An answer to Pynchon’s question “What comes now?” is heavily explored by an often-neglected facet of US literature; science fiction, a genre that contemplates possible futures. Because science fiction spans the spectrum from the plausible to the fanciful, its relationship with science has been both nurturing and contentious.
HG Wells who, by most critics, is considered the US pioneer of the genre, used his time machine (1895) to take the reader to the far future to witness the calamitous destiny of humanity.
The renowned novelist and poet Ursula K. Le Guin said once, “The future is a safe, sterile laboratory for trying out ideas where anything at all can be said to happen without fear of contradiction from a native… a means of thinking about reality, a method.” Her award-winning 1969 novel, The Left Hand of Darkness—set on a distant world populated by genetically modified hermaphrodites—is a thought experiment about how society would be different if it were genderless.
William Gibson published in the 1980s the cyber punk novels wherein he depicted visions of a hyper-connected global society where black-hat hackers, cyber war and violent reality shows are part of daily life. He also coined the term cyberspace.
In recent decades there is a tilt toward dystopian futures, partly because of a belief that most of society has not yet reaped the benefits of technological progress. Bertrand Russell’s words from 1924 are prophetic when he wrote: “‘I am compelled to fear that science will be used to promote the power of dominant groups, rather than to make men happy.’
This fear is shared by Kim Stanley Robinson—the best-selling author of the Mars trilogy, 2312(2012) and Suzanne Collins’ who authored The Hunger Games (2008), in which a wealthy governing class uses ruthless gladiatorial games to sow fear and helplessness among the potentially rebellious, impoverished citizens.
The current state of US society with the current power struggle among billionaires to take control of the socio-economical landscape elevates them to a prophetic stature.
The Maharajagar 