Text/Yangcheng Evening News all-media reporter Sun Lei intern Chen Xiaonan
On December 21, the first domestic meta-universe product "Xi'an" opened for internal testing, which attracted attention. As in the "metaverse", from concept to product, many scenes that originally existed in science fiction literature seem to be becoming a reality, and virtual and reality are increasingly intertwined.
How does literature reflect the rapidly changing world of the present? Chen Yufan, a science fiction writer and winner of the 2014 Huadi Literature List of the Year, was interviewed exclusively by this reporter——
A mainstream literary author began to write science fiction
Yangcheng Evening News: How do you think about the concept of "metacosmology"?
Chen: Actually, I think there are a lot of metaverses now, but there are still relatively few things that are actually made, and we think that it is the same as the kind of scenes in science fiction and movies, but the infrastructure of reality and the technology of virtual reality have not yet reached that level, so it is still a relatively early stage. I've witnessed the last wave of VR, and now there's another wave, and it seems like it's going to be a very mainstream new medium soon, but it's not that fast.
Yangcheng Evening News: When it comes to science fiction, everyone always thinks of Liu Cixin, are there many writers who write science fiction at present?
Chen: The current synonym for Chinese science fiction is indeed Liu Cixin, and the sales of his works alone may be much higher than the total sales of all other science fiction works. (For more news, please pay attention to Yangcheng Pie pai.ycwb.com)
But now there may be a Matthew effect, from the market to investors, more willing to invest in the head of the writer's work, so that it is easier to profit, many people do not have the patience to cultivate new writers' works. Therefore, the current team of science fiction literature creation is not mature enough and not healthy enough. Now we should build a healthier ecosystem that allows more new people to emerge and aesthetics to be more diverse.
Yangcheng Evening News: Science fiction often focuses on the grand world view, and many people question the humanity and literature presented in science fiction.
Chen: In addition to discussing the problem of human civilization from a very grand perspective, science fiction literature has many different aspects, such as science fiction works written by Han Song, many very dark, stream-of-consciousness, absurd works, more literary and artistic styles; including myself, the style, themes, and perspectives are relatively close to the so-called mainstream literature.
There are no advantages and disadvantages between the two, and each has its own advantages and disadvantages. We should learn from each other's strong points and learn and absorb different creative techniques. Maybe in the science fiction circle, because many writers may come from science and engineering, because of the separation of discipline education, so that their understanding of literature, including art, may be slightly weaker.
In recent years, there have been authors of mainstream literature who have begun to write science fiction, such as Wang William, Wang October, etc., which I think is very good, indicating that science fiction literature has begun to be recognized by everyone. In this era, science fiction literature also has advantages that traditional literature does not have, such as expressing new issues, emotions, possibilities, etc. But I don't think it's necessary for writers to divide genres, because genres are bound to constrain writing.
B Science fiction is all about rediscovering the invisible reality
Yangcheng Evening News: Do you think there is a relatively fixed definition of science fiction literature?
Chen: The definition of science fiction is actually constantly changing, but the important thing is not to change, but to explore what is the unchanging core of science fiction. I think the core of it is actually to explore the increasingly wide and deep involvement of technology as a new force in our daily lives, including into our subjective conscious, psychological, and emotional states, which has also changed the way we see and interact with the world.
But this process is relatively hidden, many people can not perceive, so at this time science fiction to do, is how to let the commonplace things open a viewing distance, let it re-defamiliarize, rethink its relationship with people, what kind of impact and change it will have on people.
For example, the e-waste I wrote in "Wasteland" may not be seen by many people in daily life, but it is only transferred, and the power of science fiction is to rediscover these invisible realities, make invisible things visible again, and re-examine our lives that have been highly alienated by technology and ourselves.
Yangcheng Evening News: Speaking of alienation, how do you understand the alienation of science and technology on people?
Chen: Alienation can be divided into many different levels, physical alienation, mental state alienation, emotional alienation, etc., including the story that we now have a lot of people falling in love with robots and virtual idols.
