tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2012179240296572398.post247273461524953816..comments2024-03-29T08:49:16.357+00:00Comments on Retro-Forteana: The Pulp Fiction of L. Ron HubbardAndrew Mayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17073306343984931484noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2012179240296572398.post-30414611169855984302015-08-20T10:36:37.409+01:002015-08-20T10:36:37.409+01:00CJ, scientists depend on carbon (and other) dating...CJ, scientists depend on carbon (and other) dating methods. Using Radio Carbon 14, at living mollusk was tested and found to be 'millions of years' old. I have meals in my freezer that, if I cook them in the oven, will take about 40-odd minutes to cook. Or I can do them in the microwave in about 11 minutes. Someone not knowing about microwaves would assume that, if I served them up a meal as they came in the door, it had taken 40 minutes to do. Likewise, perhaps the world was 'cooked up' in a way that scientists just haven't considered. It's assumed that the world (the universe even) must be millions of years old because it would take that long (so they say) for things to 'eveolve', and the 'evidence' is then interpreted in a way that supports that theory. The world may well be millions of years old, but whether it's 10 million or hundreds of millions years old is essentially all down to guesswork.Kidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07224781868125924337noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2012179240296572398.post-34460651632358351882015-08-17T23:37:39.092+01:002015-08-17T23:37:39.092+01:00Kid, "millions of years" is a bit more t...Kid, "millions of years" is a bit more than just guesswork - give scientists some credit. The age of the Earth was once believed (and still is by some) to be only 6,000 years old but more and more understanding of geology slowly increased its' age to the current 4.6 billion years which is believed to be very accurate. As for stars - different types of stars have different lifespans, Betelgeuse is a red giant which only lives for about 10 million years and will explode in a supernova explosion in the next million years or so. Scientists don't make this stuff up !!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2012179240296572398.post-42826250707262184072015-08-17T15:26:37.104+01:002015-08-17T15:26:37.104+01:00I think a lot of people feel that way, Kid (I rece...I think a lot of people feel that way, Kid (I received a similar comment on Facebook) - that's why I said "on the other hand they’re not the worthless trash that Hubbard’s detractors might expect". The conman aspect just doesn't come across in his fiction, which is surprising because a lot of authors with axes to grind (both on the political left and the political right) have used science fiction as a convenient way to proselytize their ideas to a relatively naive and uncritical audience. But Hubbard didn't do that - at least not in the stories written prior to 1950.<br /><br />That doesn't mean his fiction isn't eminently forgettable, of course - so you're not missing anything by not reading it.Andrew Mayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17073306343984931484noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2012179240296572398.post-11401329156565070772015-08-17T11:05:35.447+01:002015-08-17T11:05:35.447+01:00I'm always amused by the way 'millions of ...I'm always amused by the way 'millions of years' are casually mentioned in regard to the age of anything when the reality is nobody has a clue and it's all guesswork. Hubbard seems like a bit of a conman to me, so I can't see me ever being motivated to read one of his books. I'd rather watch paint dry.Kidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07224781868125924337noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2012179240296572398.post-29834850451421373472015-08-16T14:49:45.042+01:002015-08-16T14:49:45.042+01:00Very interesting, Colin. I've read a few of Bo...Very interesting, Colin. I've read a few of Boulle's short stories, but I've never read the Planet of the Apes novel - sounds like I ought to. And well done on spotting the Betelgeuse error. I've got a PhD in astrophysics (admittedly in stellar dynamics rather than stellar evolution) and I'm not even sure I would have noticed that one myself!Andrew Mayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17073306343984931484noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2012179240296572398.post-34562960904934028792015-08-16T13:53:18.600+01:002015-08-16T13:53:18.600+01:00"Unlike most science-fiction it acknowledges ..."Unlike most science-fiction it acknowledges the existence of relativistic time dilation" - early last year I finally got around to reading Pierre Boulle's original novel of Planet Of The Apes and I was impressed by his understanding that a couple of months spent on the spaceship meant that many centuries had passed back on Earth but then he wrecked his scientific credibility by locating the apes' planet in orbit around the star Betelgeuse which is a red giant and so only lives for a few million years and couldn't possibly have existed for long enough for live to evolve. On Earth it took about 700 million years for even the most primitive single-celled life to emerge and another 3 billion years to develop into higher forms of life. That colossal blunder rather spoiled the book for me (although it was still fascinating to read the original POTA novel which I'd been aware of ever since I was an apes nut in the mid '70s).Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com