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
No, Seth Shostak is not a Predator, although that would be a cool book…
Seth is a radio astronomer who works for the SETI Institute hunting for alien signals from space, and he has a book out called Confessions of an Alien Hunter which is about SETI and his personal experiences with the project.
You may have noticed me linking to some of Seth’s articles in the past, sometimes responding at length or just a brief mention in Starlinks.
First let me say a few positive things about the book. Notably, it’s quite well written and an engaging read. I tend to find non-fiction slow going sometimes, and sometimes get mired in something I want to finish but begin to dread. Confessions of an Alien Hunter is chatty and entertaining throughout. I liked the dramatized scenes of what happens when there is a possible detection, and the combination of over and under reaction by different groups (e.g., the scientists and the media).
After a read of the book, you’ll have a pretty fair view of the history of SETI without a lot of excessive gushing (acknowledging that Seth is an optimist). I was particularly interested in the description of events concerning how the federal government shut down NASA funding for SETI and how the effort transitioned to private sources of support.
I was also favorably impressed by how well the point was made about how poor the SETI search has been to date. I think there’s a general notion that if aliens are trying to contact us, we’ll know it immediately and easy, like in a Hollywood movie. It would be even tougher if not impossible with current technology if they’re not trying especially to talk to us. I also think there’s an excellent point to be made about how the quick pace of technological advancement has meant rapid growth in SETI power. Radio astronomy in particular benefits from computer advances more dramatically than most other types (e.g. optical).
There’s a good update on exoplanet discoveries (although that’s rapidly getting outdated as the field is moving so fast) and how one term in the Drake Equation is getting nailed down a lot better in favor of optimistic numbers.
Personally, I think SETI is a longshot to turn up something in our lifetimes, but definitely worth the effort at least at levels currently planned. I am not optimistic enough to shift own my research to SETI, but I would if we found a signal. And that’s another detail I appreciated learning. The way the searches are done, there’s not much information being collected initially and it might take years to build the equipment to properly followup the detection of a real SETI signal, if it comes in at a weak level (which wouldn’t be unlikely).
Seth also covers the claims by UFO fans and abductees in a pretty reasonable way, in my opinion. He’s fair, and very skeptical, which I think is the correct response given the available evidence.
The book is not very technical in general, and if you’re interested in the nuts and bolts of SETI and how different searches have been conducted in detail, you need to look elsewhere.
Finally, here’s a promotional youtube video featuring Seth talking about SETI:
Wish I had such nice videos to promote my books. Well, Seth deserves it. Good book.
Let me know if you’re interested in an interview with Seth and feel free to suggest questions. I know him online a little bit and expect he’d be happy to do it.
A Key Difference Between Science and Science Fiction
June 18th, 2009
Above and beyond the basic skills these areas require, some of which like writing and editing are in common, there is a key creative difference.
When you’re learning to be a scientist, you get trained to say “no” to ideas.
Most ideas are probably not original and wrong, and even the popular ideas are usually not right in their details and need revision. Teaching students how to be critical and not accept every ideal as likely is central to science. All ideas are not equal. Again, most are wrong.
When you’re learning to write science fiction, you need to say “yes” to ideas.
Most ideas are not original, or necessarily interesting, but there is usually a way to make them so with some creative effort. If you apply the science thinking to the process, you kill off your best ideas, when almost any idea can be made into something glorious and wonderful. If you figure out the angle that makes it so. There’s usually one, if you keep looking.
Sometimes it’s hard to go back and forth between the two, but it’s good for scientists to keep in a little “yes” to make insights, and science fiction writers to keep in a little “no” to dig out more interesting ideas.
One of the reasons I love science fiction is that, frankly, I am easily bored and depressed by normal everyday life. I mean, TV commercials, ick! Pumping gas. Going to the bathroom. Showering. Shaving. Driving. Cleaning. Grocery shopping.
Hours every day filled with so many things of little intrinsic interest, pretty much destined to never change or improve.
Even as a kid, I sought out novelty. Astronomy and dinosaurs. Other places and other times. Books, especially mysteries and science fiction. Monster movies, waiting for 90 minutes to finally get a glimpse of what the horrible thing looked like. An escape from the drudgery of the normal that bored me so much of the time.
