Troped Out

[Lorizael]

Every sf/f show that runs long enough will inevitably have a "groundhog day" episode, a "body switching" episode, an "it was all a dream/simulation" episode, etc. What sf/f tropes are you tired of seeing on the screen or in books? Or do you think playing with and subverting these tropes is an easy way to tell fun, interesting stories? Monkeys.

(No cat videos. Sorry, I lied.)

[BeBMan]

esp. influenced by Star Trek, I can't see any more:

- Doppelgänger stuff
- Holodeck stuff
- Beings that are pure energy and either need to invade human bodies to do evil stuff, or are more benevolent and need to invade human bodies to find about out this human emotion thing

re "Groundhog Day" - IIRC the last scifi I watched dealing with a variation of this was "Edge of Tommorrow" starring Tom Cruise, but managed to be an ok action thing still....

[-Jrabbit]

"Edge of Tomorrow" was awesome, with the sweet guilty pleasures of seeing Tom Cruise die so many, many times and a totally badass Emily Blunt.
FYI there's an EOT2 sequel in the works...

[The Mad Monk]

"Edge of Tomorrow" was originally intended to be "Live. Die. Repeat." A much cooler title that died when a studio exec had a "better idea". It was re-released under the original title and sold much better.

[Jon Miller]

I think we need some new ideas in SF. The current generation is too connected. Luckily we do have people from outside like Nnedi Okorafor and Liu Cixin.

It does make me fear a bit for a too connected future. We might come to really depend on groups like the Amish for new ideas.

JM

[Jon Miller]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Zscui21JuA

http://deadline.com/2017/07/who-fears-death-development-hbo-george-r-r-martin-producing-author-says-1202126229/

jm

[pchang]

I am tired of looping time travel stories.

[-Jrabbit]

I thought I was as well, but then Tom Cruise died again and it suddenly seemed fine.

[ricketyclik]

The ethics of enslaving/denying rights to AI, and the overall question of whether an AI is alive or not seems to have been done a couple of times at least over the last 70 or so years. It still seems to turn up some interesting material though.

[rah]

I thought I was as well, but then Tom Cruise died again and it suddenly seemed fine.

I'm with you on that one. Especially when a good chunk of there were just for laughs. You can't get enough of that.

[Lorizael]

The ethics of enslaving/denying rights to AI, and the overall question of whether an AI is alive or not seems to have been done a couple of times at least over the last 70 or so years. It still seems to turn up some interesting material though.

I'm still in favor of more of these stories. I roll my eyes at the inevitable robot rebellion, though. I'd like a return to the kind of robot story Asimov told. Robots never decided to randomly violate their programming; rather, there were unintended consequences of following their programming exactly. This is the kind of thing AI people are worried about nowadays, although the programming is more complicated than the Three Laws of Robotics.

[Elok]

How about "Roko's Basilisk: The Musical"?

[Lorizael]

Wow, I had somehow managed to remain ignorant of that bit of singularitarianism. A quick googling reinforces my belief that Eliezer Yudkowsky is insufferable.

[The Mad Monk]

I'm still in favor of more of these stories. I roll my eyes at the inevitable robot rebellion, though. I'd like a return to the kind of robot story Asimov told. Robots never decided to randomly violate their programming; rather, there were unintended consequences of following their programming exactly. This is the kind of thing AI people are worried about nowadays, although the programming is more complicated than the Three Laws of Robotics.

Have you tried Freefall? Goofy, but surprisingly deep in the topics it covers, once you get far enough.

edit: you may want to use the Binge Speedreader, since there are many, many strips.

[N35t0r]

I think we need some new ideas in SF. The current generation is too connected. Luckily we do have people from outside like Nnedi Okorafor and Liu Cixin.

It does make me fear a bit for a too connected future. We might come to really depend on groups like the Amish for new ideas.

JM

Don't forget Brayton Cole

[Elok]

Who the hell is that?

[BeBMan]

Specifically Star Wars related: I can't see much light sabre stuff anymore.