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Ansible
The term ''ansible'' refers to a category of fictional technological devices capable of superluminal Faster-than-light (superluminal or supercausal) travel and communication are the conjectural propagation of matter or information faster than the speed of light in vacuum (). The special theory of relativity implies that only particles with zero ... or faster-than-light (FTL) communication. These devices can instantaneously transmit and receive communicative and informational data streams across vast distances and obstacles, including between star systems and even across galaxies. As a name for such a device, the term ''ansible'' first appeared in a 1966 novel by Ursula K. Le Guin. Since that time, the broad use of the term has continued in the works of numerous science-fiction authors, across a variety of settings and continuities. Related terms are ''ultraphone'' and ''ultrawave''. Coinage by Ursula Le Guin Ursula K. Le Guin first used the word ''ansible'' in her 1966 nove ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ansible (magazine)
David Rowland Langford (born 10 April 1953) is a British author, editor, and critic, largely active within the science fiction field. He publishes the science-fiction fanzine and newsletter ''Ansible'' and holds the all-time record for most Hugo Awards, with a total of 29 wins. Personal background David Langford was born and grew up in Newport, Wales, before studying for a degree in Physics at Brasenose College, Oxford, where he first became involved in science fiction fandom. Langford is married to Hazel and is the older brother of the musician and artist Jon Langford. His first job was as a weapons physicist at the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment at Aldermaston, Berkshire from 1975 to 1980. In 1985 he set up a "tiny and informally run software company" with science fiction writer Christopher Priest, called Ansible Information after Langford's news-sheet. The company has ceased trading. Langford has worn a hearing aid since childhood, and increasing hearing difficultie ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
David Langford
David Rowland Langford (born 10 April 1953) is a British author, editor, and Literary criticism, critic, largely active within the science fiction field. He publishes the science-fiction fanzine and newsletter ''Ansible'' and holds the all-time record for most Hugo Award, Hugo Awards, with a total of 29 wins. Personal background David Langford was born and grew up in Newport, Wales, before studying for a degree in Physics at Brasenose College, Oxford, where he first became involved in science fiction fandom. Langford is married to Hazel and is the older brother of the musician and artist Jon Langford. His first job was as a weapons physicist at the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment at Aldermaston, Berkshire from 1975 to 1980. In 1985 he set up a "tiny and informally run software company" with science fiction writer Christopher Priest (novelist), Christopher Priest, called Ansible Information after Langford's news-sheet. The company has ceased trading. Langford has worn a h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hainish Cycle
The ''Hainish Cycle'' consists of a number of science fiction novels and stories by Ursula K. Le Guin. It is set in a future history in which civilizations of human beings on planets orbiting a number of nearby stars, including Terra ("Earth"), are contacting each other for the first time and establishing diplomatic relations, and setting up a confederacy under the guidance of the oldest of the human worlds, peaceful Hain. In this history, human beings did not evolve on Earth but were the result of interstellar colonies planted by Hain long ago, which was followed by a long period when interstellar travel ceased. Some of the races have new genetic traits, a result of ancient Hainish experiments in genetic engineering, including people who can dream while awake, and a world of hermaphroditic people who only come into active sexuality once a month, not knowing which sex will manifest in them. In keeping with Le Guin's style, she uses varied social and environmental settings to explor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Superluminal Communication
Faster-than-light communication, also called superluminal communication, is a hypothetical process in which information is conveyed at faster-than-light speeds. The current scientific consensus is that faster-than-light communication is not possible, and to date it has not been achieved in any experiment. Faster-than-light communication other than possibly through wormholes is likely impossible because, in a Lorentz-invariant theory, it could be used to transmit information into the past. This would complicate causality, but no theoretical arguments conclusively preclude this possibility. A number of theories and phenomena related to faster-than-light communication have been proposed or studied, including tachyons, neutrinos, quantum nonlocality, wormholes, and quantum tunneling. Proposed mechanisms Tachyons Tachyonic particles are hypothetical particles that travel faster than light, which could conceivably allow for superluminal communication. Because such a particle wou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Dispossessed
''The Dispossessed'' (subtitled ''An Ambiguous Utopia'') is a 1974 anarchist utopian science fiction novel by American writer Ursula K. Le Guin, one of her seven Hainish Cycle novels. It is one of a small number of books to win all three Hugo, Locus and Nebula Awards for Best Novel. It achieved a degree of literary recognition unusual for science fiction due to its exploration of themes such as anarchism and revolutionary societies, capitalism, utopia, individualism, and collectivism. It features the development of the mathematical theory underlying a fictional '' ansible'', a device capable of faster-than-light communication (it can send messages without delay, even between star systems) that plays a critical role in the Hainish Cycle. The invention of the ansible places the novel first in the internal chronology of the Hainish Cycle, although it was the fifth published. Background In her introduction to the Library of America reprint in 2017, Le Guin reflected on her past ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rocannon's World
