(urth) Hard SF

[David Stockhoff]

Aha. Well, we can certainly agree that there is an 
underlying/overarching thrust to the Cycle that subordinates both 
science and literature to itself. It is /scientific /in the sense of 
being or embracing a principled, methodical quest for understanding.

But I think a better terminology might be to say it is /rational. /I 
assume that one of the attractions of Catholicism to Wolfe is its blend 
of the rational with the religious, even mystical, as well as with the 
moral. Severian observes and records and speculates and may even have 
insights, but he does not experiment or do maths, nor does he 
distinguish the products of scientific work from the products of 
theological work. Rationality---or rational morality---is the common 
thread.

I don't think it's coincidental that he is somewhat in the position of 
Galileo and Kepler, who could observe and speculate, but even with 
mathematics were unable to conduct experiments to prove that the earth 
circled the sun. That's more or less where the Commonwealth is in 
understanding the universe, give or take a few alien technologies and 
ancient records.

On 11/30/2012 8:33 AM, Lee Berman wrote:
>> I think Wolfe's red sun was more of a literary choice than a scientific one.
>> David Stockhoff: Totally. I'm not sure why, then, you would classify Urth as "driven by
>> a scientific premise."
> Good question. I'll try to explain. It is a common hard SF trope to have primitive aliens
> believing in some magical principle to understand some large, problematic issue in their lives.
> Then some space-faring humans come in with their scientific knowledge and technology and use it
> to fix the problem, often becoming "gods" along the way. We all get a good chuckle out of that.
> This can be recognized as a remnant of the colonial/imperialist thinking here on earth.
>
> I think Wolfe has turned this formula on its head. On first reading, we see there are some
> mystical explanations floating around Urth to explain Urth's dying sun. But as readers we
> understand that stars have a lifespan and Urth's sun has simply arrived at the end of one.
> So for most of the story we have a scientific explanation for Urth's condition in mind.
>
> Eventually, through the Green Man and Master Ash, we get the sense that there actually is
> a solution to the dying sun. With Tzadkiel and Yesod and the white fountain cancelling out
> the black hole we have the "scientific" solution to the problem. But it isn't human beings
> using science who facilitate the solution. It is higher beings using what appears, even to
> us readers, as some sort of divine power.
>
> What I am suggesting is that  the premise of "hard SF" is that magic is the soft
> explanation and science is the hard explanation.
>
> But what Wolfe is doing is suggesting that to a divine intelligence, science is a soft, magical
> primitive way of understanding the universe. There is a harder, more comprehensive
> understanding than science to those higher beings who can grasp it.
>
> So, I think, from Wolfe's own perspective, he is not really writing Fantasy/SF.  He is writing
> SF which takes "hard" to a new level and definition. As science is harder than magic, so Wolfe
> feels there is a divine knowledge which is harder than science. (I don't mean to suggest Wolfe
> is alone in taking this approach) 		 	   		
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