Let science fiction help us plug in the wings of imagination

【News Essay】

Li Sihui Is a Distinguished Researcher at the News Review Research Center of Huazhong University of Science and Technology

A playboy frantically chasing a comet, unexpectedly in the spaceship he was riding on, he was ejected out of the capsule, wandering aimlessly in Saturn's rings, using gene editing technology to breed fish, almost to the limit of survival... Recently, science fiction writer Xie Yunning's "Crossing saturn's Rings" won the "Best Novel Award" at the 32nd China Science Fiction Galaxy Awards. According to media reports, this year's Galaxy Awards were awarded online live for the first time, and the winning works aroused social concern.

Science fiction features science fiction. Science fiction is not an illusory and unrealistic illusion, not a wishful thinking and inexplicable nonsense, but a "special imagination pointing to the future" based on science and technology and experience. For example, "Crossing Saturn's Rings" was inspired by a news story that the writer overheard in 2015 — "The last time saturn's probe Cassini flew over Enceladus's North Pole, the Arctic fountain is rich in minerals that have the potential to give birth to life." "Science fiction cannot directly solve real-world problems, but it can echo people's certain conjectures and desires for the unknown."

In addition to literary aesthetics, good science fiction also has special social functions such as predicting the future, depicting the unknown, inspiring people, and leading exploration. The "human vision" depicted in many science fiction novels has become a reality. For example, the popular "virtual reality" technology, writer Stanley Wymbom as early as 1935 in the science fiction novel "Pygmalion Glasses" has been mentioned; the current tablet computer, in the 1960s American drama "Star Trek: The Original" can find prototypes; robots, mobile phones, rockets, etc., many of the reverie in science fiction have later become reality. The 19th-century French science fiction writer Verne, known as the "father of science fantasy", once fantasized about television, helicopters, submarines, etc. Scientists such as Simon Lake, one of the inventors of submarines in later generations, and Marconi, one of the inventors of radio, all admitted that they had been inspired by Verne's works. It can be seen that the illusion based on science and technology and experience is, to some extent, a kind of "thought leadership" that opens up people's imagination and creativity.

Science fiction is the literature of possibilities, which arranges the possibilities of the future in front of people's eyes one by one in a literary brushwork, giving people an unprecedented reading experience. Which possibility in the novel will become a reality is difficult for the writer to predict. But this does not prevent science fiction writers from "liberating some of the fantasies hidden in the human machine" with strong curiosity and endless imagination, and answering unknown questions such as "where will human beings go in the future". Imagination is endless, and the process of science and technology constantly catching up with imagination is not the process of continuous progress of science and technology and continuous progress of human civilization. The experience of the benign development and interaction between science fiction and science in European and American countries enlightens us that it is necessary to use the wings of science fantasy to stimulate the innovation and imagination of the Chinese people.

In China, some people equate science fiction with "magic", ignoring the scientific knowledge base, logical self-consistency, and literary and artistic style behind it. Many adults think that science fiction is aimed at teenagers, and adults look at science fiction as naïve and immature. Liu Cixin, the author of "The Three-Body Problem", also admitted that he did not dare to say that he watched science fiction and wrote science fiction in the unit before. Such social prejudices are inherently immature. Science fiction is not less valuable than pure literature, so why can't you participate in mainstream literary awards with dignity?

Mythical stories such as Nüwa patching up the sky and Chang'e running to the moon have inspired generations of astronauts to work hard. "Grass can be cool, rice ears broom long", "the father of Chinese hybrid rice" Yuan Longping has devoted his life to exploration... The land of ancient and romanticism beneath our feet is enough to carry more whimsy of the ancients. Looking forward to more outstanding creators with ideals, pursuits and strength, leading Chinese science fiction to a more colorful future.

Guangming Daily (11th edition, November 26, 2021)

Source: Guangming Network - Guangming Daily