Sci-Fi

• 31/01/2020
• Siobhan O'Brien Holmes
• no comments

This is a genre that’s hard to define. Broadly speaking, sci-fi stories hinge on imagined scientific progress or technology, often within a futuristic setting. Though scenarios are invented, like aliens visiting earth or the ability to time travel, they typically rely on only a slight bending of the laws of physics as we know them and, though unlikely, seem within the realm of possibility if the technology were to develop. If sci-fi sounds similar to fantasy, take a look at Arthur C Clarke’s distinction:

‘Science fiction is something that could happen – but you usually wouldn’t want it to. Fantasy is something that couldn’t happen – though you often wish that it could.’

Or Rod Serling’s definition:

“Fantasy is the impossible made probable. Science fiction is the improbable made possible”.