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Revision as of 18:44, 28 September 2007
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (August 2007) |
Hard science fiction is a category of science fiction characterized by an emphasis on scientific or technical detail, or on scientific accuracy, or on both.[1] The term was first used in print in 1957 by P. Schuyler Miller, book reviewer for Astounding Science Fiction.[2] The complementary term, soft science fiction (a back formation that first appeared in the late 1970s[3]) by contrast refers to science fiction in which science is not featured, or the science is incorrect or made-up. The term sometimes also contrasts the "hardness" of the sciences used in the story: the "hard" sciences are quantitative or material-based disciplines, such as physics, chemistry, and astronomy; while the more "soft" sciences are social sciences, such as sociology, anthropology, or psychology. (Stories featuring engineering tend to be categorized as hard SF, although technically engineering is not a science.). Neither term is part of a rigorous taxonomy — instead they are rule-of-thumb ways of characterizing stories that reviewers and commentators have found useful. The categorization "hard SF" represents a position on a scale from "softer" to "harder", not a binary classification.
Scientific rigor
The heart of the "hard SF" designation is the relationship of the science content and attitude to the rest of the narrative, and (for some readers, at least) the "hardness" or rigor of the science itself.[4] One requirement for hard SF is procedural or intentional: a story should be trying to be accurate and rigorous in its use of the scientific knowledge of its time, and later discoveries do not necessarily invalidate the label. For example, P. Schuyler Miller called Arthur C. Clarke's 1961 novel A Fall of Moondust hard SF [5], and the designation remains valid even though a crucial plot element, the existence of deep pockets of "moondust" in lunar craters, is now known to be incorrect. There is a degree of flexibility in how far from "real science" a story can stray before it leaves the realm of hard SF. Some authors scrupulously avoid such implausibilities as faster-than-light travel, while others accept such notions (sometimes called "enabling devices," since they allow the story to take place) but focus on realistically depicting the worlds that such a technology might make possible. In this view, a story's scientific "hardness" is less a matter of the absolute accuracy of the science content than of the rigor and consistency with which the various ideas and possibilities are worked out.
Representative writers
Other media
Hard science fiction is a genre primarily associated with print science fiction because it is characterized by a particular relationship with science. Science fiction in other media may, however, capture the look and feel of hard science fiction.
Film
Television
Comics
- Dan Dare
- Forever War
- Freefall
- Planetes (also television series)
- Sky Masters of the Space Force
Computer and video games
Anime
RPG
Miscellaneous
A fan organization that has grown up around Hard Science Fiction is General Technics, populated by scientists, technical folks, and others with a specific interest in this area. General Technics' name is taken from the organization that created a global-scale computer in John Brunner's novel, Stand on Zanzibar. General Technics, though concentrated in the American Midwest, has a global membership.
References
- ^ See Peter Nicholls, "Hard SF," in The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, ed. John Clute and Peter Nicholls (1993); Gary K. Wolfe, "Hard Science Fiction," in Critical Terms for Science Fiction and Fantasy: A Glossary and Guide to Scholarship (1986).
- ^ Science Fiction Citations: Hard Science Fiction; see also David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer, "New People, New Places, New Politics," introduction to The Hard SF Renaissance, 2002, ISBN 0-312-87635-1
- ^ Science Fiction Citations: Soft Science Fiction
- ^ See, for example, David N. Samuelson, "Modes of Extrapolation: The Formulas of Hard Science Fiction"
- ^ Science Fiction Citations: Hard Science Fiction
- ^ a b c "The Hard SF Renaissance, ed. David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer".
Further reading
- On Hard Science Fiction: A Bibliography, originally published in Science Fiction Studies #60 (July 1993).
- Kathryn Cramer's chapter on hard science fiction in The Cambridge Companion to SF, ed. Farah Mendlesohn & Edward James.
- Gary Westfahl (1996-02-28). Cosmic Engineers: A Study of Hard Science Fiction (Contributions to the Study of Science Fiction and Fantasy). Greenwood Press. ISBN 0-313-29727-4.
{{cite book}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - A Political History of SF by Eric Raymond
- The Science in Science Fiction by Brian Stableford, David Langford, & Peter Nicholls (1982)
External links
- HardSF.net : Hard Science Fiction
- Kheper Realism scale
- The Ascent of Wonder by David G. Hartwell & Kathryn Cramer. Story notes and introductions.