Secrets of bright future lie in human successes and holding elites responsible, insists science fiction guru
Nasa-consultant and futurist Dr David Brin believes the accountability of those in power – an invention of the Enlightenment – is now more crucial than ever
When most people think of science fiction, they think of the future; of advanced technology, alien civilisations and intergalactic space travel. But for author Dr David Brin, sci-fi is a genre that deals with the past every bit as much as it tries to predict where humanity may be heading.
“You see, science fiction was badly named,” says Brin, when we meet in Hong Kong following the author’s appearance at a future-focused event in Shenzhen hosted by Chinese smartphone-maker Huawei. “Only 10 per cent or so of science-fiction authors are scientifically trained, as I am, but all of us study history.
“History is the great saga of where we were, how difficult things were for our ancestors, how hard they had to struggle, not only with nature and poverty but with their own well-intended mistakes, their own wrong-headed beliefs. To climb gradually forward, to the point where we could stand on their shoulders and launch ourselves to the planets and the stars? What a story. What an incredible story.
“All science fiction does is extend it a little bit further in what Einstein called the gedankenexperiment, or thought experiment. It should have been called speculative history.”
It is a typically erudite response from Brin, and one that, given his pedigree as both a scholar and an author, is hard to argue with.
Born in Glendale, California, in 1950, seven years before the Soviet Union’s launch of the Sputnik satellite marked the start of the space age, Brin immersed himself in science from a young age and went on to earn degrees in astronomy and applied physics, as well as a doctorate in space science.