When dealing with alienation, first you have to make its logic hold, and you need to set up some dramatic conflicts through some scenes to show the real consequences of alienation. The more successful writing in this regard is Ian McEwan's "Machine Like Me" and Kazuo Ishiguro's "Clara and the Sun", both of which explore the emotional links between humans and robots, and from a very delicate and profound perspective, they write about the emotional entanglement between humans and non-humans.
So I think that science fiction is ultimately a kind of literature driven by ideas, which may not be strong in literature, language and character portrayal, but if the ideas reach a certain depth and height, just like "The Three-Body Problem", it can actually make up for the shortcomings of other aspects.
C Science fiction is no longer just a literary genre
Yangcheng Evening News: Do you think there are any obvious changes in the current science fiction literature creation compared with the past?
Chen: I think there have been very big changes. When I first created it in the 1990s, the science fiction works and ideas that we were exposed to were actually from the West, and some of the more traditional ideas of the last century. In the past 20 years, in fact, you can see the changes in the world pattern, including the rise of China, the emergence of culture, and the rise of the Internet, which are changing the definition, concept and media form of science fiction itself.
Now when we talk about science fiction, it is not only the style of literature, but also includes comprehensive animation comics, film and television works, games, immersive experience theme parks, including peripheral goods, which are sub-genres under the science fiction category, which actually gives science fiction creators a broader space.
On the other hand, when I first started writing, science fiction fans were actually a relatively lonely existence, and it was more difficult for you to find like-minded friends. In recent years, science fiction has moved to another situation, there will be a lot of activities, including conferences, forums, academic lectures, etc., a lot of exchanges, I feel a little too much, the same group of people back and forth, so I also consciously reduce participation in this kind of activities.
Yangcheng Evening News: As you said, the science fiction film industry is far from mature enough. What do you think science fiction films and television should do to expand the "blockbuster" such as "The Wandering Earth" into a large-scale industry?
Chen: Yes, there have been no science fiction movies in the domestic market since "The Wandering Earth". But things don't happen overnight, and the Korean film industry has actually experienced decades of growth. First of all, we must start by improving the level of industrialization of films.
In fact, Chinese science fiction does not lack good stories and good texts, but it lacks good transformation. There is a very long process in between, and each link needs to be performed by professionals. As a creator, I can only grasp this part of writing a novel.
Yangcheng Evening News: I am concerned that you and Kai-Fu Lee co-created the science fiction story collection "AI 2041", can you talk about your vision of the future life of mankind?
Chen: I think that 20 years from now, it will be a social form of highly collaborative symbiosis between man and machine, including the fact that there are already many regions in China experimenting with AI governance. I attended a conference before, and I learned that there are 18 such pilot zones in China, and there are also those located in townships.
I think the future will be a very interesting scenario, there will be AI intervention in daily life, to help us make decisions, to do life planning. This brings a lot of convenience, but it also brings potential risks and challenges. Including data privacy, algorithmic bias, information cocoons, etc., inequality will be magnified. This not only requires technology companies to control and design, but also requires the participation of people from different perspectives and different positions in society.
Yangcheng Evening News: Some people think that Chinese science fiction is already on the eve of the outbreak, what do you think?
Chen: I will be cautiously optimistic. I think opportunities will only be given to those who are prepared, and I am a long-term believer and do not believe in this kind of pie in the sky. So if you're always looking forward to a flashpoint, you may never be able to wait, or wait for it, and it won't be your own flashpoint.
【Reporter's Note】
Use science fiction to tell a good Chinese story
In recent years, Chinese science fiction works have shown a spurt of growth, not only in china, but also in the international attention.
Traditional science fiction writing is constantly expanding its boundaries and breaking the genre paradigm, both the writing of a grand world view and the excavation of deep human nature. On the other hand, science fiction network articles are constantly rising, cyber repair immortals, science fiction farming, ancient martial arts mecha... In addition to the traditional science fiction motif, science fiction network articles have grown a series of new fusion writing directions.
