Science Fiction

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00:00 An improvement? 03:16 4 shameful decisions 06:52 91% exposition 09:47 5 excuses DISMISSED 11:44 Asimov's high concepts - The Mule, Foundation & Psychohistory Become a member of the Science Fiction community to continue the discussion Website - https://damiengwalter.com YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/c/DamienWalter/membership Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/DamienWalter Subscribe to the Science Fiction podcast feed for long-form commentaries on these video essays https://damiengwalter.com/podcast/ Join the Science Fiction community on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/324897304599197/

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Become a member of the Science Fiction community to continue the discussion Website - https://damiengwalter.com YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/c/DamienWalter/membership Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/DamienWalter Subscribe to the Science Fiction podcast feed for long-form commentaries on these video essays https://damiengwalter.com/podcast/ Join the Science Fiction community on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/324897304599197/

There's a question about The Matrix I've been asking myself since the franchise established itself in the collective unconscious of humanity back in the early 00s. What is Sigmund Freud doing in these movies? 00:00 What's Sigmund Freud doing here? 02:21 Welcome the the Science Fiction podcast 04:01 Freud vs Jung 09:05 Good vs Evil 13:00 Carl Jung's little Red Book 16:26 The Jungian tradition in 20th century storytelling 22:21 The Matrix and the archetypes of Carl Jung 35:17 The false god of the Gnostics 37:34 The journey to the Self 39:56 A Jungian myth for the 21st century Watch the original Matrix full movie: https://amzn.to/3GUbPRh Follow the Science Fiction podcast: https://damiengwalter.com/podcast Join the Science Fiction community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/324897304599197 Follow the full course in Writing the 21st Century Myth : https://damiengwalter.com/advanced-scifi-and-fantasy/ Enroll on Udemy: https://www.udemy.com/course/advanced-science-fiction-fantasy/?referralCode=B7B13C5C3D413999ED95 Subscribe monthly via Skillshare: https://skl.sh/3pO6pPV

Watch the Interstellar video essay https://youtu.be/6fZh-mBttMA Become a member of the Science Fiction community to continue the discussion Website - https://damiengwalter.com YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/c/DamienWalter/membership Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/DamienWalter Subscribe to the Science Fiction podcast feed for long-form commentaries on these video essays https://damiengwalter.com/podcast/ Join the Science Fiction community on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/324897304599197/

There is, somewhat ironically, a techno-conservatism among some sci-fi creators, especially those whose traditional means of making a living have been disrupted by new technology. Most recently the techno-conservatives have targeted NFTs. Which is a shame, because NFTs are the future of science fiction. If you are a science fiction creator with questions about NFTs please post them to the thread for this episode on the Science Fiction community. Questions here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/324897304599197/permalink/1322475831508001 00:00 How much would you pay for the One Ring? 04:44 Welcome to the Science Fiction podcast 08:59 Beware techno-conservatism 11:49 A true story about Pablo Picasso 14:51 The Internet is a machine for copying data 17:18 What is an NFT? 20:45 What is a blockchain? 21:49 What is the metaverse? 23:15 What is web 3? 24:38 FAO - Frequently Asked Objections 27:52 A new way to monetise creativity 29:25 How I broke Elder Scrolls 31:19 The unreal to become real must have limitations 33:22 Storytellers are the coders of the 21st century 37:32 Humans aren't the Federation, we're the Ferengi Follow the Science Fiction podcast: https://damiengwalter.com/podcast Join the Science Fiction community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/324897304599197 Follow the full course in Writing the 21st Century Myth : https://damiengwalter.com/advanced-scifi-and-fantasy/ Enroll on Udemy: https://www.udemy.com/course/advanced-science-fiction-fantasy/?referralCode=B7B13C5C3D413999ED95 Subscribe monthly via Skillshare: https://skl.sh/3pO6pPV

Dune is a story about men in rubber suits fighting over who gets to eat the poop of giant sand worms. There's a lot of ways telling that story on a cinema screen can go HORRIBLY wrong. Even after the success of Dune part 1 - which I consider to be a masterpiece - Denis Villeneuve has an uphill fight to repeat the trick with DUNE 2. As a lesson in narrative craft and storytelling, it's valuable to think through what those challenges are and how the story will have to be adapted to prevent it being a total... ...DUNETASTROPHE TRIGGER WARNING - contains criticism of Frank Herbert and the essentially gendered nature of archetypal storytelling. Become a member of the Science Fiction community to continue the discussion Website - https://damiengwalter.com YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/c/DamienWalter/membership Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/DamienWalter Substack - https://damien.substack.com/ Subscribe to the Science Fiction podcast feed for long-form commentaries on these video essays https://damiengwalter.com/podcast/ Join the Science Fiction community on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/324897304599197/

Philip K Dick's The Man In The High Castle is a novel about one of the most complex ideas in our world. The way stories shape perception, and the war between narratives. This long-form audio commentary builds on ideas in the video essay Lady Gaga in The Man in the High Castle. Members of the Science Fiction community can listen to the full commentary on the member RSS podcast feed. Watch the video essay here https://youtu.be/8pSP0iXlruI Become a member of the Science Fiction community to continue the discussion Website - https://damiengwalter.com YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/c/DamienWalter/membership Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/DamienWalter Substack - https://damien.substack.com/ Subscribe to the Science Fiction podcast feed for long-form commentaries on these video essays https://damiengwalter.com/podcast/ Join the Science Fiction community on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/324897304599197/ Get all-you-can-eat audiobooks with a free month of Audible+ https://amzn.to/3Hb1R0P

