to the moon in 1942
Isaac Asimov invented laws that would
prevent robots from harming humans in
1945 Arthur Clarke wrote about a
communication satellite that would
remain in a fixed position over the
earth these authors all solved problems
with ideas that once seemed outlandish
but now seem entirely reasonable their
ingenious approaches make a particularly
big impact on younger readers for a
number of reasons it’s hard to be a kid
sure kids don’t have to pay taxes they
don’t have to deal with the condo
association but they often feel
powerless
especially when faced with big problems
and I’ve seen this with middle and high
school students who show up wearing
clothes they didn’t pick out for
themselves
carrying lunches they didn’t pack and
taking classes they didn’t choose yet
many of the freshmen who walk into my
classroom at Boston University they may
as well be on an alien planet for the
very first time they’re in charge of
their food study and sleep habits and
they’re confronting the notion that
having agency is even more overwhelming
than not having it science fiction is an
antidote for all of these students now
the English teachers are listening but
for the other educators and parents out
there this is about you too science
fiction is an entry into history
psychology philosophy religion politics
economics sociology critical thinking
and of course science and reading
science fiction deep in students
understanding of and interest in all of
those topics if you want to teach
politics or economics have students
study the government’s formed in Kim
Stanley Robinson’s
red Mars or in Robert Heinlein the moon
is a harsh mistress tab students analyze
the financial ties between earth the
Moon and Mars show them futuristic
examples of no taxation without
representation or free trade how cool is
it to learn that stuff by reading about
Earth’s relationship with other worlds
science fiction allows students way to
process difficult issues that they might
otherwise be too shy or scared or
overwhelmed to discuss it is easier to
talk about colonialism or war or racism
through the lens of Ray Bradbury’s the
Martian Chronicles or to talk about
sexism and gender roles through the work
of Ursula Gwyn or James Tiptree jr.
science fiction explores what it means
to be human and that’s relevant to
everything and this delights my students
when they read the Martian Chronicles
they have vigorous debates about how the
colonization experiment on Mars might
have gone better and they weigh the pros
and cons of red tape on the red planet
they examine American exceptionalism and
they celebrate Bradbury’s portrayal of a
highly evolved Martian culture often
adopting the expression this thing is
good at first they might not realize
just how much those conversations and
ideas apply to the real world and that
may be what frees them up to have them
in the first place
Ray Bradbury notes that science fiction
is an attempt to solve problems by
pretending to look the other way he
likens reading science fiction to
Perseus slang Medusa by looking at her
reflection in his shield as he cut off
her head that indirection allows science
fiction to provide a safe context for
asking questions brainstorming and for
real-world problem-solving Intel commish
in science fiction writers to brainstorm
applications for existing technologies
and NASA invites science fiction writers
to conceptualize interstellar travel and
to imagine life on other planets that’s
because they know science fiction
frequently becomes science fact it makes
the fantastical literal and students who
read science fiction not only gravitate
towards STEM fields but they also
undergo shifts in their own thinking as
they narrow the gap between the
seemingly impossible and the possible
science fiction constantly provokes that
question could this really happen could
we colonize Mars could we make robots
that think could we replicate matter and
students who’ve grown up with smart
technology and iPads and robots they
know the answer to that question is
rarely no reality has demonstrated what
science fiction has been saying all
along which is that virtually nothing is
impossible and that intelligence and
imagination are the most powerful tools
we have science fiction harnesses both
by prompting readers to ask what if this
happened what if we colonized Mars what
if we made robots that think what if we
replicated matter
science fiction invites readers to think
about the future based on what they
already understand about the past and
the present Arthur Clarke once said that
science fiction seldom tries to predict
the future that more often than not
science fiction tries to prevent the
future
Ray Bradbury warns us that a Mars
colonization project might be doomed by
humans desire to bend reality and
environments to our will rather than to
adjust ourselves to
Arthur Clarke warns us that thinking
robots might try to kill us
Asimov disagrees Cory Doctorow suggests
that replicating matter could lead to
war but on Star Trek it looks pretty
cool
the genres thought experiments
underscore that nothing is set in stone
and it invites students to think about
the future they want to create and the
future they hope to avoid science
fiction is also about ethics which
brings us to the genres next question
should this happen
should we colonize Mars
should we make robots that think should
we replicate matter now students are
thinking about consequences
ever since 1818 when Mary Shelley wrote
a story about a man who wanted to make
history by creating life science fiction
has warned readers that humans tend to
leap before they look one of Syfy’s
overarching morals is that lack of
foresight could destroy the human race
and careful consideration of the future
could save it science fiction explores
the consequences of human choices
particularly around technology in order
to get readers thinking about the
implications of real-world actions
science fiction also demonstrates that
those who think carefully about the
future are best prepared to guide it the
younger generation not only reads
science fiction they also star in
science fiction they not only see Medusa
in that shield they also see themselves
in both science fiction and the real
world students can come up with
solutions to problems that adults can’t
and that’s because they haven’t been
conditioned by
or resigned to the flawed ways of the
world the human brain doesn’t reach
maturity until one’s early 20s which
means that teenagers are still figuring
out how to process information science
fiction reinforces a relationship
between what an adolescent thinks and
how an adolescent thinks and students
learn vicariously through their sci-fi
counterparts and the experiences of
those characters influence students
thinking and their worldviews instead of
thinking well that’s just how the world
works or life isn’t fair children and
science fiction catalyze change think of
Katniss Everdeen who brings down the
vicious totalitarian regime in The
Hunger Games think of Fahrenheit 451 s
child idealist Clarice McLellan who
causes fireman Guy Montag to question
burning books think of a wrinkle in
times meg Murray and her little brother
Charles Wallace who travel the universe
by folding time and space think of Jonas
from the dystopian story the giver who
risks his life to find elsewhere a land
of possibility think of the little
prince born on an asteroid or Harry
Potter and Alice in Wonderland both of
whom knew that there was more to life
than what they’d been told and what they
could see all of these characters
rewrite the rules perhaps more
importantly these characters also
inspire students to believe that the
world can be a better place and when
that happens in class students look
around and they see others invested in
that idea and when that happens
students are bolstered by the
possibilities of what a like-minded
community can achieve students
demonstrated that ability decades ago
and they began reading science fiction
in the first
place ray bradbury describes this
phenomenon the children hungry for ideas
struck out on their own and after they
found science fiction they came back
into classrooms and they placed a gentle
bomb on a teacher’s desk instead of an
apple it was Asimov what’s that the
teacher said suspiciously try it it’s
good for you the students said students
have always reached for science fiction
perhaps at first for the escapism and
the excitement but also because it tells
them they can save the world and then it
shows them how in a time when the real
world can seem frightening ly similar to
a science fiction dystopia students need
to start thinking about how to solve big
problems and they need to believe they
can do it how better to encourage that
than by reading and incorporating into
classrooms Fahrenheit 451 or The Hunger
Games while being entertained students
absorb the message that they can save
their district or maybe even the world
from corrupt governments and dangerous
ideologies one of my students recently
wrote a paper about the role of children
in science fiction and she analyzed a
few different stories and then connected
them back to the real world and here’s
how she ended that paper no matter how
flawed the society there is always hope
on the horizon the next generation the
rebuilders and that she wrote is me it’s
us and she’s right
armed with stories of robots aliens and
distant galaxies the younger generation
can slay the Medusa’s that threaten the
future thank you [Applause]