1. Haylie, Steven, and Sarah… LET’S FINISH THESE PRESENTATIONS! 

2. Intro. to Science Fiction
- as a genre
* Please have out your notebooks and a writing utensil.

3. Purpose of science fiction?
“Science fiction allows us to understand and experience our past, present, and future in terms of an imagined future.” 
Kathryn Cramer, The Ascent of Wonder (1994)

4. Many Definitions The “What If” genre
Speculative fiction – stories / philosophical & literary
Futuristic
Impact of Technology and Science

5. Sci Fi - Fantasy Relationship with the principles of science.
Grounded in a scientific basis.
No scientific background.
Magical and mythical / supernatural creatures exist.
May actually happen – is possible
Can never happen – no grounding in reality

6. Trending Components - Futuristic Settings Outer Space Alien Life-forms
Discovery of new technologies
Discovery of new Science impacting our life – the human element
Time-Travel

7. 20th Century Sci-Fi Examples
Pulp Magazines
Isaac Asimov (Robot Series)
Hollywood and Science Fiction movies in the 30s
“The Twilight Zone”
Kurt Vonnegut (Slaughterhouse 5)
Aldous Huxley (Brave New World)
More negative towards technology
More focused on consequences

8. Brave New World
By Aldous Huxley
Introduction Lecture

9. Brave New World
Portrays a society that has been socially engineered for a mindless happiness.
No need for a totalitarian state because everyone is so “amused” and entertained by sex and drugs.
Technology drives the culture and takes away one’s humanity
A critique of consumerism, technology worship, mass media hypnotism 3

10. Brave New World
Human beings are treated like different model cars trundling off the Ford assembly line.
Babies are bred in bottles for designated roles in society comparable
The family is seen as unnecessary and revolting. 3

11. Genre: Dystopia Utopia:
an ideal society possessing a perfect social and political system
Dystopia:
a society where the condition of life is extremely bad, as from deprivation, oppression, or terror
Often futuristic
Often under the guise of being a utopia
Often totalitarian 1

12. The Twilight Zone
Number Twelve Looks Just Like You