Hollyweird Science: From Quantum Quirks to the Multiverse

315 Pages·2015·10.79 MB·English

by  Kevin R. Grazier

Science and Fiction
Editorial Board
Mark Alpert
Philip Ball
Gregory Benford
Michael Brotherton
Victor Callaghan
Amnon H Eden
Nick Kanas
Geoffrey Landis
Rudi Rucker
Dirk Schulze-Makuch
Rüdiger Vaas
Ulrich Walter
Stephen Webb
Science and Fiction—A Springer Series
This collection of entertaining and thought-provoking books will appeal equally to sci-
ence buffs, scientists and science-fiction fans. It was born out of the recognition that
scientific discovery and the creation of plausible fictional scenarios are often two sides of
the same coin. Each relies on an understanding of the way the world works, coupled with
the imaginative ability to invent new or alternative explanations—and even other worlds.
Authored by practicing scientists as well as writers of hard science fiction, these books ex-
plore and exploit the borderlands between accepted science and its fictional counterpart.
Uncovering mutual influences, promoting fruitful interaction, narrating and analyzing
fictional scenarios, together they serve as a reaction vessel for inspired new ideas in sci-
ence, technology, and beyond.
Whether fiction, fact, or forever undecidable: the Springer Series “Science and Fiction”
intends to go where no one has gone before!
Its largely non-technical books take several different approaches. Journey with their
authors as they
• Indulge in science speculation—describing intriguing, plausible yet unproven ideas;
• Exploit science fiction for educational purposes and as a means of promoting critical
thinking;
• Explore the interplay of science and science fiction—throughout the history of the
genre and looking ahead;
• Delve into related topics including, but not limited to: science as a creative process,
the limits of science, interplay of literature and knowledge;
• Tell fictional short stories built around well-defined scientific ideas, with a supple-
ment summarizing the science underlying the plot.
Readers can look forward to a broad range of topics, as intriguing as they are important.
Here just a few by way of illustration:
• Time travel, superluminal travel, wormholes, teleportation
• Extraterrestrial intelligence and alien civilizations
• Artificial intelligence, planetary brains, the universe as a computer, simulated worlds
• Non-anthropocentric viewpoints
• Synthetic biology, genetic engineering, developing nanotechnologies
• Eco/infrastructure/meteorite-impact disaster scenarios
• Future scenarios, transhumanism, posthumanism, intelligence explosion
• Virtual worlds, cyberspace dramas
• Consciousness and mind manipulation
For further volumes:
http://www.springer.com/series/11657
Kevin R. Grazier Stephen Cass
Hollyweird Science
From Quantum Quirks to the Multiverse
2123
Kevin R. Grazier Stephen Cass
Sylmar, California Boston, Massachusetts
USA USA
ISSN 2197-1188 ISSN 2197-1196 (electronic)
Science and Fiction
ISBN 978-3-319-15071-0 ISBN 978-3-319-15072-7 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-15072-7
Springer Cham Heidelberg New York Dordrecht London
Library of Congress Control Number: 2015930016
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KRG
To Dad. Couldn’t have done it without your
support.
SAC
To Annie
Foreword
Gentlemen, we can rebuild him. We have the technology…
Oscar Goldman, The Six Million Dollar Man
I was 6-years-old the first time I heard Oscar Goldman declare in the
opening credits of The Six Million Dollar Man that Steve Austin would
be the world’s first bionic man. “Better than he was before. Better. Stron-
ger. Faster.”
And I believed him.
It was 1974, and the television landscape was dominated by landmark
shows like M*A*S*H*, Little House on the Prairie, All in the Family, and Happy
Days. There was Columbo and Kojak; Maude and The Odd Couple. Fantastic
programs all. But for 6-year-old me, the world stopped weekly at the count-
down to the horrific crash that would forever change the life of astronaut
Steve Austin, and spawn millions of kids running in slow-motion with the
trademark bionic, “Nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh!”
With the exception of The Planet of the Apes and Star Trek re-runs, there
wasn’t much science fiction on television at the time, particularly Earth-based
sci fi that was grounded in real science. Looking back, I don’t think I even re-
alized I was watching science fiction. The title sequence presented a near-per-
fect introduction to the concept of the show, complete with archival NASA
launch video, high-tech medical graphics of cyborgian surgeries, and the dul-
cet tones of Oscar Goldman’s voice-over assuring us, “We can rebuild him.
We have the technology.” Fiction or not, I bought into the concept hook, line
and bionic sinker.
As the child of a scientist who had come thisclose to being selected by NASA
to be one of the first scientist astronauts in space, I was the perfect audience.
I spent summers messing with beakers in my dad’s lab at UCLA; building
model Estes rockets in our back yard; obsessively watching Stanley Kubrick’s
2001, and reading Ray Bradbury’s The Martian Chronicles. I was certain by
the dawn of the twenty-first Century we’d all have bionic parts and be flying
rocket cars to work. Or Mars. Or both.
VIII Hollyweird Science
Boy, was I wrong.
Flash forward three decades to 2004. I did not have bionic legs. I did not
have a flying car.
But I did have my own sci fi TV show.
It was called Eureka, and, like The Six Million Dollar Man, the concept
of the series was grounded in theoretical scientific possibility. The show was
set in the fictional town of Eureka, Oregon, a secret government think-tank
formed by Albert Einstein and Harry Truman to house the greatest minds in
science and technology. These eccentric geniuses were brought together to
