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Ask Larry Niven

Posted by Roblimo on from the hanging-out-at-the-Draco-Tavern dept.

If you read science fiction at all, you're familiar with Larry Niven. (If you don't, his work is a great place to start.) Anyway, this is a golden opportunity to learn more about a truly innovative author. (Thanks go to Chris DiBona for arranging this interview; he met Larry during one of his TechTV appearances.) One question per post, please. We'll post Larry's answers to 10 of the highest-moderated questions shortly after he gets them back to us.

49 of 531 comments (clear)

  1. Halo by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    What do you think of halo's "ringworld"?

    1. Re:Halo by spyderbyte23 · · Score: 4, Interesting
      He addresses this:

      http://www.larryniven.org/chatlogs/chat060402.htm

      Search for Halo. The gist is that Microsoft sent him an Xbox and a copy of Halo, hoping he would write a Halo novel.

      --
      -- Support Ometz le-Serev.
  2. Crossing my fingers by Demona · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Was your cease-and-desist regarding Elf Sternberg's The Only Fair Game motivated more by a personal aversion to the content, or a desire to retain control over "your universe"? How does this jibe with your statement in Ringworld Engineers that "If you want more Known Space stories, you'll have to write them yourself"?

    --
    Fuck Slashdot
  3. Fans by The+Bungi · · Score: 5, Interesting

    In the prologue to one of the Ringworld Engineers editions you talk about how some students went to a convention with banners and were chanting "THE RINGWORLD IS UNSTABLE!". I thought that was cute. What's the weirdest thing a fan of your work has ever done? Something like sending you detailed calculations on how to figure out the density of scrith?

  4. New trends? by voice+of+unreason · · Score: 5, Interesting

    In your works you tend to try to pick out trends that'll continue into the future, i.e. organ transplants leading to increased capital punishment and organ thieves, or the role playing game's transformation into "Dream Park" style VR environments. What do you see as the next series of advancements and trends that will affect us in the future?

  5. Hi Larry. by roman_mir · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The first time I read the Ring World many years ago in Russian, I still have this book, it travelled with me around the world :)

    Here is the question for you:

    What do you think about the Columbia accident and what do you think about the general direction that Nasa should be taking in order for us to actually make some progress in space exploration.
    What do you think about the space elevator?

    Thank you for your books!

    Roman

    --
    You can't handle the truth.
  6. 2 questions by jasperc · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Mr. Niven,

    Any plans to do a movie (or better yet!) an animated version of any of the Man-Kzin Wars stories? These are, I think, the most accessible stories of Known Space (Ringworld might go over the heads of quite a few folks out there).

    Also, why not raise attention about how Wing Commander--both the computer game and the attrocious movie--is almost a direct "borrow" of Man-Kzin Wars?

    --
    I'm not an actor, but I play one on TV.
  7. Technical Anachronism by cindik · · Score: 5, Interesting

    How difficult is it to prevent technical anachronism? Early science fiction movies had people being shot to the moon with guns, 2001 would have had us with manned spaceflights to Jupiter, and Star Trek is currently dealing with how to show Starship technology more advanced than year 2003 tech while not being as advanced as the original series' audio intercoms and Motorola cellphone communicators.

    Do you have a means of avoiding anachronism? What suggestions do you have for other budding authors regarding this problem?

    --
    Terrycloth Lobster
  8. Ringworld, The Movie? by dduck · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Are the plans for a Ringworld movie (or indeed, any LN filmatizations - Gill the ARM would be great) totaly dead, or can we still hope to see Louis Wu and Speaker on the silver screen?

  9. An Appeal to Moderators... not a question by Jerf · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Moderators: These interviews are probably the neatest thing Slashdot does. Please only moderate up actually interesting questions that can't be answered with a quick Google search, a read through his (excellent) work, a few moments thought, or a handful of words ("Yes, I do like to write.").

    I particularly recall the Dave Barry interview where it seemed like half the questions were pathetic attempts to toss him a straight line, rather then really interesting questions.

