The "ten errors of science fiction" article makes my head hurt. The author is apparently using a very different definition of "sapience" than the rest of us, as pretty much all definitions of it boil down to doing certain types of information processing. That destroys his "life may be too *simple* to notice" argument, as data storage requires a certain type of complexity (the existance of a large number of states/configurations that can be distinguished from each other). Playing fast and loose with the definition of "life" doesn't help either (this ends up setting up a tautology where we define life as whatever we want to define it as).
The author also appears to buy into at least one fringe theory, with the "time is an illusion we invented" line, and to not have a very good grasp of quantum mechanics with some of the statements he makes about QM's consequences.
Long story short, while the core point has merit (we do tend to look for patterns we're used to rather than explore all possible configurations of what life could be like), that's about the only thing in here that has merit as far as I can tell.
I think the article is correct but miss the whole point.cjthomasJune 28 2010, 19:31:42 UTC
About the will: Aliens can be present in our planet in very specific ways: -invasion troop. -visitors (tourist). -colonizer. -and some other ways more.
When Colombus invaded America, their intention (and the intention of almost the whole crew) was to profit, so it is not so strange that think that a group of foreign visitor will come with the same will.
But a Alien planet can be otherwise, it, for example, can be a mess just like the Earth, with different cultures, different kinds and colors and we are not act as a unity. Also there are a different weather.
For example, Tatooine is a desert planet and every single corner of the planet is the same, Hott is a freeze planet and, again, every single corner is the same. And Alderaan himself is almost the same.
I'm pretty sure there are plenty of science fiction stories which do cover pretty much everything he wrote. Well, at least as well as you can when the author is still human, writing for humans and is trying to also entertain his audience. Even some of the points that do horribly misinterpret various scientific theories are covered.
I mean, heck, there was a short story that tried to describe a human descended civilization/entity/species that has passed outside the universe to escape it's heat death. Lem did a bunch of "they're so alien we cannot comprehend them" novels which most of that articles points would basically boil down to. Slaughterhouse Five did the "time is an illusion" bit. And so on.
Personally, I'm not sure exactly what the author's point is.
The author also appears to buy into at least one fringe theory, with the "time is an illusion we invented" line, and to not have a very good grasp of quantum mechanics with some of the statements he makes about QM's consequences.
Long story short, while the core point has merit (we do tend to look for patterns we're used to rather than explore all possible configurations of what life could be like), that's about the only thing in here that has merit as far as I can tell.
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Aliens can be present in our planet in very specific ways:
-invasion troop.
-visitors (tourist).
-colonizer.
-and some other ways more.
When Colombus invaded America, their intention (and the intention of almost the whole crew) was to profit, so it is not so strange that think that a group of foreign visitor will come with the same will.
But a Alien planet can be otherwise, it, for example, can be a mess just like the Earth, with different cultures, different kinds and colors and we are not act as a unity. Also there are a different weather.
For example, Tatooine is a desert planet and every single corner of the planet is the same, Hott is a freeze planet and, again, every single corner is the same. And Alderaan himself is almost the same.
Reply
I mean, heck, there was a short story that tried to describe a human descended civilization/entity/species that has passed outside the universe to escape it's heat death. Lem did a bunch of "they're so alien we cannot comprehend them" novels which most of that articles points would basically boil down to. Slaughterhouse Five did the "time is an illusion" bit. And so on.
Personally, I'm not sure exactly what the author's point is.
Reply
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