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From robot servants to flying cars and laser guns, science fiction literature introduces an imagined world of human-made possibilities. In the realm of speculative fiction, science fiction stories build a bridge between the believable and the fantastic on a foundation of technology. At the core of science fiction literature, technology becomes an entity with the ability to amplify humanity's essence whether at the height of benevolence or the pit of malevolence.

Since all literature, especially speculative fiction, grapples with the question of "what if," science fiction as a genre then explores variations of that question through drawing tangible lines between today's applied science and the intangible future. As a result, these what if scenarios capitalize on both the readers' faith in technology's advances but also fear of the unknown consequences that our growing dependency on such conveniences would bring.

Utopia and Dystopia

Trademarks in the genre, both utopian and dystopian settings, serve to exemplify assumed natural progression of technology's impact on society. Successful science fiction exposes the seedy underbelly of utopia. The classic H.G. Wells novel, The Time Machine, is a prime example of paradise at a cost. Wells introduces to the Elois, a humanoid race living in a naturalistic utopia, and the Morlocks, creatures sequestered away underground. While the Elois live free from technology, they lack the means of caring for themselves. As the reader learns, the Morlocks possess the science to care for both races. In exchange for a care-free utopian existence, the Morlocks harvest the Elois, leaving the reader to question the cost of utopia.

On the flipside of utopia, is dystopia-another quintessential science fiction setting-a nightmare world of curtailed personal freedoms and absolute censorship. The George Orwell novel Nineteen Eighty-Four exemplifies such a setting of society tracking and controlling its populace through mass dependency on technological convenience. Utilizing classic dystopian ploys, including a perpetual global war, the characters live in wretched squalor while being sedated with hedonist pleasures: widely distributed pornography, alcohol, and gambling. Yet technology remains a staple to the governmental propaganda machine. Citizens are content because they are inundated with the message that they should be content, and when the protagonist Winston Smith rebels against the government's absolute control, he is punished.

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