Orion's Arm Future History FAQ, Entry One

Note: As of January 2016 I have suspended work on Orion's Arm. I am retaining the core of the future history, but going forth in a slightly different manner, evolving the existing material under a slightly modified premise and a new title: System States future history. This does not affect copyright and ownership. I retain all rights to my Orion's Arm material. I will retain all work now posted in my galleries with the notice, see example below, that this is now archival and not ongoing work.

Orion's Arm Archive

© William Black 2003
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The Orion’s Arm Future History is unrelated to the Orion’s Arm Universe collaborative worldbuilding community.

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Many years ago Robert A. Heinlein offered a statement which serves as a good definition of Hard SF: "realistic speculation about possible future events, based solidly on adequate knowledge of the real world, past and present, and on a thorough understanding of the nature and significance of the scientific method."

In conception and construction my Orion’s Arm Future History is designed to meet this definition.

What you will find: are spacecraft, propulsion systems, and related technologies, grounded in, or logical extrapolations of the science, physics, and engineering specifications of real-world systems, existing, or proposed.

Posts are accompanied by citation and links to valid sources describing the technology. In the case of proposed systems links describe origin of the work, present status of development, its use, its limitations, and prospects for future development.

What you will not find:

Magic: meaning technologies for which even a theoretical basis is almost totally lacking, or which current theory does not support.

No “instant” FTL communications systems, no replicators (meaning technology which produces an infinite amount of food, water, oxygen, fuel, simple or complex tools, or complex machinery from a “stored pattern” and a trivial amount of electric current), no Star Trek style “transporters” (in fact if it is Star Trek-like in any way – it is not to be found), and no FTL (faster than light) spacecraft propulsion.

You will not find: Alcubierre Warp Drive, Krasnikov Tunnel, Quantum Teleportation, Vacuum Point Energy systems, Wormholes as interstellar transportation systems, Artificial Gravity (i.e. magic gravity generators, gravity plating, or any system which does not use actual mass, acceleration, or centrifugal force to generate gravity), Inertialess Drives: General, Inertialess Drive: Negative Matter, Inertialess Drives: Dean Drive and others (i.e. BS), Forwards’ Spin Drive.

Additional Examples: Winchell Chung has composed a rather complete list of bad media SF conventions on his Common Misconceptions page.

For additional perspective on what constitutes Hard SF, and why science in science fiction matters, I recommend the Preliminary Notes page on Winchell Chung’s Atomic Rockets site.

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On occasion individuals want to take argument with what I’ve presented. Before you do, see Orion’s Arm FAQ Entry Two and scroll down to the entry on Argument. If you are still moved to present your case (in the form of a note, argumentative comments on images posts will be removed) see the Respecting Science page on Winchell Chung’s Atomic Rockets site before you proceed. Should you still wish to tender argument abide by the following rules:

Argument is to be in written form, by note. Notice: only calm, cogent, focused, and civil argument with citation and links to valid source material in the form of peer reviewed journal papers will be considered.

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Orion's Arm is a tightly plotted historical timeline spanning approximately 1,400 years. The material is highly contextual in nature, thus image posts are linked to the Orion’s Arm Synopsis and Timeline, and to journal entries with expanded commentary on the relevant historical period.

Related images, with additional information, [where these exist] are linked at the bottom of every image caption.

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In Orion’s Arm I go into detail on the societies, illuminating the underlying values and motivations, and describe primary factors in the evolution of the different cultural groups. This includes material describing the political and economic systems, prevailing attitudes and philosophies.

Precautionary Note: These are not subject to debate. The evolution and core philosophies of the cultures depicted are a matter intensively, thoroughly, and exhaustively thought out. If the societies I’ve chosen to describe do not fit your idea of the perfect utopia, you are free to express your thoughts in your own creative works, on your own pages, not on mine.