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/lit/ - Literature

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1019826 No.1019826 [Reply] [Original]

Help me out here, /lit/.

Something that drives me crazy in fiction, especially science fiction, is the rampant cynicism and pessimism. The future is always a dark, bleak place where mankind is oppressed or the world's an overpopulated shithole or things are bad for one reason or another, despite all the increased technology.

I don't believe this. I think the world's been on an upward track for several thousand years and that things are going to continue getting even better.

Can anyone think of any science fiction novels where the future is actually portrayed as pretty awesome? And I don't mean "awesome but there's a hidden secret." I mean genuinely awesome.

The only novel/series I can think of off the top of my head is the Ringworld series. The future was pretty awesome in that.

Anyone got any more?

>> No.1019833

1984

>> No.1019835

>>1019826
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/CrapsackWorld

>> No.1019839

brave new world

>> No.1019841

Pessimism is fashionable,fuck yo shit

>>1019835
and TV tropes can go to hell

>> No.1019845

>>1019835

OP here.

Interesting. I'd never heard of this whole Crapsack world thing.

>> No.1019846
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1019846

Wait, seriously?
You're asking that?

Hell, man. Heinlein, Neil Stephenson's The Diamond Age, Isaac Asimov at times.
While you're at it go into the fantastic and take a look at John Carter stories and comics.

>> No.1019854

Not fiction, but you really ought to read The Rational Optimist.

Science fiction authors are generally crazy left-wing and anti-authority (Dick, Gibson) and paranoid about dystopias.

Asimov's depiction of the future, I find, are interesting.

>> No.1019859

>>1019846

OP here.

What of Heinlein's has the future awesome?

The Moon is a Harsh Mistress is all I've read from him, but the future was mediocre in that. Moon citizens living in Wild West conditions, people on Earth starving and overpopulated, etc.

>> No.1019877

Did it ever occur to you that writers might be more interested in CREATING the perfect world then thinking of a story in a world that's already perfect?
There's so much more to do to show how you got that perfect world and such (or sent the world of the deep end in others)

>> No.1019879

I think it's pretty much just the Star Trek novels, OP.

>> No.1019880

What about a world that looks bleak and harsh but is actually pretty awesome? Like Arrakis in Dune, for instance.

>> No.1019882

>Something that drives me crazy in fiction, especially science fiction, is the rampant cynicism and pessimism. The future is always a dark, bleak place where mankind is oppressed or the world's an overpopulated shithole or things are bad for one reason or another, despite all the increased technology.

That's because they're lazy fucks and it's much easier to find conflict to write about if everything exploded into a festering shit pile.

>> No.1019885

>>1019882
Then you go write a book, arrogant piece of shit.

>> No.1019889

>>1019885

Touched a nerve?

>> No.1019892

Most dystopian authors are realized versions of Kilgore Trout. They're so absorbed in the endless possibilities of failure that they fail to see the small successes that occur daily.

>> No.1019897

the mars trilogy by kim stanley robinson is mostly positive.

>> No.1019904

>>1019882
>That's because they're lazy fucks and it's much easier to find conflict to write about if everything exploded into a festering shit pile.

It's more likely because writers are inherently depressed, cynical, and pessimistic people.

>> No.1019920

>>1019904

Come on, it's not just writers.

Most people in general think the world's headed for some kind of retarded apocalypse or social breakdown eventually.

Most people are stupid. The world's going to be fine.

>> No.1019988

while i know this is totally not lit related, i've always had a healthy respect for Cowboy Bebop for having a pretty accurate portrayal of the future. we get to see more of the functional side of society, the fishermen, garbagemen, store owners, stuff like that. people still listen to jazz and blues, still smoke and drink and gamble, still own pets, bars and casinos haven't changed much either. more than half of the environments don't even look all that scifi, and it makes you think that the future won't be that terribly different really. it's not a clean, efficient made-of-metal future, but it's definitely not a rundown dystopian future either.

>> No.1020009

OP, you will want to check out David Brin, the author who wrote "The Postman". The man is a serious optimist.

He also accosted me at 2004 ComicCon in San Diego.

>> No.1020018

all Iain M Banks' (for my money the best sci-fi writer of modern times) stuff is set in a god-tier future universe of utopian bliss. Most of the plots explore the political relationship between this culture and less advanced alien ones. its a good thing.

>> No.1020105

>>1020009
>He also accosted me at 2004 ComicCon in San Diego

Details, please.

>> No.1020160
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1020160

Other people had their examples, going to add mine because it's obvious: Dragonriders of Pern by Anne McCaffrey.
Also recognize that a lot of those premises are just hack stories to make money. It's easy to tap into people's misery and pessimism, because it also, usually, draws out their feelings of sympathy and empathy. It's a fact of drama that is nothing new.

>> No.1020165

>>1020105
I was hanging out in the lobby while wearing a Ghostbusters costume, getting pics taken with friends. (I had a buddy who made PRIMO GB costumes. It was fun.) The con was winding down.

A gentleman on his way out suddenly stops, and strikes up a conversation with me out of the blue. I don't remember exactly how or what, but we talked about the con, fiction, literature, and sci-fi in general. He introduced himself as David Brin, author of "The Postman", which I thought was pretty cool. Brin was definitely upbeat and outgoing in his personality. He seemed disappointed that I didn't recognize him, but I couldn't be sure.

I later read some more about him, and actually read The Postman. It turns out he's a professor here at San Diego State University, is a futurist (sometimes see him on Discovery channel in interviews), and writes prolifically. He is, indeed an optimist. A nice guy, too. Very much a people-person, which is why I'm guessing he struck up a conversation.

I got to meet Ray Bradbury at that convention too. Very cool.

>> No.1020184

Coincidentally, I've also gotten to meet Matthew Lesko (in OP's pic) here at a local coffee shop in San Diego, where he gave a seminar. Lesko is ALSO an optimist, and has LOTS Of stories to tell about people who found ways to make money in even the worst of times. Neat guy, and looks and sounds exactly like you imagine.

>> No.1020199

>>1019988
>a pretty accurate portrayal of the future

Lol what?

>> No.1020218

>>1020018
this

>> No.1020221

The sequels to Ender's Game seem to have a pretty nice version of the future that would be okay to live in, so long as you don't live on the shithole planet with the intelligent virus that wants to kill you.

>> No.1020249

>>1019859
Except for the aliens, the society he makes in Starship Troopers is pretty utopian (to him).
And the world seems like a pretty great place in Stranger in a Strange Land.
Most Asimov books deal with awesome technology and the world being completely fine, so that might be up your alley.

>> No.1020266

>>1019845

That's because "crapsack" is a term they coined themselves.

As fascinating as TvTropes may or may not be, do NOT use their lexicon outside of their wiki or people will shun you like a leper.