Actual science in science fiction

[james_davis_nicoll]

Not applied sciences, I mean, or feats of engineering but the actual process of science. Is this a suitable topic for SF, by which I mean "can it be the seed for a story?" Or maybe better yet, "how does one use it as the seed for a story?"

One example would be the Steerswoman books. I think part of what makes that possible is that the protagonist is discovering scientific models that we are already familiar with, so the author is not saddled with the problem of coming up with a new scientific model.

I am not fussy about "Yes, this was cutting edge science 200 years ago and it still is today" stories, where whatever bit of pop-science that made the cover of DISCOVER is still new and exciting centuries from now.

Comments

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

Come to think of it, the book I refered to in my first entry today used archaeology. That's a handy field for SF, because we are producing new past all the time and thanks to computers, most of it is being documented in ways that guarentee our descendents in a few thousand years will be left trying to figure out exactly _when_ Micky Mouse became the tutelary god of California or if Marilyn and Madonna are two names for the same deity.

[rosefox]

http://www.geocities.com/Athens/5341/barbie.html

[wdstarr.livejournal.com]

Come to think of it, the book I referred to in my first entry today used archaeology.

Hmm, Used archaeology, was set in the far but not deep-time future, and had character names and cultural references contemporary to the 20th/21st century... Jack McDevitt?