The donkey between two equally attractive piles of hay: me, reading a lot of science-fiction
My growing interest in and study of astrobiology is playing merry hell with my love of science fiction. Deep in Tom Kratman's novel A Desert Called Peace, which is a fascinating story about an earthlike world settled by Earthmen that is undergoing wars much like ours in the 21st century, I am struck by the fact that as described, his Terra Nova couldn't exist. It has no large moon like our Luna to stabilize its orbit. Colonists from Earth are able to eat the native animal life without problems, whereas given that every planetary system would differ chemically from Earth in at least a few significant ways, any animal life that might evolve on its worlds would be guaranteed to have proteins and trace elements in its body that Earthly life just couldn't handle (violent allergic reactions and/or systemic poisoning by said trace elements being just two of the things that could go wildly wrong with such a diet). The lack of a large moon could also mess up the reproductive cycles of female colonists and any animal life from Earth the colonists brought with them, in which case the colonies would die out -- only a possibility, as far as we know, but we don't know that it isn't a possibility, either.
There is no mention of how the continental masses are distributed around or over the poles of the world, either, which is important when it comes to figuring out average global temperatures and how native vegetation -- the fodder for both native animal life and any animal life imported from Earth -- has adapted to the global temperature and climate of Terra Nova. Plus, there's no discussion about the chemistry of that world's atmosphere -- by implication, it's just like Earth's. Taken together, these are important considerations. During Earth's Mesozoic Era, atmospheric oxygen content was significantly higher than it is now, and average global temperatures were hotter. The higher temperatures supported higher biomass productivity, and the greater oxygen content supported the evolution of creatures much larger than any living on land now, such as the giant Tyrannosaurus rex and its equally large prey, e.g., such as Anatotitan, Ankylosaurus, and Torosaurus. A world filled with animal life resembling that of Earth's Mesozoic would be far harder to colonize than one with animal life typical of the mid- to late Cenozoic, with which we co-evolved on Earth, and until it had been relentlessly hunted out of existence, human intraspecific warfare would be rare, taking place only for short episodes between battling to the death with ravening hordes of giant native animals.
That said, however, as a story, A Desert Called Peace is enthralling. Essentially what Kratman has done is created a more-or-less clone of Earth and then set up Earthly colonies on it that evolve into nation-states and ethnic groups suitable for the story he wants to tell. There's no harm in that, as long as the reader remembers that it is a story, one that is admittedly somewhat polemic and which the author intends to show the reader what the consequences of certain types of political activities on Earth could lead to. Dragwyla's Law of Story: If a science-fiction novel, novella, or short story gives good story, you don't have to nitpick it to death about the scientific details. -- As long as you're honest enough to admit later that no, you didn't do your astrobiological homework on the thing, but so what?
Most of the best science-fiction of all times falls on its face astrobiologically speaking, from Jules Verne's adventures to C. L. Moore's Shambleau universe to, well, many of today's most sought-after novelists. Perhaps the greatest modern exception to this is the work of H. P. Lovecraft, whose basic fictional premise of a cold, unfeeling cosmos that doesn't give a damn about us puny humans yielded up stories that are a lot closer to the scientific mark than those of most of his literary contemporaries and those that came after them; Lovecraft was one of the most intelligent and widely-read men of his time, and his great scientific interests included astronomy, and those facts are reflected in his fiction, which, at least as far as astrobiology goes, may turn out to be rather prescient. As far as cinematic science-fiction goes, the universe of Aliens is far more likely than those of Star Wars and Star Trek -- and, scientifically speaking, much more interesting than the latter. Yet most of the stories by these authors and their colleagues make for fascinating reads, page-turners that in many cases you just can't put down until you have finished with them.
So I guess I'll just have to grit my teeth and bare it when it comes to reading a lot of my favorite science fiction. ;-)
There is no mention of how the continental masses are distributed around or over the poles of the world, either, which is important when it comes to figuring out average global temperatures and how native vegetation -- the fodder for both native animal life and any animal life imported from Earth -- has adapted to the global temperature and climate of Terra Nova. Plus, there's no discussion about the chemistry of that world's atmosphere -- by implication, it's just like Earth's. Taken together, these are important considerations. During Earth's Mesozoic Era, atmospheric oxygen content was significantly higher than it is now, and average global temperatures were hotter. The higher temperatures supported higher biomass productivity, and the greater oxygen content supported the evolution of creatures much larger than any living on land now, such as the giant Tyrannosaurus rex and its equally large prey, e.g., such as Anatotitan, Ankylosaurus, and Torosaurus. A world filled with animal life resembling that of Earth's Mesozoic would be far harder to colonize than one with animal life typical of the mid- to late Cenozoic, with which we co-evolved on Earth, and until it had been relentlessly hunted out of existence, human intraspecific warfare would be rare, taking place only for short episodes between battling to the death with ravening hordes of giant native animals.
That said, however, as a story, A Desert Called Peace is enthralling. Essentially what Kratman has done is created a more-or-less clone of Earth and then set up Earthly colonies on it that evolve into nation-states and ethnic groups suitable for the story he wants to tell. There's no harm in that, as long as the reader remembers that it is a story, one that is admittedly somewhat polemic and which the author intends to show the reader what the consequences of certain types of political activities on Earth could lead to. Dragwyla's Law of Story: If a science-fiction novel, novella, or short story gives good story, you don't have to nitpick it to death about the scientific details. -- As long as you're honest enough to admit later that no, you didn't do your astrobiological homework on the thing, but so what?
Most of the best science-fiction of all times falls on its face astrobiologically speaking, from Jules Verne's adventures to C. L. Moore's Shambleau universe to, well, many of today's most sought-after novelists. Perhaps the greatest modern exception to this is the work of H. P. Lovecraft, whose basic fictional premise of a cold, unfeeling cosmos that doesn't give a damn about us puny humans yielded up stories that are a lot closer to the scientific mark than those of most of his literary contemporaries and those that came after them; Lovecraft was one of the most intelligent and widely-read men of his time, and his great scientific interests included astronomy, and those facts are reflected in his fiction, which, at least as far as astrobiology goes, may turn out to be rather prescient. As far as cinematic science-fiction goes, the universe of Aliens is far more likely than those of Star Wars and Star Trek -- and, scientifically speaking, much more interesting than the latter. Yet most of the stories by these authors and their colleagues make for fascinating reads, page-turners that in many cases you just can't put down until you have finished with them.
So I guess I'll just have to grit my teeth and bare it when it comes to reading a lot of my favorite science fiction. ;-)