Comments on: Science and Science Fiction Epiphanies

By: timebinder

timebinder — Thu, 13 Sep 2012 18:35:24 +0000

The other day I was taking a bath and realized that I could figure out what kind of metal an object was made of from how much water it displaced and it’s weight. When I ran outside to tell everyone, I had an epiphany that I wasn’t wearing clothes.

By: Christian Ready

Christian Ready — Thu, 13 Sep 2012 03:38:09 +0000

One realization I came to very recently is that if you don’t do something, it won’t get done. It sounds obvious but for years now I’ve been saying that I was going to start up my own blog and focus on astronomy. After all, I could use that as a way of improving my writing and forcing myself to keep up my knowledge. Seems simple enough until I realized I was just assuming it would get done “at some point.” Of course, it never did, until I decided it would.

Tonight my blog is up and running at christianready.com. I don’t know if it will become the next Bad Astronomy or even the next Mike Brotherton, but that’s ok. I’m in it for me

By: Iljitsch van Beijnum

Iljitsch van Beijnum — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 08:57:50 +0000

I had the following epiphany the past week. It’s not exactly like yours, but it’s science fiction related, so here it is:

It really bothers me that in bookshops, science fiction and fantasy are always lumped together. The problem is not that I don’t like fantasy. There is a lot of bad fantasy out there, and I like science fiction a lot better, but I’ve certainly read fantasy and enjoyed it. So it’s not that I need to see fantasy eradicated from bookshops.

And then the epiphany came: science fiction is based on science. Fantasy is based on magic. On a very basic level, the two don’t mix. It’s like a pharmacist selling homeopathic quackery next to the real medicine. Now of course there are lots of people who buy into magic, and don’t understand science. To them, there’s no fundamental difference. But they are so, so wrong.

By: Jessica Meats

Jessica Meats — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 08:21:30 +0000

My epiphany was that life doesn’t have to be an either/or choice.

I was choosing my A-Levels and I wanted to do English Language because I liked writing, was interested in language, and it was a subject that would let me hand in stories as coursework. My parents and teachers were strongly encouraging me to go down the route of science and maths because I was very good at maths and the sciences would have a clearer route to a career.

I picked the unusual combination of maths, further maths, chemistry and English language (apparently causing frustrations for the teacher who had to design the timetables).

I decided that I could go down the sensible career-focused degree route, while being in the creative writing group and helping on the committee of a creative arts magazine.

I decided I could get a steady, respectable job that pays the bills and keeps my fridge stocked, while writing novels in the evenings and weekends.

My epiphany was that doing the sensible thing didn’t mean I should give up my wild and reckless dreams.