Besides writing science fiction, I’m a longtime fan and cheerleader for the field. I’ve always thought that SF was, all things considered, a “Good Thing” for people to read. It offers a fresh perspective on human/non-human nature and behavior played out in a whole range of possible realms/worlds/societies/big honkin’ spaceships. It’s great at presenting all sorts of rarely considered angles/satire/parody/what-ifs re: the human condition refracted thru all sorts of mirrors. What could be cooler?
But I recently came across a really intriguing post from Auxilliary Memory that considers a deeply interesting question about the entire genre, and one that I’d never thought about before: is science fiction damaging the impact of REAL science in our lives and on our planet? It’s a provocative, very well thought out piece. I’m still thinkin’ it over.
The post’s writer (Jim Harris) cites The Merchants of Doubt as a good overview of how junk science is being promoted, to decidedly ill effect, in our society, and how SF feeds into that. The book may have to be my next read…