Path: ...!news.nobody.at!eternal-september.org!feeder3.eternal-september.org!news.eternal-september.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail From: Paul S Person Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written Subject: Re: (ReacTor) Defining Our Terms: What Do We Mean by "Hard SF"? Date: Sun, 11 Aug 2024 08:28:50 -0700 Organization: A noiseless patient Spider Lines: 42 Message-ID: References: <8cugbjlte9d8adqc8h5vfg4rnv3nomr2hr@4ax.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Injection-Date: Sun, 11 Aug 2024 17:28:53 +0200 (CEST) Injection-Info: dont-email.me; posting-host="b3607f28b451720b571f1d204fa6d072"; logging-data="2920034"; mail-complaints-to="abuse@eternal-september.org"; posting-account="U2FsdGVkX1/vimV+h01b97gBbnhKuRgV90sGEgw/2ng=" User-Agent: ForteAgent/8.00.32.1272 Cancel-Lock: sha1:fPDSFwfKvAYe3kvChAHo2faIDvE= Bytes: 2730 On Sun, 11 Aug 2024 01:43:19 -0700, The Horny Goat wrote: >On Fri, 9 Aug 2024 08:46:06 -0500, "Michael F. Stemper" > wrote: > >>If you are referring to my (elided) definition, I would say "no". = Having the >>technology to do something is different from the science behind it = being >>significant. Of course, my definition, like all definitions[1], has = difficult >>edge cases. >> >>> (I remember back in 2016 when someone called Bradbury prophetic for >>> anticipating Donald Trump in that story...) >> >>Donald Trump was only six at the time that Bradbury wrote "A Sound of = Thunder". >>(I'm not saying that you are supporting that opinion.) > >I haven't determined whether the person who said that was joking or >simply clueless thinking he/she was reading a new story.... Uhhh ... doesn't the /prophetic/ nature of the story depend on its being published before the event? The longer before the better? All you need to do is look at the position of the Know-Nothing Party of nearly 200 years ago to realize that Trump is nothing new [1]. A resurgence, while not inevitable, was not inconceivable. Not, of course, that Bradbury had Trump as such in mind. Just how the US might differ if someone went off the path. And RAH's Scudder could be seen as prophetic of Trump as well. [1] The immigrants being opposed are not from the same places, but the idea is the same. --=20 "Here lies the Tuscan poet Aretino, Who evil spoke of everyone but God, Giving as his excuse, 'I never knew him.'"