More Scifi Genres & Stephenson vs. Heinlein

More Scifi Genres & Stephenson vs. Heinlein

Hi scifi fans; I’m back. You may remember me, the football player who really doesn’t like science fiction. Maybe I should use my label from my first blog, in the words of Robert Heinlein, “I am only an egg” in the scifi world. Yes, it’s me, you must remember the egg.
Today my blog has to do with more of my newly acquired knowledge and my observations or insight to different genres and authors of science fiction.
Cyberpunk is another type of science fiction that I had never heard of before. This genre is based in futuristic times where science and technology have run wild and created problematic societies. Movies like Bladerunner and The Matrix fit into this category. The novel Snow Crash, by Neal Stephenson, is also categorized as cyberpunk. A few other types of science fiction genres that I thought worth mentioning are time travel, humorous science fiction, military science fiction, utopias and dystopias. Time travel scifi is simply stories that involve some sort of traveling through time, either forwards or backwards. Humorous and military science fiction deal with exactly what their names suggests. Humorous scifi deals with science fiction mixed with humor, while military scifi deals with science fiction mixed with wars, military groups, or military type war tactics. Utopias and dystopias are both associated with the science fiction genre. Utopias are stories that depict some sort of perfect society. It is usually described as a paradise. Dystopias on the other hand are the direct opposite. They are stories that describe or depict dysfunctional societies or societies that were functional and then have gone horribly wrong. The Dispossessed, by Ursula K. LeGuin is an example of utopian science fiction. The movies Gattaca, Brazil, and Fahrenheit 451 are all examples of dystopian science fiction. Some scifi novels and movies often contain both utopian and dystopian themes, sort of like comparing and contrasting.
Next, I’d like to comment on my observations of two highly praised and successful authors of science fiction, Robert Heinlein and Neal Stephenson. In my first blog I commented on Heinlein and his 1961 novel, Stranger in a Strange Land. I commented on it being labeled by many as perhaps the most famous science fiction novel ever written, and the novel that introduced the best sellers list to the genre of science fiction. I also mentioned the novel’s many social, moral, religious, and political themes and how it influenced the society of the 60’s and 70’s. I said in my blog that his novel may have served as an introduction into or a vision into the future of the care-free, make love – not war hippy society of the 60’s and 70’s. So now I am asking, should we believe that this was a prophetic vision or a case of society being influenced by things they read and saw? Now, let’s consider and compare Neal Stephenson’s 1992 novel, Snow Crash. Noted differences were the different times they were written, about 30 years difference, and the genre, with Snow Crash being cyberpunk. Snow Crash is definitely written in a different style than Stranger in a Strange Land. Snow Crash is basically two stories weaved into one. Reality seems to be one story while the virtual computer world, Metaverse, seems to be the second. For example, in the reality part of the novel “snow crash” represents the latest drug of choice, while in Metaverse, the internet world, “snow crash” represents a new deadly computer virus. I found more similarities than differenced even though the different genres. Stephenson has also been praised for his work and his novel Snow Crash has won awards too. Both novels use social, religious, moral, and political themes, both use controversial subject matter, language, and sex, and both have a futuristic prediction type theme even though that may have not been their intention when they were written. Both novels create new ideas about what the future may hold.
Personally I think that Snow Crash should be labeled a humorous cyberpunk. Stephenson uses a style of writing in this novel that has extra, perhaps unimportant, paragraphs filled with humor, slang, and ordinary direct speech. I think this humorous writing style made the novel fun reading. I read a blog that stated the Stephenson admits that several people have told him that the companies they work for use his novel, Snow Crash, as a motivational tool to stress the importance of new enervative inventions of cutting edge technology. So, again I ask should we believe that this novel, Snow Crash, like Stranger in a Strange Land has some prophetic visions of the future or that they simply influence society by introducing creative inventive ideas for the future. Again, I conclude that science fiction is a matter of personal interpretation – take it as you may.