An essential element of the public understanding of science and technology is popular culture: what the public see on TV and cinema, what we hear on radio, what we read in the newspapers, magazines and books. (OECD, 1996)
"Not only is science fiction an idea of tremendous import, but it is to be an important factor in making the world a better place to live in, through educating the public to the possibilities of science and the influence of science on life…Science fictionwould make people happier, give them a broader understanding of the world, make them more tolerant."
(Gernsback, quoted in Roberts 2000: P68)
This was the view ambitiously championed by Hugo Gernsback, the founder of the first successful pulp Science Fiction magazine, Amazing Stories, in 1926, who believed himself to be the inventor of the term ‘science fiction’ and attempted to shape the growth of the genre to this vision (Roberts 2000). Dating from 1929, this quote brings forward the idea of science fiction as having the potential to affect the publics understanding of science and technology.
70 years later this view of the world of science fiction not only lingers but now also appears to be gaining ground. With many science fiction shows and films leading to the publication of spin off books such as The Physics of Star Trek and The Science of Star Wars. Exhibition spaces are being filled with travelling exhibits such as Star Trek: Federation Science, whilst centres such as the Johnson Space Centre are deciding to use the popularity of science fiction to tackle issues, currently leading to their Science Fact Versus Science Fiction exhibit. Many science fiction fans have also been striving to introduce the genre into the classroom where they argue it can be used as an educational aid.
Indeed in recent years science itself has turned to the ideas of science fiction in an attempt to solve new problems in space exploration. The European Space Agency have looked to science fiction short stories and novels for ideas and inspiration to help with their ongoing exploration of space, even asking science fiction fans to send in suggestions. NASA too has made use of science fiction, many authors were asked to provide assistance with the drawing up of plans for a mission to Europa, in which they hoped to break through the moons ice covered surface to the possible life bearing ocean hidden beneath.
Today you can even take a degree course in science and science fiction with the University of Glamorgan in the UK. The course introduced in 1999 was the world’s first undergraduate course in the subject and was set up to look at science fictions place in society and its treatment of science.
As Roberts points out it is machines and technology that are most associated with science fiction, we think of them as necessary props for the story. But this is often true of the publics views of real science (Prof. Edmunds, see A2-32), it is the technological end products of scientific study that the public find themselves surrounded by that often represents to them science. For the public science and technology go hand in hand.
So if science fiction authors, science communicators and scientists can all see the potential benefits of science fiction for the public understanding of science and technology the question asked by this research is, do the very public they seek to educate believe in it?
In this research the term “public understanding” is being interpreted as meaning both “understanding” in the sense of understanding of scientific concepts, terms and issues, but also to include in line with the objectives of the UK’s Government’s policy on public understanding - “awareness” and “appreciation” on the part of the general public of the contributions of science and technology to our national life (British Association Evidence to the house of Lords Select Committee on Science and Technology, 2000).
In 1996, a major mainstream link between the worlds of science and science fiction was championed in the April edition of New Scientist’s leading story:
“Special Report: The Physics of Star Trek, why warp drives may work but there’s no chance for transporters”
(New Scientist, 20 April 1996, No. 2026)
The report heralded the publishing in the UK of the Physics of Star Trek by Professor Lawrence M. Krauss.
This idea of employing science fiction to look at science was put to use during the design and prototyping of a travelling exhibition that was designed as part of the exhibit design module of the M.Sc. in Communicating Science. The exhibition entitled “??” set out to test the science of some science fiction ideas as well as using the science fiction theme to tackle real science and technology.
A recent visit to a Cardiff bookshop then prompted the realisation that the local astronomical association (the Cardiff Astronomical Society) advertised for new members in the science fiction section of the local book stores but surprisingly not in the astronomy or popular science sections. A combination of these similar factors brought to the fore the links between science fiction and science. That these links appear to be well established within a mainstream public arena brings them sharply into focus as an interesting and current phenomenon for study.
As previously established, science fiction has begun to appear as an aid to popularising science within science centres and the media. Recent science documentaries are increasingly beginning to mirror the effects and technology often employed in science fiction cinema, in an attempt to allow the public to ‘get the feel of’ ‘real’ science. This very close juxtapositioning of what is associated with science fiction, and ‘real’ science lends itself to blurring the distinctions between the two. This is important as it begs questions about the role of science fiction in understanding ‘real’ science, particularly as regards the general public.
