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archive:sf:advice.jok

Subject: Good advice Organization: SERC, Department of Computer Sciences, Purdue Univ. Date: Tue, 10 Oct 89 13:59:39 EST From: Gene Spafford spaf@cs.purdue.edu

  Many people think that the concepts and ideas that they read

about typical SF story are derived from the imagination of the writer. How do you know this? Many of the things I have read about would require an imagination that borders on mental illness. Are these writers producing autobiographies, thinly disguised as science fiction? Just in case, I present here a brief guide, to help you in the event that something you have read about actually happens to you.

What to do …

1. If you get a phone call from Mars.

Speak slowly and be sure to enunciate your words properly. Limit

  your vocabulary to simple words.  Try to determine if you are
  speaking to someone in a leadership capacity, or an ordinary
  citizen.

Q. What if he or she doesn't speak English?

Hang up. There's no sense in trying to learn Martian over the

  phone.  If your Martian really had something important to say to
  you, he or she would have taken the trouble to learn the language
  before calling.

2. If you get a phone call from Jupiter?

Explain to your caller, politely but firmly, that being from

  Jupiter, he or she is not `life as we know it'.  Try to terminate
  the conversation as soon as possible.  It will not profit you.

3. If a starship, equipped with an FTL hyperdrive lands in your

  backyard?

First of all, do not run after your camera. You will not have

  any film.  Be polite.  Remember, if they have an FTL hyperdrive,
  they can probably vaporize you, should they find you to be rude.
  Direct them to the White House lawn, which is where they probably
  wanted to land, anyway.  A good road map should help.

4. If you wake up in the middle of the night, and discover that your

  closet contains an alternate dimension?

Don't go in. You almost certainly will not be able to get back,

  and alternate dimensions are almost never any fun. Remain calm
  and go back to bed.  Check your closet in the morning.  If it
  still contains an alternate dimension, nail it shut.

5. If reality disappears?

  Hope this one doesn't happen to you.  There is not much you can
  do about it.  It can be quite unpleasant.

6. If you meet an older version of yourself who has invented a time

  traveling machine, and has come from the future to meet you?

Follow the books on this one. Ask about the stock market and

  cash in.  Don't forget to invent a time traveling machine and
  visit your younger self before you die, or you will create a
  paradox.
  I hope this guide will be of help to you, should you find

yourself confronted with any of the situations described. If anything like the above should happen to you, get out your typewriter, and crank out a story.



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