# Things I Have Learnt From Science Fiction **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 25, 2006, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-i-have-learnt-from-science-fiction/341542 "2006-01-25T13:07:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 12
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2006, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-i-have-learnt-from-science-fiction/341542/221 "2006-02-01T01:40:52Z")
> [@NoClueBoy](#): > > Every major advance in any field in the 18th thru 23rd centuries was a Russian inwention. According to Pavel Chekov anyway. ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2006, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-i-have-learnt-from-science-fiction/341542/222 "2006-02-01T13:29:46Z")
> [@Cervaise](#): > > Got into the poisoned wheat, eh? It wasn’t wheat, it was quadro-tritycale. A 4 lobed hybrid of wheat and rye, a perrenial too, if I’m not mistaken. It’s ancestry goes all the way back to 20th century Canada. I did that from memory, so that’s something I learned from Science Fiction. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2006, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-i-have-learnt-from-science-fiction/341542/223 "2006-02-01T13:37:09Z")
> [@](#): > > According to Pavel Chekov anyway. On my way in this morning I passed a bookshelf with a book from the 1960s. The book title was: **Nuclear Vessels** I’ve been ruined. In my head I heard Walter Koenig pronouncing it “Nu-klee-ahr _Wessels_”. I wonder if Nicholas Meyer had a copy of that book on his shelf. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2006, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-i-have-learnt-from-science-fiction/341542/224 "2006-02-01T14:39:03Z")
> [@BMalion](#): > > It wasn’t wheat, it was quadro-tritycale. A 4 lobed hybrid of wheat and rye, a perrenial too, if I’m not mistaken. It’s ancestry goes all the way back to 20th century Canada. > …snip… Canada, no. Russia, ask Pavel. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2006, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-i-have-learnt-from-science-fiction/341542/225 "2006-02-01T15:36:15Z")
> [@BMalion](#): > > It wasn’t wheat, it was quadro-tritycale. A 4 lobed hybrid of wheat and rye, a perrenial too, if I’m not mistaken. It’s ancestry goes all the way back to 20th century Canada. Scotland and Sweden. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triticale](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triticale) ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2006, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-i-have-learnt-from-science-fiction/341542/226 "2006-02-01T15:56:14Z")
> [@What Exit?](#): > > Canada, no. Russia, ask Pavel. Is all your history so warped ensign? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2006, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-i-have-learnt-from-science-fiction/341542/227 "2006-02-01T16:04:04Z")
> [@BMalion](#): > > Is all your history so warped ensign? :dubious: You know we invented that to. The Warp drive that is. Pavel’s Ghost ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2006, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-i-have-learnt-from-science-fiction/341542/228 "2006-02-01T16:14:08Z")
Have you noticed there are no Jews or Muslims\* in Science Fiction? Wonder why. \*OK, I know about the Doctor on DS9. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2006, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-i-have-learnt-from-science-fiction/341542/229 "2006-02-01T16:19:43Z")
> [@Paul in Saudi](#): > > Have you noticed there are no Jews or Muslims\* in Science Fiction? Wonder why. > \*OK, I know about the Doctor on DS9. “Mote in Gods Eye”. Niven & Pournelle both include Jews & Muslims. I can’t think of many others but I have read several others with Jewish characters. Considering that no religion is commonly portrayed in Sci-Fi, I don’t think this is a big leap. Now Amish in Space would be interesting. Jim ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2006, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-i-have-learnt-from-science-fiction/341542/230 "2006-02-01T16:33:41Z")
> [@](#): > > Have you noticed there are no Jews or Muslims\* in Science Fiction? Wonder why. Plenty of Jews in science fiction. Check out, for instance, the anthology “Wandering Stars”. Jack Chalker, among others, has Jewish heroes. As for Muslims, they were rare in the past, but they’re becoming moere common. One of Jubal Harshaw’s houseguests in **Stranger in a Strange Land** is Muslim, and discusses religion. It’d be hard _not_ to have Muslim characters in **The Years of Rice and Salt**. Harry Turtledove’s **Colonization** series has Khomeini as a major mover. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2006, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-i-have-learnt-from-science-fiction/341542/231 "2006-02-01T16:35:27Z")
> [@](#): > > Now Amish in Space would be interesting. How about quasi-Amish Alien farmers? Check out Zenna Henderson’s “The People” stories (NESFA Press has gathered them all into a single volume). ---
