Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Science Fiction Is Dying. Long Live Post Sci-Fi?

typebarmagazine.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 116 posts

Re: Science Fiction Is Dying. Long Live Post Sci-Fi?

#11

Post by mosura »

MarkusQ wrote: post #6

I would really like to be able to read something and find out that it's about whatever it said it was going to be about, and not bait to trick me into hearing about the author's 1) politics, 2) sexuality, 3) AI use or 4) investment grift.

The fact this reflects the subject matter in question is an irony surely lost on the author as well.

Political tedium aside a major factor in the decline of scifi is we live in the future, only it is not the future people were being excited about. As many creatives put it they wanted machines to do the chores and them to do the art, not the other way around.

Re: Science Fiction Is Dying. Long Live Post Sci-Fi?

#13

Post by api »

arcticfox wrote: post #8

I have a hard time reading sci-fi these days because the rapid advances of AI have altered or closed off entirely a lot of the futures that I would find most interesting. I have a hard time seeing much other than computers in the future. Maybe stories like the Hyperion Cantos with the AIs in the TechnoCore largely fighting amongst themselves over the future of humanity are still intersting to me.

Sci-fi is always about the future, or some possible future or alternate world, as imagined in the time it was written, and I think it has to be read that way. It's always about both the present (when it was written) and the future.

It's basically fantasy except the magic is, to varying degrees, rooted in real science and physics. There is of course the whole hard/soft sci-fi continuum that determines just how rooted it is, with soft sci-fi being pure fantasy with sci-fi veneer and hard sci-fi being fantasy that's physically plausible.

As actual science and technology advances and as society changes what we imagine will change. Sci-fi imagined today will either deal with AI and what AI is really shaping up to look like or it will imagine futures where AI has been abandoned for some reason (like Dune).

Re: Science Fiction Is Dying. Long Live Post Sci-Fi?

#14

Post by operatingthetan »

arcticfox wrote: post #8

I have a hard time reading sci-fi these days because the rapid advances of AI have altered or closed off entirely a lot of the futures that I would find most interesting. I have a hard time seeing much other than computers in the future. Maybe stories like the Hyperion Cantos with the AIs in the TechnoCore largely fighting amongst themselves over the future of humanity are still intersting to me.

Iain Banks still reigns supreme. Throw a couple LLMs in a chat together and they sound similar to his conversations between intelligences (particularly in Excession).

Re: Science Fiction Is Dying. Long Live Post Sci-Fi?

#15

Post by JoeAltmaier »

api wrote: post #10

Good sci-fi has always been few and far between. I love sci-fi, but I also dislike a lot of it because a lot of it's not well written from a prose craft or character depth point of view. When it is, it's probably my favorite genre. I feel like we're lucky to get one outstanding sci-fi book or series per decade. I'll rattle off some notable books and films/TV (or in some cases both) from the last 20 years. Some of the…

99 percent of everything is crap. SF is no worse than anything else?

Re: Science Fiction Is Dying. Long Live Post Sci-Fi?

#16

Post by rockskon »

TomasBjartur wrote: post #4

It's a very interesting time to write science fiction. A lot of the greats are very dismissive of modern AI. So there is a lot of room to write things pertinent to the current moment.

From a purely economic standpoint, AI is its own worst enemy. Quicker to produce books made even cheaper and even automate-able?

You could have AI generate the next Shakespeare and you'll almost certainly never get noticed amidst the flood of competing books.

Re: Science Fiction Is Dying. Long Live Post Sci-Fi?

#17

Post by operatingthetan »

api wrote: post #13
arcticfox wrote: post #8

I have a hard time reading sci-fi these days because the rapid advances of AI have altered or closed off entirely a lot of the futures that I would find most interesting. I have a hard time seeing much other than computers in the future. Maybe stories like the Hyperion Cantos with the AIs in the TechnoCore largely fighting amongst themselves over the future of humanity are still intersting to me.

Sci-fi is always about the future, or some possible future or alternate world, as imagined in the time it was written, and I think it has to be read that way. It's always about both the present (when it was written) and the future. It's basically fantasy except the magic is, to varying degrees, rooted in real science and physics. There is of course the whole hard/soft sci-fi continuum that determines just how rooted…

>Sci-fi is always about the future, or some possible future or alternate world, as imagined in the time it was written, and I think it has to be read that way. It's always about both the present (when it was written) and the future.

In other words, it allows writers to talk about culture with a technological flair. It's still valuable later because it was really about the culture. The tech also enables wild scenarios, that often come true later on.

Re: Science Fiction Is Dying. Long Live Post Sci-Fi?

#18

Post by TomasBjartur »

arcticfox wrote: post #8

I have a hard time reading sci-fi these days because the rapid advances of AI have altered or closed off entirely a lot of the futures that I would find most interesting. I have a hard time seeing much other than computers in the future. Maybe stories like the Hyperion Cantos with the AIs in the TechnoCore largely fighting amongst themselves over the future of humanity are still intersting to me.

I agree. But lots can be written about the future of computers. It's worth trying. Writing is fun at least!

Re: Science Fiction Is Dying. Long Live Post Sci-Fi?

#19

Post by TomasBjartur »

rockskon wrote: post #16
TomasBjartur wrote: post #4

It's a very interesting time to write science fiction. A lot of the greats are very dismissive of modern AI. So there is a lot of room to write things pertinent to the current moment.

From a purely economic standpoint, AI is its own worst enemy. Quicker to produce books made even cheaper and even automate-able? You could have AI generate the next Shakespeare and you'll almost certainly never get noticed amidst the flood of competing books.

I wrote a story about this: https://tomasbjartur.substack.com/p/that-mad-olympiad

Re: Science Fiction Is Dying. Long Live Post Sci-Fi?

#20

Post by operatingthetan »

rockskon wrote: post #16
TomasBjartur wrote: post #4

It's a very interesting time to write science fiction. A lot of the greats are very dismissive of modern AI. So there is a lot of room to write things pertinent to the current moment.

From a purely economic standpoint, AI is its own worst enemy. Quicker to produce books made even cheaper and even automate-able? You could have AI generate the next Shakespeare and you'll almost certainly never get noticed amidst the flood of competing books.

It's fun to talk to an LLM yourself, but when I come upon someone else's output my eyes glaze over. I'm fine if an author uses AI to help them outline the book, brainstorm ideas, but I want the actual book to be written by a person.
Post reply on HN