Science Fiction and Politics
Jul. 30th, 2004 05:16 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kallistiiTime after time, people have tried to define what makes Science Fiction different from any other type of literature. Sometimes, people try and define it as a Sense of Wonder. But many other types of literature can claim that; Fantasy, and Adventure stories, to name two. No, what it really comes down to is one phrase..."What if?"
"What if" does not only define the literature of Science Fiction, but it is the phrase behind many of the great breakthroughs in science and technology. This technology that we are using right now is firmly based upon that phrase. What if we could connect people in a massively redundant way (ARPAnet); What if we could send messages and files back and forth across that network (email, ftp); What if we can make that information easily available (gopher); What if we can search that content (archie); What if we combined ftp, gopher and archie in a graphical and easy to use way (World Wide Web).
But it is not just these days that the phrase "What if?" has pushed humans to greatness. Galileo asked himself "What if I point this pair of shaped glass pieces that allows me to see things in the distance at the night sky?" Christopher Columbus asked "What if the World is round?" The Wright Brothers ask "What if we use scientific methods to figure out how to fly?" and a President of the US named John F. Kennedy asked "What if we can go to the Moon before the end of this decade?"
JFK was the last US President to embrace "What if?", but last night, we saw a person who can become the next President to embrace "What if?"
"And now it's our time to ask: What if?
What if we find a breakthrough to cure Parkinson's, diabetes, Alzheimer's and AIDs? What if we have a president who believes in science, so we can unleash the wonders of discovery like stem cell research to treat illness and save millions of lives?
What if we do what adults should do -- and make sure all our children are safe in the afternoons after school? And what if we have a leadership that's as good as the American dream -- so that bigotry and hatred never again steal the hope and future of any American?"
- John F. Kerry
As a person who holds both Canadian and American citizenship, I feel that this is an important point in history, as we have been playing catch up with the world as it changes faster than we have...and we can do it by asking "What if?" we can become proactive, not reactive. Now is not the time to be conservative, or to be afraid of change, now is the time to ride the tiger, otherwise, it will run us over.
ttyl
Farrell
"What if" does not only define the literature of Science Fiction, but it is the phrase behind many of the great breakthroughs in science and technology. This technology that we are using right now is firmly based upon that phrase. What if we could connect people in a massively redundant way (ARPAnet); What if we could send messages and files back and forth across that network (email, ftp); What if we can make that information easily available (gopher); What if we can search that content (archie); What if we combined ftp, gopher and archie in a graphical and easy to use way (World Wide Web).
But it is not just these days that the phrase "What if?" has pushed humans to greatness. Galileo asked himself "What if I point this pair of shaped glass pieces that allows me to see things in the distance at the night sky?" Christopher Columbus asked "What if the World is round?" The Wright Brothers ask "What if we use scientific methods to figure out how to fly?" and a President of the US named John F. Kennedy asked "What if we can go to the Moon before the end of this decade?"
JFK was the last US President to embrace "What if?", but last night, we saw a person who can become the next President to embrace "What if?"
"And now it's our time to ask: What if?
What if we find a breakthrough to cure Parkinson's, diabetes, Alzheimer's and AIDs? What if we have a president who believes in science, so we can unleash the wonders of discovery like stem cell research to treat illness and save millions of lives?
What if we do what adults should do -- and make sure all our children are safe in the afternoons after school? And what if we have a leadership that's as good as the American dream -- so that bigotry and hatred never again steal the hope and future of any American?"
- John F. Kerry
As a person who holds both Canadian and American citizenship, I feel that this is an important point in history, as we have been playing catch up with the world as it changes faster than we have...and we can do it by asking "What if?" we can become proactive, not reactive. Now is not the time to be conservative, or to be afraid of change, now is the time to ride the tiger, otherwise, it will run us over.
ttyl
Farrell
