Science Fiction

What is science fiction?

Science Fiction is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and
futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time
travel, parallel universes, and extraterrestrial life. It has been called the "literature of ideas",
and it often explores the potential consequences of scientific, social, and technological
innovations
Basically, science fiction is a genre that contains science that is fictitious and did not exist
or could not exist at the time the work of fiction was created and deals with the impact of
the science and technology on the world build in the work.

Science Fiction History

Next I will discuss a little history of science fiction. some scholars believe that science
fiction has existed since ancient times, A true story, a novel written by Lucian of Samosata,
which tell a journey of Lucian and his fellow traveller to the moon and embroiled in full
scale war between the king of the moon and king of the sun
Its contains many themes and tropes characteristic of modern science fiction, including
travel to other worlds, extraterrestrial lifeforms, interplanetary warfare, and artificial life.
Other scholar also consider a stories like One Thousand and One Nights, The Tale of the
Bamboo Cutter and Theologus Autodidactus, which contain elements of science fiction

Modern Science Fiction

Then we talk about the modern science fiction, it is believe that Mary Shelley’s
Frankenstein (1818) was the first work that define the modern science fiction, it’s tell tells
the story of Victor Frankenstein, a young scientist who creates a sapient creature in an
unorthodox scientific experiment. Mary Shelley did not wish the story to be considered
"supernatural“. She made the main character a scientist and his scientific efforts were
highlighted.
Other works that also help define the modern science fiction is The Last Man (1826) by
Marry Shelly, The narrative concerns Europe in the late 21st century, ravaged by a
mysterious pandemic illness that rapidly sweeps across the entire globe, ultimately
resulting in the near-extinction of humanity.
"The Unparalleled Adventure of One Hans Pfaall" (1835) by Edgar Allan Poe, The story
traces the voyage of a man named Hans Pfaall to the moon.
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (1870) by french novelist Jules Verne, Its
depiction of Captain Nemo's underwater ship, the Nautilus, is regarded as ahead of its time,
since it accurately describes many features of today's submarines, which in the 1860s were
comparatively primitive vessels.
Third let’s talk about Scifi Elements, there are several elements that can determined a works is a
science fiction or not such as :
• Space travel,
• Temporal settings in the future, or in alternative histories.
• Undiscovered scientific possibilities such as teleportation, time travel, and faster-
than-light travel or communication.
• Aspects of biology in fiction such as aliens, mutants, and enhanced humans.
• Predicted or speculative technology such as brain-computer interface, bio-
engineering, superintelligent computers, robots, and ray guns and other advanced
weapons.
• New and different political and social systems and situations, including Utopian,
dystopian, post-apocalyptic, or post-scarcity.
• Future history and evolution of humans on Earth or on other planets.
• settings in outer space, on other worlds, in subterranean earth, or in parallel
universes

finally I will talk about science fiction in popular culture, there are many sci-fi books,
movies or animated series in modern pop culture, So I will talk two sci-fi pop culture that
I personally like
• first is Mobile Suit Gundam, it was created by yoshiyuki tomino and sunrise studio in 1979,
it was the first installment of the Gundam franchise. Mobile Suit Gundam set in futuristic
earth and colonized space, its tells a story about “Amuro Ray”, a fifteen years old boy
dragged on a war using a giant humanoid mecha called mobile suit between earth and
space colony after they declared independency from earth. It’s fully depict the situation
and drama in realism view on war
• the second one is Blade Runner, the film is a adaptation of Philip K. Dick's 1968 novel “Do
Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?” The film is set in a dystopian future Los Angeles of
2019, in which synthetic humans known as replicants are bio-engineered by the powerful
Tyrell Corporation to work on space colonies. Rick Deckard who’s a Blade Runner, police
unit organized to hunt and kill fugitive replicants agrees to hunt down a fugitive group of
advanced replicants escapes back to Earth. The film depict on what makes someone a
human and the existential crisis of the mortality of the artificial lifeform.