3 ms·

I once read a quip in an interview with a sci-fi author. He said something like: "No one writing about the present day would spend paragraphs explaining how a l

I once read a quip in an interview with a sci-fi author. He said something like: "No one writing about the present day would spend paragraphs explaining how a light switch works." It's easy for sci-fi to fall into the trap of obsessively detailing fictional technologies, to the determent of making a vivid setting and story. Edit: I'm not saying that sci-fi shouldn't communicate some understanding of the future technology or shouldn't enjoy engaging in some futurology. Just that it's difficult to do in an artful way.

gooble_flop 13y ago
Sometimes part of the fun is imagining future tech...
crististm 13y ago
In the same sense, a sci-fi story that observes too much the technology in the determent of the people is like a B series movie.
repsilat 13y ago
> "No one writing about the present day would spend paragraphs explaining how a light switch works. Not quite the same thing, but I remember reading something a bit like that linked from here a while back: http://notes.greaterthanorequalto.net/post/3963193805/note-ive-been-wanting-to-link-to-this-for-a http://notes.greaterthanorequalto.net/post/3963193805/note-i...