Speculative Science Fiction

I was looking up some information for my final, just trying to get my head into science fiction mode to think of something cool to write about and I found a few things that I would like to share with you all. These are taken directly from a book in the library: A close examination of Speculative Fiction. The Lady working at the library said that this can also be found online.

Speculative fiction is quite difficult to categorize, and not simply because the genre has evolved over the centuries. To achieve their ever-changing aims, science fiction authors have, particularly in the last hundred years, created disparate works of literature, making the process of classification even more confusing. Because of the complexity involved in defining the genre, several different approaches exist, each describing science fiction through a different characteristic.
The aspect of time plays a deciding role in science fiction, making it possible to define it in terms of certain temporal aspects. Keeping in mind that not all science fiction is futuristic, Kim Stanley Robinson opines, ?In every [science fiction] narrative, there is an explicit or implicit fiction history that connects the period depicted to our present moment, or to some moment of our past.? This basic tenet often goes unnoticed, but speculative fiction always attempts to connect to some time point in reality.
Other definitions try to describe science fiction through its relationship to the reader. Unrealistic, surrealistic, and semi-realistic fiction demand a ?willing suspension of disbelief? From the reader to make the story enjoyable/acceptable, thus separating it from normal fiction, which is inherently believable. According to some critics, science fiction and fantasy coexist as subcategories of speculative fiction (see Speculative Fiction Genre Chart), some use the terms speculative fiction and science fiction interchangeably (as in this paper), while others portray science fiction as a subset of fantasy, arriving at this definition from Sam Moskowitz:
?Science fiction is a branch of fantasy identifiable by the fact that it eases the ?willing suspension of disbelief' on the part of its readers by utilizing an atmosphere of scientific credibility for its imaginative speculations in physical science, space, time, social science, and philosophy.?
Most difficult, however, seems the task of characterizing speculative fiction through a unique subject matter. The genre has no sharply-defined borders; it sets no ironclad thematic requirements. Despite these inherent problems, Judith Merril tries to quantify the essence of science fiction: ?So-called ?science fiction' is speculative or extrapolative literature (or sometimes visual art or music) dealing in some way with the idea of change --most often changing human responses to the altered, or shifting, environment of some alternative reality.?
Isaac Asimov also classifies science fiction through its use of change, though he offers a more specific definition: ?Modern science fiction is the only form of literature that consistently considers the nature of the changes that face us, the possible consequences, and the possible solutions.?
Through these three approaches to science fiction, loosely defining what characteristics the genre ought to have becomes possible. Science fiction should relate in some way temporally to reality, it should demand a ?suspension of disbelief,? yet simultaneously attempt to mitigate the degree to which the reader must believe, and finally, science fiction should deal with change, not only the possibilities of a different reality and the ensuing consequences, but the accompanying changes in human behavior as well.
These three prerequisites for science fiction also apply, to some extent, to its non literary forms. The book and short story are arguably no longer the most popular and familiar forms of science fiction. Science fiction films reach a different and more diverse audience. In films, the defining characteristics have less weight than the audiences' judgment on whether the film is science fiction. Recent science fiction films like The Matrix , AI , and Planet of the Apes exemplify the success of science fiction in mainstream media. Likewise, the rapidly expanding field of science fiction on television only pay lip service to the these basic characteristics. Sensationalism and the need to hook viewers drive television programmes with science fiction-related themes to produce a great deal of Space Opera, that is, Westerns with hand lasers instead of shotguns, spaceships instead of horses, and aliens instead of Indians. Star Trek generally manages to avoid sinking to this primitive level, but series like Stargate , Power Rangers , Gene Roddenderry's Andromeda , and Battlefield Earth use enough technological gimmicks mixed with romanticism to hold viewers' attention, but fail to comment on the social effects of this increased technology, a central characteristic of true science fiction.