Is the line between "Science" and "Fiction" important?
Aug 15, 2014 21:51:25 GMT -8
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Post by Lunettes on Aug 15, 2014 21:51:25 GMT -8
Hi there, all!
As an avid reader of Fantasy and Sci-fi books, I've had a few opportunities to wonder just how important what some might call "hard" science is to the genre of Science fiction. My most recent acquisitions from the genre have been The Long Earth and The Long War by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter, and though I haven't yet finished the latter, I'd like to use them as my examples for what I mean.
Firstly, though, I'd like to clarify that when I say "hard science", I mean scientific theory or fact that is based in contemporary thought. The basic tenants of particle physics, for example, or what has currently been explored through the study of string theory: science that can be sourced to materials available to the public, made available by cite-able sources and credible scientists.
In contrast, we get what I'd like to call "pseudo-science"; at least for the purposes of this discussion. Under which category I firmly place the convenient techno-babble that has saved every crew of the SS Enterprise and all of its successors, and ideas like "Mass Effect" (which is ostensibly the reason everything in the games named after it functions).
So, back to The Long Earth and The Long War. Their respective plots revolve entirely around humanity's discovery of a potato-powered device that allows an individual to "step" across what could be called dimensional barriers, leading to easy, "lateral" travel from one version of the planet Earth to another and the myriad of interesting issues that arise from such a discovery. As a device to get a story going, I'd be willing to call it a tour de force. But it did get me wondering if potato-powered dimension hopping skewed the book more into fiction than science.
So, what do you think good forum-ites? Should the moniker of "Science Fiction" come with a more technical view of the futuristic marvels that might be one day available to mankind as we reach out for the planets of far-distant universes, or should wild flights of fancy be encouraged?
After all, tricorders led to cell phones, right?
As an avid reader of Fantasy and Sci-fi books, I've had a few opportunities to wonder just how important what some might call "hard" science is to the genre of Science fiction. My most recent acquisitions from the genre have been The Long Earth and The Long War by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter, and though I haven't yet finished the latter, I'd like to use them as my examples for what I mean.
Firstly, though, I'd like to clarify that when I say "hard science", I mean scientific theory or fact that is based in contemporary thought. The basic tenants of particle physics, for example, or what has currently been explored through the study of string theory: science that can be sourced to materials available to the public, made available by cite-able sources and credible scientists.
In contrast, we get what I'd like to call "pseudo-science"; at least for the purposes of this discussion. Under which category I firmly place the convenient techno-babble that has saved every crew of the SS Enterprise and all of its successors, and ideas like "Mass Effect" (which is ostensibly the reason everything in the games named after it functions).
So, back to The Long Earth and The Long War. Their respective plots revolve entirely around humanity's discovery of a potato-powered device that allows an individual to "step" across what could be called dimensional barriers, leading to easy, "lateral" travel from one version of the planet Earth to another and the myriad of interesting issues that arise from such a discovery. As a device to get a story going, I'd be willing to call it a tour de force. But it did get me wondering if potato-powered dimension hopping skewed the book more into fiction than science.
So, what do you think good forum-ites? Should the moniker of "Science Fiction" come with a more technical view of the futuristic marvels that might be one day available to mankind as we reach out for the planets of far-distant universes, or should wild flights of fancy be encouraged?
After all, tricorders led to cell phones, right?