Category Archives: Science Fiction

I recently published in Foundation: The International Review of Science Fiction on the use of collective consciousness in science fiction, Issue 110. The first example of a science fiction author using this concept in their work can be traced back to the earliest days of the genre. Aside from the interlude of 400-1600 AD[1], one can always find examples of fiction that has been influenced by some scientific thesis (see the paper for a brief account of natural superorganisms). Despite the quality of the work produced by some of the earliest science fiction authors, namely Kepler, Holberg, Shelley and Verne, it wasn’t until the 1930s that the genre gathered true momentum. Throughout this decade, what had until now been loosely referred to as “scientific romance”, became more clearly defined as a literary genre, and in turn, more widely accepted as a form of popular culture. It was in this period that Olaf Stapleton released Last and First Men, the first fictional novel to draw on a collective consciousness, in this case facilitated through telepathy[2].

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