What ethical dilemmas posed by future technology or social changes would you like to see explored more thoroughly in contemporary Science Fiction?

I’ve got a lot of things I want to say on this one (so its a good thing it’s a two parter). And its especially apt since I just watched the first two episodes of Battlestar Galactica’s 3rd season. That’s one show that isn’t afraid to tackle contemporary political issues and put them on their head in a SFnal setting. Quite gutsy stuff for American Science Fiction television which in my opinion has been been extraordinarily timid for the past 30 years. However I’m digressing, that isn’t really what this Brain Parade is about.

One thing I’d like to see explored is the question of what happens to a democracy when its population splinters into various consensual realities and the role technology might play in that splintering. We’re already starting to see that now to a certain extent with self selecting media. There may have even been an Orwellian attempt to define Mark Foley (for the benefit of our non US readers he’s an American politician in mucho caca) as a Democrat.

How long before people can use technological tools to create their own sense of community with its own take on reality entirely? And what happens to a democracy when it has a population that may inhabit the same geography but which resides in seperate but parallel fantasy worlds? Methinks it’s a recipe for disaster but perhaps with a bit of ingenuity it might just work out in a weird sort of way. Wether its a good idea or not is besides the point because I think it’s a direction we’re already accelerating towards.

Joe Miller:

I think SF is doing a good job of extrapolating the trends most likely to result in ethical dilemmas and social changes. I’d like

to see more serious consideration of the tension between the demands of individual liberty and the necessity of combating terrorism. These are hard issues. I have suggested that one solution to Fermi’s famous paradox is that most civilizations simply do not survive a technology which puts weapons of mass destruction in the hands of individual lunatics. Vinge’s Rainbows End is a good meditation on this point. Another thing I would like to see in SF is better characterization of what scientists actually do and have to undergo in order to actually pursue a scientific career. We have a few people like Benford and Bear who appreciate this but a true “fiction of science” is still largely lacking.

Dr. Joseph Miller is Director of Pharmacology and Associate Professor of Research, Department of Cell and Neurobiology, at the Keck School of Medicine at USC.

James Bow:

The issue of cloning is coming closer to us every day, and this is going to raise questions over the nature of identity and whether or not humans have souls..

Already in children’s literature we have Lesley Choyce’s “Deconstructing Dylan” and Jenny Nimmo’s “Milo’s Wolves” which tell the story of a young clone struggling to find his identity. These are the first stabs that I’ve seen in response to Dolly the sheep and the general sense that human cloning is just around the corner.

James Bow is a writer, journalist and web designer.

Tony Ballantyne:

Ethical dilemmas? Maybe it’s my background, but I wonder about children. How are they different from adults and what rights and responsibilities do they really have? How far do they have a right to education and how far will we enforce this, particularly in troubled areas of the world? But supposing we do guarantee education for all; do people then have the right to be ignorant? Do we insist that they learn for example science, religion, arts, physical fitness, or do we allow them to pick and choose?

Tony Ballantyne is a British SF author

Mark Stachiew:

When it comes to ethical dilemmas posed by future technology, I think that science fiction writers have left few stones unturned. There aren’t many topics that haven’t already been explored ad nauseum. Genre writers have been exploring ethical debates for a long time. The only difference is that the future they imagined has arrived and we have to face the dilemmas they wrote about.

For example, I’m interested in stories about the conflict between human and machine intelligences. Karel Kopek wrote about the subject way back in the 20s in RUR. It was one of Isaac Asimov’s favourite subjects and it continues to fascinate readers and writers today, possibly more so now because the possibility of fiction becoming fact seems more possible than ever.

The ethics of cloning and gene therapy are also interesting. Can we breed subhumans to use for cheap labour or replacement body parts? Again, the idea is hardly knew. Aldous Huxley wrote about it in Brave New World, but it seems like the brave new world is almost here.

Mark Stachiew is a long-time science fiction fan who collects obscure science fiction tidbits for his blog, The Website at the End of the Universe.

Daryl Gregory:

The ethical dilemmas I’m interested in aren’t in the future, and come straight from my experience as a white, male, straight, American hypocrite. How do I reconcile spending so much money on my own kids (saxophone lessons, soccer shoes, Magic the Gathering cards) when children in the third-world (or down the street) go hungry? Why am I sitting here sipping this incredibly expensive beer (Arrogant Bastard Ale from San Diego, made more delicious by irony) while there are Habitat for Humanity houses to build? Shouldn’t I quit my job to spend full time opposing a government that defends using torture and won’t allow gay people to marry? If the system is corrupt, shouldn’t I run for office?

Science fiction doesn’t often show real people struggling with these issues, but some of the best fiction in the genre — like Geoff Ryman’s Air: Have Not Have — prove that it can be done, and beautifully.

Daryl Gregory writes Science Fiction