I know a lot of sci fi is a cautionary tale or varying degrees of social commentary, but I wonder if there are any that does a good job of dreaming up a better future? Showing the good possibilities that lay ahead of us. Have you ever read a sci fi book like that?
My sister and her husband are huge trekkies haha
I think it's probably a little harder to get into older Trek cold, these days. Strange New Worlds is probably a good, if flawed, entry into the Trek vibe. If you like it, there are 800 more episodes.
The Next Generation was almost pollyanna (pollyianic? Pollyanistic?) about humanity in the future. Picard on multiple occasions openly brags about how humanity has progressed from their base instincts.
The Original Series has a more grounded view of good guys vs bad guys, with some late 60's pop culture thrown in
Deep Space 9 starts off as a TNG knockoff, then goes pretty dark into humans (and aliens) natural instincts to attack those foreign to us.
Voyager and Enterprise seem to be odd returns to the TNG formula in attempts to capture its success. Both are hit and miss.
The newer versions; the 2009 movie reboots, Discovery, Strange New Worlds are an almost bipolar mix of everything before. As a Trekker, I always say watch them and decide for yourself. There's plenty of people that love SNW, but hate Disco or the reboot films.
The Original Series has a more grounded view of good guys vs bad guys, with some late 60's pop culture thrown in
Wtf did I just read
Our instincts changed? What, we hit a long-term near extinction event, and only the people with the new instincts survived to breed ?
Was there a totalitarian government experimenting on the public and editing genetic memory to imprint new biases towards or against certain triggers? Were hormones dialed back, or certain synapses made more sensitive to oxytocin?
Do tell us more.
Iain Banks’ The Culture series
Only heard good things about this series, I’ll have to check it out for sure now
Be warned that while The Culture - future human civilization portrayed in the Culture series - is arguably utopian, the fates of individual protagonists are far from good, sometimes very far.
100% this. Great series, one of my favorites. Think along the lines of ‘Utopia for most people, here are the stories of the dirty underside that makes that continue to be possible. The special circumstances that need to be dealt with. :)
Even in an idyllic future, humanity still has scapegoats??? Who would have thought 😭😂
Not necessarily scapegoats, but the ones doing the dirty work
Aw so there’s still exploitation
Sorta, but also not really in the way you're thinking. Humanity has an unbelievable amount of freedom and choice. Just read them!
I'd skip Consider Phlebas and circle back to it after a few books.
Also there are other societies than the culture and they create some conflict.
I don’t think the Culture is human.
Ed: maybe humanoid though.
Our human world is not part of the Culture. There’s a short story in his collection where they find and evaluate Earth in a Trek Prime Directive scenario about what’s to be done about us.
Yeah, "human" in the early Culture books means "humanoid." (IIRC, Banks changed his terminology later on.) Earth is 100% not in the Culture.
Banks didn’t really change his terminology, even in the final book the humans are still described as humans.
But yes, none of them are actually Earth humans, they just mean people with vaguely humanoid bodies.
Not earth human, but "pan-human", with the idea that "human" type intelligent species are the most common development throughout the galaxy.
Is the future human civilization even human? I thought it’s an alien civilization that interacts with humanity. No?
I'll have to disagree, I read the first three on recommendation, and found them pretty depressing. Not like Star Trek at all.
Well I don’t only just read positive sci fi lol I just wanted to see what there is available
do not read Consider Phlebas first. Read one of the others but not that one.
I've only read the first three, and each seems to revolve around either brutal wars or the Culture meddling in the affairs of other civilizations. Optimistic? Are the later books vastly different or something?
I think optimistic in the sense of post-scarcity, indistinguishable-from-magic technology, extended lifespans, etc
Makes sense. Would love to get to that point.
Look to Windward has the clearest look at daily life in the Culture.
But, yeah, Banks knew that there's no story in Utopia. All the protagonists are on the fringes for a reason.
Nice, looking forward to that one. Enjoying the series overall, but I absolutely love the slice-of-life parts that offer glimpses into the actual utopia itself the most.
It's my favorite book in the series and that's part of the reason why. (It's not the only reason, though.)
Culture stories tend to focus on the Culture intervening on crapsack worlds outside the Culture because there is not much drama in people leading healthy, happy lives on worlds with practically unlimited resources.
I came here to recommend this haha.
It doesn't ignore the darker side of things, but it's more like "after everything, what if we make it? What if in the end we're ok?"
