[ExI] Defeatist Science Fiction Writers

[Stefano Vaj]

On Sun, Jun 15, 2008 at 10:40 PM, Lee Corbin <lcorbin at rawbw.com> wrote:

> Stefano wrote
> No, I must reserve my accusation of "Defeatist Science Fiction Writers"
> to certain novels of others, I guess.
>

Thank you for the insights on Clarke. I will check to what Italian titles
Childhood's End and Fountains of Paradise correspond, and read them if I
have not yet.

Concerning the broader issue, it is true you would be hard pressed to find a
transhumanist who is not and has never been a avid SF reader, and the genre
is often and automatically considered close as a whole to H+ in public
perception.

On the other hand, it gave me pause my recent reading of Technophobia!:
Science Fiction Visions of Posthuman
Technology<http://www.amazon.com/Technophobia-Science-Fiction-Posthuman-Technology/dp/0292709862/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1213623306&sr=1-1>by
Daniel Dinello, where the author, who is a proud technophobe and
neoluddite himself, argues with a very extensive and persuasive range of
exemple that science fiction's legacy is a grand, single warning, indictment
and  condemnation of any  transhuman temptation.

Of course, very important exceptions remains, such as Heinlein or Anderson,
but I wonder if we do not often find ourselves in SF novels and movies
meanings and inspirations that are radically opposite to those intended by
their authors and directors...

Stefano Vaj
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