tl;dr:

This sub-genre of science fiction has made its way into mainstream science journals. I argue that the science is sketchy and the fiction is disappointing. Submit your own Biophyctional Journal abstracts in the comments!

Introduction

Science fiction rests on a compact between author and reader. The reader grants the author license to make some outrageous assumptions about the state of science and technology. In return the author spins an exciting yarn that may also hold some lessons about human nature. Recently a sub-genre of science fiction has made its entry into mainstream scientific journals. Again the authors ask readers to imagine that nature works very differently from what we know now, by factors of a million or up to 10 trillion. Then they speculate what might happen under those circumstances. Continue reading “Magnetofiction – A Reader’s Guide” →