Echoing what other commenters have said: The Culture (not the book series but the society/civilization Banks references in the series) is indeed a great place to live for people lucky enough to be born into it, so that can certainly be viewed as optimistic. I've seen "The Culture" jokingly referred to as "Fully Automated Luxury Space Communism." Of course, that would be quite the boring setting for a scifi series of action-packed books with villains and protagonists with questionable morals. So most of the stories in the series take place outside of "The Culture" space, many times involving members of The Culture's "Special Circumstances" division, highly trained secret agents operating outside of said Culture space where life isn't quite as pleasant as inside The Culture.
It's optimistic about something, but is that thing humanity? More accurate to say it's optimistic about nonhuman AIs' ability to manufacture hedonistic pleasure for the humans they keep as pets.
It’s optimistic about humans being able to achieve a utopia through the use of technology. Yes, the AIs are the ones that make it possible, but humans are the ones who made the AIs and instill a strong moral bias in them in the first place millennia ago.
Oops you dropped this -> M. 😝
Is there any particular order to the books?
You'll find recommendations online, but the only book I can recall that refers back to the events in another, is Look to Windward which mentions the Idiran war which is in Consider Phlebas.
I suspect I need to pick up the whole lot again, and reread.
This.
Contact
”You're an interesting species. An interesting mix. You're capable of such beautiful dreams, and such horrible nightmares. You feel so lost, so cut off, so alone, only you're not. See, in all our searching, the only thing we've found that makes the emptiness bearable, is each other.”
I can hear David Morse speaking when I read this.
Rainbows End, by Vernon Vinge, was optimistic for me. I mean, it is about a person from the present that wakes up in a near future where the technological singularity is happening, and his talent still worth. It is something pretty optimistic considering our present.
It really describes an optimistic take on current technological trends. The way society has mutated into living in all our war with weaponized misinformation is extremely hopeful. It really is an excellent, many-layered story about a man re-orienting to the future while that entire society is similarly re-orienting as a whole to the rise of AI/Singularity. Compelling and believable near-futurism.
You gotta believe me! ;)
That sounds interesting I might have to check it out.
Arthur C Clarke: Songs of Distant Earth. I mean, I consider it utopian, even though it starts with tragedy.
One of my favorite books - read it many many years ago and still thinking about it makes me happy
A lot of Clarke is very utopian or at least optimistic. Some of the later books in the Space Odyssey series portrayed a gilded age.
I think David Brin's uplift series is also pretty optimistic. The situation humanity and its offspring species find themselves is oppressive, but ultimately it's about how plucky and indomitable earthclan spirit is, especially when we're the underdogs.
It's been years since I've read this, thanks for reminding me to put it back on my list.
If you like Startide Rising / Uplift War, you should read the entire Jijo / "uplift storm" trilogy if you haven't already. It's basically a long continuous novel and is pretty good to great.
I have not but it's in the queue. YAY!!!!
you should read the entire Jijo / "uplift storm" trilogy
I strongly disagree with this statement.
Really? It's a long story, but I found it really enjoyable. I haven't read it in 20 years but I can still vividly remember all the well-developed aliens and their various cultures. I mean I can see why it wouldn't be for everyone, but if one liked the earthclan novels, it seems like a no brainer to me.
We're still lacking answers to the real questions: the progenitors, humanity's true origin, and whether we will prevail against the faction that wants us gone. Books 4-6 aren't necessarily bad books, but they're a filibuster that gives me nothing I want. It's like if the last 3 episodes of Band of Brothers were a survey of the cheesemaking industry in WW2.
Check out John Varley's 8 worlds series... The main novels are Steel Beach and The Golden Globe but my favorite is maybe the novella Ophiuchi Hotline which serves as a great introduction to the world.
Humanity basically gets evicted from earth and learns to thrive everywhere else in the solar system. Lots of short stories too.
Well.... Don't read "The Gap Cycle".
Definitely read it, but not for this reason
Speaker for the Dead.
It might not seem like it at the beginning, but Adrian Tchaikovsky’s “Children of Time” series. >! The end of “Children of Ruin” takes them to a techno utopia comparable to The Culture. !<
Oh absolutely. I love those books
Me too. Tchaikovsky is such an amazing guy. He responds to every question I send him. Ha been so generous, sharing details about the books and the nuances of the stories.
