(1) Science fiction can help to explain what science and scientist are all about to the non-scientists. It is no accident that several hundred universities and public schools are now offering science fiction courses and discovering that these classes are a meeting ground for the scientist-engineers and the humanists. Science and fiction. Reason and emotion.
The essence of the scientific attitude is that the human mind can succeed in understanding the universe. By taking thought, men can move mountains—and have. In this sense, science is an utterly humanistic pursuit.
Much of science fiction celebrates this spirit. (2) Very few science fiction stories picture humanity as a passive species, allowing the tidal forces of nature to flow freely. The heroes of science fiction stories—the gods of the new mythology—struggle manfully against the darkness, whether it’s geological doom for the whole planet or the evil of grasping politicians. They may not always win. But they always try.
Perhaps, however, the most important aspect of science fiction’s role in the modern world is best summed up in a single word. Change.
After all, science fiction is the literature of change. Each and every story preaches from the same gospel: tomorrow will be different from today, violently different perhaps.
(3) Science fiction very clearly shows that changes—whether good or bad—are an inherent Dart of the universe. Resistance to change is an archaic, and nowadays dangerous, habit of thought. Humanity’s most fruitful course of action is to determine how to shape these changes, how to influence them and produce an environment where the changes that occur are those we want.
Perhaps this is the ultimate role of science fiction: to act as an interpreter of science to humanity. This is a two-edged weapon, of course. It is necessary to warn as well as evangelize. (4) Science can kill as well as create; technology can deaden the human spirit or lift it to the furthermost corners of our imaginations. Only knowledgeable people can wisely decide how to use science and technology for humankind’s benefit. In the end, this is the ultimate role of all art: to show ourselves to ourselves, to help us to understand our own humanity.
