From the Notebook

 

            There are science fictions that are based on science and there are science fictions that are not supported by science.  Originally there were people who write stories that filled with imaginations based on new and established theories.  Many turned out predicted what happened later.  But fictions need to have story lines, so many science heavy books may not be fascinating for the readers, and more so for the science fiction films. 

            In fact, most of the science fiction films are not so much different from general story telling, only that the back drops have some science fiction elements.  But there are many fictions that are based on misunderstanding of the science development, and created new fantasies that can never be realized.  As a results, it often spread ignorance, not knowledge, even love for knowledge.   

            Science fictions may lead people to be interested in science, after experience the magical world of science, and often science fictions are used as a tool to expose and provoke us to think about the problems within our society.  But very often science fiction films become a form of entertainment by toying with the tendency of the fear about the unknown, and turned out reinforcing many misunderstanding. 

            It is obvious that science fiction ought to push the limit of science, but can we call it science fiction if the fiction is clearly against known scientific principle and common logic, while serving no particular social purpose?  For example, time machine has often been a recurring theme in science fiction.  But it is a fantasy that is not supported by science and against common logic.  It probably all started with Einstein’s relativity theory.  But what this theory actually said is that difference in time could occur for different observers, not for participants.

            Time is an internal concept that does not exist as matters in the world (Emmanuel Kant’s had explained it in “Critiques of Pure Reason”, I will write more about time, space and matter in my later post).  As one see the world, one is setting the time for the world.   So, in this sense, a person in the world as one knew is not an observer but the creator of time, so, reserving time is not possible.

            Time is related to space, and space is also an internal concept similar to time.  As everyone internalized the space, there is a space with each of the individuals.   However, they are not parallel, as they are all bound by the existence in the outer world.  So, the theory of parallel universe is also not creditable. 

            There are also misunderstandings about matters as well.  In the movie “Star Trek”, the space ship was drawn to the black hole, but magically escaped.  But how a space ship can escape and all the humans and machines were intact?  It is simply impossible.  If not even light can escape the black hole (that is why it is called black hole, then nothing can escape black hole, and the intense gravity of the black hole will crash anything that was drawn to it).

            These are only a small portion of the problems.  Many so called science fiction films are not only against scientific principles and common logic, the underlining message is often against science and social development.   Although the imaginations may be going even outside of the world of actual science, the imaginations about social structure is actually very lacking.  Many of the science fictions movies drawn heavily from the social reality of the past, many went back far in history, provided us the strange combination of advanced technology under ancient social structure, this inevitable provide a gleam prediction for the future.   We can find many examples, such as star war movies, or “Star Trek”.

            It is quite a contradiction.  The year’s phenomenon “Avatar” heavily relies on technology while seems to deliver a message that is rather against technology.  In the movie “Land of lost”, the harsh reality of historical societies was revealed to certain degree.  But it is not so in “Avatar”.  In the effort against colonialism and Imperialism, many had idealized many “indigent cultures”.   Modern sentiments longing for simpler life also contributed the tendency to romanticize the past. 

            Technology first and foremost makes things possible.  But what to do with technology and how society will develop is ultimately determined by human beings.   Although history has not progressed in a straight line, the overall impact of technology development is not only improvement on living condition, but also social advances.  But improvement does not happen automatically, it requires constant, conscious, collective efforts of the individuals. The first step is the awareness and correct identification of the problems.

            On this note, I found the movie “District 9” seems to strike the right note.  “District 9” is a good example of a social drama in the back drop of science fictional themes.  By introducing the fictional scenario into the mix, it accurately revealed the complicity of the global reality.  Unlike “Avatar”, it did not romanticized the reality of “indigent culture”.  The conflicts between the individuals, and the profit focusing corporation, the indifference modern society, and gangsters with ancient mystical believes not only provide action sequences, twists and turns of the storyline, it also makes us reflect on the reality of our global society. 

            The task of artistic creation is not actually find solution for our social problems, but it often leads us to ask the right questions.  In this sense, “District 9” not only did well, but it could as well over performed, while “Avatar” seems to be misleading.  We certainly cannot go back in time in order to fix all our problems (not even environmental problems), and no gods ancient or modern can save us unless we save ourselves.  As illustrated by “District 9”, the fundamental problem in the modern society is individual indifference.  We might think the problem is not ours until it is too late.  In the conflicts between society and individuals, we ought to realize that society is collection of individuals, and the solution is everyone should treat the problems of each and every individual as if it is our own, because it could turn out to be. 

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