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/sci/ - Science & Math

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2019385 No.2019385 [Reply] [Original]

So I've been told Sci-Fi authors have no sense of scale. Do you guys believe this is so? Why or why not?

>> No.2019395
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2019395

>Visit /tg/
>MECHA, GALACTIC EMPIRES, MAGIC

What do you think? Oh, and especially hilarious is when they talk about an Empire spanning the galaxy only having a population of billions.

>> No.2019401

Scale is difficult to really describe. You could say that it's 'galaxy-spanning', but our brains don't really comprehend size that well.

>> No.2019409

>>2019401

Agreed. It's really impossible to have a intelligent, higher brow discussion of science, let alone create an entertaining novel about it.

>> No.2019416

>>2019401
You must be dry of imagination.

>> No.2019433
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2019433

Well I guess putting populations into the quintillions (is that what a million-billion is called?) might make things a little too complicated. Though if you're referring to the speed at which people can travel through space in these sci-fi stories, I agree that they make the universe seem rather small. I know it might get boring if it takes them 2 weeks to get to their destination but it would feel more... galactic, I guess.

>> No.2019441
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2019441

Why? Because Sci-Fi just fucking LOVES to throw the word INFINITE around.

Pic related: >mfw "infinite"

>> No.2019449

Most authors have no sense of scale. It's just a lot more apparent when they're writing sci-fi.

>> No.2019457
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2019457

>>2019433

>2 weeks
>TO REACH ANOTHER SOLAR SYSTEM

Do you know how long it takes to reach fucking mars from earth?

>> No.2019472
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2019472

>>2019441

>mfw all of math is based around the idea of an infinite plane

Why exactly do you have a problem with "infinite"?

>> No.2019473

>>2019457
Months, with current technology and accepted acceleration.

>> No.2019497
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2019497

>>2019457
In Star Trek, about 10 seconds on impulse engines

>> No.2019501
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2019501

>>2019457

>ANOTHER SOLAR SYSTEM

Impossible. There are no other Solar Systems besides ours. Now, we can reach other PLANETARY SYSTEMS, but the Solar System is what we occupy right now.

>> No.2019515

>>2019457

Like 2 years, right?

>> No.2019518

>>2019501
solar system
n.
1. often Solar System. The sun together with the eight planets and all other celestial bodies that orbit the sun.
2. A system of planets or other bodies orbiting another star.

>> No.2019558

>>2019409

'It's really impossible to have a intelligent, higher brow discussion of science"

I think you should qualify that with ON 4CHAN. You're on the pimple on the anus of the internet. There are some excellent places out there, and like hell I'm going to mention even one of them here.

>> No.2019563

>>2019501

Pedantic garbage. Everyone understands exactly what is meant by another solar system.

>> No.2019577

It is totally fucking true in every fucking way.

>> No.2019601

>>2019501
No. Sol=Sun

Our Sun is called Sol because it's OUR sun. Just like our Moon is called Luna, "The Moon". Because it's our moon.

That doesn't mean other moons can't exist.

The same with solar systems. Another Star System would still have a sun, or maybe more than one. A star that had planets orbiting it would still be the sun to those planets, just not OUR sun.

Therefore it would still be another SOLar system.

>> No.2019931
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2019931

/thread

>> No.2019976

Spend a couple of hours with the OED some day. Words take on new, altered meanings all the time. Sometimes their definitions change utterly relative to their semantic origins. The important thing is to convey meaning - language is a living entity, not a fossil.

You should study latin - since it's dead nobody will ever confront you with a nasty new usage.

>> No.2019982

ITT: No one has read Alistair Reynolds

>> No.2019990

I didn't bring him up on account of the inertia suppression......

>> No.2019992

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SciFiWritersHaveNoSenseOfScale

reliable sources say yes

>> No.2019994

>>2019990
>>2019982
And conjoiner drives, but.... Clavain....

>> No.2020007

>>2019976

A lot of academics have a bad habit of rejecting any use of a word outside of the strict definition they've given it in their field.

They forget that outside of academia that people can share more abstract and ambiguous ideas that are still able to communicate properly.

And as to sci-fi authors, "hard" science fiction isn't the only genre out there. It is usually the most boring though.

>> No.2020022

>>2020007
>most boring
>opinion