    I think these are the most "importent" moderations you can do on Slashdot, as they are the only ones that have any real effect on the world. Please consider them carefully.

    Again, this is not a question so should this happen to get modded highly please do not forward ;-)

  10. Will We Make it Out of Here by perdu · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Will we ever establish and sustain a colony off of the Earth? If so, where, when and how do you think we'll make it?

    --
    You only use 2% of your DNA
  11. When and how will the tech arms race tip? by jamie · · Score: 5, Interesting
    Mr. Niven,

    In The Ones Who Stay Home, in a recent issue of Analog, you raise some pretty serious issues about terrorism and retaliation.

    The technology of violence is an arms race which in my lifetime seems to have been pretty well balanced, attacker vs. defender. Lately, the worst the bad guys have done to the U.S. is take down a few buildings: no nuclear weapons yet in the hands of honest-to-goodness madmen, no "gray goo" against which there is no defense except going offplanet, no asteroids being dropped from the moon.

    How long do you think this balance will hold? And what do you think the first weapon will be against which it is infeasible -- because of economics, technology, politics, or otherwise -- to mount a successful defense?

    1. Re:When and how will the tech arms race tip? by Demona · · Score: 4, Interesting
      Apply the Orwell Test:

      "It is a commonplace that the history of civilisation is largely the history of weapons. In particular, the connection between the discovery of gunpowder and the overthrow of feudalism by the bourgeoisie has been pointed out over and over again. And though I have no doubt exceptions can be brought forward, I think the following rule would be found to be generally true: that ages in which the dominant weapon is expensive or difficult to make will be ages of despotism, wereas when the dominant weapon is cheap and simple, the common people have a chance. Thus, for example, tanks, battleships and bombing planes are inherently tyrannical weapons, while rifles, muskets, long-bows and hand-grenades are inherently democratic weapons. A complex weapon makes the strong stronger, while a simple weapon -- so long as there is no answer to it -- gives claws to the weak."

      George Orwell (1903-1950), "You and the Atom Bomb, essay for the TRIBUNE, October 19, 1945

      Or, as James Donald put it:

      "The evil of Digital Rights Management, like the evils of guns, depends on who has the gun and who has not.

      "If only certain privileged people have guns, and the rest of us are disarmed, then guns are evil indeed.

      "If trusted computing means that certain special people have ring -1 access to my computer, and I do not, and those certain special people are people I do not trust..."

      Certainly not everyone will be able to financially afford technology. But as long as there is democratic access to it -- no privileged, favored class of people who are given special license to do what the majority are forbidden to do -- that will remain the most efficient and moral method of containing the violent impulses of the socially maladjusted.
      --
      Fuck Slashdot
  12. Why is there no religion in Known Space by Adam+Rightmann · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I know most SF writers aren't big on religion, but religion occupies a very large space in your collaboration with Pournelle, "The Mote in God's Eye", yet is conspicously lacking in Known Space. Is the religion in "Mote" all Jerry's doing?

    --
    A. Rightmann
  13. What Does Larry Like? by Spencerian · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Larry,

    What 3 or 4 TV SF programs have you found most to your liking over the years (if any), and what significance do you think those shows brought to the overall quality of TV SF?

    For instance, if I were to ask myself this question, "Star Trek", the original show, remains a classic, but all the sequelized spinoffs (except portions of TNG, and almost all of "Enterprise", which seems to "get it" again) have driven this show into the state of a repeatedly bludgened, very deceased equine.

    --
    Vos teneo officium eram periculosus ut vos recipero is.
  14. What do you read? by caesar-auf-nihil · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Mr. Niven,

    I'm always curious about what authors read for either inspiration, or what they find to be good literature. What books (science fiction or otherwise) have influenced your work, or do you find to be delightful reads. Any favorite authors?

    Thank you for your time.

    --
    -When going for broke, go for Ithaca!
  15. Breaking In? by Kent+Brewster · · Score: 5, Interesting
    Where do you see the future of written science fiction going, given the decline of readership in the top markets such as Analog, Asimov's, and F&SF, and the rise of franchised universes like Star Trek and Star Wars? Online? Still in print? Or somewhere else?

