: Re: How can I dig conflict out of an optimistic SF-nal premise? I frequently have ideas for what could be called "optimistic" science-fiction premises - imaginary technological or social changes which

@Bryan361

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Ditto DaleEmery. Some further thoughts:

As Dale says, even if a new technology or idea solves a problem, there will be people with a vested stake in the old ways, and these people will often try to limit or suppress the new technology. To take a small example: I remember when plastic plumbing pipe was invented. It reduced the amount of work it takes to do plumbing dramatically, not to mention being a lot cheaper. Do you know that it was illegal to use plastic pipe in California until 2007, and there are still extensive restrictions on it? The stated reason was that they just couldn't be sure that this new-fangled idea is safe and reliable -- despite the fact that the rest of the country had been using it with no apparent problems for 30 years or more. The real reason is that the plumbers got these laws passed because it made it too easy for home-owners to do their own plumbing work rather than hire a plumber. Even when they do hire a plumber, if the job now takes 2 hours when it used to take 4, it's hard to justify billing for 4 hours.

So one way to write a story about a wonderful new technology is to think of someone who has a stake in the old technology and have them oppose it. This could be a businesses that produce the old machine that is now obsolete. It could be politicians whose power is undercut by the new technology, like they can no longer control the flow of information to the voters. Etc.

In real life, there are pretty much always downsides to any new technology, no matter how good it is overall. Okay, you say you're aware of downsides but don't want to dwell on them. Maybe the whole point of your story is to say that people should try to create a new technology like you're describing. You could still bring up a downside, have people fight against the new technology because of this downside, or have people adversely affected by this downside, but then in the end the hero shows that overall the benefits outweigh the problems. If done well that could make for a good, serious, hard SF story. Of course if done poorly it could look like you're trying to sweep real problems under the rug.

I'll add this caveat: No matter how overwhelmingly good you think some new technology would be, try to come up with some realistic, plausible objection. It doesn't have to be valid, just ... not stupid, something that a reader who knows people like those you describe could imagine them actually saying. Like, one lazy way that SF writers create an opponent for a new technology is to say that people object to it on some religious grounds. I usually find this boring and trite because the religious objection is invented for the purpose of the story, like the writer just invents "The Church of Rocket Propulsion" that believes that warp drives are sinful and we should all use chemical rockets like God intended. If you're going to posit a religious objection, I'd suggest grounding it in some actual religious belief and not something silly and made up. Another trite solution is to have people object to it purely because it's new. "Faxes were good enough for my parents and they're good enough for me: we don't need this new-fangled 'e-mail'." If you just can't comprehend what this or that group could possibly be thinking when they object to a new technology, talk to them or read their stuff and find out. Don't just say, Because I don't understand how such-and-such people think, therefore I can put any irrational words in their mouths and it will be realistic.

Third idea: I've read stories where the author's purpose was clearly to discuss some new technology -- whether it was something the author really saw as imminent or just something he found amusing to think about -- and so the new technology formed the background of the story, but the plot was about some unrelated conflict. Like, suppose a writer in 1880 saw the invention of the airplane coming and wanted to write an SF story about airplanes, but for reasons like yours he doesn't want to make the conflict actually be about airplanes. So okay, fine. Instead write a romance story where the lovers are the pilot and a stewardess on one of these new-fangled airplanes. The story can be filled with how airplanes bring the world together, revolutionize commerce, etc etc, but the conflict is all about the pilot and stewardess breaking up and getting back together. Maybe you make the fact that they work on an airplane actually relevant to the plot and maybe it's just background. (Surely you could work in something about one of them being transferred to a different airplane and now they are trying to keep their romance alive while they are hundreds of miles apart, etc.) Or make the story about two brothers fighting for control of the airline they inherited from their parents. Or a criminal sneaks aboard the airplane to escape and come up with some reason why the crew must figure out which passenger is the criminal before they land. (I'm reminded of an SF story I read once that was about teleportation machines. But while this formed the background, the plot was about a thief trying to get away from a crime at a remote location when the authorities have turned off the teleporter to prevent him from escaping. The ending of the story being that, as he spent his whole life using teleporters to travel, it never occurred to him to walk a few miles to another house.) There are plenty of space travel stories that are not really "about" space travel but about political conflicts, finding lost treasure, etc.

You can then include all sorts of discussion about how the new technology solves the problem or changes society or whatever, without making the conflict actually about the new technology.

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