School was better, although I was well enough read quickly enough that I tended not to learn much in class, and grasped ideas much faster than most of the other students. You do get in trouble sometimes correcting the teacher, and it isn’t good to always raise your hand, and that made me sink into silence too often.
I’m sure I’m not the only science fiction fan like this.
Most people prefer comfort and security to an unending stream of new challenges and experiences. I’m sure this is why movies and TV fail to be very innovative, and why science fiction remains a niche area rather than being recognized as the only significant literature of our technological era.
But I’m really writing this because I’ve become a little concerned about how far I may be taking this novelty with my entire life.
I always seem to be looking for the next great thing. I never seem to be happy with good and steady. This tendency has brought me some real rewards, I acknowledge, and is an important quality for both a writer and scientist to have.
I could have gone a lot of other directions, however. Passions right up there with astronomy, dinosaurs, and science fiction have been movies, video games, drawing, engineering, running, travel, and more.
Since my divorce in 2005, I’ve done all kinds of things that have surprised me. My wardrobe is quite different. I have tattoos. I have an earring. I’ve temporarily moved to Brazil and am gaining some skill with Portuguese. I’ve run a marathon for the first time. I started blogging seriously. I created Launch Pad. There have been some X-rated things I won’t go into here, but they would seriously impress and scare the me of twenty years ago (and ten years ago). And now that I’m a few months away from returning to Wyoming full time, I’m getting excited about remodeling my house (or buying a new place even).
It always seems like I have to be doing something new and dramatic.
The good and steady stuff has been okay, with Spider Star coming out last year, and getting tenure and sustaining funding for my research group. I still love writing and astronomy, but it gets harder to get the same juice out of it that I once did, and I’m looking for ways to rediscover that sense of wonder in what I’ve learned to do well.
So, maybe this sort of thing is normal for some of us. I’ve tackled some things like writing and research science seriously, things that always provide an opportunity for novelty. I’ve also made the time and money to enable all sorts of other novel activities. For instance, I’ve got the awareness and frequent flyer miles to be able to travel any where in the world for a vacation and get a lot out of the experience. Fewer and fewer places are looking that different or interesting to me, however…
This post is more personal than many I make here. I know I like the bloggers who go personal regularly, but that takes a lot of courage and not everyone respects their boundaries in real life. I usually like to disguise my personal issues in my fiction, where there’s some plausible deniability.
There is a place for someone like me. I know a lot about a lot of things, and that enables me to write about things difficult for others, and to do research that others can’t do. It also makes me into more of an amateur at everything I do sometimes, and I have a lot of envy sometimes for the people who love only one thing and do it very well. The experts tend to get more attention, and rightly so.
Anyway, I’m proposing that a lot of you reading this are like me, too. Science fiction fans, novelty seekers, always looking for the next big thing in your lives. Any of you beat the monkey, or learn how to ride it instead of it riding you? I manage, sometimes, and sometimes I don’t. Perhaps that’s being balanced, or perhaps that’s failing some of the time.
And if it looks like I’ve got all my shit together and should have no worries, realize that everything looks different from the inside and the introspective ambitious personality is always second-guessing himself, and I’m no different. I just try to tell myself that my problems are problems that most people would like to have.
My immediate problem has been trying to beat insomnia and sleep issues instigated by fighting the computer virus of a couple of weeks ago. I’ve had a big hit to my productivity and general outlook, with more time thinking and less time doing. The other way around feels better, although isn’t sustainable either.
And part of it is probably just “mid-life crisis,” although I hate to put such a trite label on something complex. Labels make people think they understand things when the things are intrinsically complex and timeless problems people have always struggled with. This one probably comes under the heading of the eternal problem of how to find meaning in a long and nominally successful life (one of the central themes of Star Dragon so I’ve been struggling with it for a while now). I have too much intellectual integrity for many of the pat answers, and in any event, an individual emotional response is the one that counts.
Maybe it’s like the title of that movie, As Good As It Gets. Jack Nicholson, the OCD writer whose life is in turmoil wonders “Is this as good as it gets?” The trite answer there is that he needs to change to win the love of a good woman, and love conquers all.
Maybe the old trite answers are the only ones that ever work, but my curse is that I’m always looking for a new answer, and they’re usually not as effective.