  16. ARM, Gil Hamilton, and Dystopian Futures by brennanw · · Score: 5, Interesting

    My favorite stories of yours are the series of short stories you wrote about Gil Hamilton, the ARM agent with "invisible hand." Aside from the interesting character, what fascinated me was the strange, nearly dystopian world where a good thing (amazing advances in the science of organ transplants) led to a world so desperate for organs that you could get the death penalty for almost every crime in the books.

    In an essay, you mentioned you'd written those stories at a time when you were very concerned about the possibility of that future actually coming to pass -- that the convenience of a technology would make the general population so rabid for it that they would become more tolerant of things we would find excessive and cruel in today's world. You also mentioned that you were less concerned about that specific future coming to pass.

    If you were to write the Gil Hamilton stories today, what would be the technology you would be concerned about *instead* of organ transplants? What convenience would you see as the basis and rationalization for receiving the death penalty for breaking the speed limit more than three times?

    --
    Eviscerati.Org: All Hail the Eviscerati
  17. A question about your universe by markov_chain · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Mr. Niven,

    First, thanks for the awesome books that you have written-- I am a big fan.

    My biggest question about the universe in which many of the stories take place is about the "Outsiders." They seem to be extremely technologically advanced; they jump in whenever something impossible needs to be done, such as the Puppeteers moving their worlds around. How come the Outsiders didn't end up competing with Protectors, or do something on the scale of building a ringworld?

    --
    Tsunami -- You can't bring a good wave down!
  18. Larry: by Maeryk · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Having been an avid reader of the "chaos manor" site for a while now, I have to wonder. Are you as tech savvy as Jerry, and (more importantly) with you guys having done SO much together, do you find you "share a brain" occasionally, and is it difficult to write with/without him (and/or Steven) after so much work together?
    (pick any one or all to answer, as you choose!)
    Thanks for the great work!

    Maeryk

    --
    Feminine Protection? What is that? A chartreuse flame thrower?
  19. A question I always want to ask .. by Khalidz0r · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Well, being a successful and already well known author, when you write something, do you write it just to write something, keep your name known, get money .. etc, or do you write because you feel there is something in your head that needs to be put down in paper and read by others?

    In other words, what is the "motive" you are writing for?

    Thanks, Khalid

    --
    "What you 'seek' is what you get!"
  20. Intelligence and Wisdom by Kostya · · Score: 5, Interesting
    Could you comment on the difference between intelligence and wisdom? You seem to hint at some ideas in Ringworld Throne when Wu chooses to depose the Vampire Protector because he was not wise enough.

    In these Pak Protectors, we have unbelievably intelligent and clever beings, but wisdom does not seem implied. What are your thoughts on wisdom, and what points were you trying to make? Considering the audience for most of your books (geeks, "smart folk"), it's an interesting point to include.

    Side question: where did you come up with the idea of the Pak, especially as human ancestors? It has to be one of the more original conjectures about affects of old age that I have ever read :-)

    --
    "Doubt your doubts and believe your beliefs." -- Switchfoot, Ode to Chin
  21. DreamPark and gaming by Ndr_Amigo · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I've generally found that most people recognise RingWorld, but few people have heard of my favorite series - Dream Park (it's very hard to find).

    Gaming technology, although holography isn't at the stage yet, is constantly moving towards more realism. And trends in online gaming and MMORPG's are setting the mentality. However what are your opinions on the social feasibility of something like DP ever becoming a reality, given the rapid movement away from traditional GMs and social non-computer RPG'ing? Would people just prefer to stay at home fully virtual rather than participating in an event with other actual physical people?

  22. Favorite book? by emarkp · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Of the work you've written, does one title in particular have a special place in your heart? Douglas Adams once said that his book "Last Chance to See" was the one book he'd hope that people read if they only read one of his books. Is there one book of yours you'd like people to have read?

    Similarly, if I were to introduce someone to your books, which one would you suggest I give him first?

