to use a nuclear reactor. However, when this fails, a genius scientist replaces him with an "eco-fuel" of waste. We see Dr. Brown charging garbage in the tank, including fruit skins and pouring leftovers of beer from the can. This can be successfully compared to biomass fuels used today, among which the most popular is biodiesel, most often obtained from rapeseed oil. Other futuristic inventions that appeared in "Return to the Future 2" are thought-minded games, a camera with face recognition, 3D holographic street advertising videos, a camera drone, fingerprint identification, biometrics based payments, an alpha sleep rhythm generator , weather forecasting, rejuvenating treatments (Dr. Brown lengthened his life by 30-40 years, unprinting paper.) However, not all these inventions, gadgets or energy sources were created in the form as shown in this video. Cars fly but not on magnetic cushions like in this film only as drones or as autoloty, i.e. a car-to-plane intersection created by the American company Terrafugia in 2014 and another version by the Slovak company Aeromobil. On the other hand, not everything is provided in the picture from this movie. such dynamic development of the Internet, personal computers and smartphones events in that country are transmitted via fax and video calls.
But maybe in another science fiction movie that was created in the past better futuristic visions of the development of technology, technology, science, etc., which has happened to the present?
Or maybe there are such science fiction companies in the cinematography that have recently been created in recent years and present futuristic visions of the development of technology, science, etc., which is to be developed over several decades and presented in a very professional and full scientific knowledge, what could be considered a prophetic, futuristic vision of the future?
Please, answer, comments. I invite you to the discussion
I personally love "More than humans" a 1953 Theodore Sturgeon work, almost a social science-fiction, that can happen any time any place, a book for whom doesn't find his place. A junk family discover together they're "more than humans". Wonderful. https://www.wikiwand.com/en/More_Than_Human
SF texts have profound effect on many readers. Quality texts, mainly those in the hard sf subgenre, that deal with philosophical and metaphysical issues have the capability of fostering an individual’s intellectual and critical development.
Other texts have a more practical effect. Isaac Asimov’s collection of novels on the theme of robotics, for instance, has contributed the three laws of robotics.
Philip K. Dick’s novels are real philosophical treatises on many complex debates.
Jule Verne’s texts have inspired a number of scientific inventions, from rockets to submarines.
This book offers some engaging comments on the subject:
https://books.google.com.br/books?id=qbWkDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA23&lpg=PA23&dq=sf+texts+effects+beyond+the+text&source=bl&ots=ZECIs7RVBL&sig=ACfU3U37IqGbvIQN2GqyNveQNfdaqWJv4g&hl=pt-BR&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjMwtO9wfzfAhWtIbkGHWdRAIsQ6AEwC3oECAYQAQ#v=onepage&q=sf%20texts%20effects%20beyond%20the%20text&f=false
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