Tag Archives: Misunderstanding

How to Correctly Interpret Science Fiction: Essential Tips to Avoid Misunderstanding

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A scene from 'The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers' featuring Saruman

The Infamous Saruman with His Palantir in ‘The Lord of the Rings’

Landmark Media/Alamy

As we embark on the Gregorian New Year, it’s an ideal moment to ponder the future ahead. Will we harness CRISPR to engineer wings? Are we on the verge of uploading human consciousness to the Amazon cloud? Will we encase the sun in a Dyson Sphere? For those passionate about science and engineering, science fiction serves as the canvas for exploring these questions. However, many are misinterpreting these futuristic visions.

As a science journalist and a sci-fi author, I offer a year-end guide to help you avoid misconceptions in reading science fiction. It’s crucial, as our civilization’s trajectory may depend on it.

There are two main ways in which science fiction is often misunderstood. We start with the first issue known as the “Torment Nexus problem,” a term that emerged from a humorous social media post by satirist Alex Breckman. In 2021, he tweeted:

“Science fiction writer: In my narrative, I created the Torment Nexus as a cautionary concept.

Tech Company: We’ve successfully built a Torment Nexus based on the classic sci-fi narrative, ‘Don’t Create a Torment Nexus.’

This encapsulates the Torment Nexus problem, which arises when individuals focus solely on futuristic tech depicted in science fiction, neglecting the core message of the narrative.

As a consequence, billionaires like Peter Thiel have contributed to ventures like Palantir, a surveillance and data analytics company, named after the “Seeing Stone” in The Lord of the Rings. Rather than being a tool of utility, it typically leads its users towards perilous and unethical paths. Its technology has been employed by various military operations, including IDF actions in Gaza. The implications of this are troubling.

Less severe yet still noteworthy examples include Mark Zuckerberg’s rebranding of Facebook to Meta, influenced by Neal Stephenson’s Snow Crash, which showcased a metaverse that is far from desirable. This virtual realm is portrayed as a corporate battleground that propagates mind-altering viruses.

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Zuckerberg and Thiel are blind to the fact that both Palantir and the Metaverse pose significant threats to human cognition.
“

It’s apparent that Thiel and Zuckerberg aimed to bring their fictional technologies to life but tragically misinterpreted their underlying messages.

The second pervasive misunderstanding in science fiction is often termed the “Blueprint problem.” This assumption presumes that science fiction serves as an accurate forecast for the future, and by mimicking these fictional outcomes, we can assure a prosperous tomorrow.

The Blueprint problem significantly influenced early space exploration initiatives, which prioritized human travel over robotic missions. Pop culture icons like Flash Gordon and the works of Edgar Rice Burroughs propagated images of humans colonizing distant planets. Today, robotic missions are yielding unprecedented discoveries on Mars while media outlets are fixated on celebrity space travels.

The immense expectations for AI technologies can also be traced back to the Blueprint problem. Countless narratives have portrayed AI as servants and experts, creating an inevitable perception of their arrival, which is far from reality.

Ultimately, science fiction is not a literal roadmap, recipe, or prescription. It embodies a worldview that encourages us to challenge the status quo. This perspective has inspired my latest anthology, We Will Rise Again, co-edited with Karen Lord and Malka Older, offering stories that aim to reshape our perceptions of societal progression. In our collection, the future is fluid, molded by human agency.

As we delve deeper into this understanding, the complexities of our contemporary world reveal themselves. Why do we engineer machines for menial tasks? Why adhere to arbitrary national borders? Why limit gender to two fixed categories? These questions capture the essence of science fiction, serving as gateways into new realms of possibility.

To forge a better future, it’s essential to transcend mere imitation of fictional narratives. Instead, we must cultivate our own visions of what could be.

Annalee Newitz, a science journalist and author, presents their latest work, *Automatic Noodle*. They co-host the Hugo Award-winning podcast *Our Opinions Are Correct* and can be followed on Twitter @annaleen. Their website is: techsploitation.com


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Topics:

  • Technology/
  • Science Fiction

Source: www.newscientist.com

Google Closes Due to Misunderstanding of German Autobahn

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A frenzy erupted across Germany’s Autobahn and highways at the onset of one of Thursday’s busiest holiday weekends, prompted by Google Maps erroneously suggesting that extensive sections were closed.

Navigators in major cities like Frankfurt, Hamburg, and Berlin encountered maps populated with glaring red dots, signaling stoppages on highways spanning western, northern, southwestern, and central Germany. The disruption also impacted areas of Belgium and the Netherlands.


Users dependent on Google Maps perceived a nationwide standstill. This confusion was intensified by the fact that numerous Germans were on the move for the four-day Ascension holiday.

Reports of closures created bottlenecks on alternative routes, as motorists sought detours, resulting in extended delays. Police and traffic control were inundated with inquiries from concerned individuals seeking assistance.

Motorists who used or switched to alternative applications like Apple Maps or Waze, or who tuned into radio traffic updates, received a vastly different perspective.


On social platforms, users inquired about the chaos and expressed their dissatisfaction. “They can’t close all the highways,” one user remarked. Another quipped, “It’s like the Autobahn system has broken out in acne.”

Some speculated on whether there had been a significant terrorist incident, while others speculated about foreign meddling in a cyberattack.

The cause behind the navigation failure remains unclear.

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A spokesperson from Google informed German outlets that they are currently analyzing the situation to determine the cause. They began mending the false closure notifications after receiving user reports of suspicious errors.

The spokesperson stated, “We can’t comment on a specific incident.” They highlighted that information comes from three primary sources: public data, third-party providers, and user inputs. While map data is updated frequently, the frequency varies.

“Generally, these sources form a solid foundation for accurate and timely map information,” the spokesperson added.

Road users were recommended to consult multiple resources when planning their upcoming travels.

Source: www.theguardian.com

The Crucial Misunderstanding of Critics Towards the International Space Station

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The International Space Station (ISS) is nearing the end of its lifespan, with agencies around the world planning to decommission it around 2030. After nearly 24 years of continuous use by astronauts from the U.S., Russia, Europe, Japan, Canada, and many other regions, the giant orbiting spacecraft is showing its age, and it’s nearly time to bring it down before its aging parts are destroyed in far more dangerous ways (see Inside NASA’s Ambitious Plan to Crash the ISS to Earth).

The effort to keep such a huge research facility in orbit has been controversial, with some saying it’s a waste of money and that it should have been taken off orbit long ago. Critics claim that the facility hasn’t lived up to all expectations and that the scientific results from research on the space station don’t contribute enough to problems on Earth. These criticisms may or may not be true, but they miss the point.

The ISS has always symbolized the possibility of a better world of peace and cooperation as a global collaboration in a very challenging adventure in space. Its two major stakeholders, the United States and Russia, have long been at odds on the ground, yet their astronauts continue to work together on the space station to increase global knowledge and reach into the solar system. The ISS is a symbol of humanity working towards a common goal.

With the ISS gone, it will be nearly impossible to see the same view again. NASA and other space agencies have their eye on the Moon, where the possibility of building an international astronaut village there, while promising, remains a pipe dream for now. The ISS, a prime example of international cooperation, will burn up in the atmosphere and sink into the ocean. Its loss will have ripples that go beyond space science. It would represent a decline in the global cooperation needed to address the big challenges the world currently faces, such as climate change, and is a loss we should all mourn.

topic:

  • International Space Station/
  • Space Exploration

Source: www.newscientist.com