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Content
Is God A Scientist? By Ang
One of our biology professors recently took part in a debate against a professor of theology. The topic? "Is God a Delusion." He sent an email beforehand asking for volunteers to come along and support his atheistic view.
I find this sort of forced conflict between "science" and "religion" vaguely depressing. There's no way that the fundamentalists on either side will be able "convert" their opponents and most moderates on either side can comfortably accommodate the difference between faith and proof. In the best case you have two sides as far away from the other and the worst? You have, however unintentionally, validated the scientific claim of the theologian, and the moral claims of the scientist.
I didn't go.
Is There Anything Worth Reading? By Jane
Ah, the science fiction section of my local bookshop. Now, what’s on offer? A fantasy trilogy? I don’t think so. I’ve read that one already. And that one. And that one. Another weighty tome from the bloke who writes incomprehensible novels over a-thousand pages long. Terry Pratchett, Terry Pratchett, Terry Pratchett. Yet another fantasy trilogy. Doctor Who tie-in. Star Trek tie-in. StarGate tie-in. Novelisation of latest science fiction film which was pants even in the cinema. But wait, a book I haven’t read by someone I haven’t tried before! “The only way to save the world is for McBrade to travel to the ends of space and time”: Not original, but we’re getting desperate now. Oh, hang on; “Second in the Flabbybuster trilogy”. Oh, forheavenssake! Perhaps there’s something worth reading in the children’s section…
Shall We Take The Bus? By Kay
Bus travel in London accounts for 44% of all bus use in England. Why? Because the majority of passengers are under 17 or over 60 and travel for free.
Why shouldn’t all public transport be free? As London shows, removing the cost of travel increases the number of passengers.
Road users pay between £0 and £300 a year car tax. They don’t pay for the use of the roads, these are provided for them by the government. Public transport users, who are often the poorer members of society have to pay for the use of their buses and trains every time they travel. Is this fair?
We should re-nationalise the bus and train industries, and pay for them through taxation. Travel on buses and trains would be free. There would be booking systems in place to allocate seats on popular long distance services but there would be no charge for the journey.
1984: SF or Not? By James
Was George Orwell really a science fiction writer? To say that 1984 is a work of science fiction is surely like saying Animal Farm is an agricultural tale. Orwell used a dystopian future to try and warn readers of the despair that a totalitarian system might bring upon us. Did he write a science fiction novel, or is that a label we apply to verify the genre as being that of great worth? “Every line of serious work that I have written since 1936 has been written, directly or indirectly, against totalitarianism and for democratic socialism, as I understand it.” George Orwell.
What Is Science Fiction? By James
Damon Knight is quoted when attempting to describe the genre of science fiction by saying, "Science fiction is what we point to when we say it". Is one to assume then that he would have held up a book and said, here, this Heinlein novel is science fiction, as an example, for I do. So why is it oft that science fiction afficionados use the quote in a supercilious context as some smart arsed explanation of what the genre is, without the common courtesy to actually make an effort to describe the literature of ideas?
Is SF Relevant? By Chris
In my pocket I've got a video phone. Its not as nifty as the watch-sized device used by Dick Tracy but it's still something that would have been classed as SF even as little as ten years ago. Through my phone's email I can send messages to anywhere in the world and presumably into space if I had the ISS's email address. At home I can read the world's great literature and the latest science research on my PC. All for free on a world wide computer network.
When I was kid these were staple ideas of the SF I read, and filled me with wonder. Today we take them for granted. In a world so rich with technological marvels that we don't notice until they don't work, is SF still relevant as a genre?
Are Comics For Kids?
By James
Alan Moore's Watchmen comic is often called a novel, yet we call any trashy book a novel. The significance here is that the work in question is a comic. The reason science fiction fans like comics is not because the fantasy world of super heroes is actually a science fictional concept, rather readers of literature works in the genre of SF are open minded to concepts, ides and multifaceted stories working on many levels and can see through simpleminded generalisations such as comics are just for kids.
So Where Is The Mundane Manifesto Now? By James
Has it crawled back up the fissure it came from? Do you, dear reader, even know about the big fuss that this new movement has made, no? Do you know what the mundanists wanted apart from mundanity of course, er in their science fiction? No? Oh well, that's no surprise, it was a stupid idea anyhow. Trying to create a movement that said no to space colonies but yes to Phillip K Dick and no to alternate Hitlers and yes to 1984. Any reader with half a brain would see these manifestationists needed to work on their concept and stop pretending to be the genesis of a a broken down movement. Actually don't worry about it, just go read a cracking good SF story. There's a bloke and a girl at a book stall in the book room now who may be able to even recommend such a thing. Go now, be spontaneous, be open minded, be imaginative - burn the mundanists! Ask em if they can recommend a cracking good read...
Confessions of a Fake Fan By Meike
It’s time to come clean. I’ve been living a lie all these years.
First I used to hang out with Doctor Who fans, although being German, I hadn’t seen that many episodes, and I wasn’t gay, or even male. I’m still not quite sure how I got away with that one. Then I went to other media cons, even though I have never had any desire to dress up in costumes or memorise episode titles. Then I started going to Eastercons, although I didn’t really read SF or had any interest in Science. But here’s the thing - I like fandom. I’ve met interesting, intelligent people, along with the odd weirdos, and above all I had fun! Though there were fewer wild hot tub parties along the way than I was led to believe by my first ever con almost 25 years ago.
Should Fans Win Hugos? By James
Why do professionals, semi professionals and pretentious hacks bemoan that Fan writers and Fanzines get Hugos. Its a disgrace. The Hugos are run, funded, managed and are presented in what has to be considered a magnificent extravaganza by a bunch of hobbyists. Those hobysists are science fiction fans. While undertaking this hugely altruistic task they also take the time to recognise some of their own, for their altruistic efforts albeit in a differnt part of the hobby. Whats wrong with that. Its a sense of proprietary and benevolence that the professional back biting world doesn't understand and could never even consider, so they don't. They just leave em off their list, or their blog and pretend they don't exist. Yet I go and buy their books or read their edited work.