  23. Guidelines for world building? by mfarah · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I came up with an interesting (and, dare I say, slightly original) concept for an alien world. I'm toying with different ideas for short stories within it. So far, my two biggest problems are

    1) Finding a good enough story, and

    2) Worldbuilding.

    The latter problem is the one I actually care the most - I don't want all of my aliens to be "disguised humans", so I've done big efforts into figuring out how do they behave, what their culture is like, how their physical differences affect their way of thinking AND language, and all that. However, I can't shake the feeling I am missing aspects I shouldn't. This process is tedious and takes long, but I consider it very important.

    Are there any guidelines you'd suggest to do it properly?

    --
    "Trust me - I know what I'm doing."
    - Sledge Hammer
  24. Collaboration by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I'm a big fan and have read most of your works. I (and I'm sure many of your other fans) think that some of your best books are the result of collaboration with others, particularly Jerry Pournelle. When working with Jerry and others, how is the work divided? Are there particular aspects of the story that each author contributes? What do you think are your strongest contributions to such a partnership?

  25. Interspecies Sex by Randolpho · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Larry,

    In Ringworld Engineers, you spend an great deal of time surrounding the concept of inter-species sex and copulation. Luis Wu engages in it frequently, it's even mentioned that it has evolved into a means to seal a bargain.

    Why the fascination?

    --
    "Times have not become more violent. They have just become more televised."
    -Marilyn Manson
  26. The Science in Science Fiction by geeber · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Mr. Niven,

    As a young adult, I was a huge fan of science fiction. As an adult, and a scientist, these days I find I can no longer read much of it, because of the ignorance many authors display towards our current scientific understanding of the physical universe.

    You at one point in your past went to Cal Tech, and also have a degree in math, so you are clearly technically minded. So I am very curious about your opinion on the science in science fiction. What do you do these days to keep abreast of current science or is that important to you now? Also, what do you think of science fiction such as Star Trek that uses crutches like Warp Drives and Transporters that ignore science as we know it?

    --
    Download my free songs!
  27. Critical Commentary? by anzha · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Hey Larry,

    I've been a fan since, well, I was knee high to a grasshopper. _The Mote In God's Eye_ was my first introduction to you, and JP, via my father when I was 11. Some of your earlier work has been amazing and fun, re _Ringworld_, _the Magic Goes Away_, etc. So please don't take this wrong.

    I have been seeing something that has been, well, frankly, disturbing as of late in some of the books that have been coming out with you in colloration. While the first Renner and Bury chunk of _The Gripping Hand_ was quite good, the rest felt, uh, unworthy of the original. There were a lot of inconsistancies with the previous book. Ditto for _Beowulf's Children_ vs _Legacy of Heorot_.

    What's the reason for this, if I may ask? Is this a side effect of just working up a sequel (already difficult) compounded with the added difficulty of working in collaboration? Or is that the collective you felt pressured into writing the books and just wanted to get them over with? Or was it due to the fact that they didn't get the scrutiny of previous works before going out the door (re Heinlein's famous critique of _The Mote in God's Eye_)?

    You did note in one of your delightful mental dumps (_Playgrounds of the Mind or _N Space_, more please! Perhaps call it the _N Body Problem_? ;)) that inconsistancies do tend to pile up (re Known Space). However, in both the cases I'm noting above, it's just single stories and their sequels (discounting JP's shared _War World_ books for the moment...)

    So is this the case of an overly zealous fan (re trek[ies/ers] ;))?

    Thanx and have fun playing! The rest of us thoroughly enjoy it when you do!

    --
    Do you know why the road less traveled by is littered with the bones of the unwary?
  28. Future Plans for Comics? by CowboyNeal · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I've recently read and enjoyed Ganthet's Tale, your collaboration with John Byrne about the origins of the Green Lantern Corps as well as the DC Universe. With all the attention comic books have been getting in Hollywood lately, with movies from Road to Perdition to Daredevil being produced from comic stories, and screenwriters such as Kevin Smith writing comics, do you have any plans to return to this media?

