10-26-2013, 04:30 PM
(10-26-2013, 04:22 PM)stevebowers Wrote: My take on transhumanism is that it is inevitable, unless our civilisation suffers a total and irrevocable collapse; but it is not guaranteed to be a good thing.
One reason to write science fiction and political utopian/dystopian fiction in general is to warn against potential dangers in the future. Works like Brave New World, 1984, We by Yevgeny Zamyatin, and examples of dystopian SF such as The Machine Stops and With Folded Hands all give examples of pitfalls to be avoided, and have been very influential. With a large and diverse setting like OA we can explore all the dystopian scenarios as well as the utopian, and perhaps suggest where high-tech societies can go wrong as well as where they can go right.
I have actually read a fairly recent dystopian take on transhumanism (and a lot of other social aspects) that also utilizes some of the tech seen in OA, that was another one of the reasons I got to thinking I might write something. The author was clearly as chilled as I am about certain aspects, and in their case pretty much went to battle. While I agreed with a good bit of what he said and did, I was not in agreement with all of his social premises and found myself thinking there might be a different way I could approach it if I were to write something.