1. Weird Science
2. Dr. Strangelove
3. Real Genius
4. The Atomic Cafe
5. The Absent-Minded Professor
6. The Andromeda Strain
7. Love Potion #9
8. Prince of Darkness
9. Project X
10. Manhattan Project
Now, a few of these are good choices and I will keep them, but I am not happy with the others. Weird Science is a fun movie, but it has nothing to do with science. And some of these fall squarely in the realm of science fiction.
No, I really want a list of movies that involve science, where science is central, and where scientists are for the most part at least portrayed positively. Movies that no one would laugh at or call “science fiction” in that derogatory way. There are some science fiction novels that do these things for science, books like Timescape by Gregory Benford and Contact by Carl Sagan, but I wanted more pure science, in the way Ben Bova wrote Brothers as a novel about science and scientists rather than science fiction.
In no particular order here are ten for consideration. The science doesn’t have to be perfect, as long as it makes sense given when it was made, more or less, and makes an effort to be right, and the movie doesn’t need to be perfect, either. This wasn’t easy, and I think some choices are debatable (either for the science quality or whether or not they’re science fiction). Clips when available.
1. Real Genius. It’s a bit of a comedy, but tends to take the science seriously and portray the smart guys positively. I don’t think Caltech is really like this.
2. Creator. I have a soft spot for Peter O’Toole and lost love, and looking at the big picture over the details.
3. October Sky. Smart kids and science fairs are winners with me, as are rockets. It IS rocket science.
4. Mindwalk. Sort of a bizarre movie, all idea and talk. A rare female physicist, who at times in the film I want to smack because she’s not as right as she thinks she is, or is too dismissive of other equally reasonable perspectives. Still, smart and full of science ideas.
5. Infinity. Matthew Broderick stars in this Richard Feynman biographic. Not as good as I had hoped, but worth watching.
6. Twister. Yeah, people chase storms for science. You will believe that a cow can fly.
7. Outbreak. I wanted to avoid a lot of medical thrillers on the list, but I think this one qualifies as science.
8. Medicine Man. Searching for a cure for cancer in the Amazon rain forest. They actually seem to do science experiments in the movie, although the logging plot seemed way too forced.
9. I.Q. Not sure I’m wild about the message here (heart trumps mind, which we see all the time being reinforced already in every other film ever made), but movies with positive portrayals of Einstein can’t be all bad.
10. Manhattan Project. Smart kids and science fairs. And nuclear weapons.
Notes: I left off Andromeda Strain for being too much science fiction in my opinion. I haven’t seen Project X. I left off A Beautiful Mind as math, Apollo 13/Right Stuff as history/engineering, and Bond movies casting Denise Richards as ridiculous. Chain Reaction didn’t seem smart enough.
I feel bad I didn’t put any of these into the top ten classic science fiction scenes. At least two of them should arguably be there. Big spoilers in these as they are toward the end, so don’t watch if you haven’t seen the movies and don’t want to spoil them. Enjoy!
Astronaut Charleton Heston has won his freedom from the apes of The Planet of the Apes. What’s he going to find out on his own, finally?
In the future of Soylent Green (one of the delicious Purina Human Chow type foods of the future), the world is overcrowded and people are encouraged to check out early in a peaceful and moving way. The world has a secret, however…
And finally, the cool ending of The Omega Man, which beat the I Am Legend excessively FXed versions, although the movie has its flaws (the music makes me cringe for starters). Not quite as iconic as the other two, but moving I think. Go to :.
I’m tempted to put Moses parting the Red Sea here, but that’s fantasy, not science fiction.
Ten of the Most Classic Science Fiction Movie Scenes
June 8th, 2009
More movie scenes today. The ten that I consider the most famous and iconic for science fiction.
While some of these are iconic, some are revelations and can be considered spoilers if you haven’t seen the movie. So, be careful. Otherwise, enjoy reliving these with me.
10. I’ll start off with one from the top actor post, from Blade Runner:
9. This is the opening from 2001, and it always makes my special bits tingle:
8.The Terminator will be back.
7. E. T. levitating bikes edges out phoning home:
6. Klaatu Barada Nikto!
5. Close Encounters after climbing a giant pile of potatoes:
4. Kahn!!!!! What about revenge?
3. Morpheus asks Neo to take a pill in The Matrix:
2. From Empire Strikes back, an important scene between Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader:
1. We finish with the ultimate, the “John Hurt moment” that forever changed where you can go with film:
Don’t watch if you’re eating. Hell, don’t watch it at all. It isn’t good for healthy, well-adjusted people!
