Quite a concept in 1968 and, still is…

I think you are actually addressing two core issues here: 1. SF works themselves. 2. the cultural/personal biases/reflections of the world as authors currently see it.

Of course all literature reflects its times and it is very difficult for authors to divorce themselves from them when writing. Perhaps even more difficult is selling a work that is out of step with the cultural zeitgeist. No one can stomach pollyanna when things really are in the crapper.

The key for addressing both lies in presentation. The vast majority of work produced during the ‘cold war era’ (when things really were in the crapper and the whole shebang could go blooey – and almost did) was POSITIVE SF, despite the background it was drawn from. “When all you have is lemons, make lemonade” is the expression that comes to mind.

Take Heinlein’s Farnham’s Freehold as an example: Things really did go blooey for all of the characters. RAH even went so far as to make a plot point out negativity – Farnham was told that his obsession with how bad things were (during the opening) was sick and negatively affecting everyone around him.

But by the end of the story, things had turned out pretty well: just about everyone ‘got what they deserved’ and Farnham, who was never truly ‘negative’, just practical and willing to face the world with eyes wide open, ended up having his cake and eating it too.

Dealing with the negative in a story is fine – conflict has got to come from somewhere – but failing to include the ‘path to the light’ is, as you’ve pointed out, taking us in a direction that leads nowhere.

Optimistic SF is like the future: a work in progress.

Our hope is that we can make it better.

Or, to put it somewhat in context: basically, I would like to see *more* convincingly optimistic SF stories. There are way too few of them, right now. That doesn’t mean that *all* SF should be like that, or that *all pessimistic SF* is without merit, but just that IMHO we need more of ingredient “O” in the greater written SF mix. Especially if we intend to interest a younger audience in it (and make it relevant, and not just to that audience).