“What Scientists Read: Scholars of
literature and science studies, from Aldous Huxley to
George Levine, have always maintained
that literature influences science as much as science influences literature. In
his 1978 survey of the field, G. S. Rousseau proposed that ‘there is no reason
to disbelieve on logical or epistemological grounds that literature and science
affect each other reciprocally’. But Rousseau describes the
literature-to-science direction of influence as ‘an unexplored territory,
probably the one in greatest need of cultivation right now’…addressing the
continuing myth that this field has paid as much attention to the influence of
literature on science as it has to the influence of science on literature. It
will attempt to redress the imbalance by offering initial theories extrapolated
from the interview data about the relationship between contemporary scientists’
leisure reading and their scientific thought and practice.”
I wish I had been there to hear
the discussion.
I used to believe that SF stories
could have an impact on science in that someone who was doing experiments on
using electricity to reanimate dead Humans would have read Frankenstein by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley in the interest of
gaining insight into the possible ways their work might influence society and
what kinds of issues they might have.
Using that logic then, I should be
able to research the person who invented “heart shocker pads” (technically a
defibrillator) to find that Frankenstein
was one of their favorite books and inspired them to research both the
electrical nature of the heart and the possibility that using a high voltage shock
could restart it.
Nothing about Frankenstein inspiring work on the defibrillator, but I did run
across this: “Many consider experiments by Andrew Ure…at University of
Strathclyde’s…Anderson’s Institution…to be the inspiration behind Mary
Shelley’s novel Frankenstein…October
1818…conducted experiments on Matthew Clydesdale…Galvanisation – the
application of electric current to the human body or medical purposes…Ure…applied
electricity to different parts of the corpse…Clydesdale’s eyes opened, his body
twitched and his face showed expressions of grimace and rage…conclude[ing] that
direct stimulation of the phrenic nerve was likely the best method via which to
revive the dead.”
Certainly you’d think that
attempts to bring “moon rocks” and other debris from space (like the Stardust
probe that collected coma material from comet Wild 2, then swung past asteroid
5535 Annefrank, and Temple 1 to study them as well. The probe returned its
aerogel sample return capsule in 2006 where it’s been studied ever since at
Johnson Space Center in Houston.) would have mentioned the book Andromeda Strain (1969), Michael Crichton’s first published
novel (or at least the 1971 movie). But there isn’t any mention of it except
when people post in the comment sections.
Recently Stephen Hawking created a
brouhaha when he railed against SETI researchers for sending messages into
space (http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/Space/stephen-hawking-alien-contact-risky/story?id=10478157).
Science fiction writer David Brin joined him, typically pointing out that “I've
been at this a long time…my Great Silence paper…[is]…the only genuine review
article ever published in the SETI field.” (http://davidbrin.blogspot.com/2010/05/perspectives-on-seti-and-aliens-and.html)
He, too, urges caution in bringing attention to ourselves. Again though, the scientific
community seems to ignore the uncountable First Contact stories published since
HG Wells’ seminal War of the Worlds
in 1897 in favor of doing whatever it wants.
Clearly science could care LESS
about science fiction. Scientists often claim that science fiction was
inspiration for their going into science fields, but once there apparently,
they ignore it, without interest in the science fictional thoughts on the
ramifications of their work.
What if every doctor, engineer,
physicist, and other practitioner of science were required by law to take a
seminar that specifically examined a novel or series of short stories
addressing contemporary developments in their field? Roundtable discussions
could follow and each student could write a response to the work...
Harrumph. Never happen. So I guess
I need to go write a story like Harry Turtledove did in ANALOG in January of
1991 (“Gladly Wolde He Learne”) to raise the issue. Excuse me while I outline
it.
Program Book: http://www.loncon3.org/documents/ReadMe_LR.pdf
References: https://www.strath.ac.uk/media/ps/comms/itallstartedhere/Ure.pdf,
http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2011/09/29/science-fiction-so-crazy-it-might-come-true-14/the-prediction-of-the-possible,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stardust_(spacecraft),
http://www.scienceworldreport.com/articles/16631/20140815/stardust-spacecraft-captured-tiny-dust-grains-interstellar-space.htm
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