<< At a 'fiction' convention, >>
I know science fiction (SF) has gotten the "sci-fi" bad name because of all
the non-"hard" science fiction written now. I'm talking about what Ben Bova
and Stanley Schmidt (Analog) describes about sci-fi : non-science fantasy
and mystical stories or stories that would not collapse even if all the
science was taken out. I might tell people I write amateur SF or actually
say "hard science fiction. " I don't want myself to be associated with
sci-fi. On the other hand, look at the cover of the current Extropy and tell
me that's not appealing to New Agers. So, what's the big deal? Lets have a
booth at a Star Trek or science fiction convention.
<<extropy
might seem like a 'nice thought' as opposed to an active philosophy. If we
want extropianism to be publicized, we want it to be done seriously...>>
I lot of people take science fiction seriously, esp. Star Trek.
<and well; >>
Many conventions are done well and we _would_ have control over our booth,
right?
<otherwise, most people will turn their noses up at what seems
unattainable or unrealistic. >>
People don't avoid science fiction even if it is unattainable or unrealistic.
People want to associate themselves with a positive optimistic future even
if they don't think they will see it attained. I'm sure a lot of people
(pessimistically) didn't think they would see a Moon landing in their
lifetime. There _will_ be those kind of people. I would not want to slow
ExI's extropy because of the pessimistic people.
Dynamically Optimistic,
Davin
November 24, 1996
1:03 pm