cmn117

In-class workshop focused on distinguishing Science Fiction (SF) from Fantasy and practising SF story ideation.
Format: open discussion, film clips, historical references, peer group brainstorming, short readings, and a live sharing of student pitches.
Central instructional goal: learn to frame SF stories around a clear “What if…?” question that is (at least superficially) explainable by science and then logically extrapolated.
Secondary goals: recognise common SF sub-tropes, evaluate plausibility vs. pure imagination, and consider ethical implications.

SF = speculative narratives whose extraordinary elements are given a science (or pseudo-science) rationale.
• "More probable" and “respectable” because it gestures toward real or conceivable science.
• Even invented tech may be acceptable if it carries a veneer of logic (e.g., flux capacitor in Back to the Future).
Fantasy = admits outright magic; portals, wardrobes, spells need no scientific footnote.
• Example: C. S. Lewis’ wardrobe to Narnia is ultimately explained as magical wood—not SF.
Dystopian tales straddle both categories; if the nightmare future arises from technological or sociological extrapolation → shelved under SF, otherwise may drift into Fantasy.

A clear, concise "What if…?" question.
At least a sketch of scientific, technological, or mathematical justification (it may be hand-wavy).
Internal credibility / respectability: present details (e.g., latitude-longitude, measurements) so readers willingly suspend disbelief.
Speculation & Extrapolation:
• Speculation = proposing an alternate premise.
• Extrapolation = projecting current data/conditions "a thousand times" further to explore impacts.
Grounding in reality: recognizable human motives, settings, or physical laws act as anchor points.
Technology often foregrounded (blinking lights, machines, medication, genetic engineering, AI, spacecraft, etc.).

Plausibility vs. Impossibility.
"Respectability" (student phrase): the aura of scientific legitimacy that persuades readers.
Butterfly Effect: tiny change in the past causes large change in the future.
Sentience & Personhood: extending rights to AI (Saudi Arabia robot example).

Jonathan Swift, Gulliver’s Travels (1726) – early proto-SF credibility through exhaustive measurements.
Ray Bradbury, “A Sound of Thunder” – time-travel safari + butterfly effect.
Kurt Vonnegut, “Harrison Bergeron” – enforced equality via handicaps; line “what if everyone is forced to be average?”
Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451 – dystopia of book burning, thought control, and eventual intellectual resistance.

Lucy (2014)
- What if humans accessed 100 % of brain capacity?
- Science veneer: neuro-chemical acceleration; cell communication “1 000 bits/sec”.
- Extrapolation: matter manipulation, omnipresence; sequel teased.
Limitless (2011)
- What if a tablet could unlock total cerebral power?
- Figures flashed: from $12\,000$ to $2\,300\,000$ in 10 days on the stock market.
- Ethical thread: addiction, societal inequality.
Back to the Future series
- What if you can time-travel and alter your own timeline?
- Tool: flux capacitor + sports almanac → alternate 1985 dystopia.
Minority Report (alluded) – “inevitable murder” paradox.

Dune (Frank Herbert) – believable ecological & political details.
Maximum Ride (James Patterson) – genetically engineered avian kids.
The Moon landing archive & conspiracy chatter.
Unnamed anthology call: Flash Speculative Climate Fiction, 120-word limit, set in 2050+.

Brain Enhancement & Human Potential
- 10 % brain myth origins; desire for a “best version” of self.
Time Travel & Causality
- Moral hazard of changing past; grandfather paradox; personal regret fantasies.
Dystopia vs. Utopia
- Totalitarian control, censorship, enforced equality, climate catastrophes.
AI Consciousness & Rights
- Saudi robot personhood; student’s AI-narrated monologue exploring desire for movement.
Climate Change & Geo-engineering
- Rising oceans, pole reversal, post-apocalyptic scenarios.
Genetics / Cloning / Eugenics
- Maximum Ride, selective breeding, ethical slippery slopes.

Gene-Locked Time Travel: only descendants of a historical villain can go back and fix timeline.
Commercial Body Rental: you pay to occupy another person’s body temporarily.
Lonely Astronaut: returns from the Moon to find Earth empty (Roanoke inspiration).
Emerging AI Sentience: AI narrator longs for physical movement, eye-lids intrigue; tension with creator "Calvin".
Crime-Solving Afterlife Download: post-mortem neural dump used by police.

Should we improve humanity pharmacologically? (Limitless/Lucy debate.)
Can history or personal error truly be overwritten without unintended fallout?
Is enforced equality morally superior or dystopian oppression? (Harrison Bergeron.)
At what point does AI earn rights comparable to humans?
Climate ethics: are we obliged to speculate remedial tech or warn of collapse?

Start with the "What if…?" line; story functions as answer.
Provide a pseudo-scientific rationale early for credibility.
Use concrete data (measurements, lat-long, equations) as Swift did to foster believability.
Tone choice (comic, horrific, earnest) colours the reader’s absorption of speculative ideas.
Flash fiction markets: 120-word climate anthology accepting 50 pieces; encourages concise extrapolation.

Prior session on portal fantasies (wardrobe example) & reader default to real-world logic unless told otherwise.
Sanskrit vs. Fantasy remark: earlier debate on “probable versus improbable languages/worlds.”
Continuing emphasis on how readers mentally map unfamiliar worlds onto familiar experience.