Aurora discussion

Man his last book and now this one. Progressively more negative and dystopian. The feeling I get from this book's themes is that KSR is really trying to break with his utopian Mars series that defined him.

I think his sober themes in this book about not bothering with space travel due to how hard it is is well done... but coming from a guy who used to be positive, it is sad.

Will his next book be about early fish coming to grips with the mistake of trying to walk on land?

Man the book was retarded. I haven't read anything else from that author and I'm not going to. The science of the book was idiotic. The decisions made from the crew just, no, no.

I agree. I wrote a post about how it felt like the anti-Mars trilogy. It's like all the messages in this are the opposite of that series. It is rather sad, just cause there are so few authors who write positively about the future. I find it so much more interesting to read someones idea of solutions rather than just all problems being pointed out.

In my opinion, Aurora is not pessimistic or dystopian at all, but realistic and cautionary.

People just do not understand or comprehend just how big space is, and how far the stars are.

Just for perspective: New Horizons, the space probe sent to Pluto, is, to this point, the fastest space craft we've sent out there, traveling 36,000 mph. At this super fast speed, it took 9-1/2 years to get to Pluto. That's in our Solar System. Change the target to the nearest star, Alpha Centauri - 4.3 light years away. Traveling at the same speed, New Horizons would take 78,000 years to get there.

In Aurora, the target is Tau Ceti, 11.88 light years from here. The star ship is going 1 tenth the speed of light (a huge stretch right there, pushing the laws of physics), taking just under 170 years to get there.

Thus, the multi generational star ship (7 generations, according to the book), with a fully self contained eco system that has to last that long. These are huge problems to tackle - think of the sociological, psychological, and biological problems caused by multiple generations born and dying on the ship.

Then, think of the propulsion and fuel required, and the magnetic field to deflect anything that could collide with the ship. More huge problems to solve.

Then, when they get there, the target moon (Aurora) is either dead - presenting the problem of terra-forming, or it supports life, presenting the problem of that life being poisonous to us and us to it.

In short, Space is hard. Interstellar travel many, many, many times harder, if not impossible, and that's the cold hard reality. But unfortunately most SciFi glosses over that fact. Not Aurora. It deals with the very real problems honestly and directly, and contemplates what might happen.

Spoilers ahead:

And the fact that they can get to Tau Ceti at all, one group stays on the Mars analog, and another group makes it back to Earth, is a complete freaking miracle, and quite frankly, rather Utopian. Another Utopian idea is the Ship's AI. And the ship's biomes, with fully self contained eco systems that last centuries, are Utopian.

Now, all that said, I don't know if I fully agree with the overall point KSR is making. I think he does take some "worse case scenarios", and makes some assumptions in the science, and perhaps underestimates mankind's possible scientific and technological knowledge 500 years into the future. But I appreciate the perspective he's taking, and all the contemplation it has inspired.

And as for Utopias and Dystopias - KSR himself has stated that they are two sides of the same coin (me paraphrasing). Utopias tell what to do to make things better in the future. Dystopias tell us what not to do, so in the end they are Utopian anyway. And I appreciate an author that will try different things, try different styles, and present different perspectives.

Unlike others here, I've completely enjoyed reading Aurora, as well as 2312. I eagerly look forward to reading more of KSR's books.

John wrote: "Man the book was retarded. I haven't read anything else from that author and I'm not going to. The science of the book was idiotic. The decisions made from the crew just, no, no."

Yep, some of the decisions made by the humans on the ship were idiotic. And some of the actions were barbaric and insane.

But I found it plausible, because imagine being born, and dying on this generational star ship, and being confined to it's limited size. Then imagine the feeling of this choice being made for you by your previous generations (actually the first generation of the Ship). Then you actually get to the destination, and things don't work out so well, and an unintended disaster occurs. It's believable that many people would go bonkers, and act idiotic and barbaric.