The science of science fiction

Franchino

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I am a professor of physics (Florence, Italy) and I am preparing a series of lectures on the "science of science fiction", say time and space travels, aliens (their behaviour, mind and languages), exobiology, robots and artificial intelligence, etc.
My main focus is the relationship between science and science fiction, for instance how relativity changed the ideas of space travel, how biology affected alien representation, the influence of computers, neural networks, deep learning on artificial intelligence.
In many cases scifi authors anticipated the reality, but in others (especially in the biology of parasites, and in the role of inter-individual communication) the reality is weirder than imagination.

Suggestion and references are welcome (and try to help me in recovering old references, see my other posts).

In case someone is interested I can share my draft, when ready.
 
Good luck with the lectures!

I can't help with recommendations, but I'll move your thread over to Book Discussion where it will likely get more notice -- Book Search is really for those who half-remember a specific book, but just can't put a author name or title to it.
 
I can suggest a few books that I own:

The Physics of Star Trek by Lawrence M Kraus. Kraus was a "science adviser" to some seasons of Star Trek.
Is Data Human? The Metaphysics of Star Trek by Richard Hanley.
I think there was also a Biology of Star Trek that I read, but I don't remember the author.
The Science of Doctor Who by Paul Parsons.
 
Well you simply MUST check out Tau Zero by Poul Anderson who had a degree in physics. The most interesting thing is that advances in physics contradicted the ending of the story. The rate of expansion of the universe is increasing.

The cool thing about science fiction is that it makes science more interesting than a lot of science teachers.
 
For social affects of computer technology:

Daemon & Freedom by Daniel Suarez

and

Voyage from Yesteryear by James P Hogan

Ever heard of PLATO?


Consider how powerful a $200 tablet is today compared to a $1,000,000 mainframe from 1980. How much of our so called educational system could really be replaced and improved by computers with the proper software? How many people would be opposed to that for economic and social control reasons?
 
One writer who I believe has great insight into the way things will actually develop, particularly in regard to the digital (ie interstellar durable) replication of the human mind is Charles Stross. If you have the time read his "Accelerando" . OK it is a tech singularity tale but not an average one. Once we leave the present day it is an idea factory. A rollercoaster ride into a future very different to the one normally visualised in pop SF
 
I seriously recommend What If? by Randall Munroe. Taken from his XKCD blog.

He takes the sort of ridiculous scenarios which routinely turn up in cheap SF stories (basically the sort of questions a bright 10 year old who reads comics would ask) and applies good science to them with detailed answers.
e.g.
What would happen if the Earth and all terrestrial objects suddenly stopped spinning, but the atmosphere retained its velocity?
What would happen if you tried to hit a baseball pitched at 90% the velocity of light?


An absolutely brilliant read.

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Two resources I highly enjoyed when I was exploring this topic:

1) Physics of the Impossible (2008) by Michio Kaku, and

2) How Science Shapes Science Fiction by Prof. Charles L Adler
This is a series of 24 lectures available through the streaming service, Wondrium (formerly The Great Courses), which is available via subscription or via a library card (if your library subscribes.)

Adler also has a book out: Wizards, Aliens, and Starships: Physics and Math in Fantasy and Science Fiction, but I haven't read it yet so I can't comment. All I can say is that it's dedicated "To Poul Anderson, who wrote it better, shorter, and earlier" so he's another one to look up (as @psikeyhackr mentioned above.)

Good luck with your lectures!
 
You might want to try reading Julie Czerneda's About Julie – Julie E. Czerneda three book Species Imperative series. Julie is a biologist by training and her main character in this relatively near future sf is a fish behavioural biologist. She gets it really right as to how researchers behave, and it is impressive how she interpolates through to alien races.
 
The above are all good recommendations about the links between SF and science.

Me being me, I have for various reasons put some thought into how they link up over the years...

There are 2 mechanisms that can act independently and still generate the same ideas in both science and science fiction - namely extrapolation of what is (and in particular of science and technology trends), and fulfilling societal requirements / highly desirable wish list. As to whether science thinks of an invention first or science fiction depends on financial investment and personal interest of writer / scientist / engineer. What can and does happen is that science fiction writes about something on the wish list. This gets out into the wider community and can end up in the hands of a technologist who then does something about it.

As for the other invention mechanisms in SF or science, the devolve down to chance to a large extent (e.g. using serendipity). But that does not stop SF giving the engineers the idea and an invention giving the SF an idea.

So far what I've said may seem obvious. Here's the real problem - the use of inventions can be stifled by politics, existing infrastructure making the implementation of any new invention not cost-effective (think of the limiting of rocket diameters to the width of Roman chariots chain of cause and effect), and other higher survival priorities. Similarly the showcasing of new ideas can be rendered impossible by entrenchment and adherence to popular themes if the new ideas contradict them.

Hope these thoughts help.
 
Hi,

Odd thought but for many of us space opera writers we have to pretty much ignore relativity. And for anyone looking for spaceships and aliens on Earth in the real world, they should pretty much give up if relativity is correct too. Because all any of us end up doing is trying to go around it with worm holes and what have you. Of course for those of us who don't believe in it - the universe is the limit!

Cheers, Greg.
 

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