This.
I'm similarly slightly worried about the forthcoming Foundation adaptation.
(
Enzyme is powered by sunlight, Wed 26 Aug 2020, 15:25,
Reply)
It can't be as bad as some of the source material (and I really like Foundation).
The science of psychohistory is perhaps more silly than the genetic memory stuff in Dune. Both require a device like the Mule/Siona to paint the story out of the corner, if you see what I mean.
(
brb man-child cuck corporate supplicant fuck, Wed 26 Aug 2020, 16:04,
Reply)
Not sure I agree, to be honest.
Psychohistory can be passed off as just applied sociology. No drama there, but not too silly. The problem for me is that the original novels are simply too episodic.
You could do Foundation's Edge or Foundation and Earth as more straightforward dramas - but without the prior stuff, they'd make no sense.
I think.
I mean, it's 30 years since I read any of 'em.
(
Enzyme is powered by sunlight, Wed 26 Aug 2020, 19:32,
Reply)
I understood Psychohistory as extremely advanced mathematics rather than sociology. Maybe I need to read that again.
(
evil_andy Stick stick stick stick sticky sticky stick stick, Wed 26 Aug 2020, 21:06,
Reply)
I think it's a kind of probablistic forecasting.
I read somewhere that Asimov considered the possibility that he should have called it psychosociology or something.
It doesn't strike me as all that important. It's still a matter of extrapolating trends to predict the future (though in Foundation it does seem ridiculously precise).
Hari Seldon was basically a Space Actuary.
(
Enzyme is powered by sunlight, Wed 26 Aug 2020, 22:43,
Reply)
Not all that important? It is the foundation of The Foundation!
Isaac Arthur has an episode explaining many reasons why it cannot work (black swans, unpredictable quantum events, lack of computing power, stacking errors/random variables, 'free will,' quantum cheeseburgers, etc.)...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Uh-VQy24l8
(
brb man-child cuck corporate supplicant fuck, Thu 27 Aug 2020, 14:51,
Reply)
I think it's meant to be a combination of both.
Like, once the you're dealing with social organisations of many billions of individuals, then your sociology is predictable with maths.
I always saw it as analogous to chemistry... you don't know what any individual molecule is doing precisely, but you do know how an Avogadro constant of molecules will behave in general.
(, Thu 27 Aug 2020, 10:31, Reply)
What other excellent sci-fi series can get fucked up by a glossy, shallow TV adaptation and the inevitable godawful fanbase that accompanies it?
Omg did you see Marvel's "Person In The High Castle" last night? That was really good, wasn't it? I proper loved the bit where Captain America came smashing thru and punched Hitler.
(, Wed 26 Aug 2020, 16:58, Reply)
E.E.Doc Smiths Lensman Series might work
The books themselves were so shallow, hammy, and utterly pulpy sci-fi that a glossy shallow TV adaptation might end up being better than the books.
Obviously with Robert Downey Jr as the lead.
(
My Name was saying these words inside your head on, Wed 26 Aug 2020, 17:25,
Reply)
I really must get around to reading those. They sound gloriously bonkers.
Edit: found the first two as part of a kindle bundle for 69p. That'll do.
(
evil_andy Stick stick stick stick sticky sticky stick stick, Wed 26 Aug 2020, 17:47,
Reply)
"Our velocity is faster than the speed of light
looks like Einstien was wrong!"
And so on.
(
My Name was saying these words inside your head on, Thu 27 Aug 2020, 1:17,
Reply)
There was an anime version of Lensman
I was dead into the books when I was younger, so I jumped at the chance to see an animated version. Manga released it on VHS. Even then it was shallow as hell and ignored 90% of the novel's content, but it was fun.
Terrible american dub here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=-td8Jp0hJVA
For extra bonus nostalgia points, the first time I saw a clip of the anime, it was being used as a 'aren't the Japanese mental' clip on the Clive James show.
(, Thu 27 Aug 2020, 9:18, Reply)
I should really give that a go
(
evil_andy Stick stick stick stick sticky sticky stick stick, Thu 27 Aug 2020, 20:51,
Reply)
Ringworld probably has the potential to make a decent serial.
By which I mean 6-8 hour long episodes, not being dragged out over three series.
(
jonbob loves you, Wed 26 Aug 2020, 22:44,
Reply)
Might have to be a pornhub exclusive though.
And might fall foul of various anti-bestiality laws.
I think Niven writes in a very tv/movie friendly way though. E.g. the opening of Ringworld Engineers reads like an awesome kung-fu/action movie.
(
brb man-child cuck corporate supplicant fuck, Thu 27 Aug 2020, 14:54,
Reply)
Footfall would make a pretty good film, if the basic plot hadn't already been filmed like 20-30 times now.
(
evil_andy Stick stick stick stick sticky sticky stick stick, Thu 27 Aug 2020, 17:07,
Reply)
Foundation is the sort of thing that just seems too vast to be able to pull off properly.
What I really want to see is a Red Mars series.
That seems much more doable, but apparently it's been stuck in production hell for the last five years or so.
(
evil_andy Stick stick stick stick sticky sticky stick stick, Wed 26 Aug 2020, 21:05,
Reply)