''Rocannon's World'' is a science fiction novel by American writer Ursula K. Le Guin, her literary debut. Published in 1966, it appeared as an Ace Double, with an opening entitled "Semley's Necklace" that first appeared as the stand-alone story, "The Dowry of Angyar", in ''Amazing Stories'' in September 1964. The novel is one of several of Le Guin's works taking place in the same universe and with relationships of characters and history, works that have been termed the Hainish Cycle (a term rejected by the author herself). Its story presents many elements of heroic fantasy. The novel's protagonist, "League of All Worlds" ethnographer Gaveral Rocannon, returns to planet Fomalhaut II after its quarantine to lead a further advanced survey of its "higher intelligence life forms" (hilfs). As the novel opens, a rebel faction of the League violently attacks his ship, taking the lives of all of his colleagues—and, in presaging invasion, endangers the future of the planet's sentien ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Word For World Is Forest
''The Word for World Is Forest'' is a science fiction novel by American writer Ursula K. Le Guin, first published in the United States in 1972 as a part of the anthology '' Again, Dangerous Visions'', and published as a separate book in 1976 by Berkley Books. It is part of Le Guin's Hainish Cycle. The story focuses on a military logging colony set up on the fictional planet of Athshe by people from Earth (referred to as "Terra"). The colonists have enslaved the completely non-aggressive native Athsheans, and treat them very harshly. Eventually, one of the natives, whose wife was raped and killed by a Terran military captain, leads a revolt against the Terrans, and succeeds in getting them to leave the planet. However, in the process their own peaceful culture is introduced to mass violence for the first time. The novel carries strongly anti-colonial and anti-militaristic overtones, driven partly by Le Guin's negative reaction to the Vietnam War. It also explores themes of sens ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Galactic Empire
Galactic empires are a science fiction setting trope, in which most or all of the habitable planets in the setting's galaxy are ruled by a single centralized political entity. Galactic empires most frequently appear in works in the sub-genres of science fantasy and space opera, although they may appear in other sub-genres as well. Works featuring galactic empires may have them as the story's focus, chronicling the empire's growth and/or decline. Alternatively, they may merely serve as a backdrop against which the events of the story play out. While depictions of galactic empires can vary wildly from work to work, most galactic empires share several key tropes: * The empire, or at least its wealthier and more powerful regions, has advanced considerably in science and technology compared to current human civilization. * Among these advances are some form of faster-than-light travel, which enables transit and communication across the empire's extent to occur in a reasonable ti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robert Heinlein
Robert Anson Heinlein ( ; July 7, 1907 – May 8, 1988) was an American science fiction author, aeronautical engineer, and naval officer. Sometimes called the "dean of science fiction writers", he was among the first to emphasize scientific accuracy in his fiction, and was thus a pioneer of the subgenre of hard science fiction. His published works, both fiction and non-fiction, express admiration for competence and emphasize the value of critical thinking. His plots often posed provocative situations which challenged conventional social mores. His work continues to have an influence on the science-fiction genre, and on modern culture more generally. Heinlein became one of the first American science-fiction writers to break into mainstream magazines such as ''The Saturday Evening Post'' in the late 1940s. He was one of the best-selling science-fiction novelists for many decades, and he, Isaac Asimov, and Arthur C. Clarke are often considered the "Big Three" of English-language ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ender's Game
''Ender's Game'' is a 1985 military science fiction novel by American author Orson Scott Card. Set at an unspecified date in Earth's future, the novel presents an imperiled humankind after two conflicts with an insectoid alien species they dub "the buggers". In preparation for an anticipated third invasion, Earth's international military force recruits young children, including the novel's protagonist, Andrew "Ender" Wiggin, to be trained as elite officers. The children learn military strategy and leadership by playing increasingly difficult war games, including some in zero gravity, where Ender's tactical genius is revealed. The book originated as a short story of the same name, published in the August 1977 issue of '' Analog Science Fiction and Fact''. The novel was published on January 15, 1985. Later, by elaborating on characters and plotlines depicted in the novel, Card wrote additional books in the ''Ender's Game'' series. Card released an updated version of '' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ender's Game (series)
The ''Ender's Game'' series (often referred to as the ''Ender'' saga and also the Enderverse) is a series of science fiction books written by American author Orson Scott Card. The series started with the novelette ''Ender's Game'', which was later expanded into the novel of the same title. It currently consists of sixteen novels, thirteen short stories, 47 comic issues, an audioplay, and a film. The first two novels in the series, ''Ender's Game'' and '' Speaker for the Dead'', each won both the Hugo and Nebula Awards. The series is set in a future where mankind is facing annihilation by an aggressive alien society, an insect-like race known formally as "Formics", but more colloquially as "Buggers". The series protagonist, Andrew "Ender" Wiggin, is one of the child soldiers trained at Battle School (and eventually Command School) to be the future leaders for the protection of Earth. Enderverse Ender series Starting with ''Ender's Game'', five novels and one novella have be ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
