Hard SF

Daniel Petersen · 28 Nov 2012, 16:03 · from 2012-November.txt.gz

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From: danielottojackpetersen at gmail.com (Daniel Petersen)
Date: Wed, 28 Nov 2012 16:03:51 +0000
Subject: (urth) Hard SF
In-Reply-To: <SNT123-W51C23DE417511A76E93303CF5D0 at phx.gbl>
References: <SNT123-W51C23DE417511A76E93303CF5D0 at phx.gbl>
Message-ID: <CAGB0RZ6-Zg0AMVwFt=KEA-H38Xg5aUQJadq32C9oNC3qxDC-Bw at mail.gmail.com>

I'd tend to agree with Lee here. -DOJP

On Wed, Nov 28, 2012 at 3:51 PM, Lee Berman <severiansola at hotmail.com>wrote:

>
> >David Stockhoff: We're not talking about hard SF here.
>
> Just for the sake of discussion, I'll disagree. Perhaps Wolfe isn't
> diamond-hard
> but I'd give him ruby- or sapphire- on the MOhs scale. I think he makes a
> sincere attempt in most of his work, as the quote below illustrates.
>
> Where fantasy writers are content to give us shape changers without
> explanation,
> Wolfe provides us with a sponge cellular analogy for Tzadkiel and flexible
> bones
> and muscles, make-up and hypnotic abilities for Inhumi.
>
> If the Inhumi really fly through space I'd want more than the skimpy
> evidence we
> are provided (and less evidence for their lying nature).
>
> >Nick Gevers: Speaking as an engineer, how might the godling be
> constructed so as to
> >walk as a giant on land, where the undines [submarine giantesses] cannot?
>
> >Gene Wolfe: There are a number of ways you could go. First, get rid of
> the notion that
> >the godling is going to be proportioned like a human being. Changes in
> size always mean
> >changes in build. (Dr. Crane touches on that.) A man fifty feet tall,
> proportioned like
> >you or me, would sink into the ground a lot -- had you thought of that?
> Take a look at
> >the really big dinosaurs. Bone density could be increased, and the legs
> and pelvis made
> >more massive, and so on
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-- 
Daniel Otto Jack Petersen
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