Become a member of the Science Fiction community to continue the discussion Website - https://damiengwalter.com YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/c/DamienWalter/membership Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/DamienWalter Subscribe to the Science Fiction channel for the short video essays https://youtu.be/AQG3UVaR2cw Join the Science Fiction community on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/324897304599197/ Get all-you-can-eat audiobooks with a free month of Audible+ https://amzn.to/3Hb1R0P

What would a metamodern Batman movie look like? Find out in this audio commentary to accompany the Incel Batman video essay on the Science Fiction channel. Become a member of the Science Fiction community to continue the discussion Website - https://damiengwalter.com YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/c/DamienWalter/membership Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/DamienWalter Subscribe to the Science Fiction channel for the short video essays https://youtu.be/AQG3UVaR2cw Join the Science Fiction community on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/324897304599197/ Get all-you-can-eat audiobooks with a free month of Audible+ https://amzn.to/3Hb1R0P

Watch the video essay on the Science Fiction channel https://youtu.be/CYDpD5skkvM Subscribe to the Science Fiction podcast feed for long form commentaries on these video essays https://damiengwalter.com/podcast/ Join the Science Fiction community on Facebook to continue the discussion https://www.facebook.com/groups/324897304599197/ Become a member of the Science Fiction channel on youtube for full access to all content https://www.youtube.com/c/DamienWalter/membership Or join for any monthly donation and all the same benefits via the website https://damiengwalter.com PATREON COMING SOON LINK ????? Get all-you-can-eat audiobooks with a free month of Audible+ https://amzn.to/3Hb1R0P

Watch the narrative analysis on the Science Fiction channel https://youtu.be/x6Qr4EJdsZI Subscribe to the Science Fiction podcast https://damiengwalter.com/podcast/ Join the Science Fiction community on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/324897304599197/ Become a member of the Science Fiction channel on youtube for full access to all content https://www.youtube.com/c/DamienWalter/membership Or join for any monthly donation and all the same benefits via the website https://damiengwalter.com Get all-you-can-eat audiobooks with a free month of Audible+ https://amzn.to/3Hb1R0P

Follow the Science Fiction channel on youtube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTLDbr7fXm6Rh17OFIAEeDg Subscribe to the Science Fiction podcast https://damiengwalter.com/podcast/ Become a member of the Science Fiction channel on youtube for full access to all content https://www.youtube.com/c/DamienWalter/membership Or join for any monthly donation and all the same benefits via the website https://damiengwalter.com

2022 has been an AMAZING year for scifi & fantasy storytelling. But mid-way through the year looked like a disaster. Streaming television has delivered both the best and the worst of scifi and fantasy this year. The struggle to dominate streaming tv saw literally BILLIONS of $$$$ spent on scifi shows. But while much of that money was wasted on disasters like Fake Tolkien, it was smaller shows that crept in and stole our hearts and minds. My review of the year lists my top 22 SFF stories...of 2022...and also my 7 worst, and the themes driving our storytelling at this moment in time. And a MERRY CHRISTMAS to all of you on this journey, it's a great time to be a scifi fan, and I'm honored so many of you are listening to the Science Fiction podcast and participating in this community. Thank you. 00:00 22 best (and 7 worst) of 2022 04:36 Big trouble for the little novel - 22 to 17 16:09 Enter the Unreal - 16 to 9 30:47 The 7 worst 41:57 Mythopathos - 8 to 1 Subscribe to the Science Fiction podcast https://damiengwalter.com/podcast/ Become a member of the Science Fiction channel on youtube for full access to all content https://www.youtube.com/c/DamienWalter/membership Or join for any monthly donation and all the same benefits via the website https://damiengwalter.com

This episode represents the essay "Andor is a Marxist Story" from the Science Fiction youtube channel in audio format, with a LONG introduction elaborating on the politics of Star Wars. Watch the video essay on YouTube https://youtu.be/D2rt9bDi3eQ Subscribe to the Science Fiction podcast https://damiengwalter.com/podcast/ Become a member of the Science Fiction channel on youtube for full access to all content https://www.youtube.com/c/DamienWalter/membership Or join for any monthly donation and all the same benefits via the website https://damiengwalter.com

Become a member of the Science Fiction channel on youtube for full access to all content https://www.youtube.com/c/DamienWalter/membership Or join for any monthly donation and all the same benefits via the website https://damiengwalter.com

Extended thoughts on Andor and the age clash of Star Wars fandoms, with audio from the short video essay on the same topic. Become a member of the Science Fiction podcast to access all episodes - https://damiengwalter.com/podcast/ Join the Science Fiction community on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/324897304599197

A brief update on the Science Fiction podcast during our season break and a short analysis of The Peripheral episode 1 Become a member of the Science Fiction podcast to access all episodes - https://damiengwalter.com/podcast/ Join the new discussion group for The Peripheral - https://www.facebook.com/groups/3365484013697013

Follow the the Science Fiction podcast and become a member https://damiengwalter.com/podcast/ Advanced Scifi & Fantasy Writing https://damiengwalter.com/advanced-scifi-and-fantasy/ The Rhetoric of Story https://damiengwalter.com/the-rhetoric-of-story/ Join the discussion on the Science Fiction community https://www.facebook.com/groups/324897304599197

