A commonplace

[womzilla]

In a discussion of this wonderful cartoon, james_nicoll on flavors of science fiction:

See, that's the difference between hard and soft SF. Soft SF says "the Go Fast Now drive works because I pressed that red button". Hard SF takes the time to explain things in enough detail that the readers can work out for themselves why it is the drive can't possibly work that way.

Comments

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

I've gone back and put that missing "can" in between "reader" and "work"...

[jimhenley.livejournal.com]

That's awesome. It's the other side of Jerry Pournelle pointing out that "Neutron Star" couldn't possibly happen, because before the original couple ever activated the jump drive inside their fancy Puppeteer hull, one of them would be all, "Now be careful of the tidal gradient sweetie . . . "