io9 article: Is Bujold "hard sci-fi"?

**psikeyhackr** · November 16th, 2010, 09:27 AM

Originally Posted by suciul

When was this different? When was the time when the "average person" in the world knew more about science than today? Do you seriously claim that there was a time when there were more scientists, engineers, people working in tech domains... than today or that the human race had better know-how?

Where did I make any such claim?

But SF tells us that the future will be different no matter what. But what we do now affects how the future will be different. So how do we decide? Technology has given us more options though.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0l_79tXqhac

So what does that make available to everybody for free?

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/33660...-h/33660-h.htm

psik

**BlackVoid** · November 23rd, 2010, 08:19 AM

Its a superhero themed B-movie script.

**psikeyhackr** · November 23rd, 2010, 11:15 AM

Originally Posted by BlackVoid

Its a superhero themed B-movie script.

That is about what I think of The Warrior's Apprentice. I consider it to be the weakest of the Vorkosigan series.

http://www.lunch.com/forbidden_plane..._McMaster.html

psik

**psikeyhackr** · November 24th, 2010, 05:01 PM

OK,people! All things Vorkosigan are free.

http://baencd.thefifthimperium.com/2...rnCD/index.htm

psik

**psikeyhackr** · December 3rd, 2011, 11:51 PM

There is a significant amount of Vorkosigan fan fiction.

http://www.fanfiction.net/book/Miles_Vorkosigan/

This story isn't bad.

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/7443812/1/Forward_Momentum

The first 2/3rds was OK, then it got boring for a while then better again.

I think it references the true Bujold stories too much and the physics is hopeless. But the overall story is interesting and he does a pretty good job of capturing the characters

There is another story The Long Way to Escobar. It was going OK then it has a sex scene with Aral and Illiyan. Obviously fanfic writers can do whatever they want but if that is what they intend to do I want a warning before I waste time starting the story. LOL

psik

**Steven L Jordan** · December 4th, 2011, 10:55 AM

It's not as if there weren't a lot of unanswered questions 40-50 years ago, making "hard SF" somehow easier to write and giving it a wider appeal. We've answered a lot of questions, but found so many more to ask in the meantime. And hard SF has moved on from simpler concepts (like advanced computers) to much harder ones (like the actual structure of the universe).

To some extent, all SF comes down to "hand-wavium" in some element of the story, since, if it didn't need that element to satisfy its existence, it would be science fact. All that is needed for "hard SF" is to provide a good-enough description of "hand-wavium" to satisfy readers, or a good enough reasoning as to why we should expect to have discovered it by the time of the story, and you're good... and if you're a really good author, your audience might not even know which element is your "hand-wavium."

**psikeyhackr** · December 5th, 2011, 08:29 PM

Originally Posted by suciul

When was this different? When was the time when the "average person" in the world knew more about science than today? Do you seriously claim that there was a time when there were more scientists, engineers, people working in tech domains... than today or that the human race had better know-how?

It's not about numbers it's about the ratio of knowledge.

It doesn't matter if Benjamin Franklin knew more about electricity than the average person 75 years later. The average person in 1850 didn't need to know how to jump one automobile from another. A person does not need to be a SCIENTIST or an ENGINEER to know that the distribution of steel is important in holding up a skyscraper. How can astronomers not understand gravity and its relevance to skyscrapers even if they don't deal with skyscrapers. The way this society compartMENTALIZES knowledge is ridiculous.

But I worked for IBM for years and never encountered the term von Neumann machines. Our so called educational techniques are built on getting people to memorize as much as they NEED TO KNOW. Most to the time the information isn't even presented in a manner to be logically understood.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dg96tefnEU

The courses are designed to take up a specific amount of time for the educational systems concept of average student in that venue.

The cool thing about GOOD science fiction is that it often shows how different areas of knowledge relate to each other and that the compartments are artificial delusions. Often created by people trying to make themselves look smart.

psik