live and create technologies that were decades ahead of the rest of the world.
Unfortunately, they would sometimes create things that threatened to destroy
the world as often as save it. Enter everyman U.S. Marshal Jack Carter who
stumbles onto the town during one such crisis, and his keen investigative in-
stincts help him save the day. The reward for his effort is being reassigned by
the Department of Defense to be the new town sheriff. Much to his chagrin.
In developing a show about a town of scientific geniuses, we quickly real-
ized one very important thing: we were not scientific geniuses. This proved
challenging. We knew the science had to be grounded if the audience was
going to buy into the concept of the series (not unlike a certain show I had
loved as a kid). We wanted the sci-fi element of the show to be a catalyst for
the character drama, not the drama itself. The Sci Fi (now Syfy) Channel
executives asked us to create a series bible covering the dos and don’ts of the
show. This was our mission statement:
We want to create a show that is first and foremost tethered by compelling,
believable characters whose problems, passions and frailties mirror our own.
These people just happen to have extraordinary talents which make their ev-
eryday dramas that much more interesting to watch… Our science, like our
town, should always feel plausible. While we are mindful that “fiction” is a
huge element of science fiction, the theories and devices created here need to
be, on a fundamental level, based in real possibility… .
It was clear that achieving our goals would require the assistance of a
real live genius. With our network’s blessing (and, frankly, insistence),
we hired a bona fide JPL rocket scientist to keep us honest. His task was
to make sure that the science in our science fiction was as accurate as
possible without compromising story. Did involving a scientist in the cre-
ative process limit our imaginations because of scientific limitations? No.
Did we, on occasion, push the boundaries of scientific plausibility? Yes.
But we made our best collective effort to be true to the science as well as
the characters, and the stories we told were that much stronger for it.
Foreword IX
This led to an invitation to do a panel at San Diego Comic Con hosted by
Discover Magazine and The Science & Entertainment Exchange discussing,
“Does Good Science Make Good Science Fiction?” Our moderator was sci-
ence journalist Stephen Cass, and my co-panelist was Eureka’s own intrepid
science advisor, Kevin Grazier, the esteemed authors of this very book. The
discussion was lively and the sentiment in the convention hall was clear: I
was not a genius. But our audience accepted that our characters were, because
we made the extra effort to get the science right. This allowed our viewers to
suspend their disbelief and go along for the ride. With their loyal support and
record numbers, the ride lasted for seventy-seven episodes.
Which brings us to the present, and to the uniquely entertaining book you
now hold in your hands. Part analysis of the evolution of science fiction in
popular media, part celebration of geek culture, part explication of basic sci-
ence fiction principles, the authors explore myriad aspects of creating, writing
and appreciating science fiction. It is a ridiculously ambitious endeavor that
only Kevin and Stephen would voluntarily undertake. I only wish they had
written it a decade ago when I really could have used it.
Maybe once we do finally crack time travel, I’ll sneak a copy back to 2004
and leave it in the writers’ room.
Kevin and Stephen, please get on that.
Or, more importantly, flying cars.
Jaime Paglia
Venice, California
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank all the people who have helped bring this book to
fruition, starting with all the science fiction fans that provided the inspiration
for this book. Whether online or in person at events such as the San Diego
Comic Con or Dragon*Con, your questions and desire to engage with both
the science and storytelling of TV shows and movies made this book happen.
Next, we are very grateful to all the science consultants, writers, and pro-
ducers who gave so graciously of their time for interviews. By giving us your
insights into the ground truth of how science fiction screenplays are written
and then turned into actual productions, you have filled in a critical part of
the story of how science is incorporated into science-themed fiction.
Our editor at Springer, Angela Lahee, deserves particular thanks for her
early enthusiasm and later patience, especially when one book became two! A
special thank you to Jaime Paglia and Michael Brotherton for their thought-
ful foreword and afterword respectfully. Further thanks to Michael who, in
his role as series editor, made many helpful suggestions that dramatically im-
proved this work.
KRG would like to acknowledge the students from his “Science of Science
Fiction” class at UCLA, who served as unwitting lab rats for much of the
material in this book. Thank you to Jane Espenson whose uncannily-timed
Twitter proclamations “Writing Sprint Commence!” has turned many a low
productivity day into one I could be proud of. A special thank you to the
writing team of Zack Stentz and Ashley Miller whose patience and generos-
ity when it came to giving of their time for interviews was, by any measure,
“Above and beyond.”
SAC would like to thank his wife Annie Leist for her unflagging encourage-
ment, perceptive comments on draft chapters, and accepting all sorts of odd
media purchases under the rubric of “research”; Ada Brunstein for being an
excellent Monday writing-sprint buddy; and his family in Ireland for all their
support: Frank, Audrey, David and his parents, Stephen and Breda.