Oh have I got a tweet rant for you re: SF and dystopia and the current situation.

Hokay, so a journalist posted a fascinating thread about the process of entering Hong Kong from outside the country right now. It's great. https://twitter.com/laurelchor/status/1260784481159442434

Someone in the comments (yes I know) had the termerity to ask - perhaps sarcastically - what dystopia this is. I mean, fair, the chairs, huge screens, equipment, and regimented way this is being done does seem lifted straight from a dystopian SF film.

BUT I HAVE ISSUES WITH THIS. LET ME TELL YOU THEM.

Numèro uno: Somehow saying that a regimented testing system that will SAVE LIVES is dystopian is not a good take at all. Not only is it the most banal observation you could make, it is also actively undermining the good work that people are trying to do to stop. You. From. Dying.

But let's look at this: I call the observation banal. But that's Twitter's limited character count for you, and this is actually my rant proper now. And let's think about the function the dystopia has in society: that is, as a warning.

Kurt Vonnegut famously called the SF author a 'coal-mine canary', and I think this counts at least doubly so for the dystopia author (whether we consider dystopia SF is another thing entirely, but that's another thread). They show us dystopia to help us learn how to recognise it.

(this is in addition to other functions of dystopia, notably that of warning us away from disastrous choices and exposing potential dangers... but we're beyond that now - and in this case: banal.)

But: what do we do when we recognise it, as this random commenter has? Well, apparently in this case, use it to undermine efforts to ward off *actual* dystopia. This is the difference between what looks like is happening in that journalist's pictures and what is resembles.

Yes, the photos resemble all sorts of things we have seen portrayed on screen. WHERE DO YOU THINK FILMMAKERS GOT THESE IDEAS FROM? What would it look like if a society was trying to control a deadly pathogen? Hmm, I wonder. This is of course the spectacle element of SF - [...]

[...] but I wouldn't say that it means that the dystopia apparently in those photos is a) actually a dystopia or b) somehow needs us to revolt against it. Because, I'd argue: we are not in at dystopia (at least not the way this person seems to think).

Yes, things are terrifying if you have half a brain cell right now. But we are not in a dystopia because we are trying to control the virus. Could it turn into the films that the commenter is thinking of? Absolutely. The semiotics are strong with this one.

No, we are actively trying to AVOID that dystopia. The one in 20 years where we are still beset with limited testing, no vaccine, no treatment - or so the governments all say (dun dun daah: cue the 17 y/o girl who will save the world as soon as she can decide between 2 hot guys).

And I think it's because we of the Anglo-America persuasion in particular connect dystopia with (I'd argue incorrectly) socialism/communism that we make this assumption (ironically, much work on *utopian* lit comes from Marxist perspectives...)

This is not helpful. For lack of a better way of putting it: sometimes the greater good (the greater good) requires we move away from the pioneer spirit and towards a feeling oc community, and love, and genuine human care. And it's not about applause, or Facebook statuses [...]

[...] but actual, real things that will help. Allocating funds. Thinking beyond the next election cycle. Valuing everyone's life equally. And yes: sometimes standing in a queue ready to hawk up some lung honey for the doctors. The virus doesn't care about your freedoms.

We are trying to buy the science community time by doing this. Yes, it will take forever. Science does not suddenly come to eureka moments in a neat 48 minute cycle. It takes years, decades -and sometimes never gets anywhere at all.

You are afraid of this 'look' because dystopia is styled on the most post-human thing we can think of: science, where we think we're reduced to numbers and letters and codes. But this is not dystopia, not really. We are trying to stop it from becoming a reality 1 test at a time.