Logan Brooks Journal Prompt #4: Technical Communication and Science Fiction

I cannot call myself an avid reader, but I am a fan of the science fiction genre. To me, science fiction is a story or idea that assimilates popular and contemporary culture in a way that is magnificent and stunning to its audience at the time. In addition, science fiction tries to portray possible future technologies off of already existing technologies. There are numerous examples of this throughout literature and film.

Take for example Isaac Asimov's I, Robot. The robots have “positronic brains”, devices that give them their “pre-natal education.” The positron was first discovered around the time Asimov wrote

I, Robot. He took an already existing idea or technology and portrayed it in a way that sounded futuristic and interesting to his readers. Looking back, a positronic brain doesn't sound as interesting as it likely did in the 1950's. Positrons are part of quantum mechanics, so a positronic brain isn't that far- fetched I suppose.

Star Trek is still popular to this day. It has retained its popularity not only through brilliant portrayals of futuristic technology, but also through memorable dialogue. “Live Long and Prosper” will likely invoke subconscious memories of Star Trek even by people who have never actually watched an episode. In addition, it took present day technologies (1960's) and portrayed them in a retro-futuristic way. The communicator was based off of land-line telephones, but portrayed a cell phone like quality, even down to the flip display. Also, Star Trek was very adamant on using their superior technology ethically and safely. One example is the “Prime Directive,” which was the law of the fleet but seemed to be bent when absolutely needed. Star Trek's stance on technology might have been politically inspired by rising tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union during that time period.