Girl Cooties (in science fiction)

and

Science Fiction Without a Future

About the latter one: I strongly agree with the "fear of the present" observation and the Baby Boom domination of the production and consumption of science fiction. The Internet Age really HAS divided the 20 and 30-somethings from the Baby Boomers in a way that I see every day, blatently. It's not surprising to me to read that teenagers now wouldn't be interested in the "fear and loathing" of computer technology in an SF story.

I don't know if the looking-backwards preoccupation with the past is necessarily a turn-off to the next generation though. It's still interesting reading....

I have another hypothesis. Since the next generation of readers has grown up with technology as an every-day thing - it's not new or revolutionary to them, it's just how you get through the day - it's the focus on present technology that may be less than interesting. At least, that's what usually bores me. A lot of SF written by Boomers still has this gung-ho gee-whiz focus on *technology*, particularly computer technology that just leaves a lot of 20-somethings shaking their heads and moving on. For nit-picky young geeks, it's just too hard to lose yourself in these stories when you can see holes a mile wide and misunderstanding of what can and can't be done with computers and the Internet.

The problem is, there's a dearth of *other* science in science fiction. Nowadays I really like reading the science fiction that came out of the 50's and 60's - long before the Internet Age, because it seems like there's a much wider variety of *science* and social issues that are dealt with. The topics just feel much more narrow these days.

Then there's the "I want to get away and do something *else*" factor. I think they'll turn to other genres the same way I turn to my knitting or gardening after working with computers all day. There's a need to get *away* from the techno stuff, which a lot of science fiction these days focuses on. Fresh topics, fresh social issues (instead of the ones just pulled from yesterday's headlines) would FEEL like more of an adventure.

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