Weapons In Science Fiction
Strange and exotic weapons are a recurring theme in science fiction. In some cases, weapons first introduced in science fiction have now been made a reality. Other science fiction weapons remain purely fictional, and are often beyond the realms of physical possibility.
At its most prosaic, science fiction features an endless variety of sidearms, mostly variations on real weapons such as guns and swords. Among the best-known of these are the phaser used in the Star Trek television series, films and novels and the lightsaber featured in the Star Wars fictional universe.
In addition to entertainment value and purpose, themes of weaponry in science fiction sometimes touch on deeper concerns, often motivated by contemporary concerns of the outside world.
Read more about Weapons In Science Fiction: Weapons in Early Science Fiction, Lasers and Particle Beams, Plasma Weaponry, Weapons of Mass Destruction, Powered Armor and Fighting Suits, Cyberwarfare and Cyberweapons, Doomsday Machines, The Sentient Weapon, War On The Mind, The Carrying of Weapons in Science Fiction, Parallels Between Science Fiction and Real-world Weapons
Famous quotes containing the words weapons, science and/or fiction:
“I have always been of the mind that in a democracy manners are the only effective weapons against the bowie-knife.”
—James Russell Lowell (1819–91)
“For us necessity is not as of old an image without us, with whom we can do warfare; it is a magic web woven through and through us, like that magnetic system of which modern science speaks, penetrating us with a network subtler than our subtlest nerves, yet bearing in it the central forces of the world.”
—Walter Pater (1839–1894)
“Individual science fiction stories may seem as trivial as ever to the blinder critics and philosophers of today—but the core of science fiction, its essence ... has become crucial to our salvation if we are to be saved at all.”
—Isaac Asimov (1920–1992)