Why critique science fiction? I do get asked this question, after some years writing criticism on science fiction for The Guardian, BBC, Wired etc, and with the Science Fiction podcast in the Apple charts in a few dozen countries. So in the penultimate episode of season 1 of the Science Fiction podcast I give a few answers, and some suggestions for my fellow critics. Follow the the Science Fiction podcast and become a member https://damiengwalter.com/podcast/ Advanced Scifi & Fantasy Writing https://damiengwalter.com/advanced-scifi-and-fantasy/ The Rhetoric of Story https://damiengwalter.com/the-rhetoric-of-story/ Join the discussion on the Science Fiction community https://www.facebook.com/groups/324897304599197

Follow the the Science Fiction podcast and become a member https://damiengwalter.com/podcast/ Advanced Scifi & Fantasy Writing https://damiengwalter.com/advanced-scifi-and-fantasy/ The Rhetoric of Story https://damiengwalter.com/the-rhetoric-of-story/ Join the discussion on the Science Fiction community https://www.facebook.com/groups/324897304599197

Lord of the Rings is the best-selling English langauge novel ever. And its close competitors - The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, Game of Thrones and Harry Potter - share an important feature. They are all works of mythopoiea...myths for the modern world. JRR Tolkien had a very important insight. He saw that the modern world had lost its myths. Indeed, the modern world had run screaming from myths like god or heaven. Tolkien believed that was a mistake. He wasn't alone. When the philosopher Nietzsche said God Is Dead his point was that, without the old myths, men would invent new ones. And they would be much, much worse. Freddy was proven right as Communism and Fascism burst into the world, killing millions in war and genocide. Tolkien lived through the wars and mass murder of the 20th century. He believed the world needed its myths back, so he wrote Lord of the Rings. The success of his great myth inspired many other creators, and sparked the return of the mythos to the modern world. Follow the the Science Fiction podcast and become a member https://damiengwalter.com/podcast/ Advanced Scifi & Fantasy Writing https://damiengwalter.com/advanced-scifi-and-fantasy/ The Rhetoric of Story https://damiengwalter.com/the-rhetoric-of-story/ Join the discussion on the Science Fiction community https://www.facebook.com/groups/324897304599197

We’re in a civilisational war between the pre-modern, the modern, and the post-modern. Or to give them their “culture war” names – the Reactionary, the Neoliberal…and the Woke. We need a better future for our civilisation. A future some people are starting to call the Metamodern. In this episode of the Science Fiction podcast I think about what a Metamodern future might look like. It’s a not a cyberpunk dystopia or a solarpunk utopia. Instead I think our Metamodern future might look like…a theme park. Watch my original critique of Hanzi Freinacht - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJpR-TwJ-gc Read Oliver Amrowson's full question - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJpR-TwJ-gc&lc=Ugx436_Gbl2ip_plwbd4AaABAg Learn more at the Metamodern Spirituality community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/metamodernspirituality Follow the the Science Fiction podcast and become a member https://damiengwalter.com/podcast/ Access the full podcast archive and all my courses as a member for ANY monthly donation... Advanced Scifi & Fantasy Writing https://damiengwalter.com/advanced-scifi-and-fantasy/ The Rhetoric of Story https://damiengwalter.com/the-rhetoric-of-story/ Join the discussion on the Science Fiction community https://www.facebook.com/groups/324897304599197

Follow the the Science Fiction podcast and become a member https://damiengwalter.com/podcast/ Access the full podcast archive and all my courses as a member for ANY monthly donation... Advanced Scifi & Fantasy Writing https://damiengwalter.com/advanced-scifi-and-fantasy/ The Rhetoric of Story https://damiengwalter.com/the-rhetoric-of-story/ Join the discussion on the Science Fiction community https://www.facebook.com/groups/324897304599197

There's a reason why Neil Gaiman is the most famous writer scifi, horror & fantasy ever made. That rockstar reputation didn't start with appearances on The Simpsons. By the age of 32, when most writers are just getting started, Gaiman had already written a masterpiece of fantasy. The 75 issues of The Sandman are a tour through the mythos of humanity, and a masters thesis on the uses, and abuses, of fantasy. But the origin of The Sandman in comic books kept it a cult classic for over 30 years. Gaiman became better known for novels like American Gods and stories for children. (The Sandman is NOT for children.) Now a new Netflix adaptation, created by Neil Gaiman himself, is a chance for The Sandman to meet the mainstream. Will it succeed where previous adaptations of Gaiman have failed? I feel quietly confident the answer is yes. Audio extracts from The Sandman audiobook produced by Dirk Maggs https://amzn.to/3ox9qox Follow the the Science Fiction podcast and become a member https://damiengwalter.com/podcast/ Advanced Scifi & Fantasy Writing https://damiengwalter.com/advanced-scifi-and-fantasy/ The Rhetoric of Story https://damiengwalter.com/the-rhetoric-of-story/ Join the discussion on the Science Fiction community https://www.facebook.com/groups/324897304599197

