Huh

[james_davis_nicoll]

This would make more sense to me if I still read Analog:


Title: The World's Simplest Fusion Reactor Revisted
Author: Tom Ligon
Year: 2008
Type: ESSAY
Series: Science Fact (Analog)
ISFDB Record Number: 854370

Title: The World's Simplest Fusion Reactor
Author: Tom Ligon
Year: 1998
Type: ESSAY
Series: Science Fact (Analog)
ISFDB Record Number: 126238

Reprint? Reexamination of the first essay?

Also posted at Dreamwidth, where there are comment(s); comment here or there.

Comments

[matt-ruff.livejournal.com]

His superpowers were wearing off after a decade so he had to go back for another dose of gamma rays.

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

Dur. Clearly a revisit.

Revisits are potentially an interesting idea. For example, I would pay a bright shiny penny to see Michael F. Flynn discuss the accuracy of his modeling in the first version of An Introduction to Psychohistory, Parts 1 and 2 in light of the events of the next 25 years.

[nancylebov.livejournal.com]

I would give a starched, ironed dollar bill for that.

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

I wonder if there are enough SF pundits foolish enough to have set prediction to print to make up a panel.

Didn't Spinrad predict Russia would be plagued by ethnic strife in the 1980s? Yeah, The Taming of the Bear: The Coming Decline of Soviet Power (1980). I literally have no looked at it since 1980, no idea how it stood up.

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

You know what would be hilarious to me? A panel made up of right wing types whose predictions from the 1970s or 1980s are Soviet Menace: Juggernaut of Doooooooom and a bunch of lefties whose predictions same period are Soviet Menace: Lucky to Get to 1985.

[(Anonymous)]

As the leftists you mention were mostly right, I don't see the right wing showing up. Except Robert Conquest, but as he's nearing the century mark he could be forgiven for declining the invitation.

I note that the Wikipedia article on Conquest does not even mention his most important work, "Spectrum 3" with Amis (one of my first SF anthologies).

William Hyde

[carloshasanax.livejournal.com]

And the corollary, whether his demonstrated expertise in modeling should affect our judgment about his other claims.

[chrysostom476.livejournal.com]

Heinlein did this in Expanded Universe.

[beamjockey.livejournal.com]

Yes; Heinlein did TWO revisits on that essay. Dave Langford wrote:

"Pandora's Box" is a great wodge of 1950 predictions with 1965 afterthoughts and 1979 third thoughts, a good read even where it's most wrong. Heinlein's non-fiction works best when he's relaxed, speaking as himself, tossing in the odd first-person pronoun, and generally sounding like one of his garrulously omniscient sages.

Fight of the Century: 1962 Pournelle vs. 1991 Pournelle!

[beamjockey.livejournal.com]

While planning programming for a Chicago Worldcon, I came across the proceedings of an earlier Chicago Worldcon.

Among the speakers was J.E. Pournelle, a grad student in political science. He was bold enough to give a talk about the geopolitical future.

I send him a photocopy asked him whether he'd be willing to give a talk critiquing his younger self. Unfortunately this inspiration didn't occur to me until rather shortly before the con, so he demurred.

I still think it would be a pretty good idea to do this, provided Dr. P. is game for it.