Ministry for the Future - Kim Stanley Robinson
Well it starts pretty dark but it's a story of cautious optimism, of a way forward for humanity. Good read in general and solid introduction to the author for further reading.
A Psalm for the Wild Built by Becky Chambers. Definitely solar punk.
I wholeheartedly recommend this also, and its sequel A Prayer for the Crown-Shy. Everyone I’ve gifted these novellas to has adored them.
I found the audiobook on YouTube, listening now
Pretty much all of Becky Chambers work.
Came here to say just this !
The people are warm and fuzzy (and I think terribly written) but I dint know how optimistic the setting is. It is a pretty bland scifi universe.
Yeah, I didn't love The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet. It wasn't terrible but it just didn't work for me.
There is the Revelation series on Kindle. Over four books, an Alien ambassador helps humanity move towards full membership to an intergalactic organization. The books could certainly use an editor but I enjoyed the story enough to overlook some quality issues.
The White Space series by Elizabeth Bear (2 books, start with Ancestral Night) have a pretty Federation-esque multi-species civilization that much like the Federation has some flaws but is overall an effective, just, and supportive system.
I loved "Schild's Ladder" by Greg Egon for having an "end-game" view of science. Like some full post scarcity imagining of where we might end up without going overboard. I mean it goes way hard with the whole second universe but I think at least the views of our future universe are pretty amazing. It was refreshing since so much scifi is set in some intermediate time period where civilizations have great technology but still lack mature political, societal, and/or physiological progress and I think Egon looks past these tumultuous times to what comes next. Disregarding the disagreeing factions that arise when the void pops up.
Andy Weir Stuff. Far too cheerful for me lol. Great thou :)
“Bump my fist!”
"jazz hands"
Netflix's Lost in Space reboot. Plenty of drama and catastrophe so actual plot can happen but it's built on the principle of "We're a family and a family can get through everything together. And you know what? Those guys? Now they are family too!"
Also, it has a rather upbeat ending.
I'm watching this now and I can't put it down. I wish there was more! 😭
I watched it but it's kind of set in a declining Earth scenario.
The Expanse! Books and TV show. Realistic, but optimistic ultimately.
Expanse? Optimistic? Have we watched/read the same thing?
bobiverse
I haven’t read it yet, but I was recommended The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin based on a similar question. Really looking forward to it!
Robert Charles Wilson's Spin
Fuzzy Nation by John Scalzi
Children of Time, by Adrian Tchaikovsky. It may not seem optimistic but it is,.trust me.
My first thought was Andromeda Nebula by Ivan Yefremov - a classic example of optimistic Soviet science fiction. But to be fair, when you think about what would have to be done to reform the Earth in the way he describes, it doesn't feel quite as happy.
Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars books feel optimistic too, but with attention to the cultural/political difficulties of terraforming, which I respect.
Optimistic Soviet science fiction? Isn't that a contradiction in terms?
Oh man. If you're saying this, it means you have a whole world of literature to explore!
I guess maybe I do then.
no quite the opposite. There is loads of scifi from 50s to 70's that is quite optimistic on the whole even if they are slightly simplistic. Novels were rare but there are tons of short stories where human ingenuity and achievement is celebrated.
Star Trek(king across the universe)
The Orville. The brainchild of Seth MacFarlane, it takes place 400 years in the future and tells stories about the crew of a mid-level exploratory vessel in the planetary union called EVC 197 'Orville'. The show tackles issues of social and economic injustice whilst offering a hopeful and optimistic view of humanity's future. It's my favourite sci-fi show.
Give The Star Dancers trilogy by Spider & Jeanne Robinson a try.
I could not get into the first one and almost put it down, but pushed ahead. The ending had me in happy tears and so glad I'm allowed to put books down unfinished only in extreme circumstances.
Gamechanger. A near future post apocalyptic world, being built up again. Interesting economics, social, and tech. Thought provoking, but at its core is a thrill ride accelerating to a great ending.
That one is really interesting. It's pessimistic about some stuff but I agree it has an optimistic view of humanity. The world building is wild though. Social media on steroids.
Maybe this isn't quite right, but I found it to be somewhat optimistic/uplifting maybe. The Children of Time trilogy by Adrian Tchaikovsky. Excellent books, good hard sci fi has darkness and caution but overall I felt it was more light than dark
- The seedlings stars, James Blish
- Hospital station, James White (and all Sector 8 series)
- The humans, Matt Haig
Also, I always have seen the Robot and The Foundation Series by Isaac Asimov as basically optimistic in relation with the future of the human beings.
