Quote:
Originally Posted by QuantumIguana
Science fiction doesn't require an explanation of the technology. How much of the technology in your house do you REALLY understand? Most of us just use it. What is really needed to know about a spaceship's engines is that they make a ship go fast. If it enhances the story to explain how they work, then by all means explain.
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Your absolutely right, not every bit of technology in a SF story needs to be explained. And if the story is trying for space opera or some softer form of science fiction, I am not even sure it has to be plausible (But it does need to be seen as based on scientific principles, not mystical ones).
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If the novel is trying to be hard sci-fi, then the author at least should do the homework to understand the science around the central elements as much as is possible. Take Ringworld as an example; it is clearly Hard Sci-fi, but it requires lots of technologies that we don't even have a clue how they might exist (beginning with a material strong enough to hold the Ringworld together. Niven calculated all the properties it would need... he just can't tell you how to make it
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Bill