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james_davis_nicoll ([personal profile] james_davis_nicoll) wrote2013-09-30 01:23 pm
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So why

Am I now seeing novels about generation ships actually reaching their destinations? Do the authors not understand how generation ship stories are supposed to work?
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[identity profile] chris-gerrib.livejournal.com 2013-09-30 06:19 pm (UTC)(link)
Well I for one always wondered why SF writers were so positive that generation ships wouldn't work.

[identity profile] ilya187.livejournal.com 2013-09-30 07:11 pm (UTC)(link)
Plenty of reasons. I do not believe they will ever work[1] in real life either.

[1]"Work" in the sense of "successfully deliver human cargo to another star and founding a colony"

[identity profile] mmcirvin.livejournal.com 2013-10-01 01:22 am (UTC)(link)
On the other hand, that they would actually be seriously tried, and yet fail to work in the kinds of interesting ways that happen in SF stories (instead of "everyone on board is dead within a year"), seems considerably less plausible.

[identity profile] mindstalk.livejournal.com 2013-09-30 07:22 pm (UTC)(link)
Were they so positive, or did they just like telling stories about generation ships that didn't work?

[identity profile] chris-gerrib.livejournal.com 2013-09-30 08:20 pm (UTC)(link)
I was at a con where Seth Solstak (SETI guy) and Jack McDivett (writer) were both adamant that generation ships would never work.
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