oddlight

The importance of Sci-fi
(disclaimer : this is a thought in progress, I intend to expand on it when I can.)

I watched the new 'Dalek' episode of Doctor Who last night and it got me a-thinking...

The importance of Sci-fi to people in technical jobs is, for me, high, as I find that it allows me to side-step whatever current technical problems I may be encountering and escape to a time where those problems no longer exist. It occurs to me that Sci-fi shows oftens show situations that transcend what is currently possible / acceptable in many arena, not just the obvious technical considerations, and that it is this element of transcendence that really contains the power. It's quite normal to experience doubt and stress when facing technical issues, and it could be considered that it's part of the human condition to push ourselves on to overcome increasing odds.

Sci-f, for me allows a vision of that goal state ahead of it's deserved time, the so-called carrot dangling before the donkey.

It could be said that Sci-fi shows people (and other creatures!) transcending many issues, not just technical, and so do many other genres. A show set in the 1920's showing people overcoming technical issues, while still interesting to me, is not as interesting as something future-based, and I wonder why...

I like seeing visions of the future, regardless of the bad props (although this can detract from it dramatically), and I work for an IT company and I see many people around me, both male and female being interested in sci-fi. Is it perhaps an interest in technology that drew us to our chosen field of employment?

I'm not a pimply geek type, I enjoy many other things than sitting in front of a computer, but I do experience a sort of buzz after watching a good piece of sci-fi. I've had a brief trawl around the net looking for other commentry of a similar tone, but can't find anything of note.

Any thoughts?

...I'd be really interested in hearing other peoples opinions of this.