There are a number of Hollywood stars who seem to consistently make science fiction movies. I don’t know if it is that they prefer this sort of script in general, or if they keep getting approached following success with an initial film. Anyway, let’s proceed with the list!
10. Let’s start old school with Charleton Heston. Yes. The Omega Man, Planet of the Apes, and Soylent Green are three classics of the genre. I’m biased for growing up in the 1970s and outside of Star Wars and Star Trek, these movies defined science fiction.
OK, I’m going to get my hands off of him and move on.
9. Bruce Willis. Not my first thought as he’s done plenty of work of all types, from drama to comedy, but he has had a large number of roles in science fiction movies. Armageddon, Unbreakable and the Sixth Sense with M. Night, The Fifth Element, Planet Terror, and 12 Monkeys:
8. Hugo Weaving. I love Mr. Weaving. He has a cool look and awesome delivery. From high elf Elrond to Matrix Agent to V (where his cool look is obscured), he’s doing fantastic work in science fiction. Hell, Priscilla Queen of the Desert sure feels like science fiction, too — check out Hugo as a fire lizard!
7. Sigourney Weaver. She’s nearly as iconic as the Alien and has helped make that series. Also I think she’s notable as one of the first serious female action stars. Other movies like Ghostbusters and Galaxyquest put her here.
6. Rutger Hauer. A little bit on the campy, B-movie level sometimes, but he’s done a lot of science fiction (check out Blood of Heroes if you haven’t seen it!). Most notable probably as Roy Batty in Blade Runner.
5. Tom Cruise. Yeah, Tom Cruise. Surprised me, too, but think about it. War of the Worlds. Vanilla Sky. Interview with the Vampire. Legend. And the Mission Impossible movies certainly have a science fiction feel. Minority Report, in particular, is full of great science fiction:
4. Milla Jovovich. She was awesome in The Fifth Element, and the Resident Evil movies would be nothing without her. Even Ultraviolet, not a great film, is watchable because of her.
3. Kurt Russell. Escape from New York. Big Trouble in Little China. The Thing. Sky High. Soldier. Stargate. Nobody but him can do this wearing lipstick and look tough:
2. Keanu Reeves. Who knew that after Johnny Mnemonic anyone would let him do the Matrix? And also classic Philip K. Dick like A Scanner Darkly. Very recently The Day the Earth Stood Still. Then there’s horror films like Constantine, Dracula, and Devil’s Advocate. One of his best roles, of course, was Ted the time traveler:
1. Arnold Schwarzeneggar. Conan, Terminator 1 and 2, Predator, Total Recall, the Running Man, Sixth Day, etc., etc. Even a lot of his mainstream movies like True Lies and Twins have fantastic elements that smack of science fiction. He’s governor now, but I think it’s safe to say that he’ll be back:
Honorable mentions: Kate Beckinsale (Underworld movies, Van Helsing), Will Smith (I Robot, I Am Legend, Independence Day), Christian Bale (Batman, Reign of Fire, Equilibrium), Sam Neil (Jurassic Park, Merlin, Lord of Illusions), Carrie Anne Moss (Matrix movies, Red Planet), Dennis Quaid (Enemy Mine, Frequency, Dragonheart, Inner Space, Dreamscape), Harrison Ford (Star Wars films, Blade Runner, Indiana Jones, etc., but lots and lots of non-sf roles, too).
I had meant to link to physicist Sean Carroll’s excellent Rules for Time Travelers that he posted a couple of weeks ago. Sean is a world expert on time and knows his stuff. Awesome post.
I made a very similar post last year called Science and Science Fiction: Time Travel. A lot of the basic issues and complaints are the same as Sean’s, which makes me feel good (I’m an astrophysicist but far from a “world expert on time”). I think his article is a little clearer and direct, although we do talk about some different things and provide some different resources.
I have complained many times about time travel handled badly in science fiction, and expect I will continue to do so. Maybe if there are more complaints about the ridiculousness of the time travel in things like Heroes and Back to the Future, they’ll happen a little less often and be a little less appreciated, and eventually, in the distant future, let movies and TV evolve into something smarter.
Sorry, I think I slipped from science fiction into fantasy with that last bit above…but we can travel into the future together, one second per second, and see!
