OT: Hard SF Niven (was "Memorare" hardcover)

Matthew Groves · 08 Dec 2007, 06:00 · from 2007-December.txt.gz

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From: matthewalangroves at gmail.com (Matthew Groves)
Date: Sat, 8 Dec 2007 00:00:38 -0600
Subject: (urth) OT: Hard SF Niven (was "Memorare" hardcover)
In-Reply-To: <3207E7A2-4325-445B-A617-EB4361C994D2 at gmail.com>
References: <39ed084f0712051723i21ca06fejc1e91cb376710b43 at mail.gmail.com>
	<4758D574.8070806 at io.com>
	<3207E7A2-4325-445B-A617-EB4361C994D2 at gmail.com>
Message-ID: <39ed084f0712072200p36388869t8bbf5b2c4227c58c at mail.gmail.com>

On Dec 7, 2007 12:22 PM, Matthew King <automatthew at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Dec 6, 2007, at 11:09 PM, Jeff Wilson wrote:
> > [Niven is] not truly a hard SF writer, though he puts on
> > such
> > a good show that most people don't notice he's swept the fossil record
> > under the rug, for example.
>
> Do you mean the Protector-breeder origin of humans?

I did have that reaction when I read Protector:  If the breeders where
homo habilis, then why does homo habilis seem to share ancestory with
other Terran species?

However, from what I've read of Niven's, his greatest sin against
scientific plausibility, in my opinion, is "luck breeding."

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