Astrophysicists Review the First Science Fiction - True Story by Lucian

[@silviomanuel473]

I think that the part about taking out eyes was a nod towards the Greek Graeae sisters myth. They were three sisters who shared one eye and one tooth among them and were deceived by Perseus. As for the book - I've instantly thought about one book I saw in the Pergamon Museum in Berlin, which was called The Sphere of Earth. It's the 18th-century Indian traveler's guide or a sort of a textbook for those who want to learn about the faraway places, and it's marvelous. It has hand-drawn pictures and descriptions of places, creatures, and people from other lands. While some of them are clearly drawn from life, or at least by someone who saw them with their own eyes, the others are drawn as if the artist has only one feature that they are sure about, and everything else is just made up. Some are made up completely, ofc. It's said that this book was used for public education in some places in India up until the beginning of the 20th century. What I'm driving at here is - we as a humanity are now very different from what we've been 200-300 years ago, and scientists are trying not to make up things they don't understand but there surely are some things that are based exclusively on theories without any viable proofs. And there must be lots of them in the field of astrophysics. So what do you think are the biggest unproven yet theories that we can be very wrong about?

[@Casmaniac]

The disclaimer preface is extremely funny considering the title of this story

[@RyanRidden]

Lucian must have been one of the most passive aggressive Greek authors!

[@Casmaniac]

@@RyanRidden Sort of an Andy Kaufman-troll comedian avant la lettre haha

[@silviomanuel473]

Damn it's too long can't watch it right now, but I anticipate it already. Had an interesting thought the other day, after your muon video, about how there is no sci-fi anymore. If a hundred years ago people could think of something that seemed fantastic for them - now everyone knows that everything is possible. A hundred years ago scientists discovered new elements or ways to interact with them, something that, give it a decade or two, would go into masses. Now general populace cannot even understand what those discoveries are, and I assume that most of the cutting-edge scientific discoveries of our times, especially the ones in astrophysics, quantum physics, etc. won't find their practical use for centuries. Technical breakthroughs nowadays are like "well we've had a 14nm processor but guess what, we've managed to create an 8nm processor, so your Viber will run 3% faster now! I don't say that we know everything, but we know everything we want to know. But how can we teach ourselves to want to know more?

[@RyanRidden]

I've also thought about this a bit. In some ways it's possible that we are reaching the limits of our imagination. Like you say, the details of science are incredible complex now, so trying to think of new applications and technologies is pretty hard. If the education system were revamped to have a stronger focus on modern science then maybe the limits of imagination will grow. That said, I've been working on writing a few short stories and always find myself getting caught up on the details of how things could be realistic, so it's definitely not easy!

[@silviomanuel473]

@@RyanRidden damn I'd read them. And about education - i don't think it's possible. It's like trying to think of a new color - you just cannot. Like, I cannot think of unthinkable but, weirdly, trying to think of some other species that might perceive universe the the whole existence in another way is easier.

[@RyanRidden]

@@silviomanuel473 You may quite be right, but I hope you aren't! I'm hoping to get one story finished in the next few months, so stay tuned for that!

[@NaumRusomarov]

two brothers, two astronomers, one post-doc position. who will win? :-) great episode.

[@RyanRidden]

Only the strongest can uncover the Universe's secrets!

[@brownro214]

The fact Lucian recognized the moon and sun as other places rather than just lights in the sky is quite remarkable.

[@RyanRidden]

I was also quite surprised by this! Apparently there was a story called "The Incredible Things Beyond Thule" by Antonius Diogenes written before True Story where adventurers also went to the Moon, but that story has been lost to time. It makes me wonder what other fascinating stories and insights the ancient Greeks had that are forgotten.

[@brownro214]

@@RyanRidden Well, ancient Greeks had determined the earth was round by 500 BC. Where would we be now if mankind had not lost most of the knowledge of those people?

[@katepepper1888]

So very lucky to have a brother that is also a scientist! Being the first in my family is particularly difficult as no-one seems to have any clue what I’m studying 😅 My Mum thought the Sun went around the Earth... yes... my family lives in the dark ages!! (At least they aren’t flat earthers)

[@RyanRidden]

Being a first gen scientist sure does have a unique extra set of challenges. Congratulations for getting to where you are! What are you studying?

[@katepepper1888]

@@RyanRidden BSc (Astronomical and Space Science) at USQ. Wanting to do research astrophysics... Maybe one day I’ll be Dr Pepper 🤓😅

[@RyanRidden]

@@katepepper1888 I'm sure you can make that dream happen! I have some friends doing their PhDs at USQ with Jonti Horner! Lots of cool exoplanet stuff happening there!

[@SuperAngela40]

I am EXTREMELY here for this ! And, as a parent , I have to know, did you and your brother get your interest in astrophysics from your parents? What did they do/ do now ?

[@RyanRidden]

Its a bit of a mystery to be honest! Our parents weren't scientists themselves, but we were always encouraged to to learn about everything around us from plants and animals to generally how stuff worked. It seems though that one we looked up it was all over! The trajectory of what I wanted to do evolved from inventor, to theoretical physicist, to astrophysics. You might be interested in the outreach program I help run called Young Stars. Every second week we have a scientist talk to the kids about their research. Here's the link to our Facebook page where all the info is posted: facebook.com/TheYoungStarsProgram

[@themadman5615]

What an interesting story

[@ronmani9476]

"cleared a room talking about star trek".... LOL

[@RyanRidden]

It's my unfortunate super power. As great as Voyager was, it has the best content to clear a room quickly.

[@brownro214]

Probably "that's not right" followed by a bunch of real technobabble.

[@Casmaniac]

Cool story bros

[@lionhawk555]

Sounds a bit like Gulliver's Travels to me

[@RyanRidden]

It definitely shares similarities being a rather bizarre adventure!

[@simonbode7356]

There are science fiction anecdotes in the Bible. For example, see Ezekiel 1:14, 15.