    --
    Yes, Virginia, there really is a CowboyNeal.
  29. Cautionary tales? by J.+Random+Software · · Score: 5, Interesting

    You've built worlds with uncommonly dystopian elements, such as Plateau's long tyranny over a disarmed populace, organlegging, all-out war with ruthless aliens, and suppression of dangerous technology. Have you intended any of these to be cautions about likely (or even inevitable) events, or just interesting to think about?

  30. Lucifers Hammer by Wierd+Willy · · Score: 4, Interesting

    As a long time reader of your work,(I first read Ringworld in the 6th grade) I would love to see your known space series brought to the Big Screen. Would you be involved in such a project? I would also like to see Lucifers Hammer as a movie, and the only way do do it right is to involve the authors in the project to make sure the original story is kept intact.

    --
    Stupid Humans.....
  31. Why no Known Space movies/TV shows? by Argyle · · Score: 4, Interesting

    With all the possiblities for Known Space movies and television programs, especially the Man/Kzin Wars, why have none been made?

    The only show episode to incorporate your vision I know of was The Slaver Weapon in the Star Trek Animated Series. It was based on your short story, The Soft Weapon.

    Have stories been optioned and live in development limbo?

    --
    nuclear iraq bioweapon encryption cocaine korea terrorist
  32. Hard Sci-Fi? by docrailgun · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Mr. Niven, How do you respond to writers such as Greg Bear and Gregory Binford who complain that there is no "hard" science fiction today of the sort that Asmov wrote? Do you explain to them that Asmimov wrote pulp fiction, even if it was pretty good pulp fiction; or do you point out that stories without character development but lots of whiz-bang tech were part of the era they were written in and fans have moved on?

  33. Intersection of SciFi and Gaming by Shadow+Wrought · · Score: 4, Interesting

    What do you think of video games as a future outlet for original SciFi universes? Do you think that the interactive environments games provide will appeal to writers who would otherwise create movies or shorts?

    --
    If brevity is the soul of wit, then how does one explain Twitter?
  34. Sex in sci fi by Snarfvs+Maximvs · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Something I'm puzzled by is the SF genre's increasingly bizarre take on the subject of sex. Sex seems to be more and more gratuitous and graphic in a number of the works I've read by various authors. In the so-called "Golden Age" of science fiction sex was not commonly dealt with, probably as a result of the mores and values during that time. Now the discussion of sex is no longer taboo.

    What is your take on this trend? Are authors simply trying to tittilate their audience(s) or are they really attempting to explore the implications of sex in the futures (or pasts, or parallel universes) that they're predicting?

    --
    -----------------------

    To understand recursion, one must first understand recursion.

  35. Inferno by sconeu · · Score: 4, Interesting


    I greatly enjoyed Inferno. It caused me to later go and read (a translation of) the original by Dante.

    I must have missed something, however... What was "the secret" that Mussolini (and later Carpentier) knew that allowed them to move freely about Hell?

    --
    General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.
  36. Re:Unstable by buswolley · · Score: 5, Interesting
    A better question might be: Do you believe that the capacity for technology to destroy us will always out-pace technology's ability to protect us? In respect to humans.

    If so, over time we will not be able to avod distruction

    --

    A Good Troll is better than a Bad Human.

  37. The state of affairs of space exploration by demachina · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Do you have any strong views or insight on the state of space exploration today and in the near future? If you were appointed NASA administrator and given a free hand to set its direction along with a healthy budget and no political interference what would you do? In particular, what are your views on manned missions to and colonization of Mars.

    --
    @de_machina
  38. The Flying Sorcerors, Inferno, Fallen Angels by farrellj · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Could you *Please* let us in on all of the puns and injokes and cameos in these books!!!

