World Science Fiction Terminology

Cozy Catastrophe

"Cosy Catastrophe" is a term coined by Brian Aldiss. The End of the World as We Know It has arrived and ... our heroes feel fine.

Cyborg

"cybernetic organism": a living organism with biological and machine components. The biological part is not necessarily of human origin.

Arthur C. Clarke's Laws

1) When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong. 2) The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible. 3) Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

Theodore Sturgeon's Law

90% of everything is crud.

H.G. Well's Law

A SF or fantasy story should contain only a single extraordinary assumption.

Area 51

A United States Air Force base in Nevada, the existence of which was not formally acknowledged by the US Government until 1995.

Wetware

A biological system and typically refers to the human brain and nervous system. It can also come to mean bacterial computers and organic based processing agents.

Posthuman

A descendant of humans who is sufficiently different from present-day humans in form or capabilities to be regarded as a new species or otherwise fundamentally different from present-day humans.

Waldo

A device for handling or manipulating objects by remote control.

Afrofuturism

A form of science fiction that uses Fantasy, Science Fiction, and Magic Realism to examine black culture.

ARG/Alternate Reality Game

A genre of online game where a fictional storyline is written and presented as if it were a legitimate construct within our own world, as opposed to existing only in reality of the story.

Transhuman/Transhumanism

A human who has through evolution or augmentation acquired capabilities beyond the normal human range sufficient to be regarded as no longer merely human.

Multiverse

A hypothetical space or realm of being consisting of a number of universes, of which our own universe is only one.

Babel Fish

A living fish which, when placed in your ear, will live there and translate any form of language for you.

New Wave

A loose movement in science fiction writing from the mid-1960s to mid-1970s, characterized by an experimental approach to narrative structures and language and an emphasis on nuanced social, moral, or psychological conflict rather than on technological concerns.

Humanoid

A non-human being that has a human-like bodily form.

Dying Earth

A not uncommon category of sf story, which has now developed its own melancholy mythology. Since the Sun is invariably moribund if not extinguished, this could also be called the dying-sun theme.

Parallel Worlds

A parallel world is another universe situated "alongside" our own, displaced from it along a spatial fourth Dimension (parallel worlds are often referred to in sf as "other dimensions"). Although whole universes may lie parallel in this sense, most stories focus on parallel Earths. The parallel-world idea forms a useful framework for the notion of Alternate History, and is often used in this way. Most of the "secondary worlds" of modern Fantasy are explicit or implicit parallel worlds

Precog

A person with precognitive abilities.

Automaton (pl. automata)

A self-operating machine.

Cognitive Estrangement

A sf device defined by critic Darko Suvin as one for creating and understanding an imagined world as different from our own, by means of scientific observation, theorizing and empirical experiment.

Quantum Computing

A still largely theoretical but eagerly researched breed of Computers which use quantum superposition to deal simultaneously with all possible values which can be represented as "qubits" (quantum bits, as opposed to conventional computer bits representing 0 or 1) in a quantum register.

Edisonade

A story featuring a young male inventor who uses his inventions and ingenuity to defeat his foes or to explore new territory.

Steampunk

A subgenre of science fiction that has an historical setting (esp. based on industrialized, nineteenth-century society) and characteristically features steam-powered, mechanized machinery rather than electronic technology.

Cyberpunk

A subgenre of science fiction typified by a bleak, high-tech setting in which a lawless subculture exists within an oppressive society dominated by computer technology.

Alternate History/Alt-History

A subgenre of science fiction wherein at least one aspect of history is different from that of our own world; the setting of such stories

Biopunk

A subgenre of science fiction which focuses on the societal effects of biotechnology and genetic engineering.

Raygun Gothic

A ubiquitous aesthetic of early- and mid-20th century Science Fiction, modeled after Art Deco, Streamline Moderne, and/or Populuxe (aka Googie). Everything is slick and streamlined, with geometric shapes and clean parallel lines constructed of shiny metal and glass, lit prominently by neon. Sweeping curves, parabolas, and acute angles are used to suggest movement — movement into The Future.

Counterfactual

A work of alternate history.

FTL

Abbreviation for "faster than light."

BEM

Abbreviation for bug-eyed monster, or an extra-terrestrial monster with bulging eyes.

Uchronia

Alternate history

Replicant

An artificial alien or genetically engineered replica of a human being.

Redshirt

An expendable character who does not survive for long. Term comes from Star Trek and the observation that officers wearing red shirt were killed quickly.

Ansible

An instantaneous communication device, not limited by the speed of light.

Sapient

An intelligent alien, having intelligence of human level.

Sentience

An intelligent being or the condition of being sentient.

Comet of Doom

An omen of good or ill. In Western civilizations, usually a harbinger of evil

Determinism

Assuming that because something happened it was inevitable.

Alien Invasion

Beings from space come to Earth to conquer.

