Breaking Sci-Fi's useless Monomania.

Suggestions for making Sci-fi original and useful again.

Megacities swarming with flying machines have been a futuristic idea since 1925

Recently, I came across a note on Substack exhorting people to read and write the kind of Optimistic and technologically progressive Sci-Fi that was common in the 20th century, when people were imagining the futures of limitless travel and colonisation of space, full automation of most work, and a happy and luxurious post-scarcity society that have become the staple tropes of the genre. I don’t remember who wrote the note, but it hardly matters since I have been noticing articles that request people to go back to writing “Optimistic Sci-Fi” in a few places over the past few years. (I recall a few big-name Sci-Fi writers such as David Brin supporting writing competitions for the purpose of encouraging this, but I no longer remember the details, so I am unable to include a link.)

Now, I have nothing against the encouragement of “Optimistic” Sci-fi in the sense of fiction that imagines futures that aren’t just the kind of incessantly overused gritty quasi-dystopias that seem popular at the moment, such as Cyberpunk 2077 or The Hunger games. The more happy, or at least somewhat content, Sci-Fi futures we get the better. But the thing that bothers me a little is the attachment Sci-Fi has to certain staple tropes that have been used since it’s very beginning that not only have been done to death but are increasingly being revealed, through experimentation, to be impossible, impractical or stupid.

A Mars-colony from 1940.

Take that old staple of Sci-Fi, Mars colonies, for example. When people first imagined it, no one had any clear idea about what the surface of Mars was actually like, so it was plausible that it could not only be habitable but inhabited. In that context Mars colonisation was not only possible but, in many ways, desirable. When we finally landed robots on Mars in the ’70s and realised the truth, we honestly should have put such ideas to rest as a practical or desirable idea. Instead, not only do people still seriously support the idea of Mars colonies, but they have also kept insisting that it is necessary to ensure the survival of humanity in the event of a massive apocalyptic disaster. To really unpack the stupidity of this, imagine if your plan to survive a natural disaster was to fly yourself to some bunker in the middle of some icy desert in Antarctica that was also a nuclear waste dump. That technically would be smarter and safer than trying to survive on Mars, since you would at least still have breathable air and a realistic chance of outside help if things inevitably went wrong.

Robots oppressing humanity, from the 1960’s.

Then there’s the obsession with robots and AI, which people keep insisting will save or enslave humanity somehow, despite being barely capable of walking on 2 legs unaided or telling me reliably what is or is not a cat. Or the insistence on Nuclear Fusion powering everything despite the closest we have gotten to success with it was a few seconds or so of fusion, after spending countless billions of dollars over decades experimenting with it. I could go on, but I won’t. The point is that despite claiming that its purpose is to imagine and predict new technology and futures, Sci-Fi has an embarrassing obsession with a handful of ideas about the future and technology that were not only thought up during the 19th and 20th century but are increasingly proving themselves to be at best very problematic to build and sustain and/or cause a lot of undesirable effects upon society and the world at large. Why then does the literary genre that insists that it is the most imaginative and innovative of the lot, and is the only one that can predict the future and cause new technologies to be born, concentrate most of its efforts upon such over-used cliches, such out-of-date futures, such impractical technology, such unscientific science?

I don’t suppose to answer such a question here, since many people more knowledgeable and eloquent than myself have already done so, but I want to do my bit in getting Sci-Fi back on track to thinking about the future and technology in interesting and useful ways by making a list of ideas or tropes that may not be entirely original, but are at least neglected, under-explored and underused, and deserve at least a third of the effort in thinking and writing about them that has been wasted on overhyped notions such as Mars Colonisation for more than a century. Also, if possible, I will mention any books that do use these neglected tropes so that new writers have somewhere to start.

1. Floating cities, or “Seasteads” as a lot of Silicon Valley Tech-bros insist on calling them, are probably one of the less neglected of the neglected tropes as they do feature in a few novels and films, and the aforementioned Tech-bros have been wanting them so they can create libertarian utopias in international waters. But they have not received the same kind of attention and criticism Spaceships do, the same attempt at exploring what could or could not work, what benefits or detriments living on one would bring, how or why they would be created or funded. Also, very few stories involve them, compared with stories involving Spaceships, as anything beyond scenery.