    I know about "As a shade of Purple Grey = Asimov", and the Roddenbery Bush in Flying Sorcerors, what are the many others?

    ttyl
    Farrell

    --
    CAN-CON 2019 - Ottawa's only book oriented Science Fiction Convention! October 18-20, Sheraton Hotel, Ottawa, Canada h
  39. Computer space vs. outer space by fatima · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Mr. Niven, in many of your books, space travel plays a much more prominent role than does the contemporary computer network. The network is usually there, and its presence is implicit in the story, but it's not really important to the story. Here on earth in the present day, the computer network is much more important than space travel, except on the rare occasions when space travel goes wrong. Even space travel seems to be mostly for further propagation of the computer/communications network.

    As I was growing up, reading science fiction of all varieties, I had dreams of one day flying in spaceships, living on the moon, etc. It just didn't seem that far away. Now, however, the dream of space seems further and further away -- it feels as though my generation (I'm near the end of Generation X, though I despise the term) has traded the difficult goal of space for the easy goal of computers.

    How do you feel about this apparent trend in modern history as compared to the predicted space-based future of many older SF stories? Would you have steered humanity's course differently if you had the chance?

  40. A Question... by superdan2k · · Score: 4, Interesting

    It seems to me, in looking from the outside, that a large majority of successful SF writers have degrees in the sciences, but not in the writing. In college, I bailed from the hard sciences and majored in English (creative writing concentration). Some might argue that this gives me a leg up, but I don't really see it. Generally speaking, the writing in SF, which I read extensively, seems to be more prosaic/utilitarian than "literary" fiction, and I guess I can see the need for that, given the materials covered. I guess my question is this: do I rely on my not-as-vast scientific knowledge that I maintain by reading the science journals and rely on the strength of my writing to carry me through to publication? Or do I focus away from writing science fiction?

    (A subset question of this is: is it easy to get pigeonholed in a particular genre? I am putting the finishing touches on a pair of SF short stories that I am going to be sending out, but I'm writing "literary"/mainstream fiction novels that I'd like to see in print. Am I going to face discrimination working in two blatantly different genres if I try and publish in both under the same name?)

    --
    blog |
  41. Working with Pournelle by hugui · · Score: 4, Interesting

    One of my favourite books is "The Mote in God's Eye" (written by you and Jerry Pournelle). . I'm very interested in knowing how do you and Pournelle split the work (no only in this book but in general). Is anybody in charge of the dialogs ? Do you have a preference to create certain situations that he doesn't like (or viceversa) ? How do you decide the course of a story, etc.

  42. Where is Science fiction going? by Wellspring · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I've been a fan since I was 10... and it took me years to realize one of your major contributions: returning real science to science fiction, which had gone down a less rigorous path when you came on the scene and was slowly turning into fantasy.

    Where would you say that science fiction as a genre is going? In the direction of more science, or less? More galactic epics, or more personal stories? And, of course, more mainstream acceptance?

  43. Movie Jealousy? by spun · · Score: 4, Interesting

    David Brin has been forthright concerning his jealousy over bad SF being made into movies while his work is not. With the exception of 'Forbidden Planet' I have yet to see a science fiction movie that draws me in the way a good Sci-Fi book does.

    I also think that your works would make excellent movies. Brin's work would probably play well in Europe, where people seem to prefer a little more ambiguity in their movies. It probably wouldn't do well here. Now, I'm not saying your writing isn't of the same caliber as Brin's work, but it is a little more accesible to the common man, and therefore seems well suited to be made into a blockbuster that would do well in the states. My questions: 1.) Are you at all jealous that lesser talents get to have their work seen by millions on the silver screen? 2.) Have you been approached by any producers regarding screenplays of your work? 3.) Would you even want to have your works made into movies?

    That said, I just have to say thank you for providing me with so much quality entertainment! I grew up reading your stories from the time I was ten. In my esteem, you are one of the best well rounded Sci Fi authors out there. Your work has great characters, fantastic settings, believable science, and lots of action. Thanks again.

    --
    - None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
  44. Why sequels? by Kenneth+Stephen · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Some authors write books that are obviously self-contained and when reading these works it is intuitively obvious that there were no sequels planned by the author. Yet, a few years later, you find that the author has succumbed to sequel-mania. More often than not, these sequels detract from the original work. A disastrous (set of) sequel(s) that comes to mind are the sequels to "Rendezvous with Rama". While your Ringworld sequels arent as bad those, nevertheless, those works prod me to ask "Why?". Couldnt you leave that story line alone and let your masterpiece be a monument by itself? Sometimes, the Washington monument is what one needs rather than a Stonehenge.

