Hard soft sf (notes)
Mar. 15th, 2009 08:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alias_sqbrWhat is hard sf? What are the soft sciences?
THESE DEFINITIONS ARE ARBITRARY, not the "one true meaning". We just need to delimit the discussion so we know what we're talking about.
Hard sf: I have somewhat arbitrarily defined it as "science fiction which extrapolates from science ideas in a way that wouldn't make an expert in that field want to hit their head against a wall"
Soft sciences: Natural and social sciences, like biology, psychology etc.
Give some examples of "hard soft science fiction".
-The Sparrow (properly worked out languages, clever relationship between two species)
-Mars trilogy (terraforming)
Is there less hard soft sf than hard hard sf? If so, why? If not, why do people think there is?
Do authors feel more comfortable ignorantly making up soft science (eg psychology) than they would be hard sciences? If so, why? Do they get it very wrong?
Idea: People feel more comfortable with "pop psychology" than "pop physics". We all need a basic model of psychology to deal with the people around us but can happily not think about physics or maths at all.
What are some good hard soft sf books?
Depends if you mean good books or good science.
Here is my list.
What soft sciences seem to suit it best? What soft sciences seem to never get written about?
Linguistics is very popular, for some reason!
What are some cool soft science ideas that would make cool books?
THESE DEFINITIONS ARE ARBITRARY, not the "one true meaning". We just need to delimit the discussion so we know what we're talking about.
Hard sf: I have somewhat arbitrarily defined it as "science fiction which extrapolates from science ideas in a way that wouldn't make an expert in that field want to hit their head against a wall"
Soft sciences: Natural and social sciences, like biology, psychology etc.
Give some examples of "hard soft science fiction".
-The Sparrow (properly worked out languages, clever relationship between two species)
-Mars trilogy (terraforming)
Is there less hard soft sf than hard hard sf? If so, why? If not, why do people think there is?
Do authors feel more comfortable ignorantly making up soft science (eg psychology) than they would be hard sciences? If so, why? Do they get it very wrong?
Idea: People feel more comfortable with "pop psychology" than "pop physics". We all need a basic model of psychology to deal with the people around us but can happily not think about physics or maths at all.
What are some good hard soft sf books?
Depends if you mean good books or good science.
Here is my list.
What soft sciences seem to suit it best? What soft sciences seem to never get written about?
Linguistics is very popular, for some reason!
What are some cool soft science ideas that would make cool books?
