New Thinking: Science Fiction
Arts & Ideas
BBC
4.2 • 598 Ratings
🗓️ 18 March 2020
⏱️ 49 minutes
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Summary
It's sometimes defined as 'the literature of cognitive estrangement'. In other words, it's a genre that helps us see things in a new light. Hetta Howes discusses current academic thinking on science fiction, as a way of thinking that extends beyond writing, film and TV to architecture and beyond. With Caroline Edwards, Senior Lecturer in Modern & Contemporary Literature at Birkbeck, University of London, and Amy Butt, Lecturer in Architecture at the University of Reading.
This conversation was recorded in mid February before coronavirus hit the UK. It is one of a series of conversations - New Thinking - produced in partnership with the Arts and Humanities Research Council, part of UK Research & Innovation. Further podcasts are available on the BBC Radio 3 Free Thinking website under the playlist New Research https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p03zws90
Producer: Luke Mulhall
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome back to the home of the oxymoron. Evil genius. He asked the newspaper to print his obituary early so he'd enjoy it. That's like hiding at your own funeral. Yeah, a big, great gig. I'm Russell Kane. Join me to weigh in on whether the biggest players in history are more evil or genius. Becoming that rich, I'd say that is some level of genius. It also helps that it's a long time ago, right? |
| 0:23.3 | It's like the podcast version of telling your kids the ice cream van plays music when it's out of ice cream. |
| 0:28.9 | Listen to Evil Genius on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:32.0 | Hello, you're listening to the Arts and Ideas podcast. |
| 0:35.4 | I'm Heta Howes and this edition is part of our series New Thinking, |
| 0:38.9 | looking at new research in UK universities. What makes a perfect world? How do we build it? |
| 0:45.5 | And what books might help us to do so? In today's episode, we're going to be casting our |
| 0:50.3 | eye into the future. I'm talking spaceships, little green men, parallel universes and time |
| 0:55.8 | warps. For over 100 years, writers have been trying to make sense at the world around them |
| 1:00.6 | through the genre of science fiction. But how does this genre affect the spaces that we live and |
| 1:05.9 | work in today? And how can it help us to devise creative responses to very current and pressing issues such as |
| 1:12.6 | climate change? To help us answer some of these questions and to be our guides in a futuristic world, |
| 1:18.1 | I'm delighted to introduce Caroline Edwards, lecturer in modern and contemporary literature |
| 1:22.1 | at Birkbeck University of London, and Amy Butte, lecturer in architecture at the University of Reading. |
| 1:29.4 | So my first question has to be, what is your favourite sci-fi novel? |
| 1:34.7 | I'm just like a story. |
| 1:37.4 | Why do you have to start with the hardest question? |
| 1:40.1 | It is really hard, isn't it? |
| 1:41.3 | I was trying to think myself and I was like, oh God, there's so many. |
| 1:45.1 | I know. |
| 1:45.5 | And you just think I don't know any musical off the top of my head. I mean, I'd say the one that I've probably read the most would be J.G. Ballard's high rise. But I think that's kind of a required answer from anyone in architecture who's interested in science fiction. I think perhaps ones that have moved me more are the ones which are my favourites. |
| 2:03.1 | So perhaps things like Octavia Buck. interested in science fiction. I think perhaps ones that have moved me more are the ones which |
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