Scientific Ignoreance

The problem with writing stories that rely on science is that very few of us actually understand science, or at least the science we’re writing about.  Sure, I enjoy watching HowThe Universe Works as much as the next man, but if you want me to explain the physics behind it, I’m going to stare at you like you’ve got a third arm growing out of the top of your forehead.  My knowledge of chemistry stops where the periodic table ends, and my only insight into medicine are the Google searches I do late at night when I have stomach discomfort, and I always walk away convinced I have some rare disease only ever diagnosed in 100 people but which will now kill me.

Still, we have to try and sound credible in our work, and most readers want some of the science explained, at least within the context of the story.  To our advantage, most readers are as scientifically illiterate as we are, so making stuff sound good is about all we need to do.  Sure, we can’t go wildly off base and talk about escaping a black hole by using pixie dust in our conventional rocket, but making allowances for the universal speed limit(the speed of light) in some novel way – maybe by using laser energy to push tachyons against virtual particles in a vacuum, or slingshotting around a black hole to propel ourselves at faster-than-light-speeds – is usually accepted by the audience.

There will always be some expert in the crowd who will find your “knowledge” useless.  A real geneticist knows you can’t create humans with telepathy by simply switching a few base pairs in DNA.  I have difficulty reading or watching military fiction because I spent almost 25 years in the Army, so most combat scenes or use of weaponry is absolutely ludicrous to me.  However, experts aren’t the intended audience – fans are.  And as long as it’s plausible within the ignorance of the fans, they’ll accept it.

Of course, a little research helps.  It lends an air of authority to the author.  Being able to talk lucidly about covalent chemical bonds or the distortion effect caused by gravity waves gets the reader to better buy into the story.  No, the reader doesn’t have to be an astrophysicist or chemical engineer; they need only accept that the author knows what he or she is talking about, which leads the rest of the story to believability.  After all, if the author can give you a way to believe that he or she understands quantum mechanics, doesn’t that mean that he or she also puts out a story worth buying into?