Science as fiction: Technology in prime time television

Abstract

Science fiction programs created for prime time television present images of future society and the relationship between technological and social progress. This article argues that television convention mitigates against depictions of technology as socially destructive. It also argues that the presentation of science as television fiction is a conservative act. In this way, television reinforces the socially constructed technological imperative of industrial societies, effacing its own role in the preservation of the technological society.