Creating memory during and after wartime trauma is vexed by state attempts to control public and private discourse. Science fiction author Iain Banks' novel "Look to Windward" proposes different ways of preserving memory and culture, from posthuman memory devices, to artwork, to architecture, to personal, local ways of remembering.…

This essay brings together two lines of inquiry. Firstly, I revisit research on futures in education conducted during the 1980s and re-examine some of the propositions and principles that this research generated about "the future" as an object of inquiry in education. Secondly, I argue that the language of complexity invites us to…

In a satiric chapter of David Foster Wallace's novel "Infinite Jest," a mock media expert reports how American consumers of the near future recoil from a new communication device known as "videophony" and return to the voice-only telephone of the Bell Era. This article explores the said chapter in the framework of media theories reading the…

The author has argued that the central concern for the Frankfurt School of critical theory remains a foundationally necessary task for ecopedagogy generally: to understand the domination of nature in all of its complexity and totality as part of an ongoing transformative inquiry (inclusive of both theorization and transgressive action) into the…

This article describes the Frank Reade dime novels, published in 1882, that are now recognized as the beginnings of the modern science fiction novel in the United States. They illustrate the hope that Americans of the time held for the future that newly invented technology could offer. Although the Frank Reade stories highlighted the promise of…

The visions of the future portrayed by Wells in two of his works, "A Modern Utopia" and "Men Like Gods," reveal much about Wells' gifts and limitations as a futurist. (Author/RM)

Science fiction is used to describe four scenarios of the library of the future: completely computerized; rehumanized; post-cataclysmic, reinvented; and post-computer, mental high-tech. The future is discussed in terms of what is possible, probable, and desirable. An exercise is suggested for librarians to examine their own ideas about the future…

Describes a doctoral dissertation entitled "World-Future Images in Childrens Literature" which analyzed books on science fiction or utopian fiction by 43 authors of children's literature to determine whether presentations were optimistic or pessimistic. Results indicating generally optimistic stories are discussed, as well as strengths and…

Selective analysis of the library literature affirms the difficulty of predicting accurately the rate of technological change and the interpretation of trends. A juxtaposition of the library predictions and those of science fiction writers reveals surprising bibliographic visions of the future. Nine references are listed. (MES)

In this interview, author Isaac Asimov discusses science fiction writing, as well as his projections for education and society in the 21st Century. A brief biography of Asimov is appended. (SJL)

Contends that by understanding what extrapolation is and the ways in which it is used, people not only sharpen their appreciation of how the imaginary worlds of science fiction and fantasy are created but also begin to recognize that the process is frequently used by everyone. (FL)

H. G. Wells is not quite the household name that he deserves to be, even in the households of futurists. Visions of the future in his writing and his attempts to translate these visions into reality through his work for socialism and the League of Nations are discussed. (SR)

Fictional account of educational procedures in the year 2184 A.D. (including "laser projected holoschooling") and of the wide variety of spectacular changes that will have occurred worldwide as a result of advanced behavior modification and new technology available in the first two hundred years after 1984. (JBM)

Author concludes that " . . . myth-oriented science fiction diminishe(es) the future and the possibilities of humanistic change by positing the idea that beyond the superficial empirical world there lies some meta-reality that is both absolute and unchanging." (Author)

Through various classic texts, this article examines the concept of "library" and the many forms in which libraries are portrayed in science fiction. A sidebar contains a bibliography of recent anthologies of science fiction stories and novellas. (AEF)