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Ask HN: Sci-Fi with advanced morals and ethics, not just technology?

14 points by miles ↗ HN
A lot of science fiction, even set thousands or millions of years in the future, depicts humans at the same moral and ethical level as today. Can anyone recommend a book that imagines not just a higher level of technological development, but ethical as well?

The closest I've found so far: "Voyage from Yesteryear", "Stranger in a Strange Land", and "Men Like Gods".

EDIT: To clarify what I mean by "advanced morals and ethics": perhaps something along these lines (lifted from a friend's cork board):

An increased tendency to let things happen rather than make them happen.

Frequent attacks of smiling.

Feelings of being connected with others and nature.

Frequent overwhelming episodes of appreciation.

A tendency to think and act spontaneously rather than from fears based on past experience.

An unmistakeable ability to enjoy each moment.

A loss of ability to worry.

A loss of interest in conflict.

A loss of interest in interpreting the actions of others.

A loss of interest in judging others.

A loss of interest in judging self.

Gaining the ability to love without expecting anything in return.

17 comments

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JGM_io
Star trek next generation?

At least it tries to question certain aspects of our (historical) societies

znpy
I'm at season 7 right now and I can confirm that star trek the next generation is a life changing experience.
JGM_io
Seems I got that whole reply thing wrong.. My bad
JGM_io
Enjoy! My dad is a trekkie and I was in my early teens when the show aired so I must be at rewatch 8?

Also from gene rodenberry is earth : final conflict. Also pretty cool

flashfive
Dune?
cooperadymas
Er... no?

I've only read the first Dune book, but the background premise is largely medieval Europe in space. Together with feudalism, prison colonies, and genocide.

I'm trying to figure out what might make it advanced or different. Their distrust of computers? The Fremen dedication to group survival rather than self? That might be close I guess.

potta_coffee
The remaining Dune books are quite different from the first book as well as from each other. They explore lots of different ideas.
convivialdingo
I don’t really know, hopefully someone has a few more suggestions! Tossing these in as interesting SciFi with morality.

Michael D. O'Brien, Voyage to Alpha Centauri: A Novel

Oxanna Hope, Lebenstunnel: Allégeance (French language)

rendx
I am not sure we agree on what "advanced morals and ethics" would mean, but the Hugo award winners are generally good ones to explore for discussion of ethics.

Foundation series is a famous one that comes to mind, but plenty of other examples in that set. Enjoy!

miles
Thanks so much! Loved the first two Foundation books, but did not find the humans really any more morally or ethically advanced than us today. What I must dug about the stories was the vast sense of scale they shared, and allowing things to happen naturally at the right time and place.
cooperadymas
The Remembrance of Earth's Past trilogy explores some changes to human moral and ethics. Whether they are "advancements" might be a different question.

There's a heavy Christian theme to them, but if you're okay with that, C.S. Lewis's Space Trilogy really dives into ethics and morals. The aliens we meet in the first book have no conflict, an interesting view of death and art and literature, and live in harmony with their planet. They are quite interesting books and give some of the most vivid, most alien characters and settings that I've ever experienced.

I'll second Star Trek The Next Generation as well.

wnkrshm
Forever War had an interesting time lapse of changing humanity, due to the main characters traveling close to the speed of light on their tours of duty.

Stanislav Lem's Return from the Stars comes to mind, though the pacifist society is alienating, seen through the eyes of the main character.

minnca
The Left Hand of Darkness, by Ursula K. Le Guin
Libeste
The Lathe of Heaven, too.
badpun
This is tangential, but a lot of your description of "moral advancement" seems to fit the description of just a clueless stoner being high (i.e. you can achieve it a lot of it right now, just get high all the time).

I see moral advancement quite differently - to me, it is embodied in the Christian's credo of "love others as much as you love yourself" (also covered in your last sentence, which is unlike the others). It does not make life easy, "connected", enjoyable or worry-free - quite the contrary, it's often hard and unpleasant. The moral improvement of humanity (and the highest ideal of Christianity and probably some other religions as well) would mean that we're willing to do it for others in spite of it not being at all comfortable. So far, I don't think we've made any progress towards this ideal, which probably means that it's just not in our nature...