I just read an unimaginably stupid article asking why #SciFi always envisions a capitalist future and demanding that science fiction must break away from it. My response to that is simple: science fiction IS a critique of #Capitalism It, as a genre, exists in response to capitalism, not divorced from it. Think of every science fiction universe that you have ever fallen in love with: #StarWars#StarTrek#Expanse#Foundation#Dune etc. Almost all of them present a vision of the future either after rejecting capitalism, languishing under it, or exploring the reality of a post-capital fascistic and/or feudal society. Science fiction begs us to grapple with contemporary issues or yearn for a world where those issues do not exist, just as every literary movement has before it. To loudly proclaim that science fiction must cease capitalist critique because it is overplayed is an admission that you do not understand the genre.
@midgephoto@OSCrane But even Banks brings up the dilemma that competition is still very much required to be there. In his novels it’s special circumstances, because all his characters basically don’t fit in. I think he explores this problem of us needing things to be the best in something in all of the Culture series.
@midgephoto Ah. Excuse me, non-native english speaker. I meant that individual exceptionality is rewarded even in culture’s post-scarcity society. And the way Minds (AIs) breed themselves to become unique also points toward the same. Even if minds run the show, exceptional humans still have a place in the table of the big ones.
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