Get a free opinion about science in science fiction
It’s an old discussion: how much science should there be in science fiction and what kind of science should it be? It’s so old that when the discussion rolls around again you will probably be tired of it immediately. Aha! What if you had a totally new position on it? Then things might be interesting again.
You’ll need a D20 dice and the table below. Take the sentence “I believe that the science in science fiction should be X and Y” and replace X and Y with entries from the table, rolling the dice twice to get your exciting new take on the discussion.
Now I have a bit of time to elaborate. Llull was a medieval mystic who used a set of concentric circles to generate random combinations of ideas – a perfect character for a historical fantasy. Zwicky was an astronomer who invented something called morphological boxes which also combine ideas and eliminate the nonsensical ones to come up with possible combinations to investigate further – Heinlein tossed out references to “Zwicky boxes” (and so did Brin)
I don’t know about this. I personally prefer my science to be both confused and consistent with the laws of thermodynamics, which are both on the first dice roll. Really you need a D40 (or a D20 and a coin) and one list.
(This may explain why I prefer space opera and fantasy these days to so-called hard SF.)
I think she missed a trick by not having a series of footnotes that are just lines from Dem Bones.
(1) The toe bone connected to the foot bone
(2) Foot bone connected to the heel bone
(3) Heel bone connected to the ankle bone
(4) Ankle bone connected to the shin bone
[…] (15) DICELIVING. Camestros Felapton proposes an easy way for sff critics to save themselves the trouble of constantly rearranging those reviewers’ clichés in “Get a free opinion about science in science fiction”. […]
It was midnight and smell of algebra wafted over the scent of topology. The Hounds-Mathematical were loose and on the hunt for rogue corollaries. They could taste loose implications on the air…
Camestros Felapton 
27 responses to “Get a free opinion about science in science fiction”
In fantasy, this method must be attributed to Llull (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramon_Llull) while SF authors will refer to Zwicky https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morphological_box
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Now I have a bit of time to elaborate. Llull was a medieval mystic who used a set of concentric circles to generate random combinations of ideas – a perfect character for a historical fantasy. Zwicky was an astronomer who invented something called morphological boxes which also combine ideas and eliminate the nonsensical ones to come up with possible combinations to investigate further – Heinlein tossed out references to “Zwicky boxes” (and so did Brin)
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Nice.
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I don’t know about this. I personally prefer my science to be both confused and consistent with the laws of thermodynamics, which are both on the first dice roll. Really you need a D40 (or a D20 and a coin) and one list.
(This may explain why I prefer space opera and fantasy these days to so-called hard SF.)
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New rule: once you get confused you can draw from both lists 🙂
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If you search “virtual d20” on google you can roll some, err, virtual D20 – if like me you don’t have access to physical ones.
On that note I believe that the science in science fiction should be morbid and with copious footnotes.
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//the science in science fiction should be morbid and with copious footnotes.//
Ah, Harrow the Ninth then!
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I think she missed a trick by not having a series of footnotes that are just lines from Dem Bones.
(1) The toe bone connected to the foot bone
(2) Foot bone connected to the heel bone
(3) Heel bone connected to the ankle bone
(4) Ankle bone connected to the shin bone
etc…
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I think the science should be based on virtual D20 rolls, but there is no entry for that
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That’s a very dicey opinion
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Science fiction should be fuzzy and based on 18th century understandings.
I guess that describes the Terra Ignota books.
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[…] (15) DICELIVING. Camestros Felapton proposes an easy way for sff critics to save themselves the trouble of constantly rearranging those reviewers’ clichés in “Get a free opinion about science in science fiction”. […]
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I’m still holding out for “accurate” and “relevant to the plot.”
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LOL
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“You may say I’m a dreamer…”
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“You may say I’m Greg Egan,
but I’m not the only one”
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Can I have mathematical and conveyed by scent?
“Mathematical and in the appenduces” is Greg Egan’s Orthogonal, which I recommend.
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It was midnight and smell of algebra wafted over the scent of topology. The Hounds-Mathematical were loose and on the hunt for rogue corollaries. They could taste loose implications on the air…
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And then the murders began.
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Isn’t that a Greg Egan story?
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I don’t have conclusive proof that I’m not Greg Egan…
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camestrosfelapton: I don’t have conclusive proof that I’m not Greg Egan…
We’ve never seen a photo of Greg Egan, and we’ve never seen a photo of you… QED!!! Aristotle!!! 😀
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a replacement fog gang
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Don’t give them ideas!
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I don’t have conclusive proof that I’m not Greg Egan…
I believe that’s the essence of Goedel’s theorem.
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I’m 90% sure there was a scent and math story back in the day. I know Clarke had a light and math one with squids.
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Pervasive and mainly about dairy goods.
A hard-hitting novel of the near future in the Netherlands?
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