SF quote of the day
Published by Deanna Hoak May 28th, 2008 in SFnal
“But science fiction eventually becomes true, doesn’t it?”
Rhetorical question by Dr. Steven Wolf of Brooke Army Medical Center, in this story on attempting to regrow human limbs.
Would love to hear this group’s thoughts. :-)
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I'm a freelance copyeditor specializing in fantasy and science fiction. SF/F novels I have copyedited have been finalists for (and have sometimes won) the Hugo, Nebula, Arthur C. Clarke, Golden Spur, John W. Campbell Memorial, Quill, Locus, Philip K. Dick, British Science Fiction, British Fantasy, and World Fantasy awards. In 2007 I was short-listed for a World Fantasy Award for my copyediting.
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Given enough parallel universes, everything will eventually come true.
From what was said in the article (and the others I’ve pulled up on google under “regenerative, science”) they need to have the powder next to the same cells they are regenerating. The article does not make it clear as to whether or not they are applying the ‘pixie dust’ directly to affected areas or to skin samples from amputated limbs for later reattachment — the article almost seems to say both.
As far as regarding science fiction becoming reality — well, for many things it’s a matter of time and technology — we’re working against laws of the universe that we don’t have a 100% clear picture of and throwing dice against an unknown probability factor in a lot of cases.
Science fiction may indeed come true; many SF writers of the past have accurately predicted aspects of our present. Of course, not everything is predicted, and the SF community as a whole suffers from excessive optimism and pessimism. We have to write interesting stories, after all.
I fervently hope limb and organ regeneration is added to the list of successful predictions of science fiction.
Orson Scott Card wrote, “… science fiction is about what could be but isn’t; fantasy is about what couldn’t.”
I love “hard” science fiction, the type of literature that extrapolates a technology or possibility into the future and explores the resulting implications.
After all, envisioning the future is the first part of creating it.
Larry Niven wrote, “A good SF author invents the car; a great SF writer comes up with the traffic jam.”
Even now, a thousand readers of your SF quote of the day are thinking, “but what if?”
If people believe something can or should be done they often figure out how to do what is impossible according to the “laws” of physics. Flight is the classic example but we see it everyday in many little things like a child believing that he can ride a bike. That is often the greatest value of SF. If we can dream it we often find a way to do it. It just might take 3,000 years.