Help: The Relation between Science fiction and science

[Oracle]

Hello to everyone who would read this and I hope I will get some help.

I have to do a project on the relation beltween the science fiction and the actual science. I have to state one example of each biology chemistry physics and probably weather since I live in Canada :-P

So would it be ok if I include science fiction book by Carl Sagan then return to physics laws explained by R. Feynman put Einstein and E=Mc^2 among the road -the equations latest news, and maybe include Isaac Asimov as both science fiction and science books writer.

I would like to get a recomendation for other books like science fiction -chemistry and weather and is it okay if I put Alexander Beliaev under biology?

I would include movies like Star Wars Hollow Man etc. ( any recomendation?)

Can I finish with history and presant times at the end?

Well this looks too much....

or is it very little.... ????Text

[Tormod]

Oracle -

 

you are very welcome to our forums. How's that for a welcome?

 

Your question is a bit big....maybe you could break it into bitesize pieces for us? I'd love to help you out here.

 

Tormod

[The_Oracle]

Tormod, you have been amazing me ever since I found this forum which was about 10 months ago however I remained quiet for quite a long time :-) I was just afraind to click on the reply button :-P I guess. However I've been gathering information from everywhere, and all I know is that I know nothing. ;-)

As for the question...

Heh, you see I believe that I should not only break my quiestion into pieces but my project as well. I decided to go only with interpretation of physics and technology (books and media). After all I believe my teacher would have a hard time reading it if I included everything.

Any suggestions on good authors and movies besides Carl Sagan, Isaac Asimov, Alexander Beliaev, and God I got enough from Star Trek :-P

[Tormod]

I am a big fan of Stanislaw Lem and Greg Bear. Their writing styles are completely different, but their use of technology is striking. I would recommend any of Lem's books, and as for Greg Bear I really liked the Eon series and the Forge of God / The Anvil of the Stars books. I am not sure whether any of these writer's books have been turned into movies yet.

 

Of course, Arthur C. Clarke is a must - he famously predicted artificial satellites long before they actually were built, and the movie 2001 - a space odyssey is of course based on his book. When you think about the fact that this movie was made back in 1968 (wasn't it?) and what impact it has had on people's ideas about technology it is rather incredible.

 

HG Wells is a rather important figure (you mention Hollow Man - don't forget The Time Machine)...and I think you just have to include Jules Verne - the early films based on his book had a great impact.

 

Just a few ideas,

Tormod

[Oracle]

Thanks Tormod,

Verne is one of my favourite

around the world in 80 days... I read it in bulgarian I loved it !

around science fiction in 80 days :-P

[Pyrotex]

The Relation between Science and Science Fiction.

 

Part 1 -- What most people call 'science fiction' is actually just horror stories with aliens or adventure stories with rocket ships. This is a particularly Hollywood movie genre, and it is not relfected in actual written, published science fiction. So, about 97% of all 'science fiction' movies are NOT really science fiction and you can ignore them. In the remaining 3%, one might list "2001 A Space Odyssey", the recent "Serenity" and the movie "Contact" made from Sagan's book of the same name.

 

Part 2 -- What is Science Fiction [sF]? This is a particular genre that started, more or less, with the books of Jules Verne and H. G. Wells. The basis of this genre was the exploration of how science and technology might affect humanity. Some SF stories skipped the science and simply related how future conditions might affect humanity. For example, if our atmosphere became unbreathable or we ran out of water or a virus wiped out grasses or our future society once again became oppressive to (say) women. In most, but not all, SF, science plays the role of either antogonist (source of problem) or protagonist (source of solution). So maybe one story starts out with genetic experiments killing all the grasses in the world, but another story just chalks it up to a big mystery. The core essence is: how would this affect humans? Their day to day lives? The way societies were organized? This is the essential core of good SF -- the affect of science or some possible future science on mankind.

 

Part 3 -- Fuzzy science in Science Fiction. Much very good SF uses real, known scientific laws and technologies in the story-telling. They are called "Hard SF". Many of Robert A. Heinlein's short stories and novels were Hard SF. Other writers take small liberties with science, producing "Soft SF". The number one way they do this is by speculating that there is some way to travel faster than the speed of light, FTL travel. This makes getting from planet to planet a lot easier. Or the author might make up some new metal or plastic with incredible properties, jokingly referred to as "balonium". The FTL or the balonium allow plots that would not be possible if science were strictly adhered to. The fictional works of Isaac Asimov often fall in this area. As you can see, this is a divergence from REAL science, which limits itself to what is known, or what can be safely conjectured.

 

Part 4 -- The Fringes of SF. When science is softened up to the point where it contradicts the known laws of nature, then the stories produced are often called 'Science Fantasy'. Stories where people can levitate, or become invisible, or teleport, or talk to the dead, or travel back in time, etc., are in this class. Some of these stories still keep to the core concept: what would be the affect on society, but many are just for entertainment.