**Author:** ![The\_Punkyova](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@The\_Punkyova](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Punkyova)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2006, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-i-have-learnt-from-science-fiction/341542/232 "2006-02-01T17:05:47Z")
George Alec Effinger wrote a series of novels featuring Muslims. My steel sieve memory tells me that he had another novel in the series ready to go and it was cancelled because of 9/11. He has since died, and the novel is allegedly floating around in unpublished form. He also wrote about the sublime Muffy Birnbaum, Barbarian Swordswoman, who was Jewish. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2006, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-i-have-learnt-from-science-fiction/341542/233 "2006-02-01T17:15:08Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > How about quasi-Amish Alien farmers? > > Check out Zenna Henderson’s “The People” stories (NESFA Press has gathered them all into a single volume). 😃 That is close, I forgot. I did read the first one many years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2006, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-i-have-learnt-from-science-fiction/341542/234 "2006-02-01T17:18:55Z")
> [@What Exit?](#): > > Now Amish in Space would be interesting. I’ve thought that a perfect plot device for a science fiction show set in the future would be to have a main character be from an enclave of people who decided to fix their society at the tech level of late-20th century America. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2006, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-i-have-learnt-from-science-fiction/341542/235 "2006-02-01T19:35:56Z")
> [@](#): > > Have you noticed there are no Jews or Muslims\* in Science Fiction? Wonder why. How about “Reason”, from _I, Robot_? There is no Master but the Master, and QT is his prophet. There might be a relative shortage of Jews and Muslims in English-language SF, but that’s easily explained by the fact that most English speakers (and hence most English-language authors, of any genre) are at least nominally Christian. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2006, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-i-have-learnt-from-science-fiction/341542/236 "2006-02-01T20:16:31Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > There might be a relative shortage of Jews and Muslims in English-language SF, but that’s easily explained by the fact that most English speakers (and hence most English-language authors, of any genre) are at least nominally Christian. And SF, to date, has been predominantly the product of English-speaking cultures. ---
**Author:** ![ryobserver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b2d939/32.png) [@ryobserver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ryobserver)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2006, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-i-have-learnt-from-science-fiction/341542/237 "2006-02-02T02:12:23Z")
> [@Linty Fresh](#): > > In outer space battles, there are no such things as battle strategies, recon, or air support. For instance, the attackers advance across a snowy plain in huge, slow, clumsy vehicles that can be seen for miles while the rebel leaders get in nine holes of golf, drink a gallon of vodka, sober up, catch the game on TV, and _then_ roll out the troops with time left over for practicing their steely-eyed stare. > > It’s either that or 300 space marines just pile out of their landing cruisers onto the alien planet, run aimlessly after the squad leader, and just stand there looking dumb until the mutant bugs get bored and decide to attack them. Then the space marines shout orders, fire in all directions, and die. Or the robot army is SLOWLY unloaded from its carriers and detached from its shipping racks, while the Gungan army stands around politely waiting for them to be deployed. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2006, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-i-have-learnt-from-science-fiction/341542/238 "2006-02-02T03:07:51Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Plenty of Jews in science fiction. Check out, for instance, the anthology “Wandering Stars”. Jack Chalker, among others, has Jewish heroes. There’s a guy wearing a kipa in an episode of _Firefly_. According to Alan Tudyk’s commentary, he’s a Space Jew, or a “spjew”. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2006, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-i-have-learnt-from-science-fiction/341542/239 "2006-02-02T03:14:48Z")
> [@Paul in Saudi](#): > > Have you noticed there are no Jews or Muslims\* in Science Fiction? Wonder why. It’s hard to face Mecca. > [@What Exit?](#): > > Now Amish in Space would be interesting. It was – when the comic of that name was in the old National Lampoon. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2006, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-i-have-learnt-from-science-fiction/341542/240 "2006-02-02T03:19:52Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > It was – when the comic of that name was in the old National Lampoon. Damn they retroactively stole my idea. They must of used a time machine. I bet it was the slingshot effect. Jim [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-i-have-learnt-from-science-fiction/341542.md?page=11) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-i-have-learnt-from-science-fiction/341542.md?page=13)