Science Fiction

There isn't all that many works of science fiction with socialist themes and finding what there is is hard. It would be nice to have a list of leftist scifi that we would edit regularly so that we can easily find new things to watch, read or listen to.

The Dispossessed is a masterful work of utopian science fiction. LeGuin depicts a stateless communist society in which there are no: wages, bosses, politicians, police, prisons, private property, class/racial/gender hierarchies. On the desert planet of Anarres the people have developed a social consciousness of free association and mutual aid that allows them to meet everyone's needs. What is produced in abundance is freely given while scarcer commodities are rationed.

Of course, in science fiction, utopias are rarely perfect. LeGuin pushes the limits of her anarcho-communist society with a crop failure that threatens to collapse society. In the face of starvation, people rely on social norms that border on laws. The individual is often called to sacrifice their own interests for the good of the collective. Hence the allure of a society of free organization is impeded by the stagnating social pressures of tradition, public opinion, and the greater good. As Jasper Bernes notes:

There are flaws, however, or ambiguities with the world they’ve built... [Anarresti] communist principle has, in areas, decayed into knee-jerk moralism while bureaucratic hardening clogs the administrative arteries. The main character, Shevek, a gifted physicist on the verge of a theoretical breakthrough, finds himself stymied not only by his compatriots’ constant injunctions against “egoizing” but also by a central planning mechanism that, even though it matches volunteers with potential jobs, often seems as if it is telling people what to do and where to go without taking into account their life circumstances, their needs, and their desires. Shevek is thwarted by the unchanging world he inhabits.

Development is not only at the heart of the novel form, but is the basis for Karl Marx’s conception of communism. While many revolutionaries of Marx’s time and ours emphasized equality in their depictions of the world to come, Marx himself insisted on the centrality of freedom and, in particular, what he called free development. He is, in this sense, much closer to anarchism than the contemporaries who insisted on the right to work or a fair wage. In Marx’s view, proletarian revolution would produce “a community of freely associated individuals” in which “the free development of each is the precondition of the free development of all.” Equality, he argues in many places, cannot be the goal in any sort of simplistic way, since people have different needs and capacities: equal treatment produces, paradoxically, inequality. We do not have similar expectations for children and adults, for example. Instead of asking everyone to consume or work an equal amount, or in the same way, the equality that matters would be one that gave everyone the same opportunities to freely participate in any activity, to freely take, but most importantly, to freely change and grow. In The Dispossessed, what we see through Shevek’s dissatisfaction is a society in which there is freedom but not quite free development, in which there is equality without the fullness of free access and opportunity that is possible.

source: https://communemag.com/the-shield-of-utopia/

LeGuin contrasts life on Anarres with an ultra-capitalistic twin planet Urras. While the Anarrasti are working together to survive a desert planet, the rich on Urrasti live a life of excessive luxury. This too is first presented as a utopia (of sorts) until our protagonist visits the planet and is slowly corrupted by its excesses. Further, toward the end of the book, we see how the wealth of the wealthy is a function of the abject poverty of the poor. The contrast between the communalistic communist society and the individualistic capitalist society is particularly poignant.

TLDR: The Dispossessed is a must-read for all lovers of science fiction. The realistic depiction of a society without wages/hierarchies/government/private property remains with the reader long after they turn the last page.

For those of you who have read the book, what are your thoughts?

What a doozy.

So you don't have to read the whole thing:

The unveiler [to the FBI] of such an insidious subterfuge was none other than Philip K. Dick, himself a legendary science-fiction writer. According to his letter, fellow science-fiction great Stanisław Lem, didn’t even exist, except for as a figurehead for the purposes of disseminating propaganda. He was ‘probably a composite committee rather than an individual’. Dick’s evidence for this denouncement was that ‘[Lem] writes in several styles and sometimes reads foreign, to him, languages and sometimes does not’. And the conspiracy spread further still: ‘The Party operates (a U..S.] publishing house which does a great deal of Party-controlled science fiction’.

Evidently, Dick’s allegations were unfounded. Lem surely existed, and his communist connections were non-existent. He was even active against the PRL’s government, and had been ill-treated by those in power. If Dick’s shadowy cabal of conspirators infiltrating science fiction existed, Lem was certainly not it’s originator. So why, then, was Dick such an ardent believer in his guilt?

In 1973, Lem became an honorary member of the Science Fiction Writers of America, a gesture of ‘international goodwill’ on the association’s part. However, in 1976, 70 percent of the SFWA’s voted in favour of a resolution to revoke Lem’s membership. A very quick dismissal for such a prestigious author, but the reasons for his quick ejection from the organisation are clear – he didn’t seem to regard his honorary membership as any sort of honour. He considered American science fiction ‘ill thought out, poorly written, and interested more in adventure that ideas or new literary forms’ and ‘bad writing tacked together with wooden dialogue’, and these are just a few examples of Lem’s deprecatory attitude towards the US branch of his genre.

Lem, however, considered one science fiction author as exempt from his scathing criticisms – his denouncer, Philip K. Dick. The title of an essay Lem published about Dick is evidence enough of this high regard: A Visionary Among the Charlatans.

The possible reasons they give for Dick's conspiracy alignment:

• Dick didn't know Lem appreciated him
• Lem once translated his book but could not or did not pay royalties to him
• Dick drug usage made him do strange things at point in his life

Shroud is a really good piece of hard sci-fi that explores first contact with an alien intelligence. It has creative world building, good characters, and a creative take on alien life.

I'd say it was at least an 8/10, if not a 9/10 or 10/10. I would highly very recommend this book series to anyone who's a fan of science fiction, especially if they have watched the TV adaptation of The Expanse, because if you enjoyed the TV adaptation, you'll likely also enjoy the books

It's one of the more intelligent shows dealing with AI and transhumanism that I've seen.

Space colonization is a pretty common trope in scifi but if I am being honest I got somewhat reminded of colonialism circa 1492-present.

Dune seems to be everywhere now. Multiple board games, a MMO, strategy games, multiple movies.

With the recent resurgence of popularity of Dune thanks to the movie, curious what people think of it. It's a series I have pretty fond memories of from when I was much younger, and have been considering maybe giving them a re-read to see how they hold up. Might even keep a blog on it, if people are interested.