Research carried out in the US points to the fact that a significant proportion of scientists of the 70s and 80s had a strong passion for science fiction (Mark Brake, 2001). So was it this interest in science fiction that brought them to science? If yes, then is this a possible method of encouraging others to the field?
In today’s world where a scientific knowledge is becoming increasingly necessary to be able to make informed judgements and decisions, if the world of science fiction represents one of the general public’s main exposures to science, then its portrayals and effects are of great importance.
The recent pace of scientific and technological change is having an unsettling influence on the average person, which is leading to growth in anti-science (OCDE, 1997). In recent times, pseudo-science is thought to be growing an alarming influence on the general public’s perceptions of science. It is hoped that science fiction can provide the opportunity to tackle it head on (Mark Brake, 2001). But can the general public draw a distinction between the two?
According to Brake there have been few serious academic studies of the genre and its socio-scientific dimension, and at the time of this research there were no readily evident studies involving the actual viewpoints of the general public themselves. So taking these views and expectations of both the scientific and science fiction communities it is time to, as Richard Dawkins once said, move
“out of the laboratory and into the culture”
(quoted in Brake, 2001)
and actually question the general public on how they believe science fiction affects their understanding of science and technology.
The aim of the study is to evaluate what effect the public considers popular science fiction has had on their understanding of science and technology.
To meet the aim of the evaluation the objectives are:
- To carry out a review of published literature to determine in which ways and to what extent it is believed that science fiction can affect the public understanding of science and technology.
- To carry out ‘Expert’ interviews with practitioners whose work is touched by the public’s links to science fiction. The interviews being based around the findings of the literature review, allowing deeper discussion of the topics and how it is believed they affect the public today.
- To develop a questionnaire to be carried out with the general public investigating their views of how science fiction is affecting their understanding of science and technology.
Are the public interested in science and technology? In the UK at least the answer appears to be a resounding yes. That was the finding of a succession of recent studies included in Science and Society, the third report from the Select Committee on Science and Technology 2000. The study included in the report carried out by Darant/Bauer (1996) in particular showed that interest in new medical discoveries, inventions, technologies and scientific discoveries were all rated very highly, even above sport in the news, politics and new films.
More recent research also present in Science and Society carried out by MORI/OST in 1999 highlights that although science in general is popular, backing for specific topics is not. The results showed that the public see the benefit of medical research but moving down to space research and genetic modifications public backing is quickly lost.
But interest is not 'understanding', although interest in science and technology is very important, it is the seed that needs to be turned into 'understanding'. A OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) symposium on Promoting Public Understanding of Science and Technology in 1996 put forward the propositions that the level of understanding of science and technology was relatively low in nearly all industrial countries. Reflecting this, only a small proportion of the adult populations felt equipped to take part in a scientific or technical dispute (OCDE, 1997).
In 1995 UK policy was to emphasise the importance of the country's science base to wealth creation and the quality of life, and Government policy sought to raise the public awareness of science, engineering and technology and their role in the economy (Public attitudes to science, Post note 69, 1995).
So a scientifically literate public were seen as being key to the country's economy. Similarly, the Bodmer Report and ten years later the report by Wolfendale both underline the importance of a scientifically literate public for the health of our democracy:
"Public opinion is a major influence in the decision-making process. It is therefore important that individual citizens, as well as decision-makers, recognise and understand the scientific aspects of public issues."
(Bodmer quoted in Now for the science bit – concentrate, p2, 1995 )
and
"to strengthen the effectiveness of the democratic process through better informed public debate of issues of public concern arising in the field of science, engineering and technology."
(Wolfendale quoted in Now for the science bit – concentrate, p2, 1995)
Also Bodmer made a cultural argument, that science discoveries about how the universe functions profoundly influence the ways in which we think about ourselves.
Science takes place within the context of society and there are always limits that are imposed by public attitudes on the exploitation of opportunities arising from new developments (British Association Evidence to the house of Lords Select Committee on Science and Technology, 2000). And when the public make these decisions, they can only make them on the basis of the information with which they are provided. Therefore for them to be able to make an informed decision they must be properly informed.
But the OCDE found that only about one in ten adults of the industrial nations achieved what was seen as a threshold level of civic scientific understanding enabling them to understand a public policy controversy which involved science or technology.