Empathy

ESP or extra-sensory perception; sixth sense.

Proto-SF

Early works that contain elements and themes of modern science fiction. The origins of SF. Usually considered anything before 1926.

Eschatology

Eschatology is the class of theological doctrine pertaining to death and the subsequent fate of the soul, and to the ultimate fate of the world. Stories of the Far Future, the End of the World and the End of Time can be categorized as eschatological, but are considered separately; this section deals mainly with the idea of personal survival after death.

Post-Apocalyptic SF

Fiction set in a world or civilization after such a disaster that ruins the world. The time frame may be immediately after the catastrophe, focusing on the travails or psychology of survivors, or considerably later, often including the theme that the existence of pre-catastrophe civilization has been forgotten (or mythologized). Post-apocalyptic stories often take place in a non-technological future world, or a world where only scattered elements of technology remain.

Slipstream

Fiction which, while not classified as science fiction, engages to some extent with scientific or futuristic subject matter, esp. such fiction regarded as constituting an identifiable genre; this genre of fiction.

Hive Mind

Group mind.

Hard SF

Hard science fiction relies on using already established science or justifying it's fictionalized science using carefully calculated predictions. Hard SF tries to use the advanced technology as something that is important in itself, with its consequences, limitations and new uses being the main plot points.

Superluminal

Having or being a speed greater than that of light.

Though Experiment

In Physics, a thought experiment is a common means of exploring the implications of scientific assumptions without resorting to actual apparatus.

Manga

Japanese term for comic strip or comic book. Its now common use in the English-speaking world dates back to the 1990s. In English it is used to denote Japanese Comics specifically. There tends to be a connotation of the fantastic when English-speaking readers use the term.

Military SF

Military Science Fiction is a subgenre of both Science Fiction and Military Fiction, commonly sliding into the Space Opera territory. At its most basic, Military Science Fiction is Science Fiction that focuses on the military.

Psi

Paranormal phenomena or faculties collectively; the psychic force supposed to be manifested by these.

Extrapolation

Predicting beyond the original range of observation.

Asimov's 3 Laws of Robotics

Programmed safeguards robots follow in the absence of human control. 1) A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm. 2) A robot must obey orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law. 3) A robot must protect its own existence, as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Laws.

Environmental Disaster Narrative

Related to the apocalyptic/post-apocalyptic subgenre, but the crisis is natural or environmental in nature.

Lost Worlds SF

SF featuring lost worlds, which are usually found in remote locations, such as the center of large and barely explored places. They are often home to lost civilizations with amazing Lost Technology, or to prehistoric animals that have managed to survive unchanged. Unpopular with the invention of GPS. Most modern fictions that use this trope are set in the pre-satellite past. The Lost World has now been adapted to serve in even more mysterious places, such as outer space or deep underground.

Pulp-SF

SF published in "pulp" magazines, starting as early as the 1880s. Today the term "pulp sf" is associated primarily with stories written, usually rapidly, for the least intellectual segment of the sf market - packed with adventure but with little emphasis on character, which is usually stereotyped, or on ideas, which are frugally and constantly recycled.

Soft SF/Social SF

SF that deals with the Soft Sciences or to SF that does not deal with recognizable science at all, but emphasizes human feelings.

Social Darwinism

Social Darwinism is the thesis that social evolution and social history are governed by the same principles that govern the Evolution of species in Nature, so that conflict between and within cultures constitutes a struggle for existence which is the motor of progress.

Spyfi

Spy Fiction with a lot of science. Main characters are spies or secret agents

Post-Peak Oil Narrative

Story set in the world after fossil fuels have or will soon run out.

Gaia

The Gaia hypothesis, proposed by UK scientist James Lovelock in the 1960s and now usually termed Earth System Science, suggests that Earth's Biosphere forms a self-regulating Homeostatic System analogous to a living organism; the name is taken from the Greek earth-goddess, also spelt Gaea or Ge.

New Weird

The New Weird movement is a post-modernist take on certain kinds of literary genre fiction. In a nutshell, it's a specific genre of Scifi/Fantasy/Horror literature that does not follow the conventions of derivative Sci-Fi, Fantasy or Horror, without being an outright parody or deconstruction. Similar to the New Wave Science Fiction movement of The Sixties, but it took off in the mid-nineties, and was at its peak in the early-to-mid Turn of the Millennium.

O'Neill Cylinder

The O'Neill Cylinder, designed by Princeton physicist Gerard K. O'Neill, is considerably larger than the other two designs, and is referred to as an "Island 3" or 3rd-generation space colony. The configuration consists of a pair of cylinders, each 20 miles long and 4 miles in diameter. Each cylinder has three land areas alternating with three windows, and three mirrors that open and close to form a day-night cycle inside. The total land area inside a pair of cylinders is about 500 square miles and can house several million people. The cylinders are always in pairs which rotate in opposite directions, cancelling out any gyroscopic effect that would otherwise make it difficult to keep them aimed toward the sun.

