Problematic element in chronology

Jeff Wilson · 30 May 2011, 21:39 · from 2011-May.txt.gz

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From: jwilson at io.com (Jeff Wilson)
Date: Mon, 30 May 2011 16:39:48 -0500
Subject: (urth) Problematic element in chronology
In-Reply-To: <1FA299F467334EA3AB206557AEDF319A@jill>
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Message-ID: <4DE40EA4.6080909 at io.com>

On 5/30/2011 1:36 PM, Gerry Quinn wrote:
>> So we think, but then again it's not like we've much of a portfolio to
>> show as a species.
>
> I think that Wolfe knows this is not really possible but happily wrote
> it anyway. I think he strives for scientific versimilitude when he can,
> but such versimilitude is far from perfect. And why should it be - he is
> writing science fiction stories, not science textbooks. If the science
> were correct readers could reasonably ask for their money back!.

Right on! Science fiction is so called because it appeals to the 
authority of science to suspend disbelief. However, appeals to authority 
aren't scientific, so science fiction inherently diverges from 
scientific accuracy. Ergo, accuracy in the science is nice but absolute 
correctness (another unscientific concept) is not required.

-- 
Jeff Wilson - jwilson at io.com
Computational Intelligence Laboratory - Texas A&M Texarkana
< http://www.tamut.edu/CIL >

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