Although interest in science in the UK is high Science and Society reveals negative responses to science associated with government, industry or science that is not obviously linked to a clear beneficial purpose, expressed as a lack of trust. This shows the varying levels of public trust in scientists from different organisational backgrounds, while there appears to be increasing scepticism of the views of scientists on all science related policy.
In a world were it appears that more and more science is been taken into the private sector, Dr Helen Wallace of Greenpeace sees a worrying trend because of the industrial involvement and the possibility for vested interests to be forwarded under the guise of scientific objectivity (Now for the science bit – concentrate!, 1995).
The polls by MORI (1999) included in Science and Society show that generally the public trusts information provided to them from either independent scientists or from the scientists of environmental groups. While on the other end of the scale we find the scientists of industry or the government.
Science and technology permeates our lives but they inevitably give rise to issues of controversy and controversies regularly ignite the public, such as in recent years with foot and mouth, GM food, and the Brent Spa (Now for the science bit – concentrate! 1995). Many people are uneasy about the possibilities produced by scientific research, which for many is advancing far ahead of their understanding. This public, uneasy in turn, then leads to a deeper growing anxiety amongst the scientists, this public unease is then only increased by the fact that at the cutting edge of science there is much uncertainty and disagreement even amongst the science experts.
The United Kingdom Life Sciences Committee are quoted in Science and Society as finding, that at the time of the report in 2000, the biggest area of public mistrust was food. They blame this on the string of successive scares suffered in recent years such as E.coli, BSE and now GMOs. This may be one of the reasons for the growing public appetite for food labelled as 'organic'.
The luddities resisted the beginning of the industrial revolution, then later the developments of electricity and the railways produced much negative public reaction. Indeed over the entire history of the twentieth century scientific advances have repeatedly been accompanied by fears about their larger implications. Still today the memories of incidents such as Chernobyl remain, colouring the public's views across the industrialised world (Science and Society).
Ultimately it is society which has changed, the public no longer simply accept what they are told but have now found the voice to question authority, wanting to be shown proof. But scientific 'proof' is never 100% certain, it is only as the public become more aware of the true nature of science that they may come to see 'safe' as a relative and subjective term. (Science and society)
“Science fiction is enormously popular. It accounts for one in ten books sold in the Britain, and in the United States the number is as high as one in four.”
(Scott McCracken quoted in Roberts, p30, 2000)
The exact beginnings of science fiction is the subject of much debate. Each science fiction critic tends towards their own perception of the beginnings of the genre. Some look no further back than the last 100 years to the work of H G Wells and Jules Verne, while others look even further back into literature as ancient as literature itself to tales such as The Epic of Gigamesh from around 2000 BC (Roberts, 2000).
Edward James, like many others believes that science fiction can be traced back to Mary Shelley and Frankenstein in 1818. Describing it as a form of literature that was developed in the 1880s and 1890s in Europe that was then shaped into its current genre form in the United States during the 1920s.
It was in this time towards the end of the 19th century with the works of Verne and Wells that science fiction as a body of work began to appear as a meaningful category instead of just appearing as one off stories. This growth was then further fuelled by the development in paper manufacturing, which lead to a boom in the magazine market. Through the 1920s pulp science fiction magazines were finding a commercial durable market enabling their growth. The 1930s and then 40s are seen as the golden years of science fiction, in which we find the work of writes such as Asimov and Heinlein to name two. The work of these years appearing to mirror American bullishness. Then through the 1950s the mode changed again, now science fiction began to mirror the growing feeling of unease, the late 50s seeing the anti communism feeling coming to the fore in the US. It is then thought that sometime during the 50s or 60s science fiction crossed over from being a minority interest into true popular phenomenon. The 60s bring with it the change from magazine to novel and then novel to TV, with 1966 seeing the start of the Star Trek phenomenon. By the 70s the stage was set for Star Wars to explode the popularity of science fiction to even greater levels. (Roberts [2000] and Edwards [1994])
Today science fiction has grown to be one of our most popular film genres, the stuff of hundred million dollar budgets and even bigger returns, producing icons seen by millions all around the globe.
From its B movie beginnings, based around the contemporary fears of the time (communism/cold war and nuclear weapons), science fiction through blockbuster family and horror audience targeting has grown to its dominant Hollywood incarnation, enjoying unprecedented success. (King and Kryzwinska, 2000)