Science fiction has become a very popular genre in the past century, and has acquired quite a following.  Many people when asked to describe sci-fi will tell you of fantastic futuristic worlds where flying cars, space ships, and funny looking aliens abound.  This is not always true; in fact, much of science fiction literature is much different.  The carefree futuristic view of science fiction fails to acknowledge such works, though they are undeniably science fiction.  The stereotypes given to science fiction ignores many of the trends within the genre.  Contrary to the general stereotype, many other themes are presented in science fiction, often shown when the worries and fears of what will come in the future, such as in depicting overpopulation and resource depletion, are played off of in plot lines.

      Overpopulation is a topic already in heavy debate, and in science fiction the topic has been magnified and dealt with in a distressing fashion.  Overpopulation is a problem that is analyzed in the present day.  The worlds population is ever growing, hurried along with the advances in medicine.  This problem is most notable when looking at those in poverty, who spend almost all of their paychecks simply paying off rent in broken down housing without utilities as is seen in Ehrenreichs Nickel and Dimed when she describes the room she rented as having a single small window with no screen, and no AC or fan [and] the door has no bolt (Ehrenreich).  These problems are shown on a large and frightening scale in J. G. Ballards Billenium, where the characters are living in four square meter cubicles that, through the course of the story, are ordered to be shrunk down to three-square meters.  In the course of the story, you learn that such minuscule living quarters are due to the population growing larger: thiry million people are packed into this city now, a million increase in just one year (Ballard).  In such conditions, people pay for tiny cubicles, and marry for the sole hope of gaining a four and half meter cubicle.  Disturbingly, the people have adapted to such conditions.  After one of the characters comments about his room, the narration explains that Like everyone, he used the term room to describe his tiny cubicle, a hangover from the days fifty years earlier when people had indeed lived one to a room, sometimes, unbelievably, on to an apartment or house. (Ballard).  Such ideals, when pondered, can really hit home.  

      The fear of the depletion of resources, too, is seen as a problem to be addressed today, and can be seen in a further degenerated future in the science fiction gemre.  Worries over what will happen as Earths resources disappear have concerned many.  Many environmentalists already argue that agricultural practices are slowly ruining the land.  This was brought to a head with Rachel Carsons Silent Spring but the problem was not fully eradicated.  Such depletion is a theme in Brian Aldiss Who Can Replace a Man?  In it, the human race is dying off due to a diet deficiency because all resources are exhausted.  A machine when working the fields comments that Like the ground all over Earth, it was vitalated by over-cropping or the long-lasting effects of nuclear bombardment. (Aldiss).  Later, the Badlands were described as extensive: a place where mans talent for war, coupled with his inablity to manage forested land had produced thousands of square miles of temperate purgatory, where nothing moved but dust. (Aldiss).  The over-cropped land was unworkable.  Through our fears of depleted resources and insufficient food, science fiction integrates our doubts into an intriguing yet unpleasant future world.

      It can easily be argued that population and resources are not even issues in science fiction.  Science fiction is known for its aliens and space ships.  In Arthur C. Clarkes Second Dawn, such issues are not the case.  There are non-humanoid, or alien, creatures in it. One is described as having horns that were usually yellow of ivory (Clarke).  This is most definitely not a human trait.  Aliens go along with the clichéd alien-and-space-ship sci-fi stereotype.  A. E. van Vogts The Monster goes so far as to set the scene in the first line with  The great ship poised a quarter of a mile above one of the cities. (Vogt).  This proves undeniably that space ships are found in science fiction.  Accordingly, it is argued that the stereotype is true.

      Though Second Dawn lacks issues over population and resources, and in fact has aliens, this does not invalidate the fact that not all science fiction fits the alien and space ship stereotype.  There are exceptions to every rule.  In fact, Second Dawn lacks such ships, and the characters are forced to travel about twenty days from here, and cross a river to get to their destination (Clarke). rebelled, and later gained their freedom from England.  Even after colonial independence was gained, uprisings such as Shays Rebellion in 1786 concerned many prominent figures.  The Articles of Confederation put forth a weak central government with little power over the states.  Under it, each state set its own standards with little regard for the nation as a whole.  This led many of the framers of the Constitution to question human nature, and their answer influenced how they constructed the government.