Why do you like sci-fi so much?

iguana

I mean most people here obviously love it quite a bit, otherwise you wouldn't be discussing it on the internet, right? But why? What is it about sci-fi that makes you care so much?

I'm not sure exactly what it is with me but I love it so much. It makes me feel things stronger than any other genre. Maybe it is because by it's very nature it requires such suspension from disbelief that it allows you to become more involved with the fictional characters? Or with something like a comic, they run for such a long time that you almost grow up with the characters?

And why for the most part is it such a guy thing?

dudara

I don't know why it is such a guy thing, because for the most part, the best sci-fi is about the human condition.

I'm personally going through a big stargate period, I'm currently watching season 5 on DVD, and will be buying 6 soon. I also read a lot of sci-fi especially the older stuff, as a lot of those guys were great writers who addressed real problems. I

Geranium

I think it's such a guy thing because to really get the most out of it you have to be slightly obsessive about it, and guys are more likely to do that. But then, I'm a girl, what would I know? ;>

ixoy

I enjoy it for it scope and breadth of imagination and its ability to conjecture. Good sci-fi can attempt to answer some real fundamental questions about us and our place in the universe, the sort of grand ideas that can't be answered in a crime fiction novel or romance. The writer has a much bigger tapestry to work with and, when done well, it can be breath taking.

Take Stephen Baxter's 'Manifold I - Space' and you can't help but draw some breaths at the awe-inspriing feats of engineering near the end and the time span. Or maybe, as in Alastair Reynold's "Revelation Space" it's a

massive computer planet with a bizarre heart

.

But it doesn't even just have to about physics - David Zindell wrote the superb "A Requiem for Homo Sapiens" which is full of spiritualism and philosophy, attempting to answer questiosn about man's nature against a massive backdrop. It's the sort of novel that could only ever work set against a void of stars.

Or you could question the nature of individuality, as David Brin does so well in "Kil'n People". What makes the soul? What defines my person? Am I more or less than the sum of my memories? Is my future dictated to by my past actions and so forth.

Sci-fi unshackles us from a one world and, in many ways, is even more liberating than fantasy (which I enjoy as well). I personally like when it's got a half decent grounding in science too, just to more it seem that bit more achievable, that we could - one day - do these things, touch or even make the damned stars. And that's something I find worth exploring.

nesf

ixoy wrote:

But it doesn't even just have to about physics

Studying physics ruined some sci-fi for me. Specifically the sci-fi that uses actual technical terms without having the slightest idea of what it actually means.

On the other hand I have a much deeper appreciation for good speculative sci-fi. Arthur C. Clark take a bow. Although, he's drier than some textbook authors I know.

Although, I've no problems with as you said, half science/half speculative works. But I do find myself piecing apart them sometimes and working out whether something is probable or not.

Anyone else from a science background find the same? (Physics isn't the only science that is sometimes misused in sci-fi. I pity the genetics people the most tbh.)

ixoy

Interesting point nesf. I've just got my LC science background and a smattering picked up here and there. I know enough that most sci-fi TV shows show an abhorrent disregard for physics but not enough to know if the more hard sci-fi writers are bluffing.

You mention genetics there too and I wouldn't have a clue if I was being bluffed. I do recall though that Greg Bear made a point of stating how heavily he had researched genetics before writing "Darwin's Radio" - there was certainly enough there to make it sound like it had a convincing foundation.

azezil

I really enjoy sci-fi because it fires my imagination, while the 'science' may be entirely fictional in a well written piece it can make one wonder "wow what if the future could be like that...", in doing so provides an escape from an otherwise mundane existence, and a hope for a better future.

TerrorFirmer

I really enjoy sci-fi because it fires my imagination, while the 'science' may be entirely fictional in a well written piece it can make one wonder "wow what if the future could be like that...",

Thats about it! It really fires up a childish part of the brain for me.....I love movies about the future....

Scruff

cause its got space ships and aliens. mostly cause its got space ships though.
The episode can have a crap plot and\or acting but throw in a auld space ship and i'll feel that it wasnt a total waste.
i loves space ships i do. Think its a natural progression from being an absolute aircraft nut when i was younger. wanst and havent been as excited as when i went to see my 1st airshow and flying in a plane for the 1st time. will have to wait for Virgin Galactic before i get that excited again. sigh.....

I really enjoy sci-fi because it fires my imagination, while the 'science' may be entirely fictional in a well written piece it can make one wonder "wow what if the future could be like that...", in doing so provides an escape from an otherwise mundane existence, and a hope for a better future.

oh and what azezil said....but mostly for the space ships

foxybrowne

I like Doctor Who, which is better than just "sci-fi".

Capt'n Midnight

I don't like mainstream fiction. It's got to the stage where if it has Bestseller on the cover I avoid.

I also like autobiographies where the author reveals interesting stuff, many have better plots and more twists than fiction.

Good sci-fi works on so many levels, even if the story is crap you can just watch the scenery in your imagination. Many authors expirement more with social and political situations than mainstream fiction. Also you can look at new cultures and sometimes it shows ours in contrast.

Though I do like "what if's" like Fatherland and other books where the author gives an impression of what would happen if history took a different fork. Also historical novels of ancient cultures I like too. Eg: Gilgamesh the King.

Like Guinan said crayons can take you further than starships.