Engineering (Science) Fiction - Introduction

[acap]

Science Fictions have contributed much to entertainment and spreading awareness of issues related to complex scientific matters among the youth and the common man. It has also contributed to art etc. This has resulted in a spreading of scientific temperament and thereby has helped in adopting more rational and a scientific approach in the society. This has helped in abandoning superstitious beliefs which has been prevalent for generations in several cultures.

Engineering is the application of science & mathematics for the benifit of humans and its world. I propose that we should work in starting writing Engineering Fictions too, that would benifit the society in the same way as Science Fiction has done. Engineering is important for survival of humans and also its progress. Engineering Fiction would create much interest about the subject in the youth and motivate them to excell in their respective domains.

One Engineering Fiction that I have visualized is making a "Code of Mining Steel on the Planet Mercury". This would create much interests and also spead awareness of several engineering issues related to Mining/Civil Engineering.

[rstevenson]

Do you know about the various incarnations of the Tom Swift and Tom Swift Jr books? Nominally science fiction, the first two series were much more about invention and engineering. Here's a quote from their Wikipedia page...

A number of scientists, inventors, and science fiction writers have also credited Tom Swift with inspiring them, including Ray Kurzweil, Robert A. Heinlein, and Isaac Asimov. The Tom Swift, Jr. adventures were Steve Wozniak's favorite reading as a boy and inspired him to become a scientist. According to Wozniak, reading the Tom Swift books made him feel "that engineers can save the world from all sorts of conflict and evil".

Rob

[acap]

There are several topics in engineering that are fundamental in nature and are dealt with good amount of intellectual rigour. Fluid Mechanics, Thermodynamics, Applied Mechanics, Surveying(it has several sub-topics such as theory of errors), Soil Mechanics, Structural Analysis & Design etc are to name a few. What I want to say is that Fiction based on these topics would help better understanding and create interest in otherwise long and boring issues. It is agreed that Engineering Fiction can not be as exciting and diverse than Science Fiction.

[BDanielMayfield]

There are several topics in engineering that are fundamental in nature and are dealt with good amount of intellectual rigour. Fluid Mechanics, Thermodynamics, Applied Mechanics, Surveying(it has several sub-topics such as theory of errors), Soil Mechanics, Structural Analysis & Design etc are to name a few. What I want to say is that Fiction based on these topics would help better understanding and create interest in otherwise long and boring issues. It is agreed that Engineering Fiction can not be as exciting and diverse than Science Fiction.

Your last sentence hits the nail on the head of the difficulty with what you are asking for I think. Engineering is the application of science, heavy with math and complex concepts, "intellectual rigour" is a good way to put it. It would take someone with an engineering background to write such fiction, but it would also take a sizable audience of readers with an interest in such deep topics to make such writing profitable for writers and publishers. Who would want to publish something that very few would buy? If the writing goes way over the head of editors, would they recommend it? Not likely.

In principle, what your calling for is fine, but in practice it sounds hard to pull off.

Bruce

[Chris Peterson]

I propose that we should work in starting writing Engineering Fictions too, that would benifit the society in the same way as Science Fiction has done.

I would suggest that there is already an awful lot of work I'd place in that category. Indeed, a lot of "hard" science fiction doesn't play games with science at all, but instead is based on exploring new technology that the author sees following from the future application of science that is already known. This includes works by Clarke, Niven, Robinson, and many others.

[BDanielMayfield]

Good "hard" science fiction as Chris put it is far better than the pure fantasy that passes for much of "science" fiction today. But sadly, the trend in works that make it into TV and movies at least is just superhero nonsense, the occult and horror. Would watching, say the US's SyFy tv channel on a regular basis encourage a kid more toward becoming an engineer/scientist or a sociopath?

I'm all in favor of what acap is asking for because it would be a vast improvement over so much of the _rap that's called science fiction today, but would there be much of an audience for it?

Bruce

[acap]

To keep the subject alive I have prepare a small piece of Engineering Fiction as follows:
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Code of Practice for Mining Iron from Mercury
Code No: EAR/MER/001 - 2018

1.0 Introduction
With the recent discovery of wormholes, it is now possible to move large distances in space and also move heavy equipment in space at very low cost. The Gateway (a huge piece of hardware on earth that opens the wormhole) has been constructed, commissioned and tested and soon it will be available for commercial use. One of the major projects is to do mining of iron from the planet Mercury. This is likely to reduce the steel price by half and most importantly make available for the construction of a new moon for the earth.
There are several mining firms from different Nations that will use the Gateway for mining purpose and hence it has been decided to bring out this code of practice to ensure harmony of practice, use of best practices, resolve disputes etc.

2.0 Scope
This code recommends the practices that are required to be adhered for mining on the planet mercury. The issues relate to surveying (or mapping), ballasting, collection and transportation of the iron ore from the planet Mercury. The chief objective of preparation of these recommendations is to ensure controlled mining so as not to cause serious changes in the orbit of Mercury and to prevent any damage to the Gateway due to operations.
3.0 Terminology
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4.0 References
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5.0 …………………….
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[acap]

(I have prepared the Terminology of the Code to provide more insights into the concept)
3.0 Terminology

3.1 Sun: The star at the centre of our solar system.

3.2 Earth: The third planet in the solar system.

3.3 Mercury: The first planet in our solar system.

3.4 Moon: The satellite of a planet and is mentioned along with the name of the planet.

3.5 Artificial Moon: The moon constructed by us.

3.6 The Gateway: The wormhole on earth constructed at Latitude/Longitude/MSL = 23.456 /41.234/+100.201m

3.7 Blasting: Hydrogen Fission Nuclear blasting (Controlled)

3.8 Iron Ore: Ore of iron from Mercury.

3.9 Mapping:

3.9.1 Earth Mapping: The 3D coordinate system of Earth (latitude and longitude system and height above MSL)

3.9.2 Mercury Mapping: -do- but the Planet Mercury (as there is no sea on Mercury, the mean surface level is “0.00” for Z

3.9.3 Solar system Mapping : The coordinate system of our solar system with the apparent centre of the Sun being 0,0,0. The +ve in X is clockwise, +ev on Y is moving outwards from 0,0,0 and Z is +ev during summers in the Northern Hemisphere.