Last fall I had a date with a woman who shortly thereafter became my girlfriend (and eventually my ex-girlfriend, but that’s another story, and less interesting). I knew that we would get along when I asked her if she had a dream vacation and she said to me:
“Yes, I want to go to Dracula’s Castle in Romania.”
Bingo! That’s a good answer, and a trip I would love to take, too. Many people have some generic idea of a dream vacation that involves Paris, a beach somewhere tropical, the Grand Canyon, but I don’t think those sorts of vacations are really personally satisfying very often. They’re a sort of generic lowest common denominator for vacations. Nearly everyone would like those trips, but I doubt few would mark them as highlights of a lifetime.
I think the best vacations involve following a passion. Going to a tattoo convention, New York for Broadway shows, a world Esperanto Congress, a giant chess tournament like the U.S. Open, taking tank driving lessons, driving a race car on a racetrack, participating in a dinosaur dig, playing on the most famous golf course of your dreams, whatever your passion. Well, my passion is science fiction and closely related things, like fantasy and horror. We’ll lump all those together under the heading of “science fiction” for the purposes of this list.
1. Attending one of the better science fiction conventions. The World Science Fiction Convention and other cons like Comic-Con, Dragon Con, World Fantasy Con, media-oriented cons focusing on particular TV shows or movies (e.g. Star Trek or Buffy), and similar events like The Amazing Meeting AKA TAM, which I imagine would be a lot of fun and include a lot of fans of science fiction.
2. Seattle, Washington. Home of the Science Fiction Museum where you can check out Captain Kirk’s original command chair, many famous science fiction movie props like Darth Vader’s mask, and more. Unfortunately a couple of hours will exhaust the museum. One big plus about Seattle is its cache of used bookstores that feature a lot of speculative fiction, and with good timing you can catch a reading by a famous science fiction writer at the Elliot Bay Books.
3. Florida. Yes, Florida. It’s a bit cheesy, but I like theme parks and there are a lot of them in Orlando catering to us. For instance, there is Universal Studios with many science fiction themed rides, and its Islands of Adventure with the Dueling Dragons roller coaster and costumed superheroes running around. Over at Epcot Center there is a Mission: Space simulator that is pretty damn cool, if it doesn’t make you sick, as well as a lot of future-oriented exhibits. Then you can drive over to the Daytona Beach area for the Kennedy Space Center. Bonus points for scheduling your vacation to attend a shuttle launch, although those are difficult to predict to the day.
4. Hawaii’s Big Island. This is a place that doesn’t directly cater to the science fiction fan, but it’s a must do vacation in my book. You have Volcano National Park which is other worldly and the closest thing to Mordor you can imagine, or smell. There are also the Observatories on top of Mauna Kea and there are tours that will take you up there and give you a star party. Then there are ocean activities that include whale watching and submarines, where you can remember Star Trek IV and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.
5. Washington D.C., primarily to visit the Smithsonian Museums. For the science fiction fan, the Air and Space Museum is the first stop. There you can touch a piece of the moon, see retired instruments from the Hubble Space Telescope, and gawk at one of the Hollywood models of the starship Enterprise. The other museums will satisfy your dinosaur and knights in armor needs. Head over to nearby Baltimore if Edgar Allen Poe is your man.
6. New Zealand for Lord of the Rings stuff. There are tours you can take that lets you visit the Shire and other movie locations. Sounds like they’ll even outfit you with costumes and props, too! I’ve heard it’s a high-quality, interesting experience.
7. New York for the Hayden Planetarium, the American Natural History Musuem, science fiction/fantasy/horror themed shows (does Spamalot count?! I want to see it…), author events, and more. Just a lot of cool stuff and shops in New York, which I haven’t seen enough of.
8. The United Kingdom, for Stonehenge, Loch Ness, various haunted places (take a tour). I’m sure a long list could be made of cool stuff to see.
9. Los Angles for some of the same or similar theme parks as in Orlando (e.g. Universal Studios), plus Hollywood and costumed characters outside the Chinese theater there, Griffith Observatory, and perhaps other irregular events like conventions. Actors are more likely to be plentiful as convention guests in southern California.
10. We’ll conclude with the ex-girlfriend’s pick: Dracula’s Castle, and throw in castles of Europe more generally. I would love to go for Halloween with a package that included a high-quality Dracula-themed Halloween party.