2. Phytomining, which is the farming of plants that absorb trace elements of metals in the soil so that they can be harvested and the metals extracted via chemical means, is a very new and experimental technique that so far has successfully been used to “farm” Nickel. Unsurprisingly it has not featured in any stories yet, which is all the more reason that young sci-fi writers should fix that oversight. An interesting plot may have rival corporations or plant-breeders that attempt to one-up each other by creating plants better at absorbing metal from the soil, or exploring uninhabited lands searching for a new and undiscovered gold-absorbing plant, parodying the similar stories written about explorers going into dense jungles looking for new medicinal herbs.

3. Alternative Economies that aren’t just modifications or parodies of Capitalism, Socialism or Communism is definitely a theme that needs more attention from Sci-Fi. Is it not ridiculous that despite many alternative economic theories existing, they are rarely noticed at all by the people most dissatisfied by current economics? Where are the mega-cities where “Social Credit” is business as usual? Or Distributist Neo-Catholic castles run by Cyborg Clergy? Or A future Indian empire that follows Gandhian economic theory to the letter? “The Dispossessed” by Ursula K Leguin features a planet with an Anarcho-Syndicalist economy, so is a good book to start with if you want to learn more.

4. Human-Animal communication is another trope that, while not really neglected, is not fully explored or criticised as much as it could be. Also, one finds that the animals are made too anthropomorphised in thought and behaviour for it to feel like something that could happen in “Real life”. What would happen to society if we really could reliably and competently understand and communicate with Crows, Whales, Elephants, and of course Cats and Dogs? How exactly would it alter our understanding of the world, and how we interact with animal life? There are already many experiments in animal intelligence and communication that would give the new writer clues about how to tackle this trope “Realistically”.

5. Long distance communication with Aliens is something we should be taking more seriously now that we understand how challenging and painful interstellar travel really is. If the only way we can contact aliens, and vice versa, is via an interstellar zoom meeting, how would we begin understanding each other? How would we deal with the serious time-lag? The only novel I know that deals with this is (Spoiler alert btw) “Star’s reach” by John Michael Greer where it becomes a major theme in the last few chapters.

6. Cities in the sky is popular as a fantastic bit of scenery, but as with the previous entries few seriously examine how or why it could be done, or what it would be like to live in such a place. Also, what would the inhabitants do if something goes wrong with their city’s ability to stay in the sky? Do they have special insurance for when that happens? “Shah Guido G” by Isaac Asimov is the only story I am aware of which comes close to exploring flying cities in the way I mean.

7. Colonisation of Antartica is another idea that should be getting more attention than it does, considering that climate change is going to, at the minimum, make large areas of this continent as habitable as the Arctic. It also would solve many of the problems that people delude themselves into thinking will be solved by colonising Mars or the Moon, such as discovering new sources of minerals, finding extra land for Humanity, etc. Weirdly, as far as I know, the only novels that explore this trope are the “Legend” series by Marie Lu.

8. Tensegrity structures are another technology that has not been used in Sci-Fi, despite it being an interesting idea for architecture and technology (I could see Spider-like Aliens making use of it). Nasa has been exploring it for creating light, cheap yet strong structures for robots, and many people have used it to make novelty “Floating” tables. Yet for the most part it is still confined to its original use, as a sculptural artform. Maybe budding Sci-Fi writers could imagine new ways it could be implemented, or why it won’t be?

9. Substitutes for antibiotics should be a feature in any story set in the future, considering how they are gradually becoming useless. One of the most interesting suggestions is using Bacteriophages, viruses that kill bacteria. UV light-based treatments are another possibility. Apart from exploring how these technologies could be used and improved, novel ideas for antibiotic substitutes should be a goal for many future writers.

10. Perfect “Universal” languages that can be used to describe and analyse all, or most, of human experience with the precision of a mathematical equation is another technology that I would not mind getting at least half the attention that is wasted on AI. The “Requiem for Homo Sapiens” trilogy by David Zindell has one of the best depictions of this trope, the “Universal Syntax” based on three-dimensional glyphs that can be both depicted via computer, visualised using certain meditative techniques and have certain self-ordering qualities like Cellular Automata (See entry number 15). The titular “Glass bead game” by Herman Hesse is another decent depiction of this trope. However, I would suggest reading “In the land of invented languages” by Arika Okrent as she not only talks about early attempts at creating universal languages but explores their subtle flaws that prevented them from being what they claimed to be.

