<div dir="auto"><div>I started reading SciFi books last year and have been on a binge of sorts since. Why don't people like SciFi? I can understand usage of bad physics irritating people and useless narration in some books but good SciFi books are very good books.</div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family:sans-serif">>Can anyone think of a pro-transhumanist film or TV show? </span><br></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family:sans-serif"><br></span></div><div dir="auto"><font face="sans-serif">You might like Hyperion Cantos books, where this is a major theme. I've been waiting to read the culture series by Ian, everyone I know who's read it always praises it. Too many good books, always going. in the queue to read.</font></div><div dir="auto"><font face="sans-serif"><br></font></div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto"><div class="gmail_quote" dir="auto"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Sun, Mar 15, 2020, 4:52 PM Ben Zaiboc via extropy-chat <<a href="mailto:extropy-chat@lists.extropy.org" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">extropy-chat@lists.extropy.org</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div>
On 14/03/2020 17:07, Gabe Waggoner wrote:<br>
<blockquote type="cite">I
always figured some Trek folks were part of this list, but I'm
happy to see it explicitly mentioned.
</blockquote>
<br>
<br>
I'd be surprised if there were more than a handful of people on this
list with a negative attitude towards science-fiction in general. I
count myself as an SF nerd, having read the stuff for almost as long
as I've been able to read.<br>
<br>
I've always found Star Trek to have an anti-transhumanist vibe,
though. In fact, thinking about it, very very few SF TV shows or
films have had even a neutral attitude to it, most of them being
very anti. It's only in books that you tend to see pro-transhumanist
attitudes. And there are some great ones (and that's not an American
'great', either, I really mean outstanding, not just 'good').<br>
Iain M Banks, Neal Asher, Peter Hamilton, Linda Nagata, Charlie
Stross (when he writes SF), and to a lesser degree, Alastair
Reynolds are probably my favourite modern authors, but of course
there's a long list of precursors to them, stretching right back to
Jules Verne.<br>
<br>mean one
that doesn't derive a negative message from transhumanist themes and
aspirations? Longevity, enhancement, AI, uploading, etc.? The best I
can think of are 'Transcendence' (ambivalent, if even that),
'Chappie', which might count as an exception to the rule, and 'Ghost
in the Shell' (at the risk of starting an argument!), which has some
nice technology, but is basically a dystopian vision.<br>
<br>
I'm not counting 'superhero'-type things, because these are about
mutants, magic, special people or species, and the ordinary people
aren't any different to usual. Batman's technology is reserved for
Batman, Ditto Ironman (with a slightly more realistic element of the
military muscling in on it). No-one ever thinks of giving other
people spiderman-like abilities, or how to raise humans up to the
level of Asgardians, and so-on. 'Limitless' and 'Lucy' are about
single individuals gaining special abilities ('superpowers',
essentially), just like Spiderman or Green Lantern.<br>
<br>
I would <i>love</i> to see someone do a film or TV show from the
'Culture' stories of Iain M Banks, or something where ordinary
people are shown as having capabilities significantly beyond
baseline human, without making a fuss of it. People who live
indefinitely, cybernetic implants and full cyborgs being
commonplace, uploads and multiple branching identities being
background elements, that sort of thing.<br>
<br>
Despite all that, I still watch Star Trek, even the latest stupid
one, which seems even more ridiculous and inconsistent than usual
(and has a truly awful title sequence). It's entertaining, which
makes up for any amount of awfulness (it's still not as bad as 'Deep
Space Nine' though!).<br>
<br>
<pre cols="72">--
Ben Zaiboc</pre>
</div>
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</blockquote></div></div><div data-smartmail="gmail_signature">&Kunvar</div></div>