 

part 5 -- Conclusions. The essential core of a Hard SF story is the invention or discovery of some plausible scientific fact or principal, and its affect on society. How would humans react? In my opinion, the finest of these stories would include Isaac Asimov's "Nightfall". A very human like species on another planet that has no 'nights' finally discover the Law of Gravity, and use it to calculate the path of their planet around and through the cluster of multiple stars they live among. They predict that once every 4,000 years, the entire planet will have essentially one full day of total darkness. The next darkness will be in just a few months.

 

Here we see the story explicitly tells about a non-human race. But the theme of the story uses those aliens to represent us, humans. The theme relates to the fact that we (humanity) often react in very unfortunate ways to new revelations, new facts, new events.

 

Science is about science. Science Fiction *uses* science as a means of exploring humanity, our place in the universe, and our possible futures.

[simcha]

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[TIC]

It appears you have a pretty good handle on the science side but weak on the fiction side. Read for fun now and then.

 

If you do, it should be fairly easy for you to look at fiction writers and science writers and compare and contrast and in the process leap ahead of your peers.

 

Carl Sagan only wrote one fiction piece but otherwise a bonafied sicentist and public teacher.

 

Feynman was a a brilliat educator

 

Einstein was a brillant nut-bucket

 

Isaac Asimov was a prolific writer and a science historian

 

The further you go back into science fiction, Jules Verne, the more you will appreciate the whole enchilda. Science fiction writers often own the whip that sting scientists.

[Moontanman]

I can agree, the best science fiction is written by scientists. I like hard science fiction but soft or science fantasy is good too if it's written well. Star Trek which I love dearly in all it's many different versions is really science fantasy, they include real science when possible but most of it is tecno-babble. Larry Niven is a very good writer, he has some of the most outrageous premises of any author but it's still hard science fiction. His "the Integral Trees" is just wild and is based on real science. Others like John Varley and his trilogy Titan, Wizard, and Demon stay inside the realms of real science and the solar system to write a book of epic proportions. "Across Real Time" by Vernor Vinge is a great time travel book but not the type of time travel you expect. Then of course you have post apocalyptic novels like Hieros Journey by Sterling E Lanier, Great writing but weak on science with ever really violating the laws of science. I rather like alternate time line novels like the Draka novels by S.M. Stirling. Science fiction is often used by scientists to show case a new theory or a new way to look at the Universe or use new technology. Robert L Forwards "Dragons Egg" is an example of this.

 

Oh one more thing, from what I've noticed i would say that science fantasy does a better job of predicting the future than hard science fiction, As in Star Trek and cell phones, personal computers, talking computers, beam weapons, antimatter, and various other small items. None of the really big stuff like warp drive or transporters has cone true yet but Hawking says he's working on them!

[simcha]

To TIC:

... wow! way-to-go! Top-Marks. ... Your last sentence really sums it up, and i agree with you on my eternity!

 

To Moontanman:

... Also! , great what you say.

 

Ha'Kavod ! ["(with) The'Honor(s!)"]

 

... but you both should know, realize, and understand/ appreciate what i say as a supplement to what you both say, and that is simply THIS:

 

... It's ALL much, Much Closer to Reality, than fantacy & fiction, AND,

I TELL YOU, that the technology for All this Exists today !!!

Yes! it! certainly! does!

for there is one and ONLY ONE THING standing in humanty's way, from making it a Reality TODAY! ... and that is simply THIS: " .......... $$$ .......... "

 

... don't you agree with me ???

 

don't bark.

i'm fragile.

 

Simcha.

[Pyrotex]

...the technology for All this Exists today !!!

Yes! it! certainly! does!

for there is one and ONLY ONE THING standing in humanty's way, from making it a Reality TODAY! ... and that is simply THIS: " .......... $$$ .......... "

... don't you agree with me ???...

Well... I cannot say that I do. :smilingsun:

Technology is my career and work.

 

We MAY have fusion in a few years or decades, but yes, it will be expensive.

 

There is no faster-than-light drive, time machines, anti-gravity. There aren't even theories about how to make them. There aren't even ideas about how to explore for their theories. Nada.

 

Not barking. :Glasses:

[Moontanman]

To TIC:

... wow! way-to-go! Top-Marks. ... Your last sentence really sums it up, and i agree with you on my eternity!

 

To Moontanman:

... Also! , great what you say.

 

Ha'Kavod ! ["(with) The'Honor(s!)"]

 

... but you both should know, realize, and understand/ appreciate what i say as a supplement to what you both say, and that is simply THIS:

 

... It's ALL much, Much Closer to Reality, than fantacy & fiction, AND,

I TELL YOU, that the technology for All this Exists today !!!

Yes! it! certainly! does!

for there is one and ONLY ONE THING standing in humanty's way, from making it a Reality TODAY! ... and that is simply THIS: " .......... $$$ .......... "

 

... don't you agree with me ???

 

don't bark.

i'm fragile.

 

Simcha.

 

Of course we agree with you simcha (motions for the men in white coats to step forward) we all agree with you 100%, now go with these nice gentlemen, they will take you the space ship farm. :D

 

 

Chipmunks roasting on an open fire, hot sauce dripping from their toes :)