According to the "2021 Science Fiction Network New Trend Report" released a few days ago, more than 510,000 creators have created science fiction network articles on the reading group platform, an increase of 189% over 2016. Among them, Generation Z creators account for more than 58%, and at the same time, Generation Z has also become the main force in reading science fiction, with a year-on-year increase of more than 44%.
In the view of Yao Haijun, deputy editor-in-chief of Science Fiction World Magazine, science fiction is literature in the era of science and technology, and the popularity of science fiction themes is closely related to the development of the times. "In the past, we were looking for science fiction, but now we don't have time to watch a lot of new works." In the past, science fiction was a relatively niche subject, and now science fiction is not only the presentation of novel texts, but has gradually developed into an industrial chain.
The rise of the concept of metaversity has made many people worry about the future direction of human beings: in the virtual world, where will we go as entities?
There are also many people in the name of Liu Cixin against the metaverse, Liu Cixin told the Yangcheng Evening News reporter that for the metacosm, he has never commented, let alone said that "the metacosm has led mankind to a dead end", "I have no opinion on the metacosm, because I can't figure out what new concepts there are."
For Chinese, science fiction literature is an import of the West. With the development of science and technology, Chinese science fiction literature has continued to go international in recent years, and in 2015, Liu Cixin's "Three-Body Problem" won the Hugo Award for "Best Feature-Length Award", which made Chinese science fiction literature attract attention around the world.
"Chinese science fiction is very hot abroad now, and this year there are more than a dozen related activities alone, including foreign literary festivals, or different institutions of the school invite Chinese science fiction writers to share." Chen Yifan believes that this kind of popularity is related to the wave set off by "The Three-Body Problem" on the one hand, and on the other hand, it is also closely related to the rise of China and the development of science and technology, and the Western world has begun to re-look at our culture.
Chen Said that for many countries in the West, China is actually a country that has not been fully displayed, and the understanding of China is still stuck in a very distant and ancient imagination, such as martial arts novels, such as Zhang Yimou's films. But what contemporary China is like, many times they do not have a complete three-dimensional concept.
"How to tell local stories well, give themselves subjectivity, and promote the sea of science fiction literature is a new challenge facing writers at present." Chen Said science fiction should play such a role, that is, to tell the Chinese story well, in a more intelligent and flexible way to convey Chinese values and lifestyles.
【Recommended Books of Chen Qifan】
1. "The Salvation Plan": In the vast universe, Ryan Grace is the only remaining hope of the entire human civilization. But when he woke up, he couldn't even remember his name. He searches for identity in the fear of the unknown, taking clues from fragments of memory. This key person with the responsibility of saving the earth is now on the line! Can human civilization survive? In this "rescue plan", everything is full of challenges...
2. "Silent Eternal Wheel": A bizarre murder occurred on the Yonghe Wheel given to the Qing Dynasty by Japan, and the deceased died in a strange state and the cause of death was unknown... A roll of copper leaf that appears in a place that should not have appeared, an unknown Japanese family, and a ship that hinted at the relationship between the Qing dynasty and Japan are intertwined into a tragic and different dusty past.
3. "Small Town Strange Tan": When the construction of the third line is hidden in history, the mysterious mountain town still guards the core secrets of the republic. However, the inhabitants of this place are still unconscious, still enjoying the joy of the pre-millennial. Only four teenagers, because of the disappearance of their companions, discovered the abnormality of the town and stepped into the secret vortex...
4 Concrete Island: 35-year-old architect Robert Maitland was driving on the London Centre West Overpass, 600 yards from the new M4 highway fork, the Jaguar had exceeded the 70-mile-per-hour speed limit, and at this moment, the front wheel flatted and deformed, and the car ran out of control and crashed into a wasteland between the three intersecting highways. Maitland planned to climb the embankment and stop passing vehicles. However, getting out of this "island" is not as easy as it seems...
Source | Yangcheng Evening News Yangcheng Pie
Editor-in-charge | Wu Xiaopan
Edit | Pine nuts