The Clear Difference

Plausibility, I think. If there are reasonable scientific explainations for the fantastic elements (as opposed to magic or supernatural explainations) within the world you are writing, it's sci-fi. If not, fantasy. How close those explainations are to real science defines how hard your sci-fi is. If a book or film is 30% physics and math to explain the Plot Device Drive of the spaceship (John Stith, we're looking at you), it's Hard Sci-fi. If it's a quantam warp drive that offers no explaination beyond that (yet you could imagine one being possible), it's soft sci-fi.

Lines, of course, can be blurry. You can math out the tech specs of your time travel device and use it to fight wizards and dragons. Where would that fall? Well, depends on how much of the narrative is focused on the science, and how much on the supernatural.

My 2 cents on it anyway!
 
Technically, technology is the only thing setting them apart. They of course can overlap/bleed together, but science fiction deals with science and technology where fantasy deals more with magic and the supernatural.

If you're asking if I, Creator is one or the other, in my opinion, and like Star Wars, it's both. Whereas Star Wars is a little more science fiction with a touch of fantasy, I think I, Creator is mostly fantasy with a touch of science fiction.
 
I known I, Creator 2 really blurs the boundary line. The whole topic of The Singularity is raising more questions as to at what point humans will play god because AI scientists and Physicists agree that now that we are making quantum computers (working computers the size of subatomic particles) at what point will we be making artificial consciousness vs artificial intelligence? Right now, quantum computers are just simple adding machines. What will they be in another generation?

Also, at least one Earth-like planet does exit in the star system closest to us, Alpha Centauri.

I thought this thread would be interesting to post here because science fictionn writers, artists, college teachers, and more have been duking out this very topic for 3 weeks now.

Josh is on the right track. And, I agree with him. Magic and the unexplained is Fantasy. And, technology and believable theories are what is science fiction.

I purposely wanted to blur the line like Star Wars, Dune, and The Fifth Element. The combination is not done very often.

Back on topic, what do others think defines the genre labels?
 
According to Orson Scott Card,

look at the cover of the book
If it has rivets it is Sci-Fi
If it has trees or green things, its fantasy


so applying to film. Imagine one single iconoclastic frame from a film.. rivets or trees?
 
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