The Globe and Mail has picked up on the Popular Science magazine article entitled Is Science Fiction About to Go Blind to ask the neverending question: Is science fiction finished? I don't think so, but it's certainly in the doldrums. People want escapism, not science lessons, which is why fantasy is enjoying such success. As the world becomes more complicated, so does science fiction. Do authors need to dumb things down for better sales?
There's not enough technobabble as it is. Technobabble is a major staple of science fiction. It gives me hope that there are actually smart people somewhere on the planet. Technobabble is like poetry but less lame. For f**ks sake, the technobabble dialog is always followed up with something stupid to explain it like "it's like a balloon when you let out the air" or "it tastes crunchy in milk". If "they" dumb down science fiction any more, well have reality shows based on RPGs. Now that I think about it, that's what reality shows are; LARP for idiots. New scifi reality shows could be a camera and a convention, pimp my costume or the ultimate put one fan of Star Wars, LOTR, Matrix, Star Trek and Buffy in a house and have them argue over which franchise is the best.
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