: Re: Spiritual elements in a science-fiction novel Does using unexplained spiritual elements (soul, "spiritual"/non-physical beings, afterlife, God, etc.) in a story with a futuristic setting make it science

@Voss1744584

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I got some basic definitions that more or less are accepted by the majority - the average reader:

fantasy
"the faculty or activity of imagining impossible or improbable things."
"Fantasy Novel is any book that contains unrealistic settings, or magic, often set in a medieval universe, or possibly involving mythical beings or supernatural forms as a primary element of the plot, theme, or setting."

science fiction
"fiction based on imagined future scientific or technological advances and major social or environmental changes, frequently portraying space or time travel and life on other planets."
"Science fiction is a genre of fiction in which the stories often tell about science and technology of the future. It is important to note that science fiction has a relationship with the principles of science—these stories involve partially true- partially fictitious laws or theories of science."

paranormal
"denoting events or phenomena such as telekinesis or clairvoyance that are beyond the scope of normal scientific understanding."
"A ghost story may be any piece of fiction, or drama, that includes a ghost, or simply takes as a premise the possibility of ghosts or characters' belief in them. ... It is a form of supernatural fiction and specifically of weird fiction, and is often a horror story."

Now, combining those looks complicated. You have phenomena beyond the scope of scientific understanding of your sci-fi setting. And you have a specific sci-fi setting because of definition : "...future scientific or technological advances". Plus fantasy that states "Fantasy is any story that contains unrealistic settings".

So you need to merge 1) a scientific future setup with 2) an unrealistic setting and 3) phenomena falling outside the scope of scientific understanding. And all those, scientific + unrealistic + unexplained setups must coexist.

The only viable way to this is different species (different intelligent life forms), unknown to each other and met under unclear circumstances. Different species have different tech levels, different cultures, knowledge methods and motivations. 'alien A' and 'alien B' may both teleport but if their technologies are vastly different (still teleport mass in a standard way) one will see the other as 'ghost' and 'paranormal' as each one understands its own tech thus teleportation is only possible through the known method. 'Alien C' is far more advanced so abilities of this one enter the sphere of impossible for the other 2 species. I cant really think of anything else that could mix those genres.

Still, as already mentioned, readers will categorize subjectively.

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