Subtle Science Fiction

October 8th, 2008

There’s a seldom-used form of science fiction that I don’t see a lot of, but I think I would like to.   I’m going to call it “subtle” here for the sake of discussion, but that’s the wrong word.   It’s more profound than subtle.   I’d love to get to some pointers about examples.   Anyway, let me explain what it is.

It’s a form of alternate history, of deep world building, in which the only difference from our world is that the nature of humanity is changed.

Fiction to me is about showing the truth about ourselves, who we are, what it means to be human.   Science fiction lets us see more clearly in some cases because the contrast is turned up by holding up the mirror of aliens, or giving us new powers and seeing how real people would use them.

But in art, there are a lot of ways of showing the truth.

Conventional science fiction uses aliens a lot for the sort of purpose I’m talking about.   Aliens who can’t lie, or who are ultra rational, or who have a more limited spectrum, or more extreme spectrum, of emotions.

But what about keeping it a little more human?

What would the world look like if humans didn’t lie?   Or didn’t create art?   Or didn’t have a sense of humor?   Or didn’t have the ability to suspend disbelief?   Or easily set aside beliefs?   Or didn’t have religion or a concept of god?   Or had sexual activity like bonobos?   Or in which females were physical larger than males?   Or mated for life from childhood?   Or didn’t seek revenge?   Or were all more optimistic?   Or all more pessimistic?   Or there was a different distribution of intelligence, with everyone being smart, or everyone being average with a tiny dispersion.

The negative space can draw a true picture, too.   There are so many things we take for granted about the world, sometimes the only way to see how things work is to take something away and see what stands and what falls.

I first had an idea for a story like this years ago, but never could figure out how to pull it off effectively.   The conceit that interested me was what if people could only identify with an actor once.   That is, once you saw someone in that role, they were typecast, totally, to all viewers.   There are a lot of obvious changes this would make in the world, like how theater and movies would change.   But there would also be a lot of implications for how first impressions would stick, and how consistent human behavior would have to be to get people to evolve this way.   My first thought was to write a story about someone like Dustin Hoffman or another actor who could take on a wide arrange of roles, convincingly, and how they might know their ability and hold out for the role of a lifetime.     Seemed mildly interesting, but not quite compelling enough for a great story.

Do these kind of stories exist?   Have I missed them?   Or failed to notice and remember them?   Maybe they’re out there, and just too subtle for the likes of me.   I’m a smart guy, but sometimes I read a story and feel like I’ve missed the point.

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