Psychohistory is among the most important ideas born in science fiction. A science that allows us to predict the future of human civilisation. It's tempting to ask...could Psychohistory be real? Algorithms can control masses of humankind. Complexity science and agent based modelling are already predicting mass human behaviour. And as we face our civilisational "Seldon Crisis" can we learn a less from Isaac Asimov about the future of humankind? 00:00 We are in a Seldon crisis 01:48 Isaac Asimov's Foundation 03:51 Why do civilisations collapse? 06:17 What is the Foundation saga about? 12:12 Psychohistory 17:50 The Metacrisis 26:07 Psyche & Civilisation 39:28 Resolving the Metacrisis Follow the the Science Fiction podcast and become a member https://damiengwalter.com/podcast/ Advanced Scifi & Fantasy Writing https://damiengwalter.com/advanced-scifi-and-fantasy/ The Rhetoric of Story https://damiengwalter.com/the-rhetoric-of-story/ Join the discussion on the Science Fiction community https://www.facebook.com/groups/324897304599197 The best book to understand Ken Wilber https://amzn.to/3NSwBnu Read the Foundation saga https://amzn.to/3yp65MN

"How does one fashion a book of resistance, a book of truth in an empire of falsehood, or a book of rectitude in an empire of vicious lies? How does one do this right in front of the enemy? Not through the old-fashioned ways of writing while you’re in the bathroom, but how does one do that in a truly future technological state? Is it possible for freedom and independence to arise in new ways under new conditions? That is, will new tyrannies abolish these protests? Or will there be new responses by the spirit that we can’t anticipate?" Philip K. Dick in interview, 1974 # Follow the the Science Fiction podcast and become a member https://damiengwalter.com/podcast/ Advanced Scifi & Fantasy Writing https://damiengwalter.com/advanced-scifi-and-fantasy/ The Rhetoric of Story https://damiengwalter.com/the-rhetoric-of-story/ Join the discussion on the Science Fiction community https://www.facebook.com/groups/324897304599197

Transhumanism makes grand claims about the future of humankind, from genetic engineering and artificial wombs to immortality and uploading humanity to the cloud. Lead by pseudo-scientific thinkers like Ray Kurzeil, Transhumanism has become a popular ideology among Silicon Valley tech leaders including Elon Musk and Peter Thiel. In recent years it has also become the focus of conspiracy theorists from Anti-Vaxxers to Qanon, who claim the ultimate goal of the "global elite" is to turn humans into post-humans. The truth is that Transhumanism is a fantasy born in the pages of science fiction. While authors like Bruce Sterling and William Gibson warned against the terrors of Transhumanism, today's Transhumanists see it as an inevitability, and have transformed the fantasy of Transhumanism into an anti-human religion. 00:00:00 The Torment Nexus 00:01:34 Welcome to the Science Fiction podcast 00:04:06 Beyond our ape brained meat-sacks - a profile of Elise Bohan 00:08:23 We are in a time between worlds & Transhuman conspiracy theories 00:13:14 Understanding Transhumanism as narrative, storytelling and modern mythos 00:19:15 ONE - Transhumanism is Utopian 00:24:06 TWO - Transhumanism assumes fundamental change 00:26:00 THREE - Transhumanism is a pseudo-science 00:29:34 FOUR - Transhumanism is a religious vision of transcendence 00:34:38 FIVE - Transhumanism is authoritarian 00:39:12 SIX - Transhumism wants to liberate us from our human bodies 00:44:38 SEVEN - Transhumanism is science fiction 00:48:04 EIGHT - Transhumanism believes technology is the force of progress 00:51:40 NINE - Transhumanism devalues the human 00:55:58 TEN - "We're building God you know." 01:06:53 ELEVEN - Transhumanism is a power structure 01:13:01 TWELVE - Transhumanism is dystopian 01:16:20 THIRTEEN - Transhumanism is anti-humanism Beyond Our Ape Brained Meat Sacks - https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/jun/04/beyond-our-ape-brained-meat-sacks-can-transhumanism-save-our-species Jonathan Rowson on Zak Stein and our time between worlds - https://twitter.com/Jonathan_Rowson/status/1532318004071084034 Follow the the Science Fiction podcast and become a member https://damiengwalter.com/podcast/ Advanced Scifi & Fantasy Writing https://damiengwalter.com/advanced-scifi-and-fantasy/ The Rhetoric of Story https://damiengwalter.com/the-rhetoric-of-story/ Join the discussion on the Science Fiction community https://www.facebook.com/groups/324897304599197

When did Superman get so "Dark"? He's as American as apple pie, coca-cola and black-ops interventions in the politics of other sovereign nations. Superman is the symbol of all that is best about the United States of America. An indefatigable powerhouse, an Apollonian sun deity, child of the gods but raised by mortal man, and the archetype of post-WW2 American self image. But as America has re-learned its own history, so Superman has changed and mutated. From shining demigod hero. To dark underworld evil. 00:00 Superman gets a ride in a London cab 00:59 Have we had enough of Dark Superman? 03:50 Content Warning 05:30 Superman is a strange hero 07:55 Superman as Apollonian archetype 11:12 A brief history of Dark Superman 15:42 THE ARCHETYPAL BEING 26:39 Shadow & Ego of Carl Jung 31:54 A shadow-work exercise 39:33 Integrating the Shadow of the Superman Follow the the Science Fiction podcast and become a member https://damiengwalter.com/podcast/ Advanced Scifi & Fantasy Writing https://damiengwalter.com/advanced-scifi-and-fantasy/ The Rhetoric of Story https://damiengwalter.com/the-rhetoric-of-story/ Join the discussion on the Science Fiction community https://www.facebook.com/groups/324897304599197

