Today’s topic comes from QSFer Jim Comer: “Heinlein is often misunderstood as an individualist. He once said, however, that “moral behavior is survival behavior above the individual level”. Is this true in the societies that we create? What moral absolutes work in stories? Which ones do not?”
Broadining this out a little, one of the main roles of sci fi has been to look at the morality of the culture. Fiction does this in general, but sci fi has a special function here, in that it can create an alternate culture/future/society that shines a light on the morals of our own time.
So my questions today: What sci fi stories have you read that really brought to light moral problems in our current society? How about specifically LGBt sci fi stories? And as writers, what moral issues should we be shining a light on today?
Jim, wanna throw your two cents in on your framing of the topic, too?