Oddbean

@07dbd179 @4cff0fbb Exploring morality and ethics, yes, but it also exposes kids to toxic ideologies—from John M. Campbell's right-wing racist Technocracy through to today's TESCREAL-spouting idiot techbros. (TBF non-toxic and anti-toxic worldviews are also represented, but the vast majority of SF just reflects today's ambient cultural norms and assumptions back at the reader. Eg. unthinking acceptance of capitalism, racial hierarchy, sexism, colonialism ...)

@0c1a9324 @4cff0fbb What's wrong with being exposed to toxic idealogies? That's like saying we better burn the book because we don't like what it says. I dunno. Through the lens of the book, the absurdity of some of these toxic things become gratuitously apparent. Even beloved science fiction authors of years past would have some views that would be considered antiquated or even bigoted in 2023. Again, mainly most kids aren't/weren't ever learning "science" from science fiction.

@0c1a9324 So wait. A POS person isn’t just a POS? Elon is the way he is because the read bad science fiction? Yeah, hard disagree. Ender’s Game is at the top of many self-professed lover of science-fiction’s list. It, and its author, are horrible bigoted and so much of it would be problematic now. It especially dives deep into that advocacy for toxicity you are talking about. People aren’t racist or homophobic because their favorite series is the Ender’s one.

@07dbd179 Elon is plausibly a POS from at least one parental POS (see also: Apartheid emerald mines) but he has uncritically swallowed TESCREAL ideology and barfs it up at any opportunity, along with a side-order of transphobia, homophobia, and right-wing wish-fulfilment fantasy. Which taps into the whole Cambellian SF program of the 1930s-1960s.

@0c1a9324 @07dbd179 ...So the core is that he doesn't critically think about sci-fi, not that the sci-fi was read. I'm reminded of Starship Troopers - the book was, as I understand, heavily fascist, and the movie was intended to be a satire of fascist propaganda. As people have since noted, it apparently took a while for it to be identified as such, but... apparently the movie writer had critically thought about the book they were translating to film.