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<\/a><\/div>\nA post on science fiction and religion? Don\u2019t mind if I do! (And how apropos to find this on the day when, according to Amazon, my new copy of Michael Flynn\u2019s Eifelheim<\/em><\/a> is out for delivery).<\/p>\n Long story short, Steve Davidson of Grasping for the Wind<\/a> wrote a post<\/a> explaining why he thinks that \u201cReligion, at its core, is a concept antithetical to the core concepts of science fiction.\u201d He gives a fuller explanation at the site, complete with examples, but I\u2019ve tried to capture the gist of it in the blockquote below:<\/p>\n Science fiction \u2013 all of it \u2013 is founded on the premise that science (observation, fact, hypothesis and theory) is the fundamental underpinning of all that is and all that ever will be.<\/p>\n Religion on the other hand, putting the best possible face on it, wants us to believe that science has its place (is even useful at times) but is subordinate to some higher power that can flaunt science\u2019s reason and logic whenever and wherever it so chooses, without requiring explanation.<\/p>\n How can these two NOT be at odds within works that begin with the premise that science works?<\/p>\n \u2026If you dig deep enough in any work of science fiction that includes religious elements, you will find that where the two interact, religion always comes off second best, and I don\u2019t see how it could be otherwise.<\/p>\n Science fiction is the expression of the triumph of reason, logic and the tenets of the scientific method over a mysterious and little understood universe.<\/p>\n At its core, religion holds the view that there IS an answer to everything (no matter how convoluted or dissatisfying the answer may be ).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n As a scifi fan in good standing, I don\u2019t buy this definition. \u00a0To begin with, science fiction is not conventionally understood to be about charting the unambiguous success of science. \u00a0If it were, Dresden Codak\u2019s \u201cCaveman Science Fiction<\/a>\u201d cartoon (excerpted at top) wouldn\u2019t be so instantly recognizable and so funny. \u00a0Science fiction can be about human limitations and, yes, even about the limitations of logic and reason. \u00a0I can wait here while you try Eliezer Yudkowsky\u2019s Three Worlds Collide<\/a>.<\/p>\n I don\u2019t think of science fiction as the victory lap of the geeks. \u00a0To me, it\u2019s fascinating because it\u2019s the continuation of philosophy by other means. \u00a0Science fiction takes humans (or reasoning beings sufficiently close for some sense of kinship) and puts them under strange new stresses. \u00a0Science fiction (and fantasy) take us out of ourselves<\/em>. \u00a0They let us think about our relationships with others, our duties, what telos <\/em>we have in an environment with the power to jolt us out of our cached thoughts<\/a>.<\/p>\n
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