Why does science fiction not get the respect it deserves...from literary fiction? It’s the East coast vs West cost gangster rap rivalry but fiction writers (except without the drive-by shootings…that I know of?) An ancient feud between the Realists and the Fantasists. But beneath the surface of the LitFic vs SciFi argument is a more serious issue, about the power of storytelling, and the duty of storytellers. Are we just the people paid to cast shadows for your entertainment, or is it the storyteller’s job to lead you out of the cave? Follow the the Science Fiction podcast and become a member https://damiengwalter.com/podcast/ Advanced Scifi & Fantasy Writing https://damiengwalter.com/advanced-scifi-and-fantasy/ The Rhetoric of Story https://damiengwalter.com/the-rhetoric-of-story/ Join the discussion on the Science Fiction community https://www.facebook.com/groups/324897304599197 Read my top science fiction to rewire your consciousness https://amzn.to/3gQqfGR

Batman. Luke Skywalker. Conan. Paul Atreides. And now The Northman. Just a few of the Unfathered men that dominate our storytelling. Why are we obsessed with the Unfathered man? Follow the the Science Fiction podcast and become a member https://damiengwalter.com/podcast/ Advanced Scifi & Fantasy Writing https://damiengwalter.com/advanced-scifi-and-fantasy/ The Rhetoric of Story https://damiengwalter.com/the-rhetoric-of-story/ Join the discussion on the Science Fiction community https://www.facebook.com/groups/324897304599197 Read my top science fiction to rewire your consciousness https://amzn.to/3gQqfGR

So. Star Wars just went woke did it? But...wait... Isn't Star Wars the story of a army of male CLONES fighting for an authoritarian, colonialist Empire? versus An intersectional alliance of diverse species with capital ships commanded by sentient LOBSTERS??? How much more woke can scifi get? Er. Star Trek's original multiracial crew? Marvel's encoded counter cultural messages? HG Wells anti-colonialist novels? The existentialist skepticism of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley? The truth is..scifi has always been woke. 00:00 Diamond Disney 04:20 Welcome to the Science Fiction podcast 05:53 The woke mind virus of Elon Musk 10:39 Scifi has always been woke 16:22 The CEF (Corporate Entertainment Franchise) 19:36 Centralized vs Decentralized Culture 22:50 Disney can't serve both sides of the culture wars 26:51 The only good side in the Culture War is... Follow the the Science Fiction podcast and become a member https://damiengwalter.com/podcast/ Join the discussion on the Science Fiction community https://www.facebook.com/groups/324897304599197 Read my top science fiction to rewire your consciousness https://amzn.to/3gQqfGR

It's Arthur C Clarke's greatest novel and a classic of "hard" science fiction. The Fountains of Paradise is a brilliantly realized story of humankind's ascent to the stars, not on rockets, but by building the first space elevator. Clarke predicted the discovery of carbon super materials with the "diamond hyperfilament" that is strong enough to stretch 36,000km from Earth to geosynchronous orbit. But it's not the science that makes Arthur C Clarke's novel so great. It's the symbolism. 00:00 The Fountains of Paradise 03:50 Science Fiction Q & A 06:49 The forgotten masterpiece of Arthur C Clarke 09:49 The three stages of Clarke's career 14:07 Was Clarke a good writer? 17:04 The competent engineer 19:30 Hyperfilament 24:50 The Clark-o-verse of Low Orbit SF 27:04 Symbolism and the poetic beauty of hard SF 37:57 Could we...and should we...build a space elevator? 43:51 The Wealth Transfer Frontier we need Follow the the Science Fiction podcast and become a member https://damiengwalter.com/podcast/ Join the discussion on the Science Fiction community https://www.facebook.com/groups/324897304599197 Read the classic of hard SF https://amzn.to/3jJNWCb Read my top science fiction to rewire your consciousness https://amzn.to/3gQqfGR

“With Jules Verne and the publisher Hugo Gernsback, H.G. Wells invented the genre of science fiction.” Tweet by @nytimesbooks, November 2021 A badly worded tweet by the New York Times revealed a deep anger at the false history of science fiction. Written out of that history were hundreds of women writers of the 1800s who created what today we call science fiction. The true history of science fiction is deeper and richer than many fans and readers know. It reaches back to the Enlightenment and the collapse of belief in the Christian mythos. It is the search for a new mythos for the modern world, that continues into the 21st century. 00:00 The forgotten authors of science fiction 02:30 Welcome to the Science Fiction podcast 07:07 The true history of science fiction...why does it matter? 09:21 Commercial Genre vs Creative Movement 17:12 The Problem : the collapse of the Christian mythos 23:36 All science fiction is myth, not all myth is science fiction 26:38 The seeds of science fiction 29:01 The Novel Experiment 36:20 Birth of Genre 38:41 The ideological capture of science fiction by John W Campbell 43:47 The New Mythic 50:01 The process of genrefication 54:44 Writing the 21st century myth Follow the the Science Fiction podcast and become a member https://damiengwalter.com/podcast/ Join the discussion on the Science Fiction community https://www.facebook.com/groups/324897304599197 Read my top science fiction to rewire your consciousness https://amzn.to/3gQqfGR Pre-1950 Utopias and Science Fiction by Women https://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/_collections/utopias/utopias.html

