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Science Fiction is a genre of art that deals with concepts of mankind set against the extra ordinary or the fantastic.  Magic, space travel, time travel, aliens, teleportation, mind control, interdimensional travel, and other things that are all totally at odds with what mankind "knows" is scientifically possible, are used in many way to display ideas of the artist.

Science Fiction is a genre of art that deals with concepts of mankind set against the extra ordinary or the fantastic.  Magic, space travel, time travel, aliens, teleportation, mind control, interdimensional travel, and other things that are all totally at odds with what mankind "knows" is scientifically possible, are used in many way to display ideas of the artist.

Modern science fiction as most people understand it today began in 1818 with the novel ''[[Frankenstein]], or the Modern Prometheus'' by [[Mary Shelley]].  However, examples of writing that are arguably science fiction are found in the 17th century with writers such as Kepler,<ref>http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Mathematicians/Kepler.html</ref> John Wilkins,<ref>http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~rja14/wilkins/wilkins.html</ref> Athanasius Kircher,<ref>http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/319046/Athanasius-Kircher</ref> Cyrano de Bergerac,<ref>http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/148648/Savinien-Cyrano-de-Bergerac</ref> and Bishop Francis Godwin,<ref>http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/236952/Francis-Godwin</ref> with their works dealing with a protagonist traveling to the moon and exploring that area, and each work containing and based on speculations of the development of [[science]] and [[technology]] going on what was known about those subjects in the authors' days.  However, it is the 16th century that what is indisputably a work of science fiction in the modern sense can be found.  The work is Sir Thomas More's ''"Utopia"'',<ref>http://www.luminarium.org/renlit/tmore.htm</ref> first published in 1551, and is a work that even today is referenced in science fiction writings. It was the 19th century that saw the growth of science fiction writing with various works by [[Mary Shelley]], [[Nathaniel Hawthorne]] and [[Edgar Allen Poe]], and with the novel ''[[The Strange Case of Doctor Jekyll and Mister Hyde]]'' by [[Robert Louis Stevenson]]. These works mainly were warnings to a brash mankind that some avenues of scientific investigation would be better left unexplored. The projects resulting from them, however much good they might promise, inevitably bring harm upon the investigator, those closest to him, and any number of innocent bystanders. This applies even to [[Jules Verne]] and his works (such as ''[[Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea]]'' and ''[[From the Earth to the Moon]]''), because the heroes in them almost always come to sad ends.  However, science fiction as a literary work was known even to the Ancient Greeks with the works of ''"Lucian's True History"'' and the story of Icarus.

Modern science fiction as most people understand it today began in 1818 with the novel ''[[Frankenstein]], or the Modern Prometheus'' by [[Mary Shelley]].  However, examples of writing that are arguably science fiction are found in the 17th century with writers such as Kepler,<ref>http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Mathematicians/Kepler.html</ref> John Wilkins,<ref>http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~rja14/wilkins/wilkins.html</ref> Athanasius Kircher,<ref>https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/319046/Athanasius-Kircher</ref> Cyrano de Bergerac,<ref>https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/148648/Savinien-Cyrano-de-Bergerac</ref> and Bishop Francis Godwin,<ref>https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/236952/Francis-Godwin</ref> with their works dealing with a protagonist traveling to the moon and exploring that area, and each work containing and based on speculations of the development of [[science]] and [[technology]] going on what was known about those subjects in the authors' days.  However, it is the 16th century that what is indisputably a work of science fiction in the modern sense can be found.  The work is Sir Thomas More's ''"Utopia"'',<ref>http://www.luminarium.org/renlit/tmore.htm</ref> first published in 1551, and is a work that even today is referenced in science fiction writings. It was the 19th century that saw the growth of science fiction writing with various works by [[Mary Shelley]], [[Nathaniel Hawthorne]] and [[Edgar Allen Poe]], and with the novel ''[[The Strange Case of Doctor Jekyll and Mister Hyde]]'' by [[Robert Louis Stevenson]]. These works mainly were warnings to a brash mankind that some avenues of scientific investigation would be better left unexplored. The projects resulting from them, however much good they might promise, inevitably bring harm upon the investigator, those closest to him, and any number of innocent bystanders. This applies even to [[Jules Verne]] and his works (such as ''[[Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea]]'' and ''[[From the Earth to the Moon]]''), because the heroes in them almost always come to sad ends.  However, science fiction as a literary work was known even to the Ancient Greeks with the works of ''"Lucian's True History"'' and the story of Icarus.

Many of these works are also explorations of human psychology, or of philosophical questions regarding what man is. Stevenson's ''Jekyll and Hyde'', for example, investigates the problem of good and evil, and of the conflict between these forces within an individual.

Many of these works are also explorations of human psychology, or of philosophical questions regarding what man is. Stevenson's ''Jekyll and Hyde'', for example, investigates the problem of good and evil, and of the conflict between these forces within an individual.

