The advancement of technology and science and its influence on science fiction novels The rapid pace of technology and the advancement of scientific understanding over the past hundred years is the backbone of the twentieth century genre: science fiction. Such rapid advancement in these fields of technology has literally opened up worlds of possibilities for the future. One hundred years ago, the possibility of simply flying from one city to another might have seemed to most people to be just a distant futuristic dream. Instead, just sixty years later, the impossible was achieved: a human being on the Moon. Since technology has brought about as many changes as it has in the last hundred years, the next hundred should be completely incomprehensible to us. Who knows what to expect? “Modern discoveries and applications of science cast deep into the shadows the ancient romances and fanciful legends of our childhood” (James 8) observes James. Technology has made plausible what was once thought impossible, and whether or not technology is directly incorporated into a science fiction story as an obvious vehicle the author knows is always present in the reader's mind. It is this plausibility of what conventionally should not be acceptable that has led to the growing popularity of science fiction over the years. As James explains, “much of SF is about the future and the possibilities offered by scientific and technological change” (James 3). Indeed, human exploration and colonization of other worlds, the plot of many science fiction novels, has become inevitable for many. The Apollo program's successful series of moon landings in the 1960s and the knowledge that we already possess the technology to send humans to other worlds lead many to believe that it is only a matter of time. Even a highly respected news source like Newsweek has detailed future human missions to Mars (September 23, 1996). When I look into the future, I can hardly imagine the changes that will occur as a result of new discoveries in science and new technologies. With so many possibilities for the future, science fiction is able to take advantage of this by showing audiences entirely new worlds and alternatives to our own. The technology presented in science fiction stories most commonly plays a very important role in the plausibility of the stories to the audience. While this doesn't mean that technology is necessarily at the center of such stories, it is often used as a vehicle by which such alternative and wonderful events occur. Without the advanced spaceship, how could the Segnauts have reached the planet?