Spider Star
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...
Read More.Praise for Star Dragon
"Seldom does a storytelling talent come along as potent and fully mature as Mike Brotherton. His complex characters take you on a voyage that is both fiercely credible and astonishingly imaginative. This is Science Fiction."
-- David Brin"Star Dragon is terrific fare, offering readers a fusion of hard science and grand adventure."
-- Locus Magazine"Star Dragon is steeped in cosmology, the physics of interstellar travel, exobiology, artificial intelligence, bioscience. Brotherton, author of many scientific articles in refereed journals, has written a dramatic, provocative, utterly convincing hard science sf novel that includes an ironic twist that fans will love."
-- Booklist starred review"Readers hungry for the thought-provoking extrapolation and rigorous technical detail of old-fashioned hard SF are sure to enjoy astronomer Brotherton's first novel."
-- Publishers Weekly"Mike Brotherton, himself a trained astrophysicist, combines the technical acuity and ingenuity of Robert Forward with the ironic, postmodern stance and style of M. John Harrison. In this, his debut novel, those twin talents unite to produce a work that is involving on any number of levels. It's just about all you could ask for in a hardcore SF adventure."
-- Paul di Fillippo, SCI-FI.COM
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The Difference Between Science and Engineering and “Engineering Fiction”
October 30th, 2008
I double majored in college in electrical engineering and space physics, before going on to get advanced degrees in astronomy. I made a conscious choice to pursue science rather than the more lucrative engineering.
Why does this matter? Why should you care?
I am interested in the issue of politics and science, and the more general issue of support for science. I recently read an article suggesting that the pro-science neocons like Newt Gingrich are actually pro-technology when it enhances our ability, and resistant to science that suggests we have problems that forces us to control ourselves.
So, engineering is about the application of existing knowledge produced by science. It is solving an intrinsically solvable problem in an optimal fashion. Engineering discoveries tend not to be fundamental, but incremental, using our scientific knowledge to make improvements.
Science is about discovering fundamentally things about how the universe works, not using them to do anything in particular.
I was more scientifically inclined. I was an awesome engineer because I thought like a scientist, looking for deeper understanding, but that scientist thinking made me less enamored with engineering. I wanted to work on problems that didn’t necessarily have answers, or had answers that couldn’t be imagined from the start. I wanted to discover fundamentally new things.
The real engineers I knew just wanted to get the answer. They were more practical than me. I usually corrected them when they made mistakes, but they were full steam ahead whereas I was slower and more careful. On the other hand, I was faster and more practical than most physics majors.
Here’s the final point. The engineer wants to solve a problem fast and efficiently. The scientist wants to get at the truth about how the universe works, however that is, however long it takes. Science is NOT about developing new technology.
Stories about new technology giving people great abilities is really more appropriately called “engineering fiction” rather than science fiction. Science fiction, being pure about the term, is about discovering new things about the universe. Truths. Not super powers.
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[…] Engineering Fiction […]
Quite enamored with yourself? You seem too cocky and full of your own ability “I was an awesome engineer” and “I was faster and more practical than most physics majors” The only downside you said about your own ability is that engineers were more practical. But, then you quickly stated that you were the one who usually corrected them.
Besides, science fiction, while not the most accurate of terms, does have some accuracy behind it. In order for most of the new technology in science fiction to have come about, there tends to be a key discovery that allows for the development. That understanding, in a good science fiction novel in my own opinion, plays a key role through the base of the storyline. It should be the underlying theme to the book tied in with others.
“Scientists study the world as it is; engineers create the world that has never been.”
Nice quote, Coat.
I don’t like the info u gave because it didn’t help me right my science paper
Thanks! I needed this information for a paper, this was good info, and it helped a lot.
Sir logically we are both same but physically you are older than me.This means i quite agree with even if i am still a beginner.If i could meet you for more advice on science…