My last essay, “Will Humanity Ever Give Up Its Faith in Irrational Beliefs?” generated a good discussion on Facebook. It showed that science fiction readers regard the concepts promoted by science fiction in diverse ways. To some, science fiction is only entertaining stories, no more or less. For others, science fiction explores possible inventions and events that fans want to come about in the future.
I was surprised when my friend Mike texted me the following statement:
Mike later said, “I’ve always thought that if I was a fantasy writer and someone started talking about what separates fantasy from science fiction I would have to call bullshit.”
This surprised me. I’ve known Mike for forty years and we’ve always talked about science fiction. I assumed he was like me and thought some of the concepts in science fiction might be plausible someday.
It was then I realized that I had been a science fiction true believer. If you haven’t read The True Believer by Eric Hoffer, I highly recommend it. It came out in 1951, the year I was born and is about the kind of people who cause mass movements. I’ve always thought of science fiction as a mass movement, and not just escapist literature. True believers are often seen as fanatics, but any person who believes in a philosophy or cause with complete faith. I always thought science fiction promoted certain futures and warned us against other futures.
I assume that ardent science fiction fans were also true believers in the possibilities that science fiction explored. The discussion on Facebook made me realize that there are many SF readers that aren’t true believers. I used to be a science fiction true believer and Robert A. Heinlein was my prophet and guru.
I started first grade the month before Sputnik went into orbit and graduated the 12th grade the month before Apollo 11 landed on the Moon. I also grew up with science fiction, rock music, the counterculture, and mind-altering drugs. We thought it was both the dawn of the Age of Aquarius and the dawn of the space age. Maybe I was a dumbass, but I grew up believing that the following things would eventually come true:
- We would colonize the solar system, especially the Moon and Mars
- We would eventually colonize the galaxy given enough time
- We would create self-aware sentient robots
- We would create human clones
- We would meet other intelligent species from other star systems
- We would create a sustainable ecological society
- We would expand our lifespans dramatically
- We would develop suspended animation
- We would uplift other species like dogs, chimps, and dolphins
- We would build self-sustainable space colonies
- We would develop faster-than-light travel
- We would send off generation ships
- We would create artificial life
- We would create virtual worlds
- We would copy our personalities into robots, clones, and digital worlds
- We would evolve into posthumans and transhumans
- We would make SETI contact with aliens
- We would accelerate our IQs
- We would have artificial eyes
- We would become cyborgs
The list could go on and on. I say if you think that many of the items on this list are possible then you’re probably a science fiction true believer too. I didn’t believe in time travel or matter transmitters would ever be possible, but I’d guess there are those who did.
The trouble is, as I got older, I believed in less and less, until I’m an atheist to my own beliefs. The young me was full of hope, and the old me is full of doubt. And what I’m realizing from the Facebook discussion is many science fiction fans never were true believers. I’m surprised at that.
Years ago, when an early experimental rocket from SpaceX took off and landed on its thrusters, science fiction writer Jerry Pournelle said, “It’s the way God and Heinlein intended rockets to land.” And that resonated deeply because people who grokked that quote were fans of Robert A. Heinlein and grew up reading his books believing that the technology described in his stories could be invented someday.
I discovered Heinlein in 1964 and read the twelve Scribner juveniles that year. By the end of 1965 I had read nearly all his adult work. I was twelve and thirteen and I thought over my lifetime I would see many of Heinlein’s science fictional visions come true. I’m now seventy-two, and I’ve seen a few things come true, but I don’t hold out for much more anymore. I don’t know if my skepticism is caused by old age, or just learning more about science and the way the world works..
Evidently, my buddy Mike wasn’t as gullible as I was.
Am I wrong in assuming that other science fiction fans were true believers too? Are you a true believer, or were you a true believer?
James Wallace Harris, 9/4/24
