Information AboutHard Sf |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT HARD SCIENCE FICTION | |
| science fiction genres | |
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SCIENTIFIC RIGOR The heart of the "hard SF" designation is the relationship of the science content and attitude to the rest of the narrative, and (for some readers, at least) the "hardness" or rigor of the science itself.See, for example, David N. Samuelson, "Modes of Extrapolation: The Formulas of Hard Science Fiction" One requirement for hard SF is procedural or intentional: a story should be trying to be accurate and rigorous in its use of the scientific knowledge of its time, and later discoveries do not necessarily invalidate the label. For example, P. Schuyler Miller called Arthur C. Clarke 's 1961 novel ''A Fall of Moondust'' hard SF Science Fiction Citations: Hard Science Fiction , and the designation remains valid even though a crucial plot element, the existence of deep pockets of "moondust" in lunar craters, is now known to be incorrect. There is a degree of flexibility in how far from "real science" a story can stray before it leaves the realm of hard SF. Some authors scrupulously avoid such implausibilities as faster-than-light travel, while others accept such notions (sometimes called "enabling devices," since they allow the story to take place) but focus on realistically depicting the worlds that such a technology might make possible. In this view, a story's scientific "hardness" is less a matter of the absolute accuracy of the science content than of the rigor and consistency with which the various ideas and possibilities are worked out. REPRESENTATIVE WRITERS
OTHER MEDIA Hard science fiction is a genre primarily associated with print science fiction because it is characterized by a particular relationship with science. Science fiction in other media may, however, capture the look and feel of hard science fiction. Film
Television
Comics
Computer and video games
Anime
RPG
MISCELLANEOUS A fan organization that has grown up around Hard Science Fiction is General Technics , populated by scientists, technical folks, and others with a specific interest in this area. General Technics' name is taken from the organization that created a global-scale computer in John Brunner 's novel, '' Stand On Zanzibar ''. General Technics, though concentrated in the American Midwest, has a global membership. REFERENCES FURTHER READING
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