Science Fiction as a Cultural Product

Gregory Benford's essay focuses on the purpose of science fiction - or what he believes its function should be. He states that science fiction capitalizes on the alien, gives the reader the experience of something completely different, out of all accepted understandings of the world to give us the experience of knowing or not knowing. He discusses the ideology that language is always translatable  in a direct fashion and makes the argument that language is complex and by no means perfect for communicating meaning. In conversation with other literary traditions, namely modernism, Benford argues that science fiction takes the reader further, using literary techniques to present different ways of seeing the world. He is critical of a humanist science fiction, as the literature ought to completely disassociate an assumed universality of human nature and exceptionalism, allowing for an experience of something truly alien. This makes me wonder, however, to what extent is science fiction culturally unique? Isn't it apparent that other cultures are alienated in science fiction or are compared to science fiction characters or societies? Is this harmful or not? Are the authors who created these works that are reminiscent of human cultures failing to produce quality science fiction as Benford defines it?

I will get the rest of my posting up about the two other scifi works later tonight!