Thursday, September 10, 2015

Judging Science Fiction (part 4)


Sometimes, there's nothing you can do. I've written sci-fi that turned out to be improbable in the future, and it wasn't because of a lack of research. Things develop in unusual directions after your story is finished, when it is too late to make any changes. For example, in Solar Echoes there are infra-red and thermal goggles available for characters to purchase. Yet I read recently that eyedrops have been developed that allow you to see in the dark for a few hours before they wear off. It's unlikely we will need to wear cumbersome goggles in the near future to see in the dark, so someday, people will potentially scoff at the Solar Echoes universe. I doubt something like that will spoil the entire show, so to speak, but with each discrepancy, a sci-fi vision will crumble and soon be disregarded. When does this sort of thing not matter that much to a sci-fi fan?

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