Hypotheses of Science Fiction

Hypotheses of Science Fiction

The following points are some hypotheses presented by Istavan Csicsery- Ronay.

Istavan Csicsery- Ronay, Jr. in his essay “The Seven Beauties of Science fiction” discusses seven hypotheses. These hypotheses were presented as the point which differentiates Science fiction from other normal fictions. These are discussed under the title ‘what makes Science fiction Science fiction’ they are…

1.     Neologisms-invented words, intended to refer to imaginary" new realities."

2.     Novums (or nova, from the Latin for "new things")-imaginary inventions, discoveries, or applications that will have changed the course of history. (E.g., hyper drive, time travel, faster-than-light travel, cloning, neural-interface computing, artificial consciousness, cyborgs)

3.     Historical extrapolation/historical futurism (explicit or implicit) for how we got from the author's real-time present to the future. T his can apply to the development of a technology, or a society, or the whole shebang. The present is depicted as the prehistory of the future.

4.     Oxymoron-somewhere at the heart of the tale is an absurd logical contradiction, at least viewed from the perspective of current common sense. This oxymoron may be spectacularly interesting. Time travel is the most obvious; an alternate universe is another example.

5.     Scientific impertinence (related to oxymoron) - Science fiction tales (even those written by scrupulous scientists) generally violate currently known scientific laws at some point. The purpose is not to criticize current scientific understanding (though that may enter into it), but to create uncanny, sublime, comic, or metaphysically intriguing dramatic situations.

6.     Sublime chronotopes. A chronotope is a literary" space-time" where fictional things work according their own particular laws of time and space. Science fiction works generally depict one or more special chronotopes that are wonderfully strange and ultimately shockingly vast and powerful.( E.g., cyberspace," The Galaxy," "the brain," alien planets, future earths)

7.Parable-whatever the scientific content and historical extrapolation of a Science fiction tale, it is constructed in the form of literary parable. The science and technology are vehicles for moral tales; the morals may have a lot to do with science and technology, but they do not come out of science and technology.