Hard SF

Antonin Scriabin · 28 Nov 2012, 16:28 · from 2012-November.txt.gz

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From: kierkegaurdian at gmail.com (Antonin Scriabin)
Date: Wed, 28 Nov 2012 11:28:00 -0500
Subject: (urth) Hard SF
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Yeah, the gravitational shenanigans were what made me think this likely
isn't the case.  However, introducing one big problem that would get rid of
several others (the previously posted lists of reasons biological entities
can't really travel through space unprotected) is certainly attractive!
Perhaps the Inhumi travel in "bubbles" of protective atmosphere, similar to
the way some spiders create
aqualungs<http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2011/06/spiders.html>for
themselves to travel underwater?


On Wed, Nov 28, 2012 at 11:21 AM, Dan'l Danehy-Oakes <danldo at gmail.com>wrote:

> Not really -- they both seem to have about one G of surface gravity, so
> getting close enough that their atmospheres meaningfully touched would
> involve massive tidal effects up to and including immense tsunami and
> disastrous earthquakes.
>
>
> On Wed, Nov 28, 2012 at 8:04 AM, Daniel Petersen <
> danielottojackpetersen at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> That's a wonderful thought, Antonin!  Is this feasible?  (Both generally
>> and in the text?)
>>
>> -DOJP
>>
>>
>> On Wed, Nov 28, 2012 at 3:57 PM, Antonin Scriabin <
>> kierkegaurdian at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> Do we have any idea just how close Blue and Green get during
>>> conjunction?  I seem to remember that from Blue, Green is more of a spec
>>> than a moon, but perhaps they are close enough, or have unusually expansive
>>> atmospheres, such that during conjunction their atmospheres merge and allow
>>> the Inhumi to fly from one to another.  If they are this close though, they
>>> would most definitely fall under the sway of one another's gravitational
>>> field, which doesn't seem to be the case.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On Wed, Nov 28, 2012 at 10:51 AM, 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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>>>
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>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Daniel Otto Jack Petersen
>>
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>
>
>
> --
> Dan'l Danehy-Oakes
>
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