![]() Mass Effect presents a hypothetical future for man. What I didn't understand as a child was that science fiction is not about a gun that atomizes someone it's about what a human does when they can commit murder and not leave a corpse. Banks) are just as concerned with where we're going as with where our hardware is going. The new generation of pulp futurists ( Charles Stross, Ken McLeod, Alistair Reynolds, and Iain M. It’s not as punch-in-the-gut impressive as ten-kilometer dreadnaughts bristling with laser turrets and antimatter thrusters, but it shows the improvement of science fiction’s maturity as a medium. In the new century, it's altered genes and immortality in the form of software emulation. When I grew up in the last century, science fiction was a laser pistol and a space fighter. The new literatures are those of Transhumanism, in which humanity is radically transformed by wedding itself to technology, and the Singularity, wherein man is eclipsed or brushed aside by hyper-intelligent, self-evolving machines. Even nanotechnology has been brushed aside as the physical impossibility of the Drexlerian vision became clear. Yet in the “aughts,” there’s a trend away from space operatic themes of glittering cities and fleets of starships blotting out the sun. ![]() We prospered, even as we brought our problems with us for every book of cosmic wonders, there were ten which cast starships in the role of World War II dogfighters, Jutland-esque big gun sluggers, or even Napoleonic ships-of-the-line. We touched the faces of innumerable worlds. In the novels I devoured in the 80s and 90s, humanity –united or not – still looked up and strode across the galaxy. Where reality failed me, science fiction literature provided. As a species, we simply plod onwards, content with getting through another day and purchasing a new CD, game, or movie. We no longer have a destination in sight or in mind. But the human race is looking at its feet, too preoccupied with not tripping to admire the view or see where they're going. I'm well aware that there are more immediate and morally significant problems here on Earth. When I was born in 1974, no one imagined that our species would go an entire generation without revisiting the moon. A cash-starved and gun-shy NASA creeps timorously up to low Earth orbit, while private investors and new players like China and Japan try to rekindle the public’s fire in the belly for the final frontier. The grand dreams of my father's generation turned into a short haul space truck, a porta-potty in orbit, and fleets of robots. For me, space development was an "of course." Of course we'd build space stations. ![]() My family traveled down to Cape Canaveral to watch the first launch of the space shuttle Columbia on April 12, 1981. I even have fond memories of Roger Corman’s deliciously cheesy Battle Beyond the Stars, with its cow-head spaceship and drawling space trucker. Star Wars blew up around me, followed up by knockoffs like the original Battlestar Galactica, Space 1999, and Buck Rogers. My father watched Star Trek reruns in syndication every night. The year is 1987, and NASA launches the last of America's deep-space probes. Therefore, I don't speak for BioWare, nor for any of my former colleagues, nor for Electronic Arts. In August of 2009 I moved on to new position at another company. I used to work at BioWare as a writer on Mass Effect 1 and 2. Unofficial ME Dev Diary I: The Future Ain't What it Used to Be Apples and oranges.) Each piece will include a boilerplate disclaimer to the effect that I don't speak for BioWare the company, nor for any of the talented colleagues I had the privilege of working alongside, nor for the Money Hats at Electronic Arts. (Note to Halo partisans: Halo defines itself as an FPS, not an RPG. hell, at least since the 21st century began. You must consider the work unofficial and "only my opinion" as a guy who was part of the writing team on the biggest SFRPG since. I'll break it up into pieces, expand parts I felt were underdeveloped, and dribble it out over the next few weeks. Since the blogs still have not been posted by BW, and none of the content is covered by my NDA (it's all about my work on ME1, not ME2), I have decided to publish it here. I submitted it up the chain for approval, but received no response before I left for my new job at. So back when I worked at BioWare, I wrote a 3000-word article for the BioWare Blog.
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