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<blockquote data-quote="Nellisir" data-source="post: 6127776" data-attributes="member: 70"><p>Magic breaks the laws of physics. That. at least to me, is the definition of magic. Doing that which is impossible. Not circumventing it, but literally doing the impossible. Star Trek breaks the laws of physics with warp drive and time-travel, and does so repeatedly - it's a major point in many episodes. "Look how hard we can break the laws of the universe!" </p><p>Other red flags: Interbreeding with alien species. Eating alien life forms in any way shape or form. Surviving interstellar travel without radiation shielding. Travelling at close to light speed without considering consequences.</p><p></p><p>The best handling I've seen of this is in CJ Cherryh's sf novels. FTL works via "hyperspace", thus circumventing the laws of physics, but ships emerge at a significant percentage of the speed of light. Combat involves taking rocks through jumpspace because the closer to light speed the rock is, the less time the enemy has to react (in the ideal situation, the rock travels at the same speed or a fraction of a second slower than the information about the rock). And maneuvering takes a considerable amount of distance.</p><p></p><p>Science fiction, might circumvent the laws of physics, but acknowledges that it does so, or at least doesn't make it a major feature. There are science stories (Asimov) that take advantage of those laws to tell a story, and there are others that use them as a framing device or constraint or backdrop. I've been reading the works of Alastair Reynolds, and Wikipedia has this to say: "<span style="color: #000000"><span style="font-family: 'sans-serif'">His works are hard science fiction veiled behind space opera and noir toned stories, and reflect his professional expertise with physics and astronomy (he's an astrophysicist, and worked for the European Space Agency until 2004), included by extrapolating future technologies in terms that are consistent, for the most part, with current science. Reynolds has said he prefers to keep the science in his books to what he personally believes will be possible, and he does not believe faster-than-light travel will ever be possible, but that he adopts science he believes will be impossible when it is necessary for the story."</span></span></p><p><span style="color: #000000"><span style="font-family: 'sans-serif'"></span></span></p><p><span style="color: #000000"><span style="font-family: 'sans-serif'">In his primary universe, Revelation Space... "</span></span><span style="color: #000000"><span style="font-family: 'sans-serif'"> ...extraterrestrial sentience exists but is elusive, and </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstellar_travel" target="_blank">interstellar travel</a><span style="color: #000000"><span style="font-family: 'sans-serif'"> is primarily undertaken by a class of vessel called a lighthugger which only approaches the speed of light (</span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faster_than_light" target="_blank">faster than light</a><span style="color: #000000"><span style="font-family: 'sans-serif'"> travel is possible, but it is so dangerous that no race uses it).</span></span></p><p><span style="color: #000000"><span style="font-family: 'sans-serif'"></span></span></p><p><span style="color: #000000"><span style="font-family: 'sans-serif'">To be honest, I didn't follow the FTL explanations. It's weird quantum foam stuff involving at least 4 different phases, #3 of which permanently converts you into luminal energy, and #4 of which goes super-luminal, but is frighteningly unstable (turns out it's bad if some of your particles go super-luminal and some don't).</span></span></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Nellisir, post: 6127776, member: 70"] Magic breaks the laws of physics. That. at least to me, is the definition of magic. Doing that which is impossible. Not circumventing it, but literally doing the impossible. Star Trek breaks the laws of physics with warp drive and time-travel, and does so repeatedly - it's a major point in many episodes. "Look how hard we can break the laws of the universe!" Other red flags: Interbreeding with alien species. Eating alien life forms in any way shape or form. Surviving interstellar travel without radiation shielding. Travelling at close to light speed without considering consequences. The best handling I've seen of this is in CJ Cherryh's sf novels. FTL works via "hyperspace", thus circumventing the laws of physics, but ships emerge at a significant percentage of the speed of light. Combat involves taking rocks through jumpspace because the closer to light speed the rock is, the less time the enemy has to react (in the ideal situation, the rock travels at the same speed or a fraction of a second slower than the information about the rock). And maneuvering takes a considerable amount of distance. Science fiction, might circumvent the laws of physics, but acknowledges that it does so, or at least doesn't make it a major feature. There are science stories (Asimov) that take advantage of those laws to tell a story, and there are others that use them as a framing device or constraint or backdrop. I've been reading the works of Alastair Reynolds, and Wikipedia has this to say: "[COLOR=#000000][FONT=sans-serif]His works are hard science fiction veiled behind space opera and noir toned stories, and reflect his professional expertise with physics and astronomy (he's an astrophysicist, and worked for the European Space Agency until 2004), included by extrapolating future technologies in terms that are consistent, for the most part, with current science. Reynolds has said he prefers to keep the science in his books to what he personally believes will be possible, and he does not believe faster-than-light travel will ever be possible, but that he adopts science he believes will be impossible when it is necessary for the story." In his primary universe, Revelation Space... "[/FONT][/COLOR][COLOR=#000000][FONT=sans-serif] ...extraterrestrial sentience exists but is elusive, and [/FONT][/COLOR][URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstellar_travel"]interstellar travel[/URL][COLOR=#000000][FONT=sans-serif] is primarily undertaken by a class of vessel called a lighthugger which only approaches the speed of light ([/FONT][/COLOR][URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faster_than_light"]faster than light[/URL][COLOR=#000000][FONT=sans-serif] travel is possible, but it is so dangerous that no race uses it). To be honest, I didn't follow the FTL explanations. It's weird quantum foam stuff involving at least 4 different phases, #3 of which permanently converts you into luminal energy, and #4 of which goes super-luminal, but is frighteningly unstable (turns out it's bad if some of your particles go super-luminal and some don't).[/FONT][/COLOR] [/QUOTE]
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