Re: Oldest SF not necessarily most dated?

On 13 May 2008 04:24:50 GMT, "Dan Goodman" <dsgood@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:

>Steven L. wrote:
>
>> Sure.
>> SF, by its very nature, tends to be based on *current trends* in
>> science and technology and their implications for social trends.  An
>> author looks at where society appears to be headed, and then he sort
>> of extrapolates that way into the future.
>
>_Tends_ to be, yes -- but not all of it is.  Some writers pick up on
>trends which others don't notice (which, of course, may be as illusory
>as the Martian canals.)  Some are contrarians.  Some work off their
>hopes and/or fears.

Philip Dick had a contrarian streak -- e.g., when everyone else was
writing overpopulation stories, he wrote _The Game-Players of Titan_,
where there's been a population crash and everyone's desperately
trying to procreate.

That was one reason I loved his work when I was a kid.



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