Las Vegas nearly made the list on the strength of the resurrected Star Trek Experience, but it will apparently not be at full power until 2010 (unless Scotty works a miracle). San Franciso has its oddities like the Winchester Mystery House and a lot of great science fiction bookstores. The Catacombs under Paris are really pretty cool, and Paris does have its other attractions, but seems weak for a science fiction vacation. Other near misses include various semi-famous haunted hotels, places with mystery lights or other regular UFO activity, camping trips in Bigfoot country, and other assorted world weirdness. Hitting the International Space Station is beyond the means of most of us, alas. There are a lot of great workshops of various lengths to improve at a particular skill, such as writing (Clarion West), astronomy (Launch Pad), but these are more like work than vacations and it can be difficult to secure admittance.
I’m sure I haven’t exhausted this topic, and I’ve done most of the trips above, so I’m always looking for ideas. I have a lot of frequent flier miles to spend. I’d love to expand this list into 100 places for science fiction fans to go before they die.
So I guess I’m on a SETI kick right now as I’m reading Seth Shostak’s new book (which I will review soon). I was trying to think of all the books, movies, and TV shows that portrayed SETI in at least a somewhat realistic manner. I could not think of too many. When it comes to books and TV shows, I am far from a world expert as I don’t watch everthing and don’t read everything either. There aren’t that many movies, however.
I could only think of:
Contact
The Arrival (and sequel) (Sorry! A correction for my sleep-addled brain.)
Species (and sequels)
Contact was based on Sagan’s novel. Species sure has a lot in common with Fred Hoyle’s A for Andromeda. So there’s at least two novels for two movies already. I tried unleashing google, but didn’t find a lot in a few minutes of searching, which makes it a tough problem. Is SETI just a boring thing to make movies about? Is it too highbrow to attract crowds? I mean, a “wow” signal sure sucks ass compared to a giant spaceship floating over a city, especially for Hollywood.
Did I miss something here? Are there more decent SETI-based movies I’ve forgotten. Bonus points for comments also about TV or books.
It’s the time of the year when I start thinking about the schedule of activities for the Launch Pad Astronomy Workshop for Writers. Most of the things we’ve done have been very popular and successful, but there was one controversial thing last year that I probably won’t repeat, at least not in the same form.
I had Jeffrey Lockwood, former biologist and current philosopher, author, and creator of a University of Wyoming SETI course come in for a couple of hours. I had chatted with him before the course and suggested some books about SETI and related topics, both fiction and nonfiction. (If I recall correctly, Jeff loved The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell and hated Contact by Carl Sagan, so maybe you see this coming.) Jeff’s course had gotten a lot of attention, and I thought since he was very up on SETI it might be a great opportunity for Launch Pad participants to learn something about the program. There are a lot of astronomical issues associated with SETI that are important for science fiction writers to consider.
Well, Jeff is more of a philosopher these days and never was a physical scientist, and I knew his course was focused more on the issue of communicating with alien minds (whether they are here on Earth in the form of other species or out in space), so I guess I shouldn’t have been too surprised when he skipped all the technical details and went in for the communication issue big time.
Some of the participants were not happy about being asked to repeat writing exercises he’d given University students (we are talking about award winning writers and teachers of writing themselves) when they were at Launch Pad for the science, the stuff they didn’t know. Still, some took to the exercises with energy and produced some impressive work.
The session devolved later, however, as science collided with philosophy. Science is about getting at practical truths and is rarely absolute, but has an excellent track record. Philosophy seems to be more about questioning everything and never reaching any truths at all, except under certain assumptions. So, when the class went with science and Jeff went devlish philosophy weenie, it got ugly for a while.
What was the issue?
It was whether or not we could expect SETI to work if communication was based on math and physics. Folks who do SETI, and most mathemeticians and physical scientists, would argue that there are certain universal truths. Mathematics is discovered, not created, for instance. Stars are made out of hydrogen, with some helium, too, and other trace elements. The laws of physics work the same on Earth and on other planets. Any civilization with the technology to broadcast messages to us, say in the radio, could be expected to know math and physics and this we could expect to have in common. Right?
Jeff persisted in repeating, ad nauseum, that this was an assumption, much to his delight and to the dismay of the participants. I’m not sure he gave an inch.
