things to remember when playing Sci-Fi
Posted: Tue Jun 20, 2006 1:18 am
0.) Science fiction fans relate more to human beings than to silicon chips. (Burnside's Zeroth Law of space combat)
1.) "Any interesting space drive is a weapon of mass destruction. It only matters how long you want to wait for maximum damage." (John's Law for SF authors.)
........1A.) "Interesting is equal to 'whatever keeps the readers from getting bored'". (John's Law for SF authors, Addendum)
.........1B.) "something hitting at 3 km/sec (kips) delivers kinetic energy broadly equal to its mass in TNT." (Robinson's First Law of space combat)
.........1C.) "a reaction drive's efficiency as a weapon is in direct proportion to its efficiency as a drive." (Nivens law, Aka 'The Kzinti lesson')
2.) "for every kilogram of handwavium you remove from a setting, you add about 10 cubic meters of impossible to maintain the plumbing." (Robinson's Second Law of space combat)
3.) When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong. (Clarke's 1st law.)
2. The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible. (Clarke's 2nd law)
3. Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. (Clarke's 3rd law)
.........3A.) "If technology is distinguishable from magic, it is insufficiently advanced." (Clarke's third law, addendum.)
.........3B.) "Any sufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable from technology." (Clarke's third law, addendum.)
.........3C.) "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from a completely ad-hoc plot device." (Clarke's Law, Addendum. Aka 'Langfords law')
..........3D.) "any technology, regardless of how advanced, will seem like magic to those that do not understand it" (Mark Stanley, Freefall webcomic)
4.) "Nothing is always absolutely so." (Sturgeon's law)
5.) Anything that can go wrong, will. (Finagle's Law of Dynamic Negatives)
6.) "If there's more than one way to do a job, and one of those ways will result in disaster, then somebody will do it that way." (Murphy's Law)
........6A.) "Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity." (Hanlon's Law)
7.) It always takes longer than you expect, even when you take into account Hofstadter's Law. (Hofstadter's Law)
8.) entities should not be multiplied beyond necessity. (Ockham's Razor)
9.) Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. (Santayana's maxim)
10.) "Everything that has ever happened in human society since space travel, has had its precedent in human history before the first lunar landing." (H. Beam Piper, 'Space Viking')
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just a little complilation of various adages, maxims, and sci-fi laws i put together. they are in rough order, let me know if i need to move a few around to make it flow better.
oh, and i usually add a personal addendum to #9, "Those that do not study history are doomed to be conquered by those who did."
1.) "Any interesting space drive is a weapon of mass destruction. It only matters how long you want to wait for maximum damage." (John's Law for SF authors.)
........1A.) "Interesting is equal to 'whatever keeps the readers from getting bored'". (John's Law for SF authors, Addendum)
.........1B.) "something hitting at 3 km/sec (kips) delivers kinetic energy broadly equal to its mass in TNT." (Robinson's First Law of space combat)
.........1C.) "a reaction drive's efficiency as a weapon is in direct proportion to its efficiency as a drive." (Nivens law, Aka 'The Kzinti lesson')
2.) "for every kilogram of handwavium you remove from a setting, you add about 10 cubic meters of impossible to maintain the plumbing." (Robinson's Second Law of space combat)
3.) When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong. (Clarke's 1st law.)
2. The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible. (Clarke's 2nd law)
3. Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. (Clarke's 3rd law)
.........3A.) "If technology is distinguishable from magic, it is insufficiently advanced." (Clarke's third law, addendum.)
.........3B.) "Any sufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable from technology." (Clarke's third law, addendum.)
.........3C.) "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from a completely ad-hoc plot device." (Clarke's Law, Addendum. Aka 'Langfords law')
..........3D.) "any technology, regardless of how advanced, will seem like magic to those that do not understand it" (Mark Stanley, Freefall webcomic)
4.) "Nothing is always absolutely so." (Sturgeon's law)
5.) Anything that can go wrong, will. (Finagle's Law of Dynamic Negatives)
6.) "If there's more than one way to do a job, and one of those ways will result in disaster, then somebody will do it that way." (Murphy's Law)
........6A.) "Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity." (Hanlon's Law)
7.) It always takes longer than you expect, even when you take into account Hofstadter's Law. (Hofstadter's Law)
8.) entities should not be multiplied beyond necessity. (Ockham's Razor)
9.) Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. (Santayana's maxim)
10.) "Everything that has ever happened in human society since space travel, has had its precedent in human history before the first lunar landing." (H. Beam Piper, 'Space Viking')
---------------
just a little complilation of various adages, maxims, and sci-fi laws i put together. they are in rough order, let me know if i need to move a few around to make it flow better.
oh, and i usually add a personal addendum to #9, "Those that do not study history are doomed to be conquered by those who did."
