Should we be celebrating Science Fiction Day in an age driven by an ever-redacting AI, patronising algorithms, and censorship in speech?
The truth, they say, is stranger than fiction. It can certainly be uglier. In the case of science fiction – both in literature and the visual arts (film, TV, gaming) – we often see it presented as something epic, grand, spectacular and beyond merely fantastical. Like when the apes discover the giant techno monolith in Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. But for the most part, and particularly of late, sci-fi has been painted as dystopian, dark, monster-ish, and generally rather scary.
Science fiction – at its core – explores the impact of imagined scientific and technological developments on individuals, societies, and the future, blending speculative ideas with human concerns.
In literature, the genre has long been a space for writers to ask “what if?” questions, using advanced technology, space travel, artificial intelligence, and altered realities to examine ethics, power, identity, and survival.
Classic works often focus on big ideas and social commentary (think Orwell’s 1984), while modern science fiction frequently blends these themes with character-driven storytelling and diverse perspectives (all them comic-book-turned-filmic-adaption franchises).
In film and television, science fiction becomes a highly visual experience, bringing futuristic worlds, alien species, and advanced technologies to life through special effects and world-building. These media often emphasise spectacle alongside emotional stakes, making complex ideas accessible to wide audiences.
Television series allow for extended exploration of sci-fi concepts over time, while films tend to focus on singular, high-impact narratives.
In gaming, sci-fi (strictly not to be confused with fantasy) is especially immersive, allowing players to actively participate in futuristic settings, and to make choices and influence outcomes within imagined worlds.
Today is apparently Science Fiction Day – where good geeks the world over (possibly with too much time on their hands) honour a genre that celebrates the individual and collective imaginations, and ponders what could be. Ironically enough, we now live in a world where many concepts that were once deemed ‘science fiction’ are an astonishing reality. A world where algorithms shape what we watch and do while fooling us into thinking we’re the ones doing the selecting, in which AI software appears to be run by a totalitarian-like censorship board, and while we are governed by ever-imposing surveillance everywhere we go and pushed into adopting a globalised currency that could be controlled by anyone but you.
Of course, sci-fi turned reality is excellent and necessary when it services communities, states, nations for the good and not just for dictatorial and greedy commercial gain, and so long as the machine doesn’t get too big for its digitised boots.
But we digress. Across all forms, science fiction remains a powerful genre because it reflects not only imagined planes and spaces of existence but real-world hopes, fears, and questions about progress, using the future as a mirror for the present, and the present as a kind of spooky manifestation of ideas past.
Happy Science Fiction Day, all the same. Now go off and feel it for reals.
A GALLERY OF BEAUTIFULLY ILLUSTRATED SCI-FI FILM ART:
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