Monday, December 14, 2009

Pure Science Fiction?

Reflect upon what you have contemplated this semester in Science Fiction.  Concepts?  Films?  Texts?  Technology?  Other?  What  did you find interesting?  What predictions do you have about our Science Fiction future? 

26 comments:

  1. What I found fascinating about the majority of these stories is that at first glance many of them seem to be plausible, but often times small, unnoticed details make it impossible. I wonder, if someone came up with a Science Fiction story that lacked this error, would it be well liked? Would it be worth reading? And if it were possible, would it still be considered science fiction? Is science fiction only the impossible 'fiction' side of science, or can we create a story that could one day become science fact?

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  2. this semester has been an interesting one. before this class i never really thought of extrapolation or fear of aliens. the stories were a little interesting too. what i liked was the movies we watched. they should pretty much all of what we read in just a movie or a television show. throughout this class i have been thinking about our future and thinking that there will be some kind of tragic future were everything is all destroyed, but who knows i could be wrong.

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  3. Some predictions about the sci-fi future that there will be some new types of sci-fi like the throwback stuff. Since film-noir has kind of been coming back with Sin City there will be new stories that remember only the robots and the photon beams and forget all the extrapolation. this isn't really a bad thing since it will be something new to watch at midnight showings. There are only so many Thai martial arts films. Also the kind of story telling that may have some science fiction elements but never were originally conceived as such since it will be such a common part in the minds of people creating it. Before sci-fi may have been considered an extreme genre but as the years go on it seems to have been taken more seriously as a way to convey certain ideas. This is Jason by the way.

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  4. I found it interesting that humans hold a great fear towards robots that look very human. The closer in apperance it is to you, I suppose, the harder it is to make distinctions between humans and robots, and the scarier that is.
    I predict that the human race will continue to fear the future and it's conditions, and yet we will still strive towards it because of the wonderous things it may hold.

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  5. After completing the extrapolation unit, it was easier to predict how our own lives will be changed in the future, based upon what we know now. The advancement of technology is making leaps and bounds everyday, and it gets somewhat scary when you look back to elementary school (where computers were barely used) and compare it to our education today... At what point will books and teachers, and school in itself become obsolete? There has already been androids made (robots designed to look like humans) that are incredibly realistic, and have the ability to perform tasks with the same efficiency as a human. How long will it be before we are robots..?

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  6. I was really interested with the whole grandfather theory. It all is so confusing and I still can't wrap my mind around it. I think its funny when we read stories or watch movies from back in the day, and they are talking about 2010. They have all exaggerated what kind of technology has been created so far. I predict that we will keep exaggerating what we think the future will be like.

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  7. I found the fear of robots (Frankenstein theory) interesting. Why would we fear something that is man made? unless we are so caught up in the science fiction robot movies that we dont know whats reality and whats fiction. I think that we need to take a step back and realize that the future is coming whether we like it or not. Like a common person once said about 10 years ago, "why would we need a computer? computers are not going to be useful for anything..." Now look at us; we use computers everyday for everything. So instead of saying why would we need a robot, we should just go on and discover what we can do with them by our sides.

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  8. In science fiction class, I learned alot. I think that all of the concepts of scince fiction were really cool to learn about. most of the texted were good but some of them I didnt understand as well as some of the other storys. All the films we watched I enjoyed watching, the best one to me was planet of the apes. Some of the technology was hard to use but it was pretty easy. I found Mr.Trotters class atvites interesting and fun. I dont really have any predictions for this class.

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  9. At the begining of the semester i was very pessimistic about Science Fiction. I realized that it was not just about "Star Trek" and "Star Wars" there is actuallly some depth and meaning to the stories that the authoors of Science Fiction. It is amazing and confusing to think that just one mistake in our life time can result in the damage of the future for humans. Although most of the concepts are way out there and too hard to comprehend i enjoyed reading all of the short storis his semester. I believe that Science Fiction will still prosper greatly in the future. People have the desire to predict what is going to happen and scare other people into submission in order to change the way we live and the out come of our daerk futures.

