2024-03-30 19:06:51
Scientists have used Bayesian network analysis to study how scientific discoveries, particularly about exoplanets, influence science fiction literature. Their research shows a shift from mostly Earth-like planets in science fiction to more diverse and accurate representations post-1995, reflecting actual scientific findings. Credit: twoday.co.il.com
Studies reveal that the discovery of exoplanets influenced science fiction, leading to more accurate and diverse representations of these celestial bodies, while emphasizing the genre’s role in science communication.
An astronomy lesson on binary stars might begin with a series of complex diagrams and figures, or a scene from the movie Star Wars where Luke Skywalker looks up into the sky of his home planet, Tatooine, and sees two shining suns. What would more easily pique the interest of a sleepy high school class?
Science fiction has always captured our attention, and as many scientists claim, it has often served as a source of inspiration for their scientific careers. For this reason, it is sometimes used to communicate science to the public, even to communicate complex content. To be sure that this is an effective method, it is necessary to understand how real science is represented by science fiction.
This is what a new article published in Journal of Science Communication – JCOM Do, using a quantitative methodology capable of analyzing a large corpus of science fiction works (specifically relating to exoplanets), show that significant changes in scientific knowledge also correspond to changes in science fiction literature.
The impact of exoplanet discoveries on science fiction
Emma Johanna Fornen, a researcher at the St Andrews Center for Planetary Science (University of St Andrews), together with her colleagues at the centre, Emily Finner and V Ann Smith, and Christian Helling, director of the Institute for Space Research (IWF) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, applied Bayesian network analysis On a corpus of 142 works of science fiction, including novels, films, TV shows, podcasts and video games.
For their research, the scientists chose to investigate the representation of extrasolar planets, also known as outer planets. “They’re pretty ubiquitous in science fiction. They’re everywhere. Most stories set in space will eventually have a scene on an exoplanet,” Fornan explains. “The other reason for using planets is that there was a huge change in our scientific understanding in 1995 when the first planet was discovered around a Sun-like star.”
The Bayesian network methodology enabled a quantitative investigation of a subject – science fiction – that is usually analyzed qualitatively, and often only one work at a time. In a Bayesian network, the characteristics of the outer planets described in the selected works are represented as nodes in a connected network, allowing us to understand how each node affects the others.
In practice, it is possible to determine whether, for example, a planet in a specific work is represented as good for life, whether and to what extent it affects another characteristic. Since the science fiction works analyzed were distributed over a relatively wide time span, before and after 1995, Puranen and his colleagues could see that after that date, the representation of exoplanets in science fiction changed.
Science Fiction: Mirroring Scientific Progress
“Traditionally in science fiction, there has been a high proportion of Earth-like, habitable planets,” explains Foran, which of course makes sense, since these are cultural products made by humans for other humans. “But what has changed since the discovery of real exoplanets is that the fictional exoplanets have actually become a little less Earth-like.”
Indeed, the large number of exoplanets actually observed by science so far contains a vast majority of planets very different from our own, and very rarely located in what scientists define as the habitable zone, where conditions might be more friendly to life as we know it. This scientific reality, Puranen comments, permeated science fiction representation.
“I can assume that maybe science fiction authors read all these headlines about worlds covered in lava or where it rains diamonds, which you see in the media,” comments the researcher.
“I do think science fiction responds to discoveries in science. I think it kind of reflects what was going on in science at the time it was written,” Fornan concludes. “So I do think it can be incorporated into science communication in terms of providing a jumping off point. It can introduce concepts to people.”
The article “Science Fiction Media Representations of Outer Planets: Descriptions of Changing Astronomical Discoveries” can be read for free at JCOM.
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