(urth) OT: Hard SF Niven (was "Memorare" hardcover)

[Jeff Wilson]

Matthew Groves wrote:
> On Dec 7, 2007 12:22 PM, Matthew King <automatthew at gmail.com> wrote:
>> On Dec 6, 2007, at 11:09 PM, Jeff Wilson wrote:
>>> [Niven is] not truly a hard SF writer, though he puts on
>>> such
>>> a good show that most people don't notice he's swept the fossil record
>>> under the rug, for example.
>> Do you mean the Protector-breeder origin of humans?
> 
> I did have that reaction when I read Protector:  If the breeders where
> homo habilis, then why does homo habilis seem to share ancestory with
> other Terran species?

The shared ancestry among primates is explained by induced mutation, but 
  no explanation is made to connect primates with the rest of earthly life.

> However, from what I've read of Niven's, his greatest sin against
> scientific plausibility, in my opinion, is "luck breeding."

To be sure, that part is metafictional one-upmanship rather than an 
integral part of the plot. Psi powers were very popular among genre 
fiction at the time, and it's hard to top the power to control the 
author/editor/publisher.

-- 
Jeff Wilson - jwilson at io.com
< http://www.io.com/~jwilson >