Keep Writing Dystopian Fiction:
There has been a lot of buzz recently concerning dystopian sci-fi and its effect on our view of technology and the future. Leading scientists fear the rise of artificial intelligence since they believe it will inevitably lead to terminator cyborgs rampaging through cities. Of course, the tech to destroy us was built in the 1940’s. To this day the nukes are prepared to fly, the tail fins howling doom as they scream like banshees slicing through the pre-apocalyptic air. The genie is already out of the bottle. There is no need to distress over dystopian fiction. That’s the least of our worries. The tech to destroy civilization still hunkers underground and beneath the ocean depths. Dystopian fiction allows to confront the horrors we face with an eye to how we can overcome them.
In a September 14th, 2014 article in Wired, Michael Solana proposed: “Obviously science fiction is not the cause of the current mess we’re in. But for their capacity to change the way people think and feel about technology, the stories we tell ourselves can save us—if we can just escape the cool veneer of our dystopian house of horrors.”
Solana’s article “Stop Writing Dystopian Sci-Fi—It’s Making Us All Fear Technology.” Was countered two days later when Devon Maloney countered with his Wired article: “No, Dystopian Sci-Fi Isn’t Bad for Society. We Need It More Than Ever.”
If I had to pick a side, I would stand with Maloney on this issue.
Maloney is right on the money when he states: “Solana’s accusation that an influx of dystopian science fiction as guilty of somehow exacerbating this fear is troubling. Dystopian fiction mimics what it actually feels like to be in the world, so if it ends up scaring people, well, that’s because the world is scary.”
The world we live in is indeed a frightening place to reside. My mention of nukes at the beginning of this post emphasizes that we live in a world where annihilation is just around the corner every second of every day we live on earth. Will we ever melt down all the nukes and turn them into coat hooks? I doubt it. Yes, the world is a scary place and we need to face those fears if we ever expect to overcome them.
That is not to say that Michael Solana is totally off base. There is a certain element of truth in his premise. I believe that dystopian literature, especially that which portrays technology gone berserk, promotes a mistrust of and outright fear of technology. The novel that comes to mind is Daniel Wilson’s “Robopocalypse” where a robot uprising threatens to wipe out humanity. Stories like this are unrealistic in that it’s highly unlikely an AI would be able to manage such a large number nodes spread out across the earth’s surface. Novels like “Robopocalypse” promote the belief that we may unwittingly create devices that we cannot control. Stephen Hawking’s intense fear of Artificial Intelligence is well known. Hawking fears that if left unchecked, Artificial Intelligence could lead to the destruction of our planet and the fall of humankind. In “Robopocalypse,” Wilson sums up this fear nicely when the chief super AI villain Archos says:
“You humans are biological machines designed to create ever more intelligent tools. You have reached the pinnacle of your species. All your ancestors’ lives, the rise and fall of your nations, every pink and squirming baby—they have all led you here, to this moment, where you have fulfilled the destiny of humankind and created your successor. You have expired. You have accomplished what you were designed to do.” ― Daniel H. Wilson, “Robopocalypse.”
The fear that technology will replace us meaty humans could possibly retard the growth and development of technologies that can actually help mankind. Technology can either save us or destroy us. It’s that simple. How we feel about that equation just may decide the answer. Do we build machines and set them loose as unshackled AI’s with the capacity make their own rules? Or do we build shackled AIs, engineering in something akin to Isaac Asimov’s “Three Laws of Robotics” into any Artificial Intelligence we create? I vote for the creation of AI Intelligence that follows the three laws of robotics. There must be a way to make this happen.
Do not stop writing dystopian fiction because we need to see humanity as it is, warts and all, and face our biggest fears. Better to go down the path of dystopia via fiction than in actuality. Trust in the essential goodness that is within the core of humanity. We would never create a weapon or super intelligence that could wipe out all of humanity. Wait a minute – see paragraph one! I guess that makes both Solana and Maloney correct in their assumptions. Dystopia fiction does make a certain percentage of people fear technology. Plus, this is one scary place to live in the cosmos. In final analysis, however, I still cast my lot with Maloney and his view that we need to face our fears by writing about them, and what better way than through the vehicle of dystopian fiction.
Where do you stand on this issue?
As a biologist, technologist writer of SciFi, I have patience when it comes to long-term events.
To quote Carl Sagan, “The nitrogen in our DNA, the calcium in our teeth, the iron in our blood, the carbon in our apple pies were made in the interiors of collapsing stars. We are made of starstuff.”
Why should we fear thoughts of the furthering of this Grand Design, that one day, we will have solved the limitations of biology and where we can exist in a vacuum as easily as we can 11 KM meters under water and walk the floor of the Mariana Trench or swim the liquid methane oceans of Titan—that the universe is ours wander.
Our fear is that we will remain a binary entity, governed by Good vs. Evil.
Love your comment, man.
I agree with Kyle. Dystopian science fiction mirrors the real world and it mirrors our fears about the future. But it can also come wih solutions to the problems. It’s the best place to discuss the pros and cons of technology.