List of science fiction themes

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.

Overarching themes

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 ^[1]
Language
- Alien languages ^[5]
- 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 ^[1] ^[6]
Military - strategy, weapons, ranks, technologies.
- Ray guns ^[7]
- Space warfare ^[8] ^[9]
Omega Point
Quantum suicide and immortality
Parallel worlds or universes. ^[1] ^[10]
- 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 ^[11], ^[12], ^[13]
Sex (including gender roles, polygamy, sexuality and procreation) ^[14]
Sociology and sociobiology
Space Opera

Types of beings

Alternate intelligences
- Artificial intelligence ^[15]
- Beings of pure mentality ^[16]
- Hive minds ^[17]
- 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 ^[1] ^[18] ^[19]
- Cyborgs ^[5]
- Robots and humanoid robots ^[5]
- Replicants ^[5]
- Sexbots
Characters
- The Absent-minded professor or Monomane & Eclecticism ^[5]
- The Detective
- The God-Like Alien
- The Golem
- The Ignorant Friend
- Redshirt
- The Robot Clone
- The Robot Servant
- The Scientist
  - The Mad Scientist ^[5]
  - The Amoral Scientist
  - The Heroic Scientist
  - The Lame Amoral Scientist
- The Wedge
Clones
Extraterrestrial life (see Extraterrestrial life in culture) ^[5]
- Alien invasion ^[5]
- Astrobiology ^[5]
- Benevolent aliens ^[5]
- First contact ^[5]
  - Principles of non-interference (e.g. Prime Directive) ^[20]
Living Planets ^[21]
Mutants ^[21]
Shapeshifters ^[21]
Superhumans ^[21] ^[22]
Symbionts ^[23]
Uplifted animals - using technology to "raise" non-human animals to human evolutionary levels ^[24]

Body and mind alterations

Bio-implants ^[24] ^[21]
- Body modification, including genetic modification
- Bionics
- Cybernetics
Intelligence amplification ^[25] ^[26]
Invisibility ^[27]
Life extension, Biological immortality, Universal immortalism and immortality
- Artificial organs
- Cloning ^[5]
- 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 ^[5]
- Mind uploading
- Neural implants to directly interface with machinery
Molecular manufacturing & Nanotechnology (nanomilitary, nanomaterials, nanoecology, nanomedicine, nanocomputing, nanospace, nanoenergy)
Psi powers and psychic phenomenon ^[28]
Paradise engineering
Resizing (size-changing, miniaturization, magnification, shrinking, and enlargement) ^[29] ^[30]
Shapeshifting ^[29] ^[31]
Telepathy ^[28]
Teleportation ^[28]

Possible futures

Alien invasions ^[5]
Apocalypses or world wide disasters
Post-apocalyptic life - new societies that develop after the event
Posthumanism
Race of the Future
Ultimate fate of the Universe & Kardashev scale

Political structures

Alien Contact ^[5]
Anarchism
Anarcho-capitalism (see: Anarcho-capitalist literature and Libertarian science fiction)
Assassination
Astrosociology
- return to feudalism
- hive-like eusocial societies
- future caste systems
Capitalism
Dystopias and utopias ^[32]
Environmentalism
- Science fiction is used to raise awareness of environmental ideas. Lends itself well to dystopian futures. Frank Herbert and Kim Stanley Robinson are known for their serious concern with ecological issues.
Economics
Eugenics
Fascism
Galactic empires ^[8]
Interstellar federation of planets
Legal personality
Libertarianism

Limited-franchise republic
Militarism
Mind reading and mind control
National security state
Nepotism
Pacifism
Plutocracy
Proportional representation
Racism
Revolution
Slavery
Socialism
Theocracy
Totalitarianism vs. Libertarianism (see: Libertarian science fiction)
Treason
World government
Zero population growth

Habitats

Alien Reality Television, ^[33], ^[34] ^[35]
Alien Zoo, ^[36]
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 ^[1]
- Terraforming
- List of largest known stars & List of most luminous stars
Underground city
Walking City

Travel

Colonization of other planets, moons, asteroids, etc.
- - Terraforming
Moving planets
Space exploration ^[37]
- Interstellar travel ^[38]
  - Faster-than-light travel and communications ^[39]
    - Hyperspace ^[40]
    - Warp drives ^[41]
    - Wormholes ^[42]
    - Ansibles ^[43]
- Much slower than Light ^[44]
  - Generation ship ^[45]
  - Sleeper ship ^[46]
- Very nearly light speed ^[47]
  - Bussard ramjets ^[48]
  - Ursula LeGuin's NAFAL ships, and the Twin paradox
- Space stations ^[49]
Time travel ^[5]
- 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

Technologies

Artificial gravity
Artificial intelligence ^[5]
- von Neumann machines
Singularity ^[50] ^[22] ^[21]
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

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Overarching themes

Types of beings

Body and mind alterations

Possible futures

Political structures

Habitats

Travel

Technologies

See also