Con-Version XV

I just returned from a conference where the topics discussed ranged from the discovery of feathered dinosaurs to the Mars Sojourner mission to artificial intelligence. Presenters included Dr. Philip Currie of the Royal Tyrrell Museum, Bridget Landry of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a micropaleontologist from the University of Saskatchewan, a medical doctor, a linguist and an engineer.

Was this conference put together by some high-powered think-tank? Nope. What drew these presenters, and those who gathered to hear them, together was a common love for science fiction.

The occasion was ConVersion, an annual science fiction convention held in Calgary. Other presenters included Joe Haldeman, one of the world’s best SF writers, Robert J. Sawyer, Canada’s only full-time native-born SF writer, Dave Duncan of Calgary, an oilfield geologist who now writes fantasy, author J. Brian Clarke of Calgary, and J. Michael Straczynski, producer of the TV show Babylon 5.

I was on a few panels, too.

Dr. Currie was particularly fascinating. Dr. Currie first developed his interest in dinosaurs as a kid, and began reading science fiction because it had dinosaurs in it. In addition to leading a discussion on the depiction of dinosaurs in science fiction (Jurassic Park good, The Lost World bad), he gave a slide presentation on the recent discovery of feathered dinosaurs in China (for which he landed on the cover of TIME Magazine) and the debate about the origin of birds. For Currie, the matter is settled: birds are the direct descendants of small, feathered, carnivorous dinosaurs, and therefore, in a very real sense, ARE dinosaurs.

Alas, I missed Bridget Landry’s slide presentation on the Mars Sojourner mission because I was involved in another panel at the same time, but a very reliable source (my wife) found it equally fascinating. Landry, however, provided more than just intriguing scientific information: she also provided valuable ammunition to those of us who constantly battle the media’s “science-fiction-fans-are-all-geeky-kids-with-ray-guns” stereotypes.

Landry, you see, is not just a rocket scientists, she’s also one of those SF fans, beloved of TV cameramen everywhere, who wear costumes to conventions. The first time I saw her, she looked perfectly ordinary, except perhaps for her long, curly red hair. The next morning at breakfast, however, she wore a glittery pink outfit and a shocking-pink, punk-rock wig. At her slide presentation, she had short, black, somewhat vampirish hair; at the costume contest that night she had on a flowing, electric-blue gown and her hair had vanished under a 20s-like pillbox cap, and the next day, she was wearing a pink-tinged camouflage outfit.

While Currie came to SF because of his interest in science, Landry followed the same route I did: she became interested in science because science fiction awoke in her a fascination with the universe around her. Today, at JPL, she’s helping to make SF’s central dream of the exploration of the cosmos come true.

Landry proves that SF has far more to offer than simple escapism. Science fiction is rightly called a literature of ideas. Those who read it grapple with topics that, when they hit the real-world headlines, take everyone else by surprise. (For example, SF had debated cloning’s social and ethical ramifications long before Dolly was a gleam in the test tube.)

SF ideas are often wrong, or inconsequential, or just plain silly, but merely thinking about them is a valuable exercise in expanding your mind. I firmly believe the ideas of science fiction have inspired both technological advances and a healthy respect for the possible unforeseen consequences of those advances.

True, not all SF fans are paragons of intelligent thought and reasoned action. Some really are geeky kids with ray guns; some are among the most annoying people you’ll ever meet. But that’s another of SF fandom’s strengths: it embraces everyone. (As someone said at ConVersion, “If you can’t be weird at an SF convention, where can you be weird?”)

Joe Haldeman made his name with The Forever War, a critically praised anti-war SF novel that drew on his experiences in Vietnam. At ConVersion, Haldeman said SF fandom provided a haven for him upon his return from combat. At a time when soldiers were being vilified, he said, SF fans welcomed him, and never once reproached him for his part in a war which, as he said, “I didn’t start.”

As for myself, every time I go to a science fiction convention I emerge rejuvenated, enlightened and inspired.

ConVersion XV is history, and already I can’t wait for XVI.

Permanent link to this article: https://edwardwillett.com/1998/07/con-version-xv/

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