[PREV - IN_DEEP]    [TOP]

HARD_PROBLEMS

                                            December 14, 2003      
                                                                   
  What's the problem with Hard SF?                                 
                                                                   
                                                                   
  The central thesis of most Hard SF has nothing to                
  do with a technological premise, and everything to               
  do with attitudes towards technology.                            
                                                                   
  The great dream of Hard SF is to celebrate                       
  the technical, to portray a world where the                      
  sufficiently tough-minded will always be able                    
  to see their way through to a solution.                          
                                                                   
       If your crew-cut is short enough, your white                
       collar crisp and your equations cold, you'll                
       always find a way to lord it over those damn                
                                                                   
            bureaucrats                                            
            hippies                                                
            social workers                                         
            artists                                                
            businessmen                                            
                                                                   
                                                                   
  The Hard SF premise is that there are no                         
  fuzzy edges, there are no inconveniently                         
  intractable problems in human philosophy                         
  and psychology that create knots that                            
  can't be sliced through with the Gordian    The conventional way of saying
  slide-rule.                                 this is that it "denys humanity",
                                              but that takes too narrow a view
                                              of what is human.  Don't deny
                                              humanity their slide-rules...
  One thing you have to give Hard SF,                              
  however: while it may be true that                               
  most of it (thankfully, not all) is                              
  not written well, that clunky style                              
  is admirably suited to it's central                              
  message.                               The writer/reviewer/editor 
                                         Del Rey demanded                
                                         "transparent" prose that        
                                         would not "get in the way".     
                                                                           
                                         The idea that prose style can     
                                         be done away with in favor of     
                                         "content" is a classic example    
                                         of what I'm talking about.        
                                                                           
Hard SF then, *does* have much                                            
in common with Libertarian
philosphy, in that both of        WHEN_THE_DEVIL_QUOTES_SCRIPTURES
them are chasing after a
hard-edged mathematically
certain set of solutions.
                                            RAYMONDS_FOLLY


It's no odd abberation that many of the
early SF writers came up with ideas like:


   E.E. Smith - The "Lens of Arasia" that
   scientifically certifies the moral character       THROUGH_THE_LENS
   of the bearer. ("Lensman" series)

   Issac Asimov - "Psychohistory", a statistical
   science that predicts the outline of human         DEAD_HAND
   history with near perfect
   precision. ("Foundation" series)                         TWISTED_PATHS

   Robert Heinlein - moral issues resolved by
   the application of symbolic logic ("Starship
   Troopers"), the future predicted by trend-line    TROOPERS
   extrapolation.


All-too-often "Hard SF" is just
another manifestation of the
Techies Fallacy: human concerns
split neatly into technical and
social matters, and the social
stuff can and should be ignored.


     "Hard SF" is often                        Algis Budrys talks -- a bit
     primarily just another                    awkwardly -- about science
     literature of                             fiction as groping toward
     reassurance.                              homilies, slogans that
                                               express an understanding of
                                               some important point,
       One of the undercurrents                e.g. "be sure about the
       of SF is a quest for                    things that you're sure
       understanding and                       about."
       belonging: a system to                                          
       believe in, a talisman                  Exhibit-A in his thesis      
       worthy of faith, a group                was the Campbell's           
       of good guys to be good                 introductory blurbs that     
       with.  The Slans, the                   often telegraphed the        
       Space Patrol, The Lens,                 point of the story in        
       Null-A.  It's about                     Astounding/Analog.           
       finding a solid place                                                
       stand.  And maybe a place                                           
       to stick the fulcrum.                        HOMILETICS



Fans of Korzybski's "Science and Sanity":

   Robert A. Heinlein
   William Burroughs        William Burroughs
   Douglas Englebart        was also, like James
   Tim O'Reilly             Blish, a fan of           BLISH
                            Oswald Spengler.


--------
[NEXT - RAYMONDS_FOLLY]