Good stories are about people Good science fiction stories are about science and people. So how to you put good science into a story that is about people? That's what this book is about. It's about looking for how science changes peoples' lives, and how to make that change an interesting story about people. This is about making Technofiction-science fiction where science matters as much as characters. Welcome to a Tales of Technofiction book.

Science and Insight

for Science Fiction WritingBy Roger Bourke White Jr.

AuthorHouse

Copyright © 2012 Roger Bourke White Jr.
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4685-6873-8

Contents

Introduction..............................................................................................................................................xiVolume One: Evolution of Technology.......................................................................................................................1Tattoos and T-Shirts: A Study in How New Tech Replaces Old Tech...........................................................................................3On Birds and Boeings: or Thoughts on the surprises we can expect from genetic engineering.................................................................9Differences Between High Technology and High Magic........................................................................................................18Volume Two: Space Travel..................................................................................................................................21Lifestyles on Interstellar Space Flights..................................................................................................................23Thoughts on Space Commerce: What happens in an environment with starcraft that are constant acceleration, but slower than light speed.....................29Thoughts on the Composition of Gas Giant Planets: The Ooze Zone...........................................................................................45How Hot is Venus? Not as hot as you might first suppose...................................................................................................49Thoughts on Biosphere 2 and the Gardens of Starships......................................................................................................54Volume Three: Evolution of Life...........................................................................................................................57Ecological Booms, Busts and Flip-Flops....................................................................................................................59Save Mankind with Neolithic Park..........................................................................................................................66On Gene Pools, Language and Arranged Marriages............................................................................................................70Good Times, Bad Times, and Genes..........................................................................................................................75The Successes of the Grandfather are Visited on the Grandson or "Mr. Evolution Cares About Your Granny"..................................................78Brides and Matrons, Big Males, and Flat Bodies ... More Thoughts on the Subtlety of the Human Design......................................................80What Valuable Trait is the Vitamin C "Screwed Up Gene" a Marker for?......................................................................................88Special Life-Creating Things About the Earth..............................................................................................................89The Accelerating Rate of Evolutionary Change: or, How Long Will Man be Earth's Dominant Species? (And will he know when he isn't?)........................97Volume Four: Human Thinking...............................................................................................................................105The Thinking Stack: Human Thinking in Terms of Processing Layers..........................................................................................107The Thinking Stack, Part II: Archive, Perception and Wisdom Building......................................................................................120The Sacred Masculine and Civilization.....................................................................................................................125Advanced Leadership and Followership: Two Modern Human Skills.............................................................................................130On Language and Life Span.................................................................................................................................134Why Humans Like to Drink Soft Drinks......................................................................................................................137Thoughts on Prostitution..................................................................................................................................139Intelligence Without Nerves...............................................................................................................................147What Makes Civilization Worth the Trouble?................................................................................................................148Thoughts on Religion and Self-Awareness...................................................................................................................151Thoughts on the Y2K Crisis................................................................................................................................154Mania and Markets.........................................................................................................................................159Volume Five: The 9-11 Disaster: A Textbook Case in Fear...................................................................................................167The Anatomy of Memorable Disasters........................................................................................................................169Post-September 11th: The American Panic of the 2000's (Written in November 2001)..........................................................................175NASA Abandons Hubble: An Incarnation of "Lifeboats on the Titanic" Thinking...............................................................................189Worshipping at the Altar of the Holy Metal Detector.......................................................................................................193Volume Six: Other Topics..................................................................................................................................203Why Do Stars Shine For So Long?...........................................................................................................................205An Inexpensive Earth Terraforming Project: Desalinating the Oceans........................................................................................215Thinking About Deltas: The Nile-style "Delta" Delta and the Mississippi-style "Bird's Foot" Delta.........................................................218Thoughts on how to use the video part of a TV broadcast to better report news.............................................................................219Teaching TV 101 in High School............................................................................................................................224God and Man, Part One: Walt Disney and Mickey Mouse: The Relation Between Creators and Creations..........................................................229God and Man, Part Two: Roger White and Mickey Ratsass: The Story of a Creator and his Creation............................................................234How Small Can Mankind's Universe Be?......................................................................................................................239Is Religion...