List of science fiction themes
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The following is a list of recurring themes in science fiction.
Overarching themes
- Alien contact
- Alterations of the human body and mind
- The artificial
- Artificial intelligence
- Collective consciousness/Culture
- Cosmology
- Creation of the Universe
- Destiny of humanity
- End of the Universe
- Evolution
- Existentialism (individual and collective)
- End of humanity
- The future
- Global catastrophic risk
- History
- Alternate history
- Historical cycles: history repeating itself (either on long or short scales)
- Scientific prediction of the future (e.g. psychohistory)
- Secret history
- Human fears
- Human nature & human psychology
- Identity
- Isolation & alienation
- Language
- Alien languages (e.g. Klingon, Huttese)
- All humans speaking one language
- Current human languages evolving/splitting
- The Sapir–Whorf Hypothesis being strongly true (e.g. Babel 17, The Languages of Pao)
- Universal translators (e.g. Babel fish)
- Military/conflicts
- The nature of reality
- Philosophies and philosophical ideas
- Political ideas & Governance
- Religious ideas
- Sex and sexuality
- Simulated reality & consciousness
- Sociology and sociobiology
- Technological singularity
- Themes of fantasy fiction
Beings
- Archailect
- Artificial intelligences
- Beings of pure mentality
- Noosphere—the "sphere of human thought"
- Characters
- The Absent-minded professor
- The Golem
- The Ignorant Friend
- The Mad Scientist
- Redshirt
- Space Nazi
- Space Pirate
- Super Soldier
- The Wedge
- Clones
- Dinosaurs
- Extraterrestrial life
- Hypothetical types of biochemistry
- Alien invasion
- Astrobiology
- God-like aliens
- Principles of non-interference (e.g. Prime Directive)
- Message from space
- Living planets (both sentient and non-sentient)
- Hive minds
- Infomorphs—memories, characters, and consciences of persons being uploaded to a computer or storage media
- Mutants
- Shapeshifters
- Superhumans
- Superorganisms
- Symbionts
- UFOs
- Uplifting—using technology to "raise" non-human animals to human evolutionary levels
Body and mind alterations
- Biohacking/Amateur biotechnicians
- Artificial organs
- Additional or improved senses
- Bio-implants
- Brain transplant
- Cloning
- Exocortex
- Genetic engineering
- Intelligence amplification
- Invisibility
- Life extension, Biological immortality, Universal immortalism and immortality
- Prosthetics
- Memory
- Memory erasure/editing
- Memory sharing
- Mind control
- Mind occupation
- Mind parasite
- Two or more minds coexisting in a body
- Human and alien coexisting in a body (see Tales from the Planet Earth)
- Mind swap
- Mind uploading
- Neural implants to directly interface with machinery
- Psi powers and psychic phenomena
- Paradise engineering
- Psychedelia
- Resizing (size-changing, miniaturization, magnification, shrinking, and enlargement)
- Shapeshifting
- Teleportation
- Transhumanism & Posthumanism
- X-ray vision
Habitats
- Artificial worlds
- Alien Zoo—a zoo where humans are kept as exhibits
- Arcologies—enormous habitats (hyperstructures) of extremely high human population density
- Cyberspace—the new, virtual territory of societal interaction
- Domed city
- Endemic
- Floating city
- Future of the Earth
- Climate change—science fiction dealing with effects of anthropogenic climate change and global warming at the end of the Holocene era
- Megacity
- Seasteading & ocean colonization
- Reality Television
- Space colonization
- Space stations and habitats
- Underground city
- Walking City
Political themes
- Adhocracy
- Anarchism
- Anarcho-capitalism
- Apprenticeship
- Assassination
- Capitalism
- Cognitive liberty
- Communism
- Decentralization
- Dystopias and utopias
- Ecology
- Environmentalism
- Economics
- Economic inequality
- Eugenics
- Fascism
- Galactic empires
- Legal personality
- Libertarianism
- Limited-franchise republic
- Mass surveillance
- Militarism
- Mind reading and mind control
- National security state
- Nepotism
- Pacifism
- Plutocracy
- Proportional representation
- Post-scarcity economy
- Racism
- Regulation of technology
- Revolution
- Slavery
- Socialism
- Technoethics
- Technophobia
- Techno-progressivism
- Terrorism
- Theocracy
- Totalitarianism vs. Libertarianism
- Treason
- Wealth inequality/Class conflict/Class alienation
- World government
- Zero population growth
Technologies
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A replica of medical droid 2-1B
- Artificial gravity
- Artificial intelligence
- Asteroid mining
- Astronomical engineering
- Brain–computer interface
- Cloaking device
- Emerging technologies
- Holography
- Resurrection
- Robots
- Self-replicating machines
- Simulated reality
- Star lifting & stellar engineering
- Stasis device
- Total conversion as energy source
- Mecha
- Megascale engineering & planetary engineering
- Molecular manufacturing & Nanotechnology
- Alien technology
- Far advanced technology for the time
- Virtual reality, mixed reality, augmented reality
- Weapons in science fiction
Travel
- Accidental travel
- Colonization of other planets, moons, asteroids, etc.
- Space exploration
- Interstellar travel/Starships
- Faster-than-light travel and communications
- Close to light speed
- Bussard ramjets
- Ursula K. Le Guin's NAFAL ships, and the Twin paradox
- Much slower than light
- Space stations
- Interstellar travel/Starships
- Teleportation
- Time travel
- Alternate history: time travel can be used as a plot device to explore parallel universes. While alternate history has its own category (see above), it often occurs in time travel stories as well.
- Alternate future
- Time loop
- Travel to the Earth's center
See also
References
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