I just made an ancient rediscovery. I read this essay by Alexei Panshin because I like his book Rite of Passage . He mentioned the Heinlein book Beyond This Horizon . So I tracked it down and read it. It turns out I was re-reading it. There is a scene with a gun duel in a restaurant and I have remem...

Really? Are you saying that people don't sometimes lack thought? That it's unrealistic for people to do things that don't seem entirely thought through? These guys made a mistake. Why is that unrealistic? We are talking about a show where people use explosive devices all of the time. I don't know h...

Excellent point. I think it was Vraith who expanded on this by saying the politics should serve the story, rather than the other way around. A story as an excuse for polemics is just superficial propaganda. It's not about exploring issues and provoking thought, but rather preaching and reader manip...

It's Teal'c. Anyhoo, I wouldn't expect much rigourous real-world science from Stargate, heh. They make it work within their established universe, that's about all that's needed. What I said does not have anything to do with RIGOROUS SCIENCE!!! They have fired missiles through the stargate in other ...

That was a great episode...SG1 always made me laugh because of the unpredictable mix of "this is theoretically possible" and "are you f-ing kidding me." The "FLAW" in that episode was T'ilk going through and digging to the surface. That added a lot of drama. But they h...

the criticism of other things to jettison is wrong...the point wasn't that other stuff couldn't [logically] be jettisoned, but that getting rid of that stuff would kill more people than getting rid of the stow-away. I meant that a ship big enough for a person to hide in should have had enough surpl...

That doesn't necessarily follow. Lots of actual illnesses affect different people differently. Particularly in a case like this: brain tumors, for example have an enormous possible array of symptoms. [although SRD himself would probably agree his focus is on the fiction part]. Admittedly any mind a...

my my All_Day...how you do go on! :lol: Go on about what? I haven't read any SRD but I started checking some sites about what is said about his work. Gap Disease ??? That affects people differently and causes the HERO to try to self destruct the ship. This is SCIENCE fiction? More like science FICT...

From this perspective, I guess economics is the literature of change, not science fiction Heh...I'd say that economics IS science fiction. The fiction is when people can't figure out when they are being handed BS about the science. Electronic computers aren't even 70 years old but Double-Entry acco...

I think you seem to have an approach where you use science fiction to understand the world to some extent, I can't say I share that outlook at all. Science fiction is the literature of change. The technology changes and we must decide what to do with it. Or let other people try to manipulate us int...

With that user name, I wondered if you were gonna be a spammer. Was pleased to see it was not the case. But I have to wonder, as a sci-fi fan, how did you find this site? You might have noticed it's primary function (originally) was the discussion of a series of fantasy works. :D (Not that we're no...

(And welcome, ADSF. :lol: Your post allays my suspicions. ;) ) There's plenty of good fantasy out there too though. :D --A Suspicions about what? Different people want different things in their stories. Some former fans of the Vorkosigan series are upset because Miles has gotten all mushy since the...

Greetings and Salutations, I am an old SCIENCE fiction fan. I read my first sci-fi book in the 60s and have been hooked since. I was building and launching rockets back then and soldered together my first computer in 1978. So spells and magic and vampires aren't really my thing. I have read two Harr...

Greeting, this is my first post. I think it is entirely up to the author whether any kind of commentary about politics or economics or society in general goes into the work. It is up to the reader to decide how to react. If anything I think it is a problem that so much science fiction has become so ...