Just as classic poetry offers a great deal of time-lapse expression and universal cultural reflection, the impact of science fiction on contemporary civilization deserves re-examination. The moral narrative of science fiction works is closely related to science and fantasy at the same time, and its influence is more characteristic of the times. For the major moral dilemmas facing mankind, science fiction works not only play the role of criticism, exhortation and empathy in traditional literature, film and television works, but also play the role of thought experimentation.
When it comes to science fiction, I always think of Kurt Vonnegut, a science fiction writer who is not well known to the Chinese people, and his masterpieces such as "Slaughterhouse No. 5" and "Cat's Cradle" have only been gradually introduced into China in recent years. Of course, Kurt Vonnegut is also known as the representative of American black humor literature, at least he attracted me first of all because of humor rather than science fiction, but also because of the silence of science fiction works.
In the preface to his short story collection Welcome to the Monkey House, Vonnegut writes: "I used to work in the public relations department of General Electric and later became a freelance writer, writing about so-called 'fiction in glossy magazines,' many of which are science fiction." What prompted him to transition from a promising career as a PR to writing science fiction is said to be: "I've already asked a college professor about that question." He was about to dive into his Mercedes-Benz 300SL Super Sedan. He assured me that the publicists and the glossy magazine writers were just as evil and destroyed the truth for money. I asked him what the lowest novel was, and he told me: 'Science fiction. ’”
I remember Wang Shuo once said that he did not have a suitable job after demobilization from the army, and he did not need too many skills to write novels, he only needed to recognize words, and he entered this low-threshold industry. It seems that he is still too much trouble-free, if you also consult such a reliable university professor, maybe There is another Hugo Award winner in China.
Fortunately, low barriers and respect are not a matter of trade-off. In recent years, the advantage of low threshold entry for science fiction works has been recognized by smart "back waves" and has been developed to the fullest. According to the 2021 science fiction network article report released by Reading, the domestic science fiction creators have exceeded 510,000. At the same time, just like the women's volleyball team of that year and today's e-sports, it is precisely Liu Cixin and Hao Jingfang who have won the Hugo Award, the highest international award for science fiction, which has greatly enhanced the status of science fiction works in China.
Moreover, in this era of great admiration for commercial success, the money-making effect of science fiction works has further contributed to its social influence. Especially in 2019, Liu Cixin's novels "The Wandering Earth" and "Crazy Aliens" were adapted into movies, making him successfully earn 7 billion yuan at the box office, becoming the best-grossing writer among the films currently released in China. In the Maoyan "Original Author Box Office List", the second-ranked writer that year was Wu Chengen, the author of "Journey to the West", after Liu Cixin.
However, in my opinion, the above facts and logic related to the popularity of science fiction works may still be only appearances. Just as classic poetry offers a great deal of time-lapse expression and universal cultural reflection, the impact of science fiction on contemporary civilization deserves re-examination. Many people do not know that the oft-quoted phrase "No man is an island" is the title of a poem by "metaphysical poet" John Dunn. The poem written by the English poet Dylan Thomas, "Don't walk gently into that good night," is also repeated in Interstellar. But the more well-known "My Journey is the Sea of Stars" is from the historical science fiction novel "Legend of the Galactic Heroes" by Japanese writer Yoshiki Tanaka.
On the surface, poetry and science fiction are two very different forms of expression, but why are they both popular and direct to the hearts of the people? One of the important reasons is that they all have a huge space and unlimited possibilities for moral narratives. In fact, whether it is poetry or science fiction, the contradictions and fundamental problems behind them can almost be attributed to the moral conflicts of human beings.
For centuries before the birth of Greek tragedy and philosophy, the questions of fate, good and evil haunted the hearts of poets. The Earliest Human Epic, the Epic of Gilgamesh, which predates Homer and the Bible, is wedge-written and tells the story of Gilgamesh's adventures from the hateful cold tyrant to his devotion to the wilderness. According to the Czech economist Thomas Sedlacek, the epic provided Marx with great inspiration and moral passion as a perfect prehistoric illustration of the exploitation of individuals and the estrangement from their families and themselves. Similarly, "No man is an island" for treating others as yourself, "Don't go gently into that good night" for the aging and the vulnerable "master morality" awakening, all play a role in awakening people's deep inner empathy and moral intuition as human beings, and these great verses have inspired human moral convictions time and again.
