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  • (ReacTor) Five Works of SF Inspired by Pseudoscience

    From James Nicoll@21:1/5 to All on Tue May 28 14:17:12 2024
    Five Works of SF Inspired by Pseudoscience

    Some good (or at least interesting) SF has been based on truly
    bonkers pseudoscience.

    https://reactormag.com/five-works-of-sf-inspired-by-pseudoscience/
    --
    My reviews can be found at http://jamesdavisnicoll.com/
    My tor pieces at https://www.tor.com/author/james-davis-nicoll/
    My Dreamwidth at https://james-davis-nicoll.dreamwidth.org/
    My patreon is at https://www.patreon.com/jamesdnicoll

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  • From David Duffy@21:1/5 to James Nicoll on Fri May 31 00:18:41 2024
    James Nicoll <[email protected]> wrote:
    Five Works of SF Inspired by Pseudoscience

    Some good (or at least interesting) SF has been based on truly
    bonkers pseudoscience.

    https://reactormag.com/five-works-of-sf-inspired-by-pseudoscience/

    Lots of great art based on bonkers systems down the millenia - as
    long as they make a nice pattern.

    But this is tangled up by the demarcation problem (beloved of
    philosophers of science). Recall that the recent flap about
    a replication problem in science started around:

    Bem DJ: Feeling the future: experimental evidence for anomalous
    retroactive influences on cognition and affect. J Pers Soc
    Psychol. 2011;100(3):407???425.

    and even

    Bem D, Tressoldi P, Rabeyron T, and Duggan M.
    Feeling the future: A meta-analysis of 90 experiments on the anomalous anticipation of random future events F1000Res. 2015; 4: 1188

    I don't kmow why people weren't more suspicious of a man called Bem.

    Cheers, David Duffy.

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  • From Mad Hamish@21:1/5 to Nicoll on Fri May 31 15:34:18 2024
    On Tue, 28 May 2024 14:17:12 -0000 (UTC), [email protected] (James
    Nicoll) wrote:

    Five Works of SF Inspired by Pseudoscience

    Some good (or at least interesting) SF has been based on truly
    bonkers pseudoscience.

    https://reactormag.com/five-works-of-sf-inspired-by-pseudoscience/

    Needed footnotes about the Illuminatus trilogy

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  • From Joy Beeson@21:1/5 to Nicoll on Sat Jul 13 22:19:35 2024
    On Tue, 28 May 2024 14:17:12 -0000 (UTC), [email protected] (James
    Nicoll) wrote:

    Five Works of SF Inspired by Pseudoscience

    Some good (or at least interesting) SF has been based on truly
    bonkers pseudoscience.

    https://reactormag.com/five-works-of-sf-inspired-by-pseudoscience/

    One of the comments made me realize that the Lensmen must have been
    inspired, in part, by hybrid corn. Only in part, because the seeds
    produced by the hybrid are not good for planting.

    Breeders create two inbred strains, then plant them in alternating
    rows and detassel the female parent and, after the seed has set, mow
    down the male parent.

    (I wonder whether anyone on this forum remembers the "Texas
    Male-Sterile Cytoplasm" disaster.)


    --
    Joy Beeson
    joy beeson at centurylink dot net
    http://wlweather.net/PAGEJOY/

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