Why

[james_davis_nicoll]

Do SF authors make up new elements? The elements don't seem to be in Seaborg's island of stability, either.

Actually, what I really mean is why would the sort of person who can't be bothered to look at a table of elements or think about the general decline in half-lives as atomic mass increases past a certain point bother with SF? What's the attraction for them?

Comments

[fridgepunk.livejournal.com]

There's a description of the role of genes in development in Triton that's better than what you find in most supposedly hard SF dealing with the subject.

Oh like that's difficult; hard sf is strangely soft and floppy when it comes to issues relating to the biosciences.

[dagbrown.livejournal.com]

How do you find Peter Watts?

[avram]

I look in the SF section, under "W".

[keithmm.livejournal.com]

I find it in the "Are You Feeling Too Optimistic? Have a Hankering For a Dose of Soul-Destroying Hopelessness?" section myself.

[invunche.livejournal.com]

Peter Watts? The Rifters guy? Depressing (http://www.rifters.com/real/shorts/PeterWatts_RepeatingThePast.pdf)?

I'll believe it when he starts writing comedies.