The life and death of "Fantasia", 2000 the only Israeli magazine that thought about the future seriously, curiously, deeply
"Fantasy 2000" was born in 1978 in the cafeteria of the Faculty of Law at Tel Aviv University, where I used to escape from the burden of my doctoral thesis in engineering. In one of the conversations I had there with friends, also science fiction enthusiasts, they wondered why, unlike any reformed country, there is no MDB newspaper in Israel. From here to the decision to correct the situation, the road was short.
The timing was quite successful: "Am Oved" and "Masada" dared to publish for the first time series of science fiction books; NASA was preparing to launch the first space shuttle, which was not coincidentally named "Enterprise", as the name of the spacecraft from "Star Trek"; Israeli television began, just then, to purchase the episodes of that series for broadcast; There was a feeling that the readers in Israel are mature and deserve to be introduced to authors like Harlan Ellison or Stanislav Lem, and not just to the old Isaac Asimov and Robert Heinlein.
The first issues were enthusiastically received; Nearly 6,000 copies were sold. The price of the magazine was quite high - but necessary to cover expenses - 30 pounds ("Reputation" was the only monthly whose price was higher). But despite all this, over time it became clear that without a serious financial backing, and only on the basis of voluntary work, it is difficult to maintain a magazine for a long time. "Fantasia" 2000 Shebek after about six years and 44 issues. During his lifetime, hundreds of translated stories by the great Madev writers appeared on its pages, plenty of futurist articles, interviews with Israeli scientists and writers, and most importantly - dozens of original stories, which the newspaper served as a natural and encouraging platform for their authors.
In the book "Anatomy of Wonder - A Critical Guide to the MDB", which appeared in the USA in 1987, it was written that "Fantasia" 2000 was "the most important and professional MDB magazine published in Israel". Not that he had any serious competitors: in the late 50s, two Israeli magazines were published: one called "Imaginary Science", published translated stories without mentioning the names of their authors (the editor was also anonymous), and stopped appearing after 13 issues; The second one was called "Cosmos", published some stories by quite good MDB writers, and survived only four issues. During the days of "Fantasia" 2000, three unsuccessful attempts were made to publish competing newspapers, which tried to ride the wave of enthusiasm that arose at that time. One was called "The World of Tomorrow" and came out at the end of 1979. The other, "Science Fiction", was published in 1982. Both did not survive more than one issue. The only one that was a little more successful was "Cosmos - Asimov's Selection", which published 6 issues in 1979.
What attracted us then, and still today, to science fiction? In 1970, Alvin Toffler wrote in his book "The Shock of the Future": "We can derive enormous benefit from the MDB as a means of expanding the range of observation and creating predictive habits. Our children should study the writings of Clarke, Tan, Heinlein, Bradbury and Shelley, not because these authors can tell about spaceships and time machines, but because they may provide something much more important - an imaginative journey into the complicated world of political, social, psychological and moral questions, which will be presented to them in the future in their adulthood. "MDA books should be included as mandatory books in the studies of the future." This passage was quoted in one of the issues of "Fantasia," 2000 with the addition of the question: "Have these things penetrated the minds of the teachers in Israel?"
And what about today? Even nowadays, when the rate of technological development is dizzying, is the MDB a kind of vaccine against the "shock of the future" - or are we already sufficiently vaccinated? And what is its role when the study of the future and technological forecasting are accepted academic disciplines?
I think that the role of the MDB is never-ending, just as the role of literature is never-ending - and the MDB is first and foremost literature. Its strength is not necessarily in predictions, and its success is not measured by their verification. The study of the future, or technological forecasting, serves as a tool for decision makers, in that it indicates the most likely developments in light of the scientific and technological possibilities that are emerging today. The writing of MDB stories, on the other hand, is not commissioned by decision makers, and like any art, it has no "practical" purpose. A successful MDB story can be one that does not necessarily describe a future that is highly likely to materialize, but a completely imaginary world, an alternative reality that may never exist - as long as it is fascinating, thought provoking, and based (this is my personal preference) on scientific speculation with an internal logic. Such a story may sometimes teach us something about ourselves, even though it takes place in a galaxy far, far away.
There is nothing like science fiction as an intellectual exercise in speculations about the relationship between man and a future technological environment (try to establish a story about a society where genetic traits can be controlled as a matter of course - a subject that has certainly not yet been exhausted in literature). Since the only sure prediction is that the future will be very different from the present, the MDB will be relevant even in the next millennium. Who will take on the expenses of "Fantasia?" 3000
* Aharon Hauptman was one of the founders of "Fantasia" 2000 and edited the magazine in the years '79-83