11. Parahumans, beings made via a mixture of human and animal DNA which are informally called “Furries” is probably one of the odder things on this list since they don’t appear to be neglected at all, in fact a very popular trope in a lot of Sci-fi, Fantasy, and (let’s not be coy) strange pornography. However, I added it to the list for the same reason as entries 1, 4 and 6 since they just seem to be added for “Scenery” without a lot of exploration as to why they exist. At best you may get some vapid explanation along the lines of “The government/corporations made them to use as slaves/soldiers” but that handwaves a lot of the significant issues that would surround such an undertaking. For instance, how would creating parahumans to use as slaves be preferable to the traditional method of vilifying and enslaving a different group of human beings? How could you make more than a handful of them, enough to constitute a self-sustaining new species? Why would the Government or society just let you do it, and how would you go about concealing the significant amount of experimentation and industry required to make them? Why would anyone go to the trouble at all? “Beasts” by John Crowley is one of the few books I have read that really explores the issues of this trope.

12. Sea farming is another avenue for writers to explore, since it is likely that intensive farming of the ocean will be a major industry as more and more people look to it not only for food but feedstock for other novel applications such as “Shrilk”, or Seaweed-based cow fodder. It was briefly more popular as a trope, the short story “The road to the sea” by Arthur C. Clarke being the only thing that comes to mind

13. Underwater cities, as with floating cities, are popular as a “Scenery” trope. But as with the previous entries, more could be done to explore the pros and cons of this idea (beyond the obvious), and how it could be done safely and economically, along with what would motivate people to do it. (While we are on the subject of motivation, you may have noticed that a lot of my suggestions are ocean themed. I have a hunch that when, not if, people realise that space is not a realistic or desirable place for humanity to expand into, a lot of people will start projecting their desires for exploration and expansion onto the ocean, which technically would fulfill most of the goals of space colonisation at a fraction of its cost and risk.)

14. Wilsons “Half-earth” plan is not something I personally have a lot of faith in, but it is a relatively novel suggestion so people may as well explore it via fiction. The gist of it is that we should deliberately vacate half the earth so that it can return to nature, while humanity lives in more concentrated areas. One could easily write about the extreme difficulty in carrying out this plan, and the political consequences from having so many displaced people forced together against their will in mega-cities. (Can you tell I am not a fan?)

15. Cellular automata, essentially mathematical patterns derived from units that interact with each other through simple rules to produce complex behaviour, are another novel technology the needs more science-fictional attention, considering their novel capacity to explain certain natural phenomena and their possible relevance for new forms of computation. As far as I am aware “Glory season” by David Brin and the previously mentioned “Requiem for Homo sapiens” by David Zindell are the only novels that includes them, as a kind of game.

16. Plastivore bacteria, both naturally occurring and genetically engineered, will likely play a part in a future dominated by plastic waste. While it would be easy to depict it as a “Deus ex machina” that solves the plastic waste issue, one wonders if such bacteria could start attacking the plastic we don’t want destroyed like the insulating coating on our electrical cables. If plastivore bacteria become a commonplace natural thing, would we need to care for plastic as we do wood by keeping it out of damp, shaded areas and occasionally having to spray it to kill off bacterial infections? Also, what would happen if animals or people start developing plastivore gut-bacteria?

17. The demise of Air travel is another trope that may confuse people, but if you pay attention to the increase cost of buying a plane-trip, and the various scandals and bankruptcies of many Airlines you begin to wonder if it’s just going to go downhill from here. There’s also the fact that there’s still no satisfactory way to power airplanes that are as big and fast as ours without jet-fuel, which is derived from fossil-fuels, which are running out. What would it feel like to know that you may be the last person to fly on a passenger-jet? How would society react to learning that there really is a “Last flight”?

18. The Degradation of the Internet is another thing that needs more attention from writers. It is getting clear that the internet is gradually declining in its ability to provide some of the services people use it for, or maybe even pay for itself. If the internet is unable to provide a decent user experience anymore, will people demand improvement, or will they just give it up? If the internet is unable to sufficiently pay for itself anymore then how would it have to change to be economical again, more pay walling or some kind of tax? Cory Doctorow is the only writer I am aware of you gives it serious attention in fiction.

