'Blade Runner 2049': Why some science fiction writers are tired of dystopias
In 鈥淏lade Runner 2049,鈥� which opens Friday, post eco-disaster Los Angeles has built a massive coastline wall to fend off rising ocean levels. Few of the overpopulated city鈥檚 human or android occupants have ever seen a tree or a real animal. The incessant rain is as dour as Harrison Ford鈥檚 facial expressions. Worst of all? One character bemoans the fact that there鈥檚 no more cheese in the world.
Recent dystopian blockbusters seem to be jostling in a grim race to be the first to reach the seventh circle of hell in Dante鈥檚 鈥淚nferno.鈥� But some science-fiction writers are tired of the sorts of pessimistic futures depicted in movies and TV shows such as 鈥淭he Hunger Games,鈥� 鈥淢ad Max: Fury Road,鈥� 鈥淏lack Mirror,鈥� and 鈥淭he Handmaid鈥檚 Tale.鈥�
In response, influential authors Neal Stephenson, Cory Doctorow, David Brin, and Kim Stanley Robinson argue that futuristic fiction should, instead, offer an inspiring outlook about mankind鈥檚 ability to shape its destiny. But do the kinds of stories we tell ourselves have a cultural impact on shaping a better tomorrow?
鈥淚 want to nod at something that Jill Lepore wrote in The New Yorker about the dangers of drowning ourselves in dystopian stories,鈥� says Christopher Robichaud, who teaches a class at Harvard Extension School on Utopia and Dystopia in fiction and philosophy. 鈥淭he utility dystopian fiction used to serve was to bring problems to our attention and seek solutions. But the danger is that these stories can become a collective act of despair in response to current events.鈥�
The long-awaited sequel to the original 鈥淏lade Runner鈥� certainly seems inspired by present-day concerns. It鈥檚 eerily in sync with Space X and Tesla founder Elon Musk鈥檚 claim that artificial intelligence will come to view humanity as an inferior species and destroy us. 鈥淏lade Runner 2049鈥� also predicts bad outcomes from genetic editing, neurotechnology, surveillance technology, and energy use. The future鈥檚 only bright spot, it seems, is for umbrella manufacturers.
That sort of thinking made Mr. Stephenson wonder whether the pessimistic outlook of his profession had contributed to a defeatist attitude and lack of ambitious vision among scientists. So, in 2011, the author of classics such as 鈥淪now Crash鈥� cofounded the Hieroglyph project with the Center for Science and the Imagination at Arizona State University. The big idea: Develop science fiction stories with optimistic thought models and imaginative blueprints. The theory is that these narratives will, in turn, inspire scientists, engineers, and entrepreneurs to tackle major projects such as designing crewed spacecraft or finding viable alternatives to fossil fuels.
鈥淲hen most people think of the future today, they think of the great dystopian narratives, especially through Hollywood and popular culture,鈥� says Ed Finn, co-editor of the project鈥檚 2014 anthology, 鈥淗ieroglyph: Stories and Visions for a Better Future.鈥� 鈥淲e started to ask how we can use storytelling to create more optimistic futures that are more empowering to people.鈥�
'No such thing as defeating the technology'
But some science-fiction writers, including Ramez Naam (鈥淣exus鈥�) and Daniel H. Wilson (鈥淩obogenesis鈥�), counter that dystopian tales can be just as valuable in shifting thought paradigms. Case in point: Mr. Wilson鈥檚 鈥淩obopocalypse,鈥� a story about a machine uprising so terrifying that readers may decide to leash their Roombas.
鈥淚 used that meme as a red cape to get the bulls to chase me,鈥� says Mr. Wilson. 鈥淢y goal was to subvert that theme. What I wanted people to take away from 鈥楻obopocalypse鈥� is that there is no such thing as defeating the technology. We are technology. We don鈥檛 survive without technology.鈥�
And while novels such as Emily St. John Mandel鈥檚 鈥淪tation Eleven,鈥� Maja Lunde鈥檚 鈥淭he History of Bees,鈥� and Ernest Cline鈥檚 鈥淩eady Player One鈥� offer little respite from apocalypse, they鈥檝e won both critical and popular acclaim.
Science fiction often plays on fears of technology鈥檚 unintended consequences. It鈥檚 a trope as old as Mary Shelley鈥檚 鈥淔rankenstein.鈥� Virginia Postrel, author of 鈥淭he Future and Its Enemies: The Growing Conflict over Creativity, Enterprise, and Progress,鈥� argues that optimistic science fiction stories don鈥檛 create a belief in technological progress. Rather, they reflect an existing, broader cultural outlook.
鈥淚f you think that the present is better than the past because of science and technology, then you are much more likely to find optimistic science fiction about the future to be plausible,鈥� says Ms. Postrel. 鈥淚f you think that science and technology have done nothing but destroy the planet and ruin our health, you will be drawn to pessimistic science fiction.鈥�
Indeed, one puzzling aspect of dystopian science fiction is why stories about dismal futures are so popular during an era of unprecedented human progress. Global poverty is declining, infant mortality rates are falling, and life expectancy is rising.
鈥淧eople refer to the Golden Age of sci-fi, which was a time of [Robert] Heinlein and 鈥楽tar Trek鈥� and 鈥楾he Jetsons,鈥� which reflected a fairly robust belief in the possibility of progress and that things will get better in the future,鈥� says Ron Bailey, author of 鈥淭he End of Doom: Environmental Renewal in the 21st Century.鈥� But, he says, the new wave of science fiction after the mid-1960s reflected fears of nuclear annihilation, the loss of faith in institutions following the Vietnam War and 鈥渁 relentless dystopian campaign by ideological environmentalists.鈥�
'The importance of hope'
But perhaps the debate over utopian versus dystopian fiction should be reframed. A more helpful distinction might be the difference between nihilism and existentialism in science fiction. Amid doom-and-gloom scenarios, does the hero or heroine have agency and an ability to win the day?
鈥淒ystopian fiction is pleasurable because we can enter from the side of the hero and track the hero鈥檚 journey and their statement,鈥� says William Warner, a professor of English and Comparative Literature at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Hieroglyph contributors and supporters Mr. Robinson (鈥淣ew York 2140鈥�) and Mr. Doctorow (鈥淲alkaway鈥�) have each written stories set in dystopian (and thus inherently dramatic) worlds that, paradoxically, often feel utopian. Crucially, their stories don鈥檛 leave readers feeling akin to Charlton Heston at the end of 鈥淧lanet of the Apes.鈥�
鈥淣ew York 2140,鈥� the latest book by Robinson, posits a future in which post-climate change Manhattan is partly submerged underwater. But his dystopian scenario is, in many ways, utopian. New York is flourishing as a "SuperVenice" in which, Robinson writes, 鈥淣ot a few experienced an uptick in both material circumstances and quality of life.鈥�
鈥淐ory Doctorow likes to talk about the importance of hope 鈥� that you could hope for a better future,鈥� says Mr. Finn. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 part of what differentiates our work from pure utopianism. We鈥檙e not so much focused on a perfect world. The work we do is trying to make our world better.鈥� 聽
Correction: The Hieroglyph project is run out of The Center for Science and the Imagination at Arizona State University.
