Books in this genre of science fiction often imagine Earth's
future with reference to issues that are of concern in our
present
world.
Monica Hughes’ Invitation to
the Game was written in 1988, in
reaction to high unemployment in
Britain and the social problems resulting from it. [24]
In this novel, children
graduating high school are given vouchers for their future homes and
told whether
they will have a job. Even the best and most highly-qualified students
often are unplaced due to the rise in the use of robots for most jobs.
The young people join the huge ranks of unemployed who are looked down
on by workers as parasites who are supported by workers’
taxes.
The only light in the unemployed’s world is The Game that
they hear sketchy accounts of. Eventually they are invited to take part
and they quickly become addicted to the escape it provides into virtual
reality, although
they are uneasy about what the Game makers’ motives might be.[25]
Futuristic drug trade
Nancy Farmer's House of
the Scorpion brings together the themes of cloning and
cybernetics in a dystopian vision of Earth's future set in the
country Opium. [26]
Field workers or eejits
are kept in line through
brain manipulation using implanted computer chips, and the ruling class
ensures its longevity by harvesting clones for needed transplants.
Matt is a clone whose intelligence hasn't been destroyed. When he
realizes what is happening in this society, he escapes to Aztlan where
he finds other 'lost children' and plans his future return to Opium.
"
The
means by
which we live have outdistanced the ends for which we live. Our
scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided
missiles and misguided men."
[27]
-Martin Luther King, Jr.