19. The return of Airships is something that will need to be explored more thoroughly once Entry 17 picks up speed. In particular, some exploration of how to keep Hydrogen airships as safe as possible when Helium is no longer an economical solution will be a priority. Stories that explore individuals or companies trying to build the next generation of Airship may also be a good plotline, you could probably parody the older stories about entrepreneurs trying to build spaceships.

20. The return to dominance of Passenger-ships is another consequence of Entry 17 but is not quite as open to science fictional exploration since they are an established technology with a long history that is still used today, though not as frequently as they used to be. That being said, as with jet fuel, Bunker-oil is a finite resource and so once it goes away either a return to sail or reliance on a new form of motive power will be necessary, which will welcome some kind of science fictional attention. Another theme will be the massive adjustment society will need to make when long-distance becomes slow and somewhat risky again after becoming heavily reliant on quick, relatively safe air-travel not only for luxury trips but serious business.

21. Alternative energy sources that aren’t just nuclear fusion/fission, Solar or Wind could be something else to explore since the “Big 3” are already getting a lot of attention anyway. There’s a surprising amount of lesser-known energy-generation technologies that could be interesting to include in a Sci-Fi novel, from the fairly well known Geothermal and Hydroelectricity to more obscure ones like OTEC, Tribolectric Nanogenerators or Atmospheric electricity

22. The triumph of “Feral” nature, that is the failure of environmental groups and governments to eradicate invasive species and make nature return to some idealised previous state of “Health”, will probably be necessary for disillusioned environmentalists to explore and cope with via fiction. “The new wild” by Fred Pearce is a good non-fiction book that discusses this, along with exploring how the whole “Invasive species are bad” idea is massively exaggerated.

23. Arcologies are essentially buildings that apply ecological principles to architecture to create dense, resource efficient and human-centric cities, basically the pleasant hippy brother to the usual cyberpunk crowded and seedy mega-city. A few prototypes have or are being built, and it is likely that there will be more attempts in the future. Budding Sci-Fi writers may want to try think of ways arcologies could be built and run or explore possible challenges with living in an arcology or maintaining them.

24. Curing, or at least integrating, people with neurological disabilities may be another interesting and useful theme for Sci-Fi to explore, considering the attention this issue has been getting lately. Brain-to-speech devices that translate thought into words is one obvious technology to explore, but other ideas and technologies could be thought of and investigated. The classic trope of cybernetic brain implants that aid intelligence would have a new significance if they were applied to mentally impaired people so they can function normally, rather than normal people who just want function super-normally. “Flowers for Algernon” by Daniel Keyes is the most famous story that depicts this trope.

25. Alternative political structures that aren’t just modifications or parodies of current or previous ones will also be in modest demand as people look for books that imagine alternatives to the political arrangements that no longer seem to work for the vast majority of the world’s citizens. If Democracy replaced Monarchy because of it lacking (most) of its various faults, and solved problems and gave benefits that Monarchy could not, is it not feasible that some unimagined and unrealised new political system could surpass Democracy for the same reasons that Democracy surpassed Monarchy? A case could be made that answering this question is a task just as difficult but far more useful for Humanity to solve than more fashionable quests such as Asteroid mining or proving String theory.

26. Urban ecology, the study of how the natural world exists within urban areas like cities, may offer interesting avenues of thought for the Sci-Fi writer. For instance, assuming that humanity and its cities continue to exist for the next few million years, is it not reasonable to expect that evolution will do its thing and modify animals and plants to better adapt to this novel environmental niche? Shall not Nature craft Ferns that are better able to conquer concrete, Pigeons better adapted for living on skyscrapers, Rats more specialised for living in sewers?

27. “Amistics”, a term that the great Neal Stephenson coined for the practice of deliberately and consciously choosing and rejecting technologies based upon whether they help or hinder personal values, as the terms namesake the Amish do, rather than passively and haphazardly accepting whatever technologies are already around you, is another idea that Sci-Fi could (Ironically?) focus on. Let’s be honest, many of the technologies we use every day have negative effects upon our lives, such as the internet’s tendency to distract and numb the mind, or the car’s tendency to kill animals and people, etc. Rather than just accept the technologies around you because everyone else uses them, one could be more discerning and investigate whether the technologies help or hinder your true values and goals. For example, a health-enthusiast may decide to deliberately reject some labour-saving devices in favour of older machines that require a bit of muscle to use, in order to gain more exercise in their daily lives. Surprisingly, there are a few books I am aware of that discus this idea, including the previously mentioned “Requiem for Homo Sapiens” trilogy, “Dune” by Frank Herbert, and the novel in which Neal Stephenson introduces us to Amistics, “Seveneves”.