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  10. This class has really made me think about how quickly everything happens and how much technology can change things over time. I found the unit on xenophobia to be the most interesting because we read a lot about about aliens and foreign creatures. Also, the robots project was really fun because we got to think about the types of things that robots will be able to do for us in the future. I am anxious to see how technology will be changing in the near future.

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  11. The genre of Science Fiction seems really broad, but by breaking it up into smaller sub-categories it becomes much more managable. The categories cover a wide varitey of subjects, specifically robots, xenophobia, extrapolation and time travel. We read mulptiple texts for each category and viewed films and webpages that corrolated. We also prepared projects in each unit that helped us to understand the concepts which we were reading about. Although the stories covered a wide variety of concepts and were written during many different time periods, many contained the same basic principles. It is interesting how universal the genre of science fiction seems because of these connections. The most interesting of the categories was extrapolation, which deals with reasonable predictions about the future based on today. Some of the p[redictions seemed very plausible, and it is kind of scary to see where people think the world may end up in the future.

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  12. One concept that was discussed this semester that really interested me was the idea of the grandfather paradox. I thought about instances in which I wanted to go back and change a bad decision I made in the past, and how changing that decision would affect or alter the rest of my life. Based on what I have learned from the grandfather paradox, I fear that if science ever advances to the point in which time travel is possible, a lot of problems will occur as a result of time travel. I predict that if the ability to travel through time is made possible, people will abuse that power and cause unwanted changes in the world.

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  13. Looking foward to the future of science fiction, its hard to determine whats to come. the stories we have read are all concepts that are yet to happen, if they ever do. Science fiction is the outlook of the future, a diffrent world or just another thing entirely from the perspective of the writers imagination. The movies we have watched are all so far away from our present technology that the only way to come up with that story is imagination. Who really sits around and thinks about Morlocks breeding us like cattle in the future, or that our race will deteriorate and make way for talking apes? Science fiction is a genre of ideas, creativity and imagination.

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  14. This semester in Science Fiction I have really learned how much the perspective of robots, aliens, space has changed over the years. I found the concept of xenophobia very interesting and i also had a lot of fun doing my movie projects. My predictions of the science fiction future are that we will get a more advanced view on what the unknown holds. I really liked taking this class and I would recommend it to somebody that was considering taking it.

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  15. This semester I thought that the extrapolation concept was the most interesting in science fiction this semester because it had the most connections to what might happen in the near future such as improvement of technology and ideas about different things. In the future, I think science fiction will continue and all of the aspects of science fiction that exist now will also be existing in the future such as time travel, xenophobia, and extrapolation. We will always have a desire and contemplate on these aspects of science fiction.

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  16. I liked science fiction because it really made you contemplate things that you normally wouldn't. also there really isn't a right or wrong answer just what you believe. In many of the stories they had interesting twists that you would not expect. I liked the stories on xenophobia because it really made you think about there being life on other planets other than earth. I think science fiction stories will become more scares in the future because many of the main topics in stories that are written today will be actually proven right or wrong so it is not science fiction any more because it become reality.

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  17. Before this class, I had never heard of the Grandfather Paradox and since I have known about it, I have begun to think about it more and more.In one way, I find it impossible, but then again anything is possible, so who knows? After reading all of the short stories and watching all the films, I'm starting to wonder which ideas could become a reality. I wish time travel could become a reality because I would like to be able to experience everything I've wanted to. I would also like to look ahead and see what the world is going to be like.

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  18. I learned that Sci Fi is a topic that is mainly projected into the future with new ideas that make people think about how or if something new could happen. Sci Fi shows us what could really happen in a few hundred or thousand years into the future. Sci Fi makes me think about space travel and hovering cars for travel and laser guns. All of these could end up happening in the future or none of them could. Sci Fi is interesting because anyone can have their own ideas and thoughts about the future and what will happen.

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  19. The most interesting concept we've contemplated this semester is the idea of Paradox which is indicative of time travel. I think this is the most interesting because it seems so abstract. So many things could happen if time travel was possible, most confusing, though, is the Grandfather Paradox because it is difficult to think about whether or not I would exist if there was a way to keep my grandparents from meeting in the past. It's very intriguing to think about how one little event could change so much in the future and affect the lives of so many people.

