List of science fiction themes: Difference between revisions

Content deleted Content added

Inline

Revision as of 04:43, 20 January 2009

The following is a list of recurring themes in science fiction. Please note this list also includes themes you'd also find in other genres.

Cosmology
Creation of the Universe
The future ^[1] ^[2] ^[3]
History ^[4]
- Alternate history ^[4]
- Historical cycles: history repeating itself (either on long or short scales)
- Scientific prediction of the future (e.g. psychohistory)
- Secret history
Language
- Alien languages (e.g. Klingon, Huttese)
- All humans speaking one language (possibly Esperanto)
- Current human languages evolving/splitting
- The Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis being strongly true (e.g. Babel 17 by Samuel R. Delany or The Languages of Pao by Jack Vance)
- Universal Translators (e.g. Babel fish)
Military - strategy, weapons, ranks, technologies.
- Ray guns
- Space warfare ^[5] ^[6]
Omega Point
Quantum suicide and immortality
Parallel worlds or universes. ^[1] ^[1]
- There is a space based civilization variant of this theme. This plot device allows writers to write soft science fiction while accounting for the lack of technological advancement and thus similarity to the present day.
Religious ideas in science fiction
Sci fantasy
Sci horror [Frankenstein], [The Demon Seed], [the Alien series]
Sex (including gender roles, polygamy, sexuality and procreation)
Sociology and sociobiology
Space Opera

Alternate intelligences
- Artificial intelligence
- Beings of pure mentality
- Hive minds
- Infomorphs - memories, characters and consciences of persons being uploaded to a computer or storage media
- Noosphere - the "sphere of human thought"
- Solipsism & Solipsism syndrome - a belief that the universe is entirely the creation of one's own mind
Androids and Gynoids
- Cyborgs
- Robots and humanoid robots
- Replicants
- Sexbots
Characters
- The Absent-minded professor or Monomane & Eclecticism
- The Detective
- The God-Like Alien
- The Golem
- The Ignorant Friend
- Redshirt
- The Robot Clone
- The Robot Servant
- The Scientist
  - The Mad Scientist
  - The Amoral Scientist
  - The Heroic Scientist
  - The Lame Amoral Scientist
- The Wedge
Clones
Extraterrestrial life (see Extraterrestrial life in culture)
- Alien invasion
- Astrobiology
- Benevolent aliens
- First contact
  - Principles of non-interference (e.g. Prime Directive)
Living Planets
Mutants
Shapeshifters
Superhumans
Symbionts
Uplifted animals - using technology to "raise" non-human animals to human evolutionary levels

Bio-implants
- Body modification, including genetic modification
- Bionics
- Cybernetics
Intelligence amplification
Invisibility
Life extension, Biological immortality, Universal immortalism and immortality
- Artificial organs
- Cloning
- Cryonics
- The Organ Bank Problem - a proposed problem in which the reduced death rate caused by organ transplants would lead to a shortage of organs available for transplant
Mind interfacing
- Memory removal/editing
- Mind control
- Mind uploading
- Neural implants to directly interface with machinery
Molecular manufacturing & Nanotechnology (nanomilitary, nanomaterials, nanoecology, nanomedicine, nanocomputing, nanospace, nanoenergy)
Psi powers and psychic phenomenon
Paradise engineering
Resizing (size-changing, miniaturization, magnification, shrinking, and enlargement)
Shapeshifting
Telepathy
Teleportation

Alien Reality Television, usually the protagonist discovers his life has been one big reality television show for aliens.
Alien Zoo, a zoo where humans are kept as exhibits.
Arcologies - enormous habitats (hyperstructures) of extremely high human population density
Domed city
Endemic
Exploring alien habitats.
Floating City
Seasteading & Ocean colonization
- Pirate utopia
Space colonization
- Terraforming
- List of largest known stars & List of most luminous stars
Underground city
Walking City

Colonization of other planets, moons, asteroids, etc.
- - Terraforming
Moving planets
Space exploration
- Interstellar travel
  - Faster-than-light travel and communications
- Much slower than Light
  - Generation ship
  - Sleeper ship
- Very nearly light speed
  - Bussard ramjets
  - Ursula LeGuin's NAFAL ships, and the Twin paradox
- Space stations
Time travel
- Alternate histories: time travel can be used as a plot device to explore parallel universes. While alternate history has its own category (see above), it often occurs in time travel stories as well.
- Anachronism
- The Grandfather paradox -- e.g. Can someone go back in time and kill his parents before they beget the killer?
Travel to the Earth's center

Artificial gravity
Artificial intelligence
- von Neumann machines
Singularity
Star lifting & Stellar engineering
Megascale engineering & Planetary engineering
Technology
- Far advanced technology for the time.
- Alien technology being found and used by humans. Most of the time for selfish purposes, or is being used incorrectly (not how it's supposed to work)
Virtual reality and simulated reality
Weapons

@@ Line 25: / Line 25: @@
 **There is a space based civilization variant of this theme. This plot device allows writers to write [[soft science fiction]] while accounting for the lack of technological advancement and thus similarity to the present day.
 *[[Religious ideas in science fiction]]
-*[[Horror fiction|Sci horror]] [Frankenstein], [The Demon Seed], [the Alien series]
 *[[Fantasy fiction|Sci fantasy]]
+*[[Horror fiction|Sci horror]] [Frankenstein], [The Demon Seed], [the Alien series]
 *[[Sex in science fiction|Sex]] (including [[gender role]]s, [[polygamy]], [[Human sexual behavior|sexuality]] and [[Reproduction|procreation]])
 ** [[Homosexuality in science fiction]]