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The human colony on the planet Argo has long explored and exploited the technology left behind by an extinct alien race. But then an archaeology team accidentally activates a terrible weapon...
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Science and Science Fiction: The Cold Equations
January 19th, 2008
From time to time I’ll write about the courses I’m teaching, at least when I think it’s interesting behind the scenes. It should be this semester.
Last year and this year both I’ve started my Science and Science Fiction class with “The Cold Equations,” a famous proto-hard sf story by Tom Godwin. My course is nominally a physics course with a goal of teaching science and science communication through science fiction in its various forms, but I don’t start with a very deep physics lesson (although later in the course we do focus on Newton’s Laws as applied to spaceships). I want to start with a discussion of the philosophy of science in juxtaposition with humanistic sensibilities. This story historically has generated a lot of discussion and strong feelings, and that’s what good literature should do (whether or not the prose is particularly literary). One website going into this discussion about this story is here, although there have been a lot of stories, essays, and discussions in a lot of venues.
With minimal introduction, we read the original short story in class Wednesday. Its intent, from my perspective, is that the laws of physics have no emotions, no human qualities, and ignorance of them will get you killed no matter how innocent or tragic the situation. But the story has flaws of various sorts, and moreover some people just don’t don’t want to accept this thesis. (Reminding me about forbidden story themes.) The story can be read in different ways, and it’s certainly a complex, emotionally charged situation with high stakes that leads to critical thought.
I followed up this year with the 1996 movie version. It’s padded out a bit, but more importantly for my purposes, changes the story in a way to clearly highlight some of the humanistic objections and flaws of the original.
The course assignments are: read “Think Like a Dinosaur” by James Patrick Kelly, which is a modern high-quality humanistic response to “The Cold Equations,” and to write a 3-4 page response to the two versions of the original story and Kelly’s reaction, focusing not on the science but just on emotional reaction. I’ll start teaching science (beginning with light) next week, but want to get critical thought and engage both hemispheres of the brain and talk about the metatext of stories. We’ll have an hour of discussion before switching topics, and hope for some thoughtful responses. (That’s a hint if you’re in my class and reading this blog!)
I have a special affinity for “The Cold Equations” because I once met Tom Godwin’s daughter at an Armadillocon back in the 1990s and she spoke with me at length about her father and the story. When I told another Clarion West class mate about this, she asked me, “How much did she weigh?”
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I know it’s not SF but may I recommend you add Jack London’s “To Build a Fire” to your class’ reading list?
That’s a very interesting suggestion and very closely related, thematically. I haven’t read it in a while, but I don’t recall it being too long. Thanks — I will consider it.
Mike,
I am a math and physics professor at a small liberal arts college in upstate New York, and have toyed with the idea of having my physics students (who are mostly health science majors) read “The Cold Equations.” Your post has convinced me that I should be doing this. Thank you.
Todd, I’m happy to be inspirational! And one of the great things about the internet is that it’s so easy to share ideas like this now. Every professor and teacher doesn’t need to completely reinvent the wheel for every class and doesn’t have to rely just on textbooks to make lessons easy to prepare.
Whatever a person thinks about “The Cold Equations” we can all agree that it’s interesting to discuss from multiple perspectives.
[…] of the things we did that I thought resonated with last week’s “Cold Equations” stuff was looking at two versions of Arthur C. Clarke’s “The Star.” The 1955 […]
[…] story came to mind after reading another website’s discussion of Tom Godwin’s The Cold Equations. The two tales are, essentially, the same ruthless story. […]
[…] remember having a talk at a convention with Tom Godwin’s daughter. Godwin wrote “The Cold Equations,” a classic of hard science fiction. In the story, a young innocent girl bravely commits […]
[…] Cold Legacies” that just went up over at Lightspeed Magazine. This is based in part on an old blog post and lesson plan for my “Science in Science Fiction” course I’ve taught at the […]
[…] Jake Kerr’s Lightspeed story, “The Old Equations,” has been nominated for the Nebula Award for best novelette. It’s thematically related to Tom Godwin’s famous story “The Cold Equations” which I’ve written about at Lightspeed and on this blog. […]
THIS IS IN REFERENCE TO THE STORY BY TOM GODWIN’S “THE COLD EQUASIONS”. I’VE READ THE STORY AND HAVE SEEN THE TWILIGHT ZONE EPISODE.
IT IS THE SADDEST TV EPISODE I’VE EVER SEEN AND SHOULD BE REQUIRED VIEWING FOR ANYONE GOING INTO THE AEROSPACE INDUSTRY. THIS IS TELEVISION AND SCIENCE FICTION AT IT’S FINEST.
THE AUTHOR, PUBLISHER, LETTER WRITERS OF THE ’50’S, AND THE BLOGERS OF TODAY, AS WELL AS THE FUTURE, ARE DOING EXACTLY WHAT THEY ARE SUPPOSED TO DO. TALK ABOUT IT NOW, TALK ABOUT IT IN THE FUTURE, BEFORE THIS SCENARIO HAPPENS.
THIS STORY CAN STILL HAVE A HAPPY ENDING. THAT IS, IF PEOPLE NOW AND IN THE FUTURE KEEP IT ALIVE IN THEIR HEARTS AND SEE TO IT THAT NO PILOT OR CAPTAIN WOULD EVER HAVE TO EXECUTE SUCH A TERRIBLE PROCEDURE. THAT NO IGNORANT, NAIVE GIRL EVER WOULD HAVE TO DIE. AND, NO PARENT (WHICH VERY WELL COULD BE OUR GREAT GRAND CHILDREN) EVER RECEIVES SUCH A HEART WRENCHING LETTER.
I THINK IT’S EVERYBODY’S DESIRE THAT THIS STORY REMAINS FICTION AND NEVER BECOMES PROPHECY. IF THIS IS ACHIEVED, AND LIVES ARE SAVED, THEN SCIENCE FICTION WILL HAVE DONE IT’S JOB.