In contrast, the moral narrative of science fiction works is closely related to science and fantasy at the same time, and its influence is more characteristic of the times and moral passion. Economist Brad Delong, writing a preface to Star Trek Economics: Science Fiction Economics and the Futuristic World, says that in a sense, the deepest minds, the deepest dreams, are created by science fiction. Because science fiction writers and enthusiasts know very well that they are indulging in the dreams of the whole of humanity. Elon Musk, Richard Branson, and Jeff Bezos have all mentioned the profound impact of science fiction on their lives on different occasions, and they have actively developed space technology, devoted themselves to rocket launches, Mars colonization, and space travel, which is both the development of technology and the realization of dreams. Science fiction works have achieved countless moral narratives of human exploration of the unknown and self-salvation, and "My journey is the sea of stars" is one of the classic expressions.
Campbell said that myths are the dreams of the human collective, and dreams are the myths of individual human beings. Needless to say, science fiction has replaced epics as the new myth of mankind.
The rise of this new myth, I think, may have something to do with a trait of science fiction, which is that it can break the boundaries of time and space and combine history with the future. The first science fiction novel I read was Ni Kuang's "Strange Treasure", which opened my eyes to my love of history since I was a child. The complete usage of the Luoyang shovel and the idiom "Tan Li De Zhu" are learned from this book. Another important reason why the book attracted me at that time was that our family was in the sphere of influence of Qin Shi Huang described in the novel. Nearby is the only relic of Qin Afang Palace on the surface of the earth, the First Emperor's Roof, which we can find on foot for 20 minutes. As a child, I also witnessed many excavations in the vicinity, especially the huge ceramic drainage pipes and huge floor tiles that showed the grandeur of the palace.
Hao Jingfang's new work "Cosmic Jumper" seems to be similar to "Alien Treasure" on the surface, but this science fiction novel, which is still written from Xi'an and Qinling, proposes a familiar but slightly different hypothesis: aliens have intervened in the development of earth civilization many times, and the civilization that has obtained alien intervention can quickly become the hegemon of civilization, and technology is far ahead of other countries, such as ancient Egypt, Shang Zhou and Qin Empire, which are represented by pyramids, bronzes, and Qin tombs. But according to the 10 civilization levels of the universe from low to high, even under this intervention, it is difficult for human beings to break through the third level in the long historical evolution. On the surface, this looks similar to the "Needham Mystery", but in fact, it is because the solipsism and wanton plunder of advanced civilizations have made them a "devouring civilization" that obeys the laws of the jungle, and will eventually collapse. In this way, there is also a "historical cycle law" in the universe similar to the change of dynasties. Therefore, "Cosmic Jumper" has a strong moral narrative core, and how the dominant person deals with the relationship with other backward hierarchies is not so much to solve the problem of conflicts of interest as to be a practical wisdom similar to social ecology.
In fact, epics, martial arts novels, and science fiction works all have a tradition of combining historical narratives with moral narratives. The Jin Yong martial arts novels that were popular in the 1980s and 1990s, whether it is the feelings of family and country, family blood feuds, or national righteousness, jianghu grievances, and children's private feelings, integrate martial arts characters into the great era of history, but these chivalrous stories are ultimately related to ethics and morality.
However, science fiction works are ultimately different from epic and martial arts novels in terms of moral narratives, and the biggest difference is that science fiction novels often strive to exceed the limits of human cognition of morality. Hao Jingfang's new work and Liu Cixin's award-winning work "Three-Body Problem" have a common feature, which is to place human civilization in the entire cosmic civilization and think about the moral conflicts and ethical dilemmas in it. Liu Cixin said in the afterword to "The Three-Body Problem": "If there is an alien civilization, then is there a common moral code in the universe? He also believed: "A cosmic civilization with zero morality can exist completely, how can a moral human civilization survive in such a universe?" Looking back at the various sectarian admonitions and moral metaphors in Wu Cheng'en's Journey to the West, it is not difficult to find that this is also what Liu Cixin and Wu Cheng'en have in common. However, Wu Cheng'en's works strengthen the justice and legitimacy of human evolution or domestication of morality, while Liu Cixin expresses the fragility of human morality in this dark universe—the fragility and absurdity brought about by this hypocrisy are constantly appearing in other works such as "The Wandering Earth". In fact, the aforementioned Vonnegut, in the short story "Harrison Bergeron", also imagined a similar scenario: by 2081, everyone's equality has finally been achieved, and no one can be smarter or better looking than others. Those who are beyond ordinary people must bring "mental disability radios" and receive sharp noises every twenty seconds to prevent smart people from abusing the advantages of the brain.
