“I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser Gate. All those… moments will be lost in time, like tears… in rain.” – Roy Batty, Blade Runner Is it better to burn twice as bright but only live half as long? This was one of the enduring philosophical questions explored by the cult classic Blade Runner. Blade Runner is an example of philosophical sci-fi, sci-phi, or “philoscifi” as I call it.

What is philoscifi?

All good stories entertain, but they may soon be forgotten. Philoscifi stays with you because it doesn’t just speculate what will happen and what could have happened; it invites you to think about what these events would mean to humanity and to you. For example, how does finding intelligent life change our place in the universe and our conception of God (Robert J. Sawyer’s Calculating God)? Philoscifi tends to be “talky” and idea driven, with some exceptions. Little action actually happens in the Ender Quartet. It is always looming in the background, but it takes a backseat to the family and personal drama.

Philoscifi is not a distinctly new type of sci-fi; rather, it is a new term to identify sci-fi that incorporates philosophical ideas. Any type of sci-fi from hard sci-fi to cyberpunk to space opera can be philoscifi. Philoscifi seems to have increased in popularity since such high profile works as The Matrix.

Food for Thought - time, memory, science, cool ideas from the news