## Which pieces of “philosophically interesting” science fiction do professional philosophers recommend? - Very exhaustive list of great SF.

* Author: u/None *
* URL: http://www.faculty.ucr.edu/~eschwitz/SchwitzPapers/SF-MasterList-141103-byauthor.pdf
* Score: 21

* Created: 2014-11-23T14:43:41

### Post:

[Link to content](http://www.faculty.ucr.edu/~eschwitz/SchwitzPapers/SF-MasterList-141103-byauthor.pdf)

### Comments:

> **u/Sylocat** [+6]  *Canterlot Campaign* (an hour later)
> 
> I like some of the counterintuitive choices like Lewis and Adams... there's more to rationality than just atheism and mundanity.

> **u/None** [+7]  (2 hours later)
> 
> [deleted]

>> **u/alexanderwales** [+5]  *Time flies like an arrow* (4 hours later)
>> 
>> I read quite a bit of translated work, and I think translation can be really tricky thing. A bad translation can destroy tone and beauty of the language, as well as stripping out a lot of the idioms, puns, etc. Douglas Hofstadter (of *Gödel, Escher, Bach* fame) writes about this a lot in *Le Ton beau de Marot*, which I recommend.

>>> **u/None** [+1]  (20 hours later)
>>> 
>>> [deleted]

>>>> **u/ajuc** [+4]  (a day later)
>>>> 
>>>> I thought Lem robot stories series can't be translated. Especially the ones with Trurl and Klapaucius. Then I read Kandel translation. This is masterpiece. Like writing the book a second time, in another language.
>>>> 
>>>> BTW I just learned he is translating Jacek Dukaj. I'm happy.

>> **u/ZombieboyRoy** [+3]  (4 hours later)
>> 
>> And don't forget all the stories, fables, legends, and oral traditions lost in the currents of time, which no translator can ever revive.

>> **u/None** [+3]  (19 hours later)
>> 
>> This is a problem with fiction, I think. Niche fiction (like sci-fi) has this problem to a greater extent.
>> 
>> It also created another problem: Hardly anyone writes sci-fi or fantasy in Dutch (to give one example) because the market isn't big enough.

> **u/noggin-scratcher** [+2]  *I am a happy tree* (10 hours later)
> 
> >Robert Zemeckis, Back to the Future 2 (movie, 1989). Another complex model of metatime -- I set my students to work trying to figure out the model of time travel here, and they at least got close. (Chalmers)
> 
> That's always a high-scorer for [nerd-sniping](http://xkcd.com/356/)... always feels like a consistent model is *just slightly* out of reach; that you could hammer out the last details with a little bit more thought.

>> **u/xkcd_transcriber** [+1]  (10 hours later)
>> 
>> [Image](http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/nerd_sniping.png)
>> 
>> **Title:** Nerd Sniping
>> 
>> **Title-text:** I first saw this problem on the Google Labs Aptitude Test.  A professor and I filled a blackboard without getting anywhere.  Have fun.
>> 
>> [Comic Explanation](http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=356#Explanation)
>> 
>> **Stats:** This comic has been referenced 60 times, representing 0.1443% of referenced xkcds.
>> 
>> ---
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> **u/None** [+2]  (19 hours later)
> 
> *Copy-pastes half of that list onto my wishlist.*
> 
> Thanks for posting this.

> **u/None** [+4]  (4 hours later)
> 
> [deleted]

>> **u/alexanderwales** [+3]  *Time flies like an arrow* (7 hours later)
>> 
>> It's probably included there because a fair portion of the plot is devoted to a version of the Prisoner's Dilemma.

>>> **u/poliphilo** [+2]  (15 hours later