I’d say it’s not much of an assumption, and persisting in making that argument, suggesting that basing comminucation with technologically savvy aliens on something entirely different like smells or ink blots or whatever is silly. Math, physics, chemistry, same on Earth as everywhere else. Little else could be expected to be in common. Moreover, the math, physics, and chemistry would be necessary to build equipment to broadcast to humans on Earth.
What do you think?
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Feel free to comment more about this. Personally while I think that it may strictly speaking be an assumption to expect aliens with radio communications to know math and physics, I think you’d be an idiot to assume they don’t.
Let me go on the record for finally appreciating that my super elite college prep high school didn’t have debate. I heard a rumor that it was because the headmaster didn’t think it appropriate for students to argue positions they didn’t believe in.
Let me state this clearly for the record: Debate is a ridiculous way of reaching the truth.
We should reform or remove this practice and its exaltation from our society.
If you know anyone who has been successful at formal debate, perhaps you understand what I’m about to say. I have had less direct experience with it, so I have been slower to reach this conclusion, but I feel sure of it now. Winning at debate has very little to do with having the winning side of an issue.
What happens in Presidential debates, arguably the most common and popular debates seen in the United States? They seem to be won or lost on things like sighs, expectations preceding a debate, and how comfortable someone seems. Rarely is anyone taken much to task for lying (they’re given passes for misspeaking), not being responsive, or otherwise not actually making their points convincingly.
In competitive debate, debaters are rewarded for the number of arguments they can make and how well they can rebut their opponents arguments in a high pressure, time-constrained situation.
This is, again, a ridiculous way of reaching a conclusion.
This is how things operate on TV and in law, two realms where the truth is less important than perception.
The best method of reaching reliable conclusions about the truth is science. Science eschews debate, for the most part, only on rare occasion engaging in public debate for education or entertainment, NEVER to reach the truth.
Science is about discovering the truth, or our best understanding of it. It is a slow, methodical process, that does not worry about time limits or declaring an absolute winner immediately after an argument has been produced. Individual scientists may care about winning, but the field does not. The field cares about the right answer.
Lawyers care about swaying people to their point of view, not about the truth, unless they happen to be on the right side of it. Same way with politicians, and religion. Lawyers, politicians, and the religious may all believe they have the truth on their side, but they pretty much never reach that conclusion based on a fair hearing of the facts and arguments. Scientists are the exception.
So, if a topic is one that can be addressed by science, debate should be forbidden. Not because there might be controversy, but simply because debate cannot resolve the controversy. The best speaker, actor, or politician will win the day regardless of the strength of their position. If the strength of the positions are so uneven that this is not so, why have a debate? (I note the exception of topics where people are irrationally biased/stupid, e.g., creationism.)
If the topic is not amenable to science, I don’t really care. Do you? How many people are swayed by some previously unknown factoid, presented with strong bias, regarding abortion, free speech, guns, marital relations, gay marriage, or any other social issue? Almost all of these, and related topics, are non-issues. Someone’s personal beliefs and philosophies lead them to a position; fundamental core values are in disagreement. It shocks me, as a scientist, to hear people throw out argument after argument they don’t really believe, trying to convince that tiny percentage of middle-of-the-road undecideds on these topics. They throw the kitchen sink at every topic trying to find any argument that sticks, arguments that played no role in how they themselves reached their conclusions.
Now, if you’re preparing for a career in law or politics, by all means join the debate team. I will respect the craft, but little more, along with my fellow citizens who hold lawyers and politicians in such high esteem. (Why don’t sharks eat lawyers? Professional courtesy.) The reason, in my opinion, is not only because debate is a false activity, but because it is often applied to serious topics that are open to science. Claim that vouchers will result in better educational outcomes? Well, let’s do the experiment and see. One side shouldn’t say absolutely it will work while the other denies it. We can test it out. Likewise with abstinence-only sex education. It’s a failure, not meeting program goals, so let’s cancel it and stop listening to wishful thinking. Etc. Too many topics can be solved, but debate makes us think that’s not true, or that the solution is talking not testing.
So next time I hear a call for debate, the first thing I will think is what is this person trying to hide? Or trying to push? Those calling for debate rarely want the truth. They want a chance to convince people without having to resort to hard work. They’re not serious people, although they may be skilled.
In this soundbite culture, I appreciate more and more my private high school that sure could have been a different kind of school given how many of the alumni went on to law and politics.
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