Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Science fiction and the death of the sun

typebarmagazine.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 144 posts

Re: Science fiction and the death of the sun

#11

Post by kuchenbecker »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #6
Archelaos wrote: post #2

> During the Age of Enlightenment ... as the scientific method replaced religion as the explanation for physical phenomena This happended more than 2,000 years earlier. The author seems to miss basic knowledge in the history of philosophy and science.

I’ll bite. What are you referring to?

One big realization I had how sophisticated the ancient world is, the Antithikara Mechanism. Device built by ancient greeks in 200BC using thousands of years of astronomical learning to build the first KNOWN Analog Computer and devices of similar sophistication are not seen until the late middle ages / early renaissance.

Re: Science fiction and the death of the sun

#12

Post by Supermancho »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #6
Archelaos wrote: post #2

> During the Age of Enlightenment ... as the scientific method replaced religion as the explanation for physical phenomena This happended more than 2,000 years earlier. The author seems to miss basic knowledge in the history of philosophy and science.

I’ll bite. What are you referring to?

> the predominant scientific belief was that the universe and the bodies within it were endless

From the article. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outer_space Zeng Heng, who codified a long held belief that most certainly predated 0 AD

Re: Science fiction and the death of the sun

#14

Post by shagie »

Apocryphon wrote: post #5

> For while the dying-earth genre came to an end in the 1940s uhh... Dying Earth is a fantasy series by the American author Jack Vance, comprising four books originally published from 1950 to 1984. The Book of the New Sun (1980–1983, 1987) is a four-volume science fantasy novel[2] written by the American author Gene Wolfe.

Another entry in the 1950s to 1980s time frame: The Songs of Distant Earth by Clarke.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Songs_of_Distant_Earth

> The Songs of Distant Earth is a 1986 science fiction novel by British writer Arthur C. Clarke, based upon his 1958 short story of the same title. He stated that it was his favourite of all his novels. Clarke also wrote a short step outline with the same title, published in Omni magazine and anthologised in The Sentinel in 1983.

> The novel tells of a utopian human colony in the far future that is visited by travellers from a doomed Earth, as the Sun has gone nova. The Songs of Distant Earth explores apocalyptic, atheistic, and utopian ideas, as well as the effects of long-term interstellar travel and extra-terrestrial life. The story is set in the 39th century and follows the journey of a spaceship called the Magellan as it carries a group of colonists to a distant planet, Thalassa. Thalassa is one of the few habitable planets discovered by Earth’s automated spacecraft, and it becomes a refuge for humanity facing the impending destruction of Earth due to a massive solar flare.

Re: Science fiction and the death of the sun

#15

Post by nradov »

kuchenbecker wrote: post #11
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ll bite. What are you referring to?

One big realization I had how sophisticated the ancient world is, the Antithikara Mechanism. Device built by ancient greeks in 200BC using thousands of years of astronomical learning to build the first KNOWN Analog Computer and devices of similar sophistication are not seen until the late middle ages / early renaissance.

Some ancient societies were quite skilled and sophisticated in certain areas. But as far as we can determine they didn't have the scientific method as we understand it today.

Re: Science fiction and the death of the sun

#16

Post by sircastor »

I recall back in 7th grade I mapped out a sci-fi story about people having to abandon the Earth after it suddenly transitioned into its red giant phase. I didn’t ever get to writing the story, but I was captivated by the concept of the need for sudden evacuation.

Re: Science fiction and the death of the sun

#18

Post by Reason077 »

Danny Boyle and Alex Garland's 2007 film Sunshine is another great example of this genre. Rather than abandoning a frozen earth due to the dying sun, they send a mission to deliver a bomb into it to "restart" it.

A real all-star cast featuring not only a young Cillian Murphy, but a young Michelle Yeoh, Chris Evans, Hiroyuki Sanada, Benedict Wong, Cliff Curtis, and Rose Byrne!

Highly recommended, despite never satisfactorily explaining why they require a manned spacecraft to do the job rather than sending a robotic drone ship. Seems to me that adding humans to the mix greatly increased the complexity and risk of the mission.

Re: Science fiction and the death of the sun

#19

Post by xjay »

sircastor wrote: post #16

I recall back in 7th grade I mapped out a sci-fi story about people having to abandon the Earth after it suddenly transitioned into its red giant phase. I didn’t ever get to writing the story, but I was captivated by the concept of the need for sudden evacuation.

In some 1990s sci-fi series, an alien race played the long game by directing some (invisible) energy beam at the sun, accelerating its transition into becoming a red giant, a process which would have otherwise taken billions of years.

Re: Science fiction and the death of the sun

#20

Post by melagonster »

radicaldreamer wrote: post #13

Liu Cixin has a novella about moving the earth to avoid a supernova https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wandering_Earth_(novella)

For more information, These products are crazy popular in China.

>It was also adapted into a 2019 film of the same name and its sequel, and a 2021 graphic novel.

Main topic is the protagonist can make the important decision: sacrifice half of human to move earth. Other people were too hypocritical and supid to do this.

Post reply on HN