What If's

By Ashley

The Science Fiction and Fantasy genre's of literature can be hard to describe. They can take place anywhere, in space, under water, virtual realities, or nowhere at all, in some made up place like Middle Earth in Lord of the Rings. One author, Veronica Roth, described it as the genre of "What If's". What if these certain worldly limitations vanished, or what if humanity discovered this new technology, what if something or everything was different, what would it do to humanity. Authors make us these scenarios and let it play out, focusing in on one character living in that "What If", and playing out how they would respond. 

Thats what makes this genre so special, there are no rules and authors play gods. For me, the difference between Science Fiction and Fantasy is that in Science Fiction, those "What If's" come from a new discovery, something that someone discovered and explored and it changed the world as we know it. In Fantasy, these "What If's" are nothing new and have always existed. Thats not a perfect and all-encompassing description, but it's one way to look at it. 

I've been reading a lot of Science Fiction recently, and with a new advancement in AI technology being released to the public earlier this year, it's got me thinking about how technology is engrained in our lives, and how there are classic and new novels with evolved technology and human mutations as central parts of their "What If's". As technology progresses at this rapid rate, we grow closer to the reality in Ready Player One, with the Oculus virtual reality gaming system, with Artificial Intelligence created text, images, videos, and even music. Many of us work online and are dependent on its function for income. Computers are in everything, cars, fridges, watches, is it a huge stretch to expect that to continue and soon our homes have AI security systems, machines that cook full dinners for us? I don't think it is.

Here's where the human mutations enter the conversation. It's obvious that the generations that grew up with technology are going to be more versed, comfortable, and trusting of technology, and thats increasing with every new generation. The older populations struggle to embrace and adapt to it, but it's not slowing down for them, and it won't for us in the future. Why not somehow equip the human brain to adapt better, like updates in cell-phones and computers, through genetic methods or just new devices and implants? 

Let's step back, and consider what this does to humanity in these fictional stories. Does it even end well? In Ready Player One, reality is crumbling, in The Diabolic, humans build grand spaceships that repaired themselves that they forgot how to build them, replying on a few who kept that information from them, making the public dependent on very few people (that never goes well), and in Void, humanity depends on the net to do everything for them, but anyone with a HEX gene is hunted by the Government. In the end of most of these stories, the Hero/protagonist usually finds that humanity is suffering and stopped evolving

Advanced in technology is coming, and this isn't to say I am not excited to see what it does in the next 20, 30, and 40 years, and it's only even a disaster in Science Fiction, which is fictional, made up, conjecture.

It's fun thinking about, and if this topic is interesting, I recommend picking up some of the 6 books listed below that have tech and human mutations as part of their "What If's". 

:)

Cline, Ernest, 2011, Ready Player One, Random House Publishing Group.

Kincaid, S.J, 2016, The Diabolic, Simon & Schuster.

Falls, Kat, 2010, Dark Life, Scholastic Press.

Scott Card, Orosn, 1977, Ender's Game, Phoenix Rising.

Lassiter, Rhiannon, 2000, Void, Simon & Schuster.

Lowachee, Karen, "Survival Guide", The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy, Veronica Roth, 2021 Edition, HarperCollionsPublishers, 2021, pp 14-28.