SETI

The Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence organization (1984)- that promotes the search by novices and scientists alike of Alien transmissions or Communications.

42

The answer to "The Question" in Douglas Adam's radio show and novel The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (1978-1980).

Nanotech/nanotechnology

The branch of technology that deals with dimensions and tolerances of 0.1 to 100 nanometres, or, generally, with the manipulation of individual atoms and molecules.

World-Building

The creation of fictional planets and their geology, geography, biology, etc., often including the history and culture of their inhabitants.

Media Landscape

The degree to which Communications technology (and foreseeable future extensions of it) was replacing the natural world with a "media landscape" was scarcely noticed until the 1950s.

Unobtanium

The exotic metal or other material that is needed to make the nifty machines and plot enabling gadgets to work.

First Contact

The first meeting between two different intelligent species.

Eugenics

The modification and concentration of supposedly desirable human traits (and eliminations of supposedly undesirable ones) by selective breeding programmes and/or the sterilization of the "unfit" has frequently been considered in sf since the earliest times.

Terraforming

The process of transforming an alien planet into one sufficiently similar to the earth to support terrestrial life.

Cryogenics

The science of low temperatures (originally the science of creating low temperatures).

Xenology

The scientific study of extraterrestrial phenomena, esp. xenobiology.

Xenoforming

The transformation of a world to suit Alien rather than Earth-human biology and ecology.

Singularity

The transition to posthumanity.

Utopian SF

The utopia and its offshoot, the dystopia, are genres of literature that explore social and political structures. Utopian fiction is the creation of an ideal society, or utopia, as the setting for a novel.

Pantropy

This term was coined by James Blish in the stories later melded together as The Seedling Stars. Blish's view was that in humanity's Colonization of Other Worlds, we must either change the planet to make it habitable (Terraforming) or change humanity itself to fit it for survival in an alien environment.

Grok

To perceive or understand fully; to feel empathy with; to enjoy, appreciate in Heinlein's Martian language of Stranger in a Strange Land (1961).

Kipple

Useless or unwanted household junk and ephemera which seems to reproduce itself at the expense of non-kipple possessions.

Space Western

Westerns set in space. The idea is that the vast distances of space have formed barriers and difficulties similar to those faced by American settlers as they crossed and developed the continent, forcing the people to become independent or even insular, with help from whatever central authority (if any) that laid claim to the land long in coming, and immediate protection once again becoming a personal matter.

Anime

a Japanese animated film or television program, drawn in a meticulously detailed style, usually featuring characters with distinctive large, staring eyes, and typically having a science-fiction or fantasy theme, sometimes including violent or sexually explicit material.

Dystopian Science Fiction

a community or society that is in some important way undesirable or frightening. It is the opposite of a utopia. Such societies appear in many artistic works, particularly in stories set in a future. Dystopias are often characterized by dehumanization, totalitarian governments, environmental disaster, or other characteristics associated with a cataclysmic decline in society.

Metaverse

a computer-generated environment within which users can interact with one another and their surroundings, a virtual world = cyberspace.

Space Opera SF

a genre of science fiction which uses stock characters and settings, especially those of Westerns translated into outer space; a genre of science fiction in which the action spans across a galaxy or galaxies; a work of these genres.

Mutant

a human imagined as having arisen by genetic mutation, esp. one with freakish or grossly abnormal anatomy, abilities, etc.

Hyperspace

a kind of specialized space through which Spaceships can take a short cut in order to get rapidly from one point in "normal" space to another far distant. In math known, as Minkowski space, a dimension of n>3 (i.e. 4th dimension).

Infodump

a large (often unwieldy or indigestible) amount of information supplied all at once; spec. as background or descriptive information in a narrative.

Kardashev Scale

a method of measuring an advanced civilization's level of technological advancement.

Hugo Award

a set of awards given annually for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year. The awards are named after Hugo Gernsback, the founder of the pioneering science fiction magazine Amazing Stories.

Pocket Universe

a universe or reality completely separate from ours which is much smaller, may have different natural laws, and may be artificially created.

Infomorph

a virtual body of information that can possess emergent features such as personality.

Arcology

a vision of architectural design principles for very densely populated habitats (hyperstructures).

Novum

as defined by critic Darko Suvin, an intrusive novelty so strange, and at first inexplicable, that it deserves a category of its own.

Meatspace

the "real" world of flesh and blood, as distinct from virtual/cyberspace.

Theodicy

the attempt to answer the question of why a good God permits the manifestation of evil.

Dyson Sphere

the logical power source for a sufficiently advanced galactic civilization would derive from the reconstruction of its solar system into an artificial biosphere completely enclosing - and thus trapping the maximum possible energy output from - the local sun.

Noosphere

the sphere of human thought

Teleport

to apparently instantaneous transport persons, etc., across space by advanced technological means.