In Jerry Canavan's scholarly definition of Science Fiction, he aims to truly define Science Fiction, and makes important distinctions between Science Fiction and other fiction genres. Canavan says that science fiction often is a "dialectical interplay between utopian optimism and apocalyptic pessimism" (Canavan 1), meaning that most Science Fiction works usually involve elements of both hopeful and ominous possible states of being, weather it be past, present, future, on our planet, or on a completely different planet in space. Canavan makes the difference between science fiction and fantasy clear, saying that the things that make a science fiction world stem from technology while in a genre like fantasy they stem from magic or another supernatural occurrence. This distinction is in my opinion the only real definition between science fiction and other forms of fiction writing. Science fiction aims to describe phenomenon in our world from a new perspective, but this same thing affect can be achieved from other fiction genres, therefore there is no other real distinction between the genres. Of the four stories read in class, I will likely focus on Ted Chiang's Exhalation. The fact that the story revolves around robot beings with complex machinery really interests me as a mechanical engineering major. Additionally, the fact that the story is based upon the universal law of entropy is appealing to me as someone who has always found physics interesting. The concept of the "heat death" of the universe, or thermodynamic equilibrium is something that is explored directly in the story. In my CR for Exhalation the main idea that I explored was the fact that death is inevitable for everyone, therefore one should not waste their time worrying about it, and instead appreciate the art, music, buildings, and culture we have created. I am not sure how I can really expand on this idea, but I know I can definitely incorporate it into the my genre analysis essay.