Vonnegut's concerns about morality are of universal significance, that is, "pure science is driven by profits and becomes hypocritical, developing in a moral vacuum" "War and capital make humanity fall faster and plunge the moral order into chaos", perhaps based on similar concerns, Hao Jingfang's "Cosmic Leapner" gives pessimistic predictions about digital currencies and outer space exploration, which people still have many optimistic fantasies. "In recent decades, the money for human space exploration has been in the development of the solar system, has seized the moon, Mars, and space as the main battlefield of military competition, so although the military field of scientific research funding index has risen, but 90% of the solar system exploration and development of the military industry, the use of cosmology and basic physics exploration project progress has been very slow."
In fact, Hao Jingfang has always been a master of moral narrative, and her debut novel "The Invisible Planet" is to use the lying planet to reflect on "integrity", the most basic moral creed of mankind. "Beijing Fold" is a direct attack on the real moral problems brought about by global income inequality and class fragmentation trends. As a Doctor of Economics, Hao Jingfang's moral narrative also comes from the conflict between economics and utilitarian ethics itself: human development and prosperity should first and foremost be attributed to technological and economic progress, but the greatest threat to human civilization is technological innovation and economic strengthening at the expense of human nature.
The moral narrative of science fiction works often has a strong critical and reflective temperament, which is closely related to the development history of science fiction. The twentieth century was the most powerful and prosperous era for humanity and technology, but it was the most brutal two world wars in history, the Great Depression, nuclear pollution, and ecological degradation. People feel an unprecedented crisis in the fate of the planet and humanity. Therefore, it is not difficult to understand why the early novels of science fiction representatives such as Asimov and Vonnegut are often written during World War II, the Vietnam War, or the theme of war. In addition, it will be found that many classic science fiction novels are also related to works and literature that reflect on human technological ethics such as "Silent Spring" and "The Limit of Growth".
Therefore, in the high moral narrative form of science fiction works, many taboos, or ethical principles, are often formed. As Sigmund Freud argues in Totems and Taboos, human morality and ethics begin with taboos, and moral narratives in science fiction often begin with taboos. For example, Star Trek's Star Alliance has two absolute taboos, and the highest guiding principle is to prohibit interference in other civilizations. Another absolute taboo is genetic improvement to meet one's own needs, in order to maintain the balance of the society and to ensure the alliance's commitment to equal opportunities. By enhancing Julian's abilities through genetic improvements, Richard Bashir deliberately undermined the elite morality of the Star Alliance, which kept the survival of the fittest in the Star Trek economic system. In recent years, the hot artificial intelligence has made Asimov's three laws popular again, and the three theorems from his science fiction novel "I, Robot" have become an important part of "robotics". It is these three moral taboos that have become a classic example of influencing the moral norms of the real world through ethical narratives. For the major moral dilemmas facing mankind, science fiction works not only play the role of criticism, exhortation and empathy in traditional literature, film and television works, but also play the role of thought experimentation.
Both human thought experiments and scientific experiments are designed to change the world, but for the sake of morality, saving civilization seems to be a more eternal theme. In his foreword to the latest edition of Asimov's al-Qaeda, Nobel laureate economist Paul Krugman said that he dreamed of himself as Harry Sheldon as a child, "to save civilization with mathematical systems that describe and explain human behavior." "But from the perspective of human history and civilization evolution, at least the mathematical system and the moral system work together to save mankind from the edge of the cliff countless times." If you think about it, aren't these two aspects exactly what Kant called the starry sky above his head and the noble moral law of the heart? In this way, it is not difficult to find that almost no form of work can hit these two shocking themes at the same time through moral narratives like science fiction works.
This article will be published in the essay column of Peking University Financial Review, No. 1 (No. 10 in total) in 2022.
The author | Benli (North Lookout)
Secretary-General of Peking University HSBC Financial Research Institute, Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Peking University Financial Review, Editor-in-Chief of China Economics Education and Research Network, Member of Shenzhen Fintech Ethics Committee. He has founded the North Looke Economics Park and published books such as "Rise?!: Two Possibilities of China's Economic Development in the Next 10 Years", "The Road of Economics", "Reform and the Future", "The Battle of Investment Survival", "Sixteen Lectures on Quantitative Investment", "General Knowledge of Financial Ethics" and so on.