    Science Fiction as a concept and genre will continue to change according to new ideas that we extrapolate from the current readings and sciences. Once we achieve a goal or concept from our current stories, it will be necessary to create new theories to keep curiosity alive.

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  20. The topic that I found the most interesting this semester was our unit on aliens because I like seeing the different perspectives different authors have on what other worlds and universe's are like. Every story interperates aliens a different way. I think that the Science Fiction genre is going to grow in popularity because it seems like more people now are curious about what is going to happen in the years to come and by reading Science Fiction you can figure out what ideas you agree with and what you disagree with.

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  21. Before this class, I thought I was picky about the sci-fi I enjoyed. This class taught me that even if the material is not by Bradbury not cyberpunk nor about a dystopia, I can still love it! I found the genre of science fiction is similar to the indie genre of music. Indie can range from metaley techno to to poppy riffs to unheard experimental and loud guitars to industrial sounds. Indie music is a mesh of every type of music, brought together by an independent, defined sound. Science fiction is so similar. It is not just aliens and space ships. It is time machines. It is soldiers from the future. It is the grandfather theory. It is robots who believe they are prophets. Science fiction has a piece of every genre with a v3ry wide range of subject matter. It is my favorite category because it can either project our society onto another, or somehow take present day things and extrapolate or put them into different times, societies, and senarios.

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  22. the most interesting part of science fiction for me is the grandfather paradox. i like this because it makes you really think about the story and how everytihing in the story is conected. it can make you understand the story more by trying to understand how the paradox works and it can make the story not make any sense at all.i think that the future of science fiction will have alot more to do with technology and the posibility of loosing the technology that we use so much.

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  23. There are almost an abundant amount of different ideas that I have created throughout this semester; from aliens, to greatly exaggerated inventions,to creations of a new planet. Within my actual dreams, I have even imagined a new planet, and then attempted to escape it - which, when I woke up, I had realized it related back to Science Fiction, bizzarely enough.
    These various concepts I have repetitively reviewed in my head over this past semester:
    - Traveling in space (New planets, aliens, space ships, advancement in technology relating to extrapolation, etc.)
    - Futuristic ideas (robots, computers, uncanny actions made by humans in the future, odd but interesting experiences during an adventure in another time period, etc.)
    - And time travel (an artist stealing someone's work from the future, man discovering time travel and going back and forth through time, while destroying known history)

    There are many concepts we have been able to experience throughout this class, and it has been a very interesting and enjoyable experience for me. As our years increase, I expect even more ellaborate ideas for Science Fiction, and a better way to express their wild thoughts (with crazy visual effects on movies and such), which will broaden our experiences and let our minds go even farther towards the unknown.

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  24. This semester in science fiction has actually been very interesting. (especially with Mr. Trotter). I enjoy most of the films we watch and stories we read because science fiction is a very creative subject. I love creativity. I find it interesting that some of the stories, such as the robot stories, are not so far fetched these days, in 2009. Back when they were written, im sure they seemed like insanity, but one day in the future, Robots may actually discover they are superior to humans which would connect to the frankenstein theory & the fear of robots taking over the world! Science fiction may actually play a role in the advancement in technology. Authors come up with ideas for robots and technology that are completely out of this world, but yet serve a necessary role. Scientists will then discover a way to make these ideas come to life! Gotta love sci fi :) Thanx for a great semester Mr. Trotter! Happy holidays! :)

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  25. Through reading the Steam man and Airships, it made me realize that science fiction writers are the real inventors. They have the creativity and words to express and describe future contraptions or ideas that have come to be. Science fiction writers originate the thoughts while scientists and inventors make the things. Many articles, including Sales Pitch were very realistic and frightening as their predictions of the future were very close to reality.

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  26. I found it interesting comparing peoples predictions in the past of the future to what it really is like today and thinking about about our predictions that we have of the future and wonder if it is correct or not. Out of the texts and movies I liked the movie about time travel because I found the predictions they had in the cold war area interesting they where thinking that we where going to destroy all of the amazing things we had built and this war wasn't worth it.

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