Abstract
The future is not a new idea. The philosophers of the Enlightenment freed it of the historic wrappings of Christian eschatology and the notion of Providence itself by rationalising the idea of progress, the possible improvement of Mankind and the terrestrial city that stemmed from it. Making use of the Renaissance, the utopian authors transformed spiritual preparation for the end of time into a view of material, earthly delight made possible by science and scientific research. This ideal was certainly embodied in Francis Bacon’s New Atlantis, although Thomas More was the first of all. In passing from work on consciousness to that of the spirit, the utopians of the eighteenth century espoused Reason and soon turned the future into something much more than critical discourse: It became social opportunity, a new political framework. Audaciously shifting the utopia of “elsewhere” (u-topos) to “the future” (u-chronos) in the manner of Louis-Sébastien Mercier or Marquis de Condorcet, the utopians pursued a programme relying on scientific promise: Identify the technological processes of the transformation of reality and spread the word, an aim which would give birth to a new, less discursive, more popular genre—science fiction.
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Notes
Brian Ash, ed., The Visual Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, London: Pan Books Ltd, 1977.
Isaac ASIMOV, The Caves of Steel, Garden City, NJ: Doubleday, 1954. http://www.ebooktrove.com/Asimov,%20Isaac/Asimov,%20Isaac%20-%20Robot%201%20-%20The%20Caves%20of%20Steel.pdf
Paolo SOLERI, Arcology: The City in the Image of Man, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1969.
Arthur C. CLARKE, The City and the Stars, London: Frederick Muller Ltd., 1956.
Demètre IOAKIMIDIS, Histoires de demain. La Grande Anthologie de la science-fiction, Livre de Poche, Paris, 1974, p. 15 : “Science fiction authors like to create complete, custom-fit worlds: with human or non-human groups, with communities, cities, nations, planets and galaxies. Custom-fit means that they are made exactly how the author wants them to be, so as to best explain or show his purpose.”
Gardner DOZOIS & Jonathan STRAHAN, Le Nouveau Space-Opera, Paris: Éditions Bragelonne, 2009, (translation CZ).
Yannick RUMPALA, “Quelques notes (techno-politiques) sur les Mentaux de la Culture”, On-line available for consultation article here: http://www.actusf.com/spip/Quelques-notes-techno-politiques.html
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Translated by Clarice Zdanski and Tommaso Borri
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Bellagamba, U. From Ideal to Future Cities: Science Fiction as an Extension of Utopia. Philos. Technol. 29, 79–96 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13347-016-0213-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13347-016-0213-7