The twentieth century saw science fiction become far less serious in its purpose. The works of [[Hugo Gernsback]] and others were intended merely to entertain and amuse—in other words, to help the reader escape an unpleasant reality. But reality would soon reimpose itself on the imaginations of science-fiction writers. The nuclear attack on the [[Japan]]ese cities of [[Hiroshima]] and [[Nagasaki]] inspired many writers to create [[monster]]s ([[Godzilla]], [[Rodan]], ''etc.'') of tremendous size and destructive power comparable to the power of [[nuclear weapon]]s. Other writers speculated anew on the harms that can result from playing fast and loose with dangerous new forces—in this case, [[Atoms|atomic]] [[radiation]]. The deepening mutual scorn in which the [[United States of America]] and the [[Union of Soviet Socialist Republics]] held one another, originally inspired works featuring [[Extraterrestrial life|extraterrestrial]] expeditionary forces coming to the earth to make war upon humanity (or occasionally to catch humanity in the crossfire). Later writers, editors, and producers, like [[Gene Roddenberry]] (of [[Star Trek]] fame), would speculate that humanity would expand on new voyages of discovery, only to end up fighting with enemies that looked and behaved very similarly to whatever power was foreign to the writer's nation-state of origin. This era would also see the writing of the ''[[Dune (novel series)|Dune]]'' series of novels by [[Frank Herbert]], in which humanity would expand throughout a vast region of the universe, only to divide into interstellar and trans-galactic versions of the civilizations then extant in the 1960s, and even have conflicts over natural resources that closely mirror the struggle for control of such resources, chiefly [[petroleum]], today.

The twentieth century saw science fiction become far less serious in its purpose. The works of [[Hugo Gernsback]] and others were intended merely to entertain and amuse—in other words, to help the reader escape an unpleasant reality. But reality would soon reimpose itself on the imaginations of science-fiction writers. The nuclear attack on the [[Japan]]ese cities of [[Hiroshima]] and [[Nagasaki]] inspired many writers to create [[monster]]s ([[Godzilla]], [[Rodan]], ''etc.'') of tremendous size and destructive power comparable to the power of [[nuclear weapon]]s. Other writers speculated anew on the harms that can result from playing fast and loose with dangerous new forces—in this case, [[Atoms|atomic]] [[radiation]]. The deepening mutual scorn in which the [[United States of America]] and the [[Union of Soviet Socialist Republics]] held one another, originally inspired works featuring [[Extraterrestrial life|extraterrestrial]] expeditionary forces coming to the earth to make war upon humanity (or occasionally to catch humanity in the crossfire). Later writers, editors, and producers, like [[Gene Roddenberry]] (of [[Star Trek]] fame), would speculate that humanity would expand on new voyages of discovery, only to end up fighting with enemies that looked and behaved very similarly to whatever power was foreign to the writer's nation-state of origin. This era would also see the writing of the ''[[Dune (novel series)|Dune]]'' series of novels by [[Frank Herbert]], in which humanity would expand throughout a vast region of the universe, only to divide into interstellar and trans-galactic versions of the civilizations then extant in the 1960s, and even have conflicts over natural resources that closely mirror the struggle for control of such resources, chiefly [[petroleum]], today.

Eventually, however, this theme would give way to hopeful tales of [[God-substitute]]s promising to solve all humanity's problems, if humanity's leaders were smart enough not to provoke such people to war. However, [[George Lucas]], borrowing heavily from mythologycal archetypes, and somewhat from Frank Herbert's concepts for ''Dune'', would create a story arc (''[[Star Wars]]'') set in a far-distant [[galaxy]] that, as he now reveals, is a metaphor for his perception of the War in [[Vietnam]] and the role (which in Lucas' view is ''not'' flattering) of the [[United States of America]] in the civilized world today.<ref>Burns, Chris. "[http://www.cnn.com/2005/SHOWBIZ/Movies/05/16/cannes.starwars/ Lucas on Iraq war, 'Star Wars']." [[CNN]], May 16, 2005. Accessed March 12, 2008.</ref><ref>Lucas, furthermore, stated that his "Galactic Empire" could be a metaphor for the [[United States]] in its current war in [[Iraq]].</ref> In the process, Lucas combined the technological prowess shown by producer [[Stanley Kubrick]] in ''[[2001: A Space Odyssey]]'' with the production values and sensibilities of the science-fiction [[B movie]]s of the 1950s and 1960s to create the special-effects-laden "blockbuster" formula that dominates [[motion picture]]s today.

Eventually, however, this theme would give way to hopeful tales of [[God-substitute]]s promising to solve all humanity's problems, if humanity's leaders were smart enough not to provoke such people to war. However, [[George Lucas]], borrowing heavily from mythologycal archetypes, and somewhat from Frank Herbert's concepts for ''Dune'', would create a story arc (''[[Star Wars]]'') set in a far-distant [[galaxy]] that, as he now reveals, is a metaphor for his perception of the War in [[Vietnam]] and the role (which in Lucas' view is ''not'' flattering) of the [[United States of America]] in the civilized world today.<ref>Burns, Chris. "[https://www.cnn.com/2005/SHOWBIZ/Movies/05/16/cannes.starwars/ Lucas on Iraq war, 'Star Wars']." [[CNN]], May 16, 2005. Accessed March 12, 2008.</ref><ref>Lucas, furthermore, stated that his "Galactic Empire" could be a metaphor for the [[United States]] in its current war in [[Iraq]].</ref> In the process, Lucas combined the technological prowess shown by producer [[Stanley Kubrick]] in ''[[2001: A Space Odyssey]]'' with the production values and sensibilities of the science-fiction [[B movie]]s of the 1950s and 1960s to create the special-effects-laden "blockbuster" formula that dominates [[motion picture]]s today.

== Science fiction and [[evolutionism]] influencing one another ==

== Science fiction and [[evolutionism]] influencing one another ==