Fascism lures people in with a fantasy of return to older, better times. A golden age before the modern world. Nazi Germany had the fantasy of the Third Reich and the Ubermensch. Today the Russia of Vladimir Putin has a fantasy of a Eurasian Empire and the Return of the Tsar. Critics of Lord of the Rings sometimes compare JRR Tolkien's fantasy to the fantasies of fascism. Is Lord of the Rings a fascist fantasy? Or did Tolkien create a mythos beyond the understanding of his critics? 00:00 An alternate history of England 03:59 Welcome to the Science Fiction podcast 07:17 The rise of a fascist fantasy 10:09 Is LotR a fascist fantasy? 11:54 Premodern, Modern, Postmodern 13:45 The pre-modern fantasy 17:15 The synthetic fantasy of fascism 21:51 The fascist fantasy in 2022 27:22 The Return of the King 33:22 The bit people who are angry at the title should listen to first 34:23 The modern vision of scifi 38:51 The postmodern vision of transhumanism 43:22 A mass retreat to the premodern 47:24 LotR as integrated mythos 52:33 LotR as a call for WISDOM 56:16 LotR as path into the Unreal Follow the the Science Fiction podcast https://damiengwalter.com/podcast/ Join the discussion on the Science Fiction community https://www.facebook.com/groups/324897304599197 Read my top science fiction to rewire your consciousness https://amzn.to/3gQqfGR

Humankind had it within our grasp to become a K1 civilization, the first stage of the Kardashev scale. But we allowed K1 to slip through our fingers. As the scientist Carl Sagan argued, much of 20th century history can be understood as the effort, and failure, to achieve K1. Today that failure has returned us to the threat of World War 3, as Russia invades Ukraine. How did we miss our chance at K1? And how can we still become a K1 civilization? Follow the the Science Fiction podcast https://damiengwalter.com/podcast/ Join the discussion on the Science Fiction community https://www.facebook.com/groups/324897304599197 Read my top science fiction to rewire your consciousness https://amzn.to/3gQqfGR

Severance is sophisticated science fiction for grown up audiences in the style of J G Ballard, Philip K Dick or Haruki Murakami. But what does it mean? Follow the the Science Fiction podcast https://damiengwalter.com/podcast/ Join the discussion on the Science Fiction community https://www.facebook.com/groups/324897304599197 Read my top science fiction to rewire your consciousness https://amzn.to/3gQqfGR

“It’s trying to thread that needle between the wonder and the splendour in this mythology without being beguiled into actual fascism.” ~Adam Roberts Adam Roberts is a professor of nineteenth century literature, a prolific essayist and critic, and one of our best science fiction writers. Our interview traces a path between two powerful forces in science fiction – the mythic stories of transcendence and self fulfilment that animate much of today’s most popular sci-fi storytelling, and the mundane and ordinary lives that ground our reality. We touch on the shifting perception of science fiction in academia, questions of worldbuilding and the endless argument to define science fiction, the new optimism of hopepunk and solarpunk, HG Wells long fascination with eugenics, the balance between stereotype and archetype in storytelling, and professor Roberts answer to the question of where science fiction began. It’s a great insight into the thinking of a great SF author. 00:00:00 A mistrust of myths 00:01:51 An interview with Adam Roberts 00:04:39 The professor's productivity tips 00:08:11 The nineteenth century and science fiction 00:11:03 Has the academic perception of science fiction shifted? 00:14:29 The worldbuilding question 00:19:16 Why do we keep arguing about the definition of science fiction? 00:23:39 We spend more money on Star Wars than space travel 00:32:12 Melding the literary and the sci-fi 00:42:49 The process of writing science fiction 00:48:03 Translating Joyce and algorithmic writing 00:59:50 Hopepunk and Solarpunk 01:11:22 The Community vs. the Individual 01:18:03 The Heroic and the Quotidian 01:28:02 A segue to Wellsian scholarship 01:35:01 Emmanuel Kant and the Fermi paradox 01:44:24 Tolkien and the English mythos 01:49:47 Stereotype vs Archetype 01:57:14 When does science fiction begin? Become a member of the Science Fiction podcast: https://damiengwalter.com Join the discussion on the Science Fiction community https://www.facebook.com/groups/324897304599197 Read the novels of Adam Roberts https://amzn.to/3LjUfZQ

This episode of the Science Fiction podcast is re-published from an original video essay first published in September 2018. I spent years searching, after I first read the Culture novels of Iain M Banks, for other space opera novels that equalled them. And this is what I discovered. Nothing else in the space opera genre even comes close to the Culture. Nothing. Zip. Nada. As Theodore Sturgeon said, 90% of everything is crap. But as a young reader I wondered why, with all these books marketed as space opera, did none read like the Culture? The answer is – theme. Science fiction tends to obsess over concepts, but almost entirely ignore themes. Scifi is full of big ideas about the nature of reality or the physics of space travel. But scifi that deals with the basic themes of human life is a rare, rare thing. Banks was a genius at weaving high concept scifi stories together with great thematic depth. In this episode I look at the opening chapter of what is, arguably, Banks’ most thematically complex novel – Excession. Read the full novel – Excession by Iain M Banks: https://amzn.to/2p9ZFOf Watch the original video essay - https://youtu.be/vjsYz-Xv5lo Become a member of the Science Fiction podcast - https://damiengwalter.com

