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<blockquote data-quote="Hussar" data-source="post: 7972571" data-attributes="member: 22779">Of course you won't find psionics in a purely &quot;Hard SF&quot; setting.&nbsp; That's the point of psionics.&nbsp; Psionics is how SF writers get away with adding magic to an SF setting.&nbsp; That's what psionics IS.&nbsp; I believe, sir, that you finally have gotten the point.&nbsp; That psionics is just magic.&nbsp; It's the same thing, just given a funny set of glasses and a mustache so we can have magic in an otherwise SF setting.-----And, just to go back to my point about morality tales vs ethics.&nbsp; It's not a black and white vs shades of grey thing at all.&nbsp; Lord of the Rings has tons of shades of grey, but, it's still solidly fantasy.&nbsp; As is A Song of Fire and Ice for that matter.&nbsp; But, the point about both stories, and most fantasy, is that you HAVE good and evil.&nbsp; It might be evil and evil.&nbsp; It might be good and good.&nbsp; But, the point is, there is still definite moral sides and the story, when you boil it right down, is an examination of morality - what does it mean to be good?In SF, moral questions are often (although not always of course) less about good and evil and a lot more about what does it mean to be human?&nbsp; Terminator was mentioned.&nbsp; Man vs Machine - and in the expanded movies and TV stories, the questions of what does it mean to have free will in the face of predestination takes the foreground.&nbsp; What does it mean to be human is a major question in many SF stories - Spock, Data, AI, etc.&nbsp; It's less about good and evil and more about political and social questions and commentary.&nbsp; Whether you're talking modern SF stories, or going all the way back to Frankenstein or War of the Worlds.&nbsp; Is there overlap in genre?&nbsp; Oh of course.&nbsp; Genre is porous.&nbsp; It's Venn diagram with tons of overlap.&nbsp; We can only define genre by the centers, not the edges.&nbsp; And there will always be edge cases.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Hussar, post: 7972571, member: 22779"] Of course you won't find psionics in a purely "Hard SF" setting. That's the point of psionics. Psionics is how SF writers get away with adding magic to an SF setting. That's what psionics [I]IS[/I]. I believe, sir, that you finally have gotten the point. That psionics is just magic. It's the same thing, just given a funny set of glasses and a mustache so we can have magic in an otherwise SF setting. ----- And, just to go back to my point about morality tales vs ethics. It's not a black and white vs shades of grey thing at all. Lord of the Rings has tons of shades of grey, but, it's still solidly fantasy. As is A Song of Fire and Ice for that matter. But, the point about both stories, and most fantasy, is that you HAVE good and evil. It might be evil and evil. It might be good and good. But, the point is, there is still definite moral sides and the story, when you boil it right down, is an examination of morality - what does it mean to be good? In SF, moral questions are often (although not always of course) less about good and evil and a lot more about what does it mean to be human? Terminator was mentioned. Man vs Machine - and in the expanded movies and TV stories, the questions of what does it mean to have free will in the face of predestination takes the foreground. What does it mean to be human is a major question in many SF stories - Spock, Data, AI, etc. It's less about good and evil and more about political and social questions and commentary. Whether you're talking modern SF stories, or going all the way back to Frankenstein or War of the Worlds. Is there overlap in genre? Oh of course. Genre is porous. It's Venn diagram with tons of overlap. We can only define genre by the centers, not the edges. And there will always be edge cases. [/QUOTE]

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