Poll: How do you like your Science Fiction?

[Vuljatar]

I like the "really out there" stuff that still remains within the reasonable suspension of disbelief.

 

[FalloutJack]

I'm an either-or guy, though I can explain - in theory - how alot of over-the-top stuff would work.

 

[ninja555]

Either, I'm not to picky. So long as it is dark I am happy.

 

[omicron1]

Say "Hi!" to Moh's scale of scifi hardness! [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MohsScaleOfScienceFictionHardness?from=Main.MOHSScaleOFSciFiHardness]

(hoping tvtropes ain't illegal here)

I mostly lean towards the realistic side of things - no aliens, no FTL, no improbably fast communication or instant terraforming - 'cause there's just so much interesting stuff you can do within said parameters.

 

[vxicepickxv]

It depends on what I'm looking for.

 

[Tilted_Logic]

Its quite alright, I probably didn't explain it well. I had the luck of learning all this in a physics class, and an awesome teacher to explain it all. Far as I'm aware of in Science Fiction, holograms have always required a point of origin, be it a compact disc or display of some type.

The basic way of creating a hologram is to use a coherent beam of light, a beam splitter to separate said beam into an "illumination beam" that will strike the object to be recreated (forming an 'object beam') and a reference beam, which strikes a properly placed mirror to bounce towards a photographic plate. The Object beam and reference beam both hit the plate, and "record" the object onto it. Its actually closer to recording audio, than taking a picture of something.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/34/Holography-record.png

Because the object is recorded on that plate, if you break the plate in half, each plate will have the full recording. You can continue breaking it apart, but eventually the quality will degrade to a point that it's useless. All you need to see it, is to look at it, as the material its put upon is enough to project it.

Interesting tidbit, is that we have already created a form of media storage using just holograms. They created a 120mm disc that can hold almost 4 Terabytes, with 1gig writing speeds and possibly up to 1 Terabyte reading speeds.
Other uses for it can be found on wiki:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hologram

Ah gotcha! Think I understand it now, awesome

I'll have to read more of that hologram article though, I'm still not clear on how you'd have a 'residual' hologram, i.e. a projection of an object that is no longer present.

Thanks though, interesting read!

 

[Naheal]

I like my fiction cyberpunky. A little bit plausible, but a little bit far fetched.

 

[Icarion (aka Stockholm)]

I like both 40k sci-fi and Star wars and those cool little alt. future short stories. So all three options. Go look up Crucifixion Variations by Lawrence Person. I really enjoyed it and it has a great ending. Its a short story

 

[Extra-Ordinary]

Either way. Those really are the two ways to catagorize this genre isn't it?

 

[Enigmers]

It's hard to say. I'd like to answer "Plausible" but then I remember Pendragon, which was all about like, alternate worlds and Travelers who could understand everyone from every world based on some Deus Ex Machina that worked because, well, it just did.

I also love Fantasy books, like Lord of the Rings or Eragon (which is pretty much just Lord of the Rings for pre-teens.)

Warhammer 40,000 has lore/backstory/fluff which is so ridiculously over-the-top, full of massive holes, but still manages to be really cool. I can't explain it at all; there is so much about 40k I dislike but I just can't hate it. I do like the Warmachine/Hordes' steampunk Iron Kingdoms setting more, though.

 

[Marmooset]

I like my sci-fi hard. And by hard, I mean porno.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

I don't really care as long as it's entertaining.

 

[mega48man]

Doctor who falls under either (a lot more in the new season than usual) but's it's REALLY out there. so yeah, i said either, because, well, frankenstien is sci-fi technically; there's sciene (biology) and fiction (classic american folk lore)

 

[DeathsHands]

Both. Anything is acceptable as long as you have good technobabble with it.

 

[Funkysandwich]

Phillip K Dick is my favourite Sci-Fi author. He wrote a whole bunch of great stuff during the Cold War era that draws heavily on the ideas of the time. Read "A Scanner Darkly" or some of his short stories and you'll see what I mean.

 

[roman gnome]

You know the Heisenberg compensator from Star Trek? That's as out there as I am willing to get.

Don't tell me you put up with Teleporters though?

You know, the disintegration laser that re-integrates on command.

Oh, I can deal with those easily, and I'm pretty sure you know what the Heisenberg compensator is, don't you?

The Heisenberg compensator is a component of the transporters in Star Trek, used to get around the Heisenberg uncertainty principle which appears to prove that transporters are total BS (do they have Einstein compensators in the warp drives, I wonder?). I don't know if the writers were poking fun at the nerds who point out those sorts of flaws, or ironically acknowledging the flaw, or seriously suggesting that some sort of 'compensator' could make this particular impossibility possible. I'm kinda curious about that.

OT: I like all kinds of sci-fi, but I lean towards the harder stuff. Whether it's set in the distant future with technology we can only dream of, or dealing with stuff that we may actually see in our lifetimes, the important thing is that the writer shares some interesting ideas about how these things may affect us and/or our descendants. But space dramas are a lot of fun too. Write a good story, then make up whatever technology you need to put that story in a cool setting with awesome special effects, and I probably won't even complain that your transporter smells even more like BS since you installed the Heisenberg compensator.

 

[Banana Phone]

The Forever War, a fairly hard book, is one of my favorites. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is also up there. I don't really care how "hard" a book is as long as it's enjoyable to read.

 

[viranimus]

Either or. I want scifi to be cerebral and thought provoking. You can do that with the fantastic or mundane provided the proper level of explanation to make it seem plausible without having to create words to fill in the gaps.

 

[MetroidNut]

I have this thing called the Rule Of Cool for situations like this. Science fiction should try to stay plausible and grounded in the laws of physics and reality
EXCEPT
When the resulting situation is freakin awesome. Case in point, BSG and the Adama maneuver. In normal circumstances, id be wondering why it wasnt being ripped apart. However, it was so mindboggingly awesome, I wasnt able to process any other thought but FUCK YEAH ADMIRAL!

Word-for-word, this. God, I loved that episode of Galactica.