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THROUGH_THE_LENS

Concerning E.E. Smith's "Lensman" series.
Is it "Hard SF"?
   
 o extra-terrestrial intelligences 
     == valid hard SF notion.    
                          
   
 o Cheesy humanoid aliens 
      => borderline          Maybe: bad execution
                             of valid notion.
  
 o faster-than-light travel      
     => also borderline, at best.
                                                                        
   At the very least              (And Smith's super-science method here          
   imaginatively lazy             isn't terribly impressive: does he even        
   in much the same way           address the light-speed limit?  Instead he     
   as humanoid aliens.            talks about an "inertialess" drive, as         
                                  though overcoming inertia were the only        
                                  problem.)                                      
                                                                                
 o  "The Lens of Aresia"
    => this pushes it far over the edge...

Psychic gadgetry that not only allows some
telepathy, but allows you to scientifically
prove someone's moral caliber.

That is clearly total fantastic nonsense.
It's also probably the most enduringly
interesting thing about the series.
                                                
The suggestion that morality is a physical               
phenomena, objectively measurable by a technology of     
the spirt is so absurd once it's stated in the open      
like that, it becomes a kind of reducto ad absurdum      
for a whole class of ideas.  It's nonsense that          
clarifies, nonsense that brings you back to sense by     
rubbing your nose in it's ridiculousness.                
                                                         
                                                         
                                                        
                                                   
                                               

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