What is the purpose of science fiction?

Question

like what kind of goal are science fiction writers trying to achieve?

Answer 1

To entertain readers who are interested in it.

Answer 2

What is great about science fiction, and the reason many authors write in the genre, is that you can make statements about current society under guise of fiction.  Star Trek was very good at this; the original crew featured a black woman and a russian man during a time that America was not accepting of women, black people, or russians.  It also tackled cloning, genetic manipulation, and homosexuality in ways that felt like they were just part of an entertaining tv show.  Science fiction routinely tackles politics, genocide, evolution, creationism, and nearly every other topic that is debated in modern day society.  It does so in a way that does not offend, and makes people think.

Some authors are trying to depict humanity at it's best.  Others are predicting that humanity will have to get worse before it gets better; David Brin's The Postman is a great example of this.

Science fiction is a way for authors to expand characters, worlds, and situations far beyond what we see on earth.  It allows for a great amounts of variety and creativity.

Answer 3

Science fiction writers envision possibilities.

Sometimes, a science fiction story can become reality.

Take H.G. Wells' 1903 story, "The Land Ironclad". http://www.currell.net/models/ironclad.h... This story inspired army tanks.

His other story, "The War in the Air", was written before there was ever air combat. http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/w/h-g-...

In the 1890's, Wells noticed that all nonwhite races on Earth had been conquered by the white man, except Japan (who was beaten in 1945).

He noticed how whites used superior technology to win, yet were not physically superior.

Wells wanted whites to get a feeling of what the rest of the world encountered.

Since there was not (and still isn't) a race of humans with the ability to conquer whites, he chose martians. The martians had heat rays, walking tripods, and space travel, but were still just as frail as humans.

H.G. Wells, the Father of Science Fiction, earned his four year degree in Science. That knowledge would serve him well over the decades.

Answer 4

Scifi has always been about politics. By showing what could happen if we dont realize our errors, we find a way to get people to understand our veiws.

However, I am still of the library of thought that thinks nothing should be preached at us. Allow people to draw their own conclusions.  

Answer 5

well science fiction its kind of like a artistic way of thinking for science for example i read a book called sleepers wake it was about a boy who wakes up early in a over 50 year journey to get to a different planet and they do their mission succsesfully i guess they just want to make money and they can also give ideas to scienceists to make that invention real for example a clone maybe u can get a clue from books on how to invent it for example a science fiction book can tell u that he took a little of all the organs and placed it in a body made of iron  

Answer 6

It's another way to expand the mind. Thinking of things that aren't, but very well could be.