Hard-SciFi Shorts: Compelling Science Fiction

A few months ago, I stumbled upon Liu Cixin(刘慈欣)’s Three Body Problem and found myself enthralled by a new subgenre, hard sci-fi, which has revived my childhood love of science fiction. I describe the genre as SciFi, but firmly grounded in real physics and relatable technologies, with detailed and plausible explanations when necessary. These are generally narratives that could take place now, or perhaps within the next 100 years. I find myself excitedly applying concepts from my intro theoretical physics or astrology courses in college¹. They tend to leave me pondering the situations and concepts long after I finish them because I feel so much more grounded in their world.

A few months later, an interesting website made it to the top of Hacker News: Compelling Science Fiction. It’s basically a collection of (currently free) short stories in the hard sci-fi genre. As of this post, two issues have been released, with 5 short stories each. The shorts span the whole gamut of sci-fi topics, from artificial intelligence, inter-alien species encounters, to planetary colonization. My favorite from issue 1 was Opportunities for Lost Children, which dealt with the themes of mind-transference and a form of immortality. My favorite from issue 2 was Oelinium, which dealt with the concepts of interstellar colonization, cybernetic slavery, and technological deities. The works are too short to really discuss them without spoiling too much, so do yourself a favor and read them!

Even Bill Gates is jumping into the hard sci-fi craze. He recently wrote a review for Neal Stephenson’s wildly popular Seveneves (my own review hopefully forthcoming).

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD

Thoughts on Opportunities for Lost Children

• I don’t think I’d consider my Assumed to be me at all. He’d be a human with my memories, experiences, and personality, but what he gains and enjoys, I don’t at all gain and enjoy. In fact, it can be argued that he gains at my expense. I guess it’s similar in some senses to children, except with children you are gaining by providing love to another, whereas with the Assumed you’re providing love to a clone of yourself. Reminds me a lot of concepts talked about in WaitButWhy’s What Makes You You?
• It was interesting to ponder what it’d be like to be me, but in the body and with the freedom of a child. I imagine that I would put my youth and boundless time to the most efficient use, by studying like crazy or investing early or something. But maybe I’d squander my youth all the same on things even more frivolous.

Thoughts on Oelinium

• I really like the way Rodgers develops the protagonist after he had been mechanized and sent off into space. Despite being half human, half machine overlord, he has all the traits of a byronic hero with a beautiful redemption. It’s comforting to imagine this benevolent explorer who explores the cosmos in his immortality, meets sentient life, gives them the gift of science and technology, then sacrifices himself for their sake. It’s an interesting alternate explanation for what a God is.
• I enjoyed the thought experiment of how to convey intelligence to a totally different alien species. His method makes one appreciate how primordially beautiful mathematics is. In the movie Contact(1997), the alien civilization used a similar method to establish a codex for communication.

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