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]

I try not to think about what happens farther down the time stream, when there are lots of time-phones kicking around.

BTW, did it bother anyone else that the wild-eyed alarmists were portrayed as being unnecessarily alarmist, when in fact the engineers did manage to destroy the planet with their allegedly safe power generation system.

[sraun]

Re: when there are lots of time-phones kicking around.

How true! Life is going to get very interesting!

Re: wild-eyed alarmists

I'd have to go back and re-read - but my recollection is that the alarmists were viewed as crack-pots by the power plant management. That's a rather important difference - the scientists looked at the data and said 'hmm, this is new, we should consider this', while the management said, 'we already know all the answers, why should we bother?'

It was more of the scientist vs. management world-view that he skewered so enthusiastically in The Genesis Machine.