Today we bring you the first part of another two parter. As before it’s a two parter because it was a question I liked asking…

Out of the ethical dilemmas that Science Fiction has explored in the past which ones have been your favourite(s)? Are they still relevant in the same way today?

One of my favourites was the whole organ replacement dilemma/problems that Niven explored over countless stories (umm… have I told you I’m a big Larry Niven fan?). And in a case of life imitation Science Fiction, China went through a nasty little spell of harvesting convicts for parts (and in some cases selling the parts to wealthy westerners). Fortunately they seem to have put an end to the practice and hopefully it won’t rear it’s ugly little head again.

Going off topic here a little have I told you I’m a big Larry Niven fan? Longtime readers are probably shaking their heads and rolling their eyes at this point. When Larry Niven gave us an answer for our first Brain Parade me and Charlie went out on a bit of a bender that ended with Charlie passing out clutching a bottle of whiskey and me jabbering utter bollocks in a Podcast that we took down the very next day because it was too embarrassing.

Anyways back on topic, here’s today’s commentators….

J. Marcus Xavier
I have to say that my favorite dilemma that science fiction approaches is Racism. It’s a big, ugly word and nobody likes to talk about it, but it’s something that pervades our society in both big and small ways. A certain puppet once told me that “Everyone’s a little bit racist” (who gets the reference?) and it’s very true. In America today, I’m blessed enough to live in a country where people are largely tolerant of each other, but being tolerant and “color blind” are two completely different things; not that I would argue for a color blind society, but that’s another issue altogether .

The point is that people are very averse to discussing issues revolving around race, because it almost always turns into a “blame game” or a powder keg. Science Fiction allows writers to bypass a lot of the automatic dismissals that are wired into people’s minds, by turning into aliens from another planet. Nobody is going to call the NAACP if you complain about those “damn green-blooded Vulcans” or generalize that all Wookies are a bunch of angry “walking carpets.” Nobody cares. But the fact that we don’t question why Wookies and Vulcans are not offended should speak to our own political ultra-sensitivity on the topic.

With the Silent Universe, I try to strike (an admittedly uncomfortable) middle-ground, in that humans in this future sometimes throw around racial epithets . . . things that people might joke about when they are with friends or family (of their own racial group) but would never say in public. Largely, people in the Silent Universe will not get offended if such comments are voiced; this sometimes throws listeners off, because there’s “supposed” to be another character who chimes in and says “‘Hey!’ or ‘Watch your mouth’ or ‘You’re such a jack-ass’” and it never happens. This is not meant to offend, but just to reflect a different kind of sensibility toward racial issues that exists in a future where people still struggle. If it causes a little controversy, but that controversy leads to discussion, then I can live with it.

J. Marcus Xavier is Executive Producer of the Silent Universe podcast and writer for the Very Small Doses blog. He can be contacted at myspace or through julius at silentuniverse dot com.(replace at with @ etc.)

Mindy Klasky:
The first SF ethical dilemma I remember debating with friends, family, and anyone else who would listen to me came from the core of ENDER’S GAME: Did the adults have the right to use the children for their alienating (de-alienating!), militaristic goals? I argued strenuously for Ender’s right to self-determination, for his right to decide whether he wanted to bear the weight of an extinguished race, for his superstar mind to be permitted to make decisions based on all the facts known to all the people.

And I lost my verbal battles each time, because people pointed out that the entire world would have been destroyed without Enders manipulation; humanity would have ceased to exist. In effect, argued friends, ENDER’S GAME was a novel-length “Those Who Walk Away From Omelas.” (Exactly, I argued. And I would be a walker.)

In some ways, the precise moral dilemma presented by Ender is obviated by our current military structure. No single general can win a war, no single individual can destroy a foreign culture with one push of a joystick. Our military systems have become so complex, so redundant and our enemies have become so splintered, so hidden, that the notion of all humanity relying on one child for salvation is “quaint”, impossible, even a touch absurd.

And yet, the dilemma persists. What *can* we ask of others, in the name of so-called safety? Should our National Guardsmen be fighting overseas to keep us supposedly safe at home? Once a leader has declared that absolute destruction will be the penalty for inaction, what rights do any individuals have?

The phrase says: “Out of the mouths of babes.” From children, and from the literature that we read as children, we can ask meaningful questions about our current values, ethics, and mores.

Mindy Klasky is the author of The Glasswright Series of Fantasy books among others and will be releasing The Girl’s Guide to Witchcraft on 1 October. She has a blog here

Juliet E. Mckenna:
It’s got to be the eternal problem that democracy is the worst possible system of government, apart from all the others, to paraphrase Winston Churchill. Books I remember most vividly from my early reading are Heinlein’s Tunnel in the Sky and The Moon is a Harsh Mistress where the challenge is setting up a new society from a completely blank slate on the one hand and breaking free from an unjust, established order on the other. Then there were Larry Niven’s Tales of Known Space, The Integral Trees and The Legacy of Heorot, never mind all those 80’s post-holocaust novels that I doubt I’ll ever revisit.

These days libertarian SF, whether on the left or the right always makes for thought-provoking reading, not least when it makes ideas that I know I fundamentally disagree with, and which historically, have caused chaos, sound so reasonable and seductive. How can any of this not be relevant, given the crisis of democracy in the developed world and the global rise of fundamentalism, be it Islamic, Christian or Environmentalist? And of course, the best fantasy fiction is exploring such issues with just as much rigour as SF.

Juliet McKenna is a Fantasy author who also participates with The Write Fantastic

Will Shetterly:
Should all intelligent beings be treated as equals? So long as people argue that people of other cultures are inferior, the way imaginary beings treat each other will be relevant in fiction.

Will Shetterly can call himself a novelist again because The Gospel of the Knife is coming from Tor early next year.

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