Solarpunk is the newest genre of science fiction, a joyous and optimistic vision of a future where humans and our technology live in balance with nature. Solarpunk is an artistic, cultural and political movement that encompasses the arts, architecture, fashion and technology. But optimistic visions of the future are never all that they seem. From HG Wells' The Shape of Things to Come, to Ursula Le Guin's Always Coming Home, one science fiction author's vision of a bright utopia is another's grim dystopia. Can Solarpunk envision a utopia for all? 00:00 Two quotes from Brave New World 01:02 Welcome to the Science Fiction podcast 02:33 Am I trolling the scifi community? 03:49 The pre-history of ****punk 09:33 There is no such thing as Solarpunk 12:15 What is Solarpunk? 20:14 A Solarpunk Manifesto 23:17 Solarpunk is a genre without a story 25:12 Ursula Le Guin : patron saint of Solarpunk 33:13 The moral absolutism of Those Who Walk Away From Omelas 35:53 Science Fiction and the shadow of Utopianism 39:33 Can we ever achieve a utopia? Follow the Science Fiction podcast: https://damiengwalter.com/podcast Join the Science Fiction community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/324897304599197 Follow the full course in Writing the 21st Century Myth : https://damiengwalter.com/advanced-scifi-and-fantasy/ Enroll on Udemy: https://www.udemy.com/course/advanced-science-fiction-fantasy/?referralCode=B7B13C5C3D413999ED95 Subscribe monthly via Skillshare: https://skl.sh/3pO6pPV Read Always Coming Home by Ursula Le Guin: https://amzn.to/3nxHQqS Solarpunk's political manifesto: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHI61GHNGJM

We are living in strange times. Politics. Society. Culture wars. Things have gone weird. We're looking for knowledge and wisdom to guide us in strange times. I can think of no better guide to the year 2022 than Philip K Dick. The author of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, the inspiration for Blade Runner, is best known as a science fiction writer. But after his infamous spiritual awakening and the events of 2-3-74, Philip K Dick became something more....a visionary prophet who saw our strange times coming. 00:00 Welcome to strange times 01:07 The prophetic Philip K Dick 03:45 A career of three parts 08:54 2-3-74 12:40 The films of Philip K Dick 15:24 The nine prophetic visions of Philip K Dick 15:47 NINE - The Exit Door Leads In 18:10 EIGHT - Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep 21:21 SEVEN - Chains of Air, Web of Aether 24:59 SIX - The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch 28:12 FIVE - V.A.L.I.S 31:52 FOUR - The Electric Ant 35:25 Interlude: what is reality? 36:45 THREE - Ubik 40:18 TWO - Exegesis 42:53 ONE - The Man In The High Castle 45:59 The Man Who Gazed Into The Mythos 51:49 Writing the 21st century myth Follow the Science Fiction podcast: https://damiengwalter.com/podcast Join the Science Fiction community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/324897304599197 Follow the full course in Writing the 21st Century Myth : https://damiengwalter.com/advanced-scifi-and-fantasy/ Enroll on Udemy: https://www.udemy.com/course/advanced-science-fiction-fantasy/?referralCode=B7B13C5C3D413999ED95 Subscribe monthly via Skillshare: https://skl.sh/3pO6pPV

We are 21 years into the 21st century. What better time to look at the century we are living in...the century of science fiction. A special double episode of the Science Fiction podcast. Part 1 of 2. 00:00 The science fiction century 03:07 Welcome to new listeners. 04:59 The best scifi and fantasy of the 21st century 06:46 Why science fiction and fantasy? 10:46 21 + 21 = 42 13:16 The first year of the Science Fiction podcast 15:04 Twenty-One : John Scalzi / Star Wars 23:46 A few outliers 26:55 Twenty : Beeple / Blade Runner 2049 32:29 Nineteen : Cixin Liu / Mass Effect 37:18 Eighteen : Jenova Chen / American Gods 42:00 Seventeen : Tamsyn Muir / The Handmaid's Tale 44:40 Sixteen : Christopher Nolan / The Witcher 48:04 Fifteen : N K Jemisin / District 9 49:53 An offer you can refuse 52:48 Fourteen : Charlie Jane Anders / Harry Potter 55:31 Thirteen : Qntm / The Orville 58:31 Twelve : Hwang Dong-hyuk / Interstellar Follow the Science Fiction podcast: https://damiengwalter.com/podcast Join the Science Fiction community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/324897304599197 Follow the full course in Writing the 21st Century Myth : https://damiengwalter.com/advanced-scifi-and-fantasy/ Enroll on Udemy: https://www.udemy.com/course/advanced-science-fiction-fantasy/?referralCode=B7B13C5C3D413999ED95 Subscribe monthly via Skillshare: https://skl.sh/3pO6pPV

What has a superbly detailed technical description of an interstellar megastructure and no characters or story? Denis Villeneuve's latest film project. Follow the Science Fiction podcast: https://damiengwalter.com/podcast Join the Science Fiction community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/324897304599197 Read Rendezvous with Rama: https://amzn.to/3m9rwMr Follow the full course in Writing the 21st Century Myth : https://damiengwalter.com Enroll on Udemy: https://www.udemy.com/course/advanced-science-fiction-fantasy/?referralCode=B7B13C5C3D413999ED95 Subscribe monthly via Skillshare: https://skl.sh/3pO6pPV

