Almost Inevitable

[ninebelow]

In a sense, that's what I was referring to when I said at the start of this piece that I regard The West Wing as science fiction. On one level, of course, the claim is silly: there is nothing in the series outside the canon of current political or scientific possibility (or what we as outsiders might imagine those to be.) The West Wing is entirely

Comments

[grahamsleight]

Can I count Ted Chiang as a yes vote?

[coalescent]

Any chance of making this public so I can link to it?

[ninebelow]

Done.

[coalescent]

Good man.

[coalescent]

Further comment.

[grahamsleight]

Responded to. (Do you perceive the whole of the internet at once through magic goggles or something?)

[coalescent]

As if I'm going to give away my secrets!

[coalescent]

I hate everyone who is answering "no" but not going to SH to argue with Graham. But I hate the people who are answering "it's slipstream" even more. :-p

[grahamsleight]

Well, yes. It'd be nice to have some substantiation for the "No"s, and in particular an idea of which bit of the argument Martin quotes they disagree with.

[ninebelow]

Personally I don't really disagree with anything you've written and you make the case very well. However my "no" is because just because it can be read as SF, doesn't make it SF and to claim it as SF seems like the awful sort of thing Niall would do.

[grahamsleight]

So Niall-ness is in itself a pejorative?

[pigeonhed]

You missed a Graham who? option

[ninebelow]

For some reason the with comments link strips out his bio but:

Graham Sleight lives in London, UK. He would like to thank John Clute, Niall Harrison, and Dan Hartland for discussions about The West Wing. The conclusions above are, of course, his own.

[coalescent]

The bio is still there, but it's underneath the comment box rather than between Graham's words and the comments as you might expect. I've never been sure why that happens.