If you feel like science fiction shelves in the bookstore are slim, you're not alone. New fantasy books are everywhere, while sci-fi is dwindling. Is the genre dying, or are its plots simply becoming mainstream? And is there still a reason to read it? https://revelationequation.com/
If you ever have trouble distinguishing the day's headlines from science fiction, you're far from alone. In the past five years, an AI chatbot has confessed its love for its user and asked the man to end his marriage, China has developed bird drones, and a former NFL superstar has cloned his dog.
It's no wonder science fiction is struggling. We live it every day. While some think the genre is over, others say sci-fi can survive if it becomes more believable. Retired board-certified psychiatrist Dr. Sam Toney, author of the work-in-progress Revelation Equation, explains.
Literary experts agree that science fiction is at a crossroads. Fewer new books are making their way to the science fiction shelf, Typebar Magazine notes. Others speculate that as pandemics, Artificial Intelligence, and cloning have moved from fiction to reality, common science fiction themes have simply become mainstream.
As the genre changes, post sci-fi readers seek more than spaceships and easy-to-spot villains, according to Typebar Magazine. They want depth and credibility that are uncommon to science fiction giants of the past. After all, the sci-fi reality of our lives is fraught with moral dilemmas, gray areas, and impossible questions. If there's one thing we've learned, it's that the black-and-white and outrageous storylines don't match our lived reality.
Insert "plausible sci-fi" - works that bridge current science and potential reality. This development of the sci-fi genre blends more comfortably with our technologically advanced lives. Unlike the 1920s contemporaries of Czech playwright Karel Čapek, who released the first science fiction work introducing the idea of robots, most of us have some contact with AI in our daily lives.
We have some familiarity with physics, including quantum theory, particles, and dimensions. Authors don't need to introduce us to these ideas - they need to make them believable. What's more, they need to relate them to concepts we've somewhat abandoned - philosophy, identity, purpose, consciousness, and the nature of truth - to our peril.
While sci-fi's flying machines and humanoid automatons no longer captivate us, the genre still serves a valuable purpose, according to the experts at Revelation Equation. Done correctly, science fiction can serve as a vehicle to facilitate conversations not possible in our fractured world.
Science fiction lets us engage social issues from a distance, where the stakes are low. Stories often mirror scenarios we see in society and free us to explore the complexities outside of the allegiances and dividing lines of our real world.
The genre helps us build empathy and see other points of view. In our own world, we fear "the other" who is not like us, making it hard to see past differences and relate to, or even care about, their experiences. By painting foreign, odd, or even menacing characters sympathetically, we learn to put ourselves in their shoes - even if they wear a dozen of them and all twelve feet are blue.
The often dystopian settings of science fiction motivate us to work for a better future. In a society that's increasingly jaded and disengaged, seeing the natural outcomes of current trends, taken to the extreme, can reveal ideals that are worth fighting for now.
Science fiction used to show us the future, or at least one person's idea of it. Today, it often serves as a mirror of our current world, or possible eventualities. The more plausible it is, the more it can convict us of what we could be, if allowed to become our best or our worst selves. And in that sense, sci-fi is alive and well - because that's what the genre has always been about. Click on the link in the description to explore more plausible sci-fi today! Sam Toney City: Thonotosassa Address: 10072 Main Street Website: https://revelationequation.com