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Originally Posted by xg4bx
other than a handful of established names keeping the faith, much of what passes for 'science fiction' on store shelves isn't much more than fan fiction inspired by the Halo video games.
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I think that it's the other way around: video games are inspired by SF.
I think that the problem is about what is supposed to happen. Normally you can play a game until you win. You can try it again and again and eventually it's all going to be alright in the end. But there are some games where if you play in campaign mode there are missions that you can't win and you find out that you have to lose for the story to move forward.
So you get the optimistic: if you work hard enough and/or if you are good enough you will win, and the pessimistic: you are going to lose anyway.
Quote:
Originally Posted by benburrell
I have to say, I loved Hamiton's view of the future. I think the point of the article was spot on - you need a hopeful outlook on the future, just to keep going. You need a commonly accepted road map of the future, and it has to be something that people want to build towards. If all you see is darkness ahead, what the point.
Snowcrash on the other hand, was excellent in the ways Blood Merrian. Its a voice of warning, showing you what you definitely do not want. I wouldn't want my kids growing up in the world of Snowcrash. And the point seemed to be, if we as a society keep doing this and this, then logically it will lead to a future america that looks like this. I mean, we already have a floating island of trash in the pacific. So Stephenson isn't extrapolating that far.
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We are making mistakes in out society, and we are going to continue making mistakes. SF has been warning about things like climate change and how ignoring the problem doesn't make it go away. Some go for the optimistic idea that when we will hit rock bottom we will figure the way out of it because we are superior beings capable of great things. Because of this people think that it isn't really a problem. And you can only look for solutions if you think that there is a problem.