28. Unconventional computing, that is computing that relies on hardware that is not based on the usual digital, electronic, semiconductor-based technology we normally associate with computers could be a novel alternative to the usual “Robots and AI” that people usually rely on when they want to write about computer technology in Sc-Fi. To be fair, there are a few books that use this theme such as Steampunk with its advanced mechanical computers, but as with the other tropes it could still do with more exploration. For example, if a new method of computation was developed that was superior to the usual digital semiconductor method, how would we implement it at a mass scale when the world is so entrenched and dependent on the older technology? How would we replace so many devices and retool so many factories to make devices with the new method?

29. Underground cities will likely make something of a modest comeback as global warming encourages people to find cheaper ways to stay cool, which living underground does wonderfully. However, to do it on a modern scale with modern expectations may provide ample inspiration for Sci-Fi writers to imagine some new solutions, or at least unforeseen problems.

30. New uses for nuclear waste would be a more profitable venture than continuing to waste money on new nuclear power stations, so it is odd that little has been done to imagine ideas for doing so. Nuclear waste can still produce enough heat that a Stirling or maybe Steam engine could be run on it. And in the past trace amounts of Uranium were used to give glass a yellowish-green tinge.

I can no longer think of anything else to add to this already quite long list, and I am sick of adding links, but if any other ideas come to me, I shall probably write a sequel. In the meantime, I feel that I must clarify a few things before finishing this essay.

Firstly, I should emphasise that I have nothing against the standard tropes of Sci-Fi in terms of pure entertainment or thematic value. There is nothing wrong with writing stories about Robots and Spaceships any more than there’s anything wrong with writing about Wizards, Matrons of a Noble estate, or Private investigators if the only thing you are concerned with is writing an entertaining story that appeals to a large amount of people. But when a genre of literature becomes too obsessed with certain specific tropes or character-types it weakens its ability to entertain, and trying to subvert or twist standard tropes in order to make things interesting again only lasts for so long. Eventually it is necessary to invent something new again, and I think Sci-fi has is will soon reach this point.

Secondly, Sci-Fi has a responsibility and influence that other forms of literature don’t, which is that it creates the public’s perceptions and expectations of what technology and the future should, or will, be like. Much of the progress, and also the problems, that we have in the world today originate from the way Sci-Fi has influenced the imaginations of countless people, causing them to accept and support things they otherwise would not have. Furthermore, Sci-fi has the habit of constantly boasting about how it has the power to create, imagine and predict the Future, which has been the case fairly often so long as it maintains sufficient connection with reality.

It is this last caveat that is the centre of the problem that I tried to explain at the start of this essay, which is that Sci-Fi has invested itself too much in ideas that Science suggests are not realistic. This would not matter if Sci-fi was considered as nothing more than Fantasy, but as it is instead, more or less, the creator of the public’s expectations of Technology and the Future, its constant espousing of ideas that do not accord with reality have both distorted the publics ability to think about the world, and undermined not only Sci-Fi’s Credibility, but Science’s. If the wonderous world of Android servants, Alien worlds, and post-scarcity economy continues to not exist, then why pay serious attention to Sci-fi writers who continue to predict it? And far more seriously, if Science, who the Public expected to bring this glorious future to fruition and so respects and funds it largely due to this expectation, makes it evident that it is completely unable to create this wonderful future, then why should the Public pay it the attention and money it usually gets? It is likely that the rise of Anti-Science sentiment that’s becoming common in the West stems from this fact.

This is why I suggest Sci-fi should turn its focus away from some of the ideas of its pioneering but ignorant ancestors and pay more attention to what we now know is realistic and possible, instead of trying to think of convoluted ways to make the fantasies of pulp-fiction writers become real by “torturing” Science. Or at the barest minimum give the tired Cliches a rest and try torturing Science into making Cities in the sky and Furries seem more sensible and inevitable than they actually are.