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Author: pcw2727

Sep 17th 2011 at 2:42:10 PM

^^^^^
Not necessarily technologically advanced. It could run the gambit of just about any sci fi setting and concept.

^^The term Hard Science fiction appeared in 1957, but Soft Science fiction supposedly appeared late 70s. If they were always meant as polar opposites then you'd think there'd be less of a time gap. This is particularly noteworthy considering Hard Science was created to separate certain types of sci fi stories from the sort of pulp adventure sci fi stories that many now call "soft".

My class taught that the term was coined early on to describe stories about the soft sciences rather then stories where science didn't fit the rigorous standards of hard science fiction. Looking over the sources from TheOtherWiki it seems the misusen is old, but is none the less a misuse. One of their sources from 1984 states (and I'm paraphrasing) "Probably a backformation of 'hard science fiction' to suggest stories without careful adherence to scientific principles" making it clear that the author was not aware of the actual origins of the term.

The term I'm talking about is definitely worthy of a page, if not a trope page then a genre page. An entire unit of my course was focused on nothing but soft science fiction under this definition. This covered about a dozen short stories, most of which were examples from authors who wrote whole series of novels in the same vein. Its definitely a well represented concept.