Science Fiction as a Humanist Technology Pessimist

Since I am wanting to write about science fiction films for my research assignment, I tend to relate every class reading back to science fiction. And therefore when Hans Moeller discussed the two sides of the humanist approach to society and technology (particularly posthumanism) at the beginning of his explanation of social systems theory, I was struck by its parallels to certain discussions on science fiction. Moeller writes there are those pessimistic “in the face of waning humaneness” and those optimists who embrace technology’s “human prospects” (4). This brought to mind Daniel Dinello’s book that I am (probably) using for my book review assignment, Technophobia! Science Fiction Visions of Posthuman Technology, where Dinello discusses how scientists working in the field tend to be blissful optimists, whereas science fiction is pessimistically attached to the techno-dystopia.

Other research I have come across also stresses the techno-pessimisim surrounding science fiction. Noga Applebaum accuses science fiction of endorsing a “technophobic agenda” to young adults, of essentially creating future technophobes! And then of course there is Susan Sontag’s famous essay “The Imagination of Disaster” which claimed that “science fiction films are not about science. They are about disaster”.  This bold claim was very useful for studying science fiction in new ways, although I would argue that it’s about both, the disaster of science. So then scientists are Mueller’s technology optimists, and science fiction the pessimists, who are strangely completely enamoured with the subject of their pessimism.

Interestingly, the most explored technological issue in science fiction, and most common cause of technological dystopias, is posthumanism, which Neal says we will be arriving at in tomorrow’s class via social systems theory. So as a final aside, if we are sticking to the idea that science fiction is a “humanist” pessimism, what does it say about, and how would it relate to social systems theory?