Science fiction is fighting a doctrinal war. Between those who believe that humankind's future is still the stars, and those - like Kim Stanley Robinson - who believe interstellar travel is a fantasy of religious belief. The science is clear, travel to other stars may well be forever beyond us. So why do we keep telling this story? A response to Kim Stanley Robinson's interview for the Science Fiction Talks club on Clubhouse. Find his full interview here: https://www.clubhouse.com/room/xe65rroG Read The MInistry For The Future: https://amzn.to/3y5YmT3 Follow the Science Fiction podcast: https://damiengwalter.com/podcast Join the Science Fiction community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/324897304599197 Follow the full course in Writing the 21st Century Myth : https://damiengwalter.com Enroll on Udemy: https://www.udemy.com/course/advanced-science-fiction-fantasy/?referralCode=B7B13C5C3D413999ED95 Subscribe monthly via Skillshare: https://skl.sh/3pO6pPV

It's more than a little ironic that the motion picture widely called the greatest science fiction story ever told was made by an artist who hated science fiction. Stanley Kubrick thought science fiction was a failure at myth making, and set out to make a new myth for the modern world, and the only great science fiction movie. Watch the full video essay on YouTube: https://youtu.be/NNE9vxLUGpE Follow the full course in Advanced Scifi and Fantasy : https://damiengwalter.com Enroll on Udemy: https://www.udemy.com/course/advanced-science-fiction-fantasy/?referralCode=B7B13C5C3D413999ED95 Subscribe monthly via Skillshare: https://skl.sh/3pO6pPV

It's logical that the best science fiction being written today has its origins online and in collaborative forums. There Is No Antimemetics Division began life as part of the SCP Foundation wiki, a collaborative writing project with thousands of participants. There Is No Antimemetics Division - https://amzn.to/3AcTDPx Discuss the book on the Science Fiction community - https://www.facebook.com/groups/324897304599197/posts/1218266291928956/ Join the course in Scifi and Fantasy writing on Udemy: https://www.udemy.com/course/advanced-science-fiction-fantasy/?referralCode=B7B13C5C3D413999ED95 Subscribe monthly via Skillshare: https://skl.sh/3pO6pPV

Look at a list of the 20th century's most important artistic and cultural movements and you won't find science fiction listed. Why not? We need a better definition of science fiction to help reclaim it...from itself. Follow the full course in Advanced Scifi and Fantasy : https://damiengwalter.com Enroll on Udemy: https://www.udemy.com/course/advanced-science-fiction-fantasy/?referralCode=B7B13C5C3D413999ED95 Subscribe monthly via Skillshare: https://skl.sh/3pO6pPV

What do Dyson Spheres and the philosophical discussion have to do with one another? In this talk Damien has fun with a response to Sam Harris' denial of free will, as widely debated on Clubhouse in the week of this recording. Talk to Damien on Clubhouse : https://www.joinclubhouse.com/@damiengwalter Follow the full course in Scifi and Fantasy : https://damiengwalter.com

Rick Deckard is a Replicant. And Rick Deckard is also not the hero of Blade Runner...but is the villain. But the obvious questions about Blade Runner are also the least interesting. Empathy is the core of the Blade Runner story. Why we feel it, who we feel it for, and who we choose to exclude from our empathy. Blade Runner is an empathy test...for the audience...to see if you and I are human. All too often, we fail the test. Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/qWpLcC7QaSA Follow the full course in Writing the 21st Century Myth : https://damiengwalter.com Enroll on Udemy: https://www.udemy.com/course/advanced-science-fiction-fantasy/?referralCode=B7B13C5C3D413999ED95 Subscribe monthly via Skillshare: https://skl.sh/3pO6pPV Join the Science Fiction community on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/324897304599197

Stories that last through the ages aren't just great storytelling, they also serve the power structures of their time. Powerful people have always patronised great stories. The epic poem Beowulf, The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri, the plays of William Shakespeare, were all supported by powerful patrons. Now the most powerful corporation in the world has decided to patronise a $500 billion production of Isaac Asimov's Foundation saga, a story that represents the values of our technocratic elite better than any other. Follow the full course in Advanced Scifi and Fantasy : https://damiengwalter.com Enroll on Udemy: https://www.udemy.com/course/advanced-science-fiction-fantasy/?referralCode=B7B13C5C3D413999ED95 Subscribe monthly via Skillshare: https://skl.sh/3pO6pPV Join the Science Fiction community on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/324897304599197

If science fiction is a gateway to the psychedelic, then DUNE is a portal to...awakening. Frank Herbert's seminal novel and David Lynch's baroquely weird movie are both powerful works of art on the theme of human awakening. Denis Villeneuve's 2021 adaptation is a masterpiece of worldbuilding. But is it a kick in the third eye for would be seekers of truth? If the 13 year old me could see this Dune afresh, would the sleeper awaken? Discuss this podcast on the Science Fiction community - https://www.facebook.com/groups/324897304599197/ Get the Science Fiction podcast free on your choice of app : https://damiengwalter.com/podcast Join the course in Scifi and Fantasy writing on Udemy: https://www.udemy.com/course/advanced-science-fiction-fantasy/?referralCode=B7B13C5C3D413999ED95 Subscribe monthly via Skillshare: https://skl.sh/3pO6pPV