    Note that I am not against sequels per se. It is possible to plan sequels ahead of time when authoring the first book, and sometimes, the effect is well done. Orson Scott Card's "Speaker for the Dead", and "Xenocide" comes to mind as examples of the good variety of sequels. But a lot of sequels to bestsellers were written because the first book was a bestseller, and those are the variety that more often than not make readers cringe.

    --

    There is no such thing as luck. Luck is nothing but an absence of bad luck.

  45. Sexuality in Niven's Work by crashfrog · · Score: 5, Interesting
    In most of your stories you posit societies with significantly relaxed sexual mores - polyamorism, cross-species sex, etc. - to the point where it seems like a particular fascination of yours. (Not that everyone isn't fascinated by sex, of course.)


    How would you describe the relationship between sexuality as presented in your work and your own personal views on the subject? (What does your wife think about it? :)


    P.S. Great fan, so is my girlfriend - question not meant to offend.

    --
    I never have frustrations, the reason is, to wit:
    If at first I don't succeed, I quit!
  46. Is Science Fiction healthy? by technoCon · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Lots of folks love SF: Today there's a cable network and a nauseating volume of Star Trek reruns. Computer graphics makes it feasible to put a movie into any imaginable setting. Technology is being deployed so quickly that Vernor Vinge's singularity comes to mind. Technological progress is moving so fast it is hard to anticipate it.

    NASA is dinking around in LEO: Boldly going where John Glenn has gone four decades before. I don't know who said it: The future just ain't what it used to be.

    The Sputnik generation is graying: When I was a lad, I watched moon shots. It captured my imagination. I read any book that had a rocket on its cover. I'm late forties and will be dead of cancer soon.

    Writers are moving out of SF: William Gibson's latest novel has high geek content, but none of the science isn't already deployed. Same for Neal Stephenson's _Cryptonomicon_: good story with high geek content, but nothing beyond the current state of the art. And I've seen guys who once wrote Hard Science Fiction branching out to Fantasy.

    Publishing is corporatized: The huge bookstores I haunt have SF sections that are overcrowded with Fantasy and StarTrek, StarWars, Babylon5 & <insert corporate franchise here> serials.

    It looks to me as if Science Fiction is in trouble, or it may be sick, or it may be dead and doesn't know it yet.

    What is your assessment of SF's health and which of these considerations do you think most significant?

  47. Ringworld was built by tnunctip, wasn't it. by wowbagger · · Score: 4, Interesting

    You stated in Ringworld Engineers that Louis Wu was incorrect in assuming Ringworld was build by the Pac. My theory is that it was built by the tnuctipun, who also created the Pac. Am I correct?

    Here's my reasoning:
    The Tree Of Live virus is just too convenient to have evolved naturally. Somebody made it - who? The tnuctipun. They wanted a race of warriors smart enough to use Soft Weapon level tech, but fanatical enough to resist the Thrint Power.

    Now, being nicely paranoid the tnuctip would be unlikely to make a warrior race without some form of control. What better control than making them pathetically stupid and weak until a trigger event you can control, and after triggering them keeping them addicted to something you control, like Tree Of Life root. So the tnuctip could have worlds full of stupid monkeys, and when needed dust the worlds with Tree Of Life virus and BANG - instant army.

    I'd also bet that ANY tnuctip "smells right" to any Pac.

    Now, where did the tnuctip survive The Great Suicide command? In statis, of course. However, once out of statis they would need a safe place to be - a place shielded from the Pac, hard to get to, defensible from long range. I'll bet scrith blocks The Power. And by the time a Thrint could get over the edge of the Ringworld and start ordering folks around, "Hey, what's that violet glow around everythZZZZAP".

    So the Pac probably found monkeys on Earth when they got here, but just "displaced" them.

    Am I even remotely correct?

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