I’d recommend An Encounter at Vega. But I haven’t finished writing it :(
The People Stories by Zenna Henderson, like Pilgrimage, the first book she published collecting some of those stories.
Women write a different kind of sci-fi, more gentle and kind and mature, like they don't have to prove themselves by creating a kick ass hero or antihero.
I also recommend Ursula K. Le Guin's work, a very unique voice.
Thank you!!
Anything by Ted Chiang. His work is definitive hopeful / optimistic sci fi.
I don't know, half the stories in Stories of Your Life and Others were downers. Still really great Sci-Fi though.
Julian May’s Pliocene Exile series.
The Orville!
I think Octavia Butler’s Dawn is that in a weird way. ChatGPT helped me articulate it. warning semi-spoilage … "Dawn," the first book in Octavia Butler's Xenogenesis trilogy, could also be considered optimistic in a nuanced way. The novel explores themes of survival, coexistence, and transformation after a devastating nuclear war that leaves Earth uninhabitable. The protagonist, Lilith Iyapo, is awakened by an alien race called the Oankali, who offer humans a chance to survive by genetically merging with them. While the proposition is fraught with ethical dilemmas and loss of autonomy, the underlying message is one of hope for a new kind of humanity that transcends previous limitations and conflicts. The Oankali's aim to create a hybrid species suggests an optimistic view of evolution and mutual benefit, despite the complex moral questions it raises.
Children of Time!
I mean I’m only halfway through the trilogy but…really?
By the end of the trilogy I thought so
Fair enough! I’m reaaaallly enjoying it, probably my favourite thing I’ve read in a while
Not to be confused with Children of Men
Yeah I dunno about that one… I found it pretty depressing honestly.
Starship Troopers.
The Culture
Yes some of the stories and characters are not that optimistic or dark even. But the overall universe and outlook on humanity is awesome and very very optimistic.
I love The Culture.
Thanks :)
Doctor Who maybe
But definitely Star Trek
I’ve been wanting to watch that for a while now
It’s great if you like campy. It’s not a necessarily an optimistic future so much as a very positive main character that aims to be the best a person can be.
Europa Report. They're scientists, they pushed it to the limit.
Childhood's End by Clark
Hardly optimistic.
It's a long time since I read it....
Well many people seem to think it is optimistic. I have a hard time understanding why, though
Silver Ships series Delphi in Space series
After they came - Dan Harary
Soviet science fiction. Positivism, faith in a bright communist future.
Ivan Efremov, the Strugatsky brothers, Kir Bulychev. the most famous
I’ve read strugatsky brothers, dead mountaineer’s inn & stalker, and love them, thank you
Well, that's not exactly what I was thinking. :)
they have a conditional cycle of works "World of Noon".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noon_Universe
especially their early works.
Gradually, there is more and more misanthropy and pessimism.
H.G. Wells' "Men like gods"
Several novels by Bruce Sterling, but especially Holy Fire, The Caryatids, a lot of his short stories. He always has hope for the future in his books. Distraction is ambiguous but hopeful. All in all, Holy Fire is probably the most 'optimistic.'
Star Trek
The Culture by Ian Banks
The Fall Revolution Series by Ken Macleod
Star Wars expanded universe novels are great not the shit we got instead
Neal Asher Polity novels
Anything by Arthur C Clark
Hamilton’s Commonwealth. Also, McDevitt’s Academy series. Both post-scarcity. My favorites.
Oh, you mean a boring scifi series? Well, I guess Star Trek.
I’m only slightly joking here. But seriously, The Culture is probably what you want although arguably the Culture’s “utopia” has its own problems too.
Manna is a good one.
Jack McDevitt's Alex Benedict series.
I LOVED awwwe crap! I can't think of it now. Seth McFarlane's take on star trek
the expanse. They keep fighting thats optimistic, right?
The Gap Cycle
Finally someone who’s read these. I loved them. Are they optimistic tho? I found them quite dark.
lol no, it was a joke, i just didn’t put the /s. They are quite the opposite of optimistic
Haha yes quite. Angus Thermopyle was a devil. But I loved his character.
Do you mean Angus "Sheep fucker" Therm-o-pile?
99.9% of the universe. On Amazon or YouTube is narrating it
star trek