If Ernest is listening, I'd love to volunteer to help be a sysadmin/coordinate sysadmin schedules. I've got like 20 years of tech experience, with a lot of it being handling support teams and administering Linux systems. I know I said I couldn't because of money, I realized that social currency is worth even more and I like you folks and want this place to succeed.
So if anybody can get in touch with him, have Ernest email 246FHD@protonmail.com
I would say, rather, that the implicit set of laws governing a sci-fi world are a superset of those currently understood to govern ours, while in a fantasy world the governing laws contradict those governing ours.
I like this a lot. It covers really old sci fi like Mary Shelley or Jules Verne, and reinforces the idea that fantasy stories (good ones, anyway) need to also have laws.
You're absolutely right about that. The tricorder is hugely important to Trek, and I think there's another reason that makes it the most "sciencey" of sci fi: When someone on Trek sees a weird thing, what's the first thing they do? Scan it with their tricorder. Why? Because they're scientists first, and scientists know not to trust human senses.
I think the difference is that in sci fi stories they always have a scientific explanation for things. Star Trek is a good example of this. Tricorders, shields, phasers, warp drive, impulse drive, and replicators all have in-universe scientific explanations. They might be made up, but there is no element of magic in any of it.
Star Wars, on the other hand, doesn't really get into those things. Yes, there are technical manuals, but we don't see engineers on the Death Star reversing polarity. And nobody liked it when they tried to have midichlorians be a scientific explanation for The Force.
So I would agree with Mr. Hodgman that Star Wars is, in fact, a fantasy. It's a space fantasy, but it definitely lacks the "science" part of "science fiction."
This is going to be the pattern at all these places doing RTO: The ones who are capable of getting WFH jobs will get them, and they'll be left with their least capable folks.
Got back into Civ VI after a while and I'm continuing my playthrough of every Civ. Currently playing as Qin Shi Huang (Unifier) and crushed Georgia because they declared a surprise war on me.