[unclejack]

Originally Posted by Steve Jordan

For me, SF in television, cartoons, movies and literature all helped spur my interest in SF as an adult. However, I think it's a lot more than just having SF available to you.

Based on anecdotal evidence of my own, most people who have an appreciation of SF as an adult, had a positive opinion of science as kids. In other words, SF lovers grew up seeing science as a positive thing. Those who saw science as a negative thing did not grow up to appreciate SF, or they grew up to see SF as the same as horror/tragedy.

Being in the midst of global warming, a new energy crisis, war over oil, concerns about new diseases, old diseases, bad Chinese imports, a shrinking food supply, computer viruses, overpopulation, etc, etc... I can't say there is much positive science or SF out there today, so I don't see young people getting too inspired by science, or by SF, in the future.

On the other hand, fantasy is making a comeback, so we can expect millions (or billions) of adults that will spend their days dreaming about secret passages in the wardrobes...

I gotta dissagree with you there. Even though I did like science a little bit as a kid it wasn't really that big of an interest to me. And my interest in science fiction has only really been in the last couple years. For me the attraction to sci fi has alot to do with the endless possibilities of it. You can bascially go anywhere with science fiction and the boundries of it seem to be endless and I find that alot more interesting and intriguing that our present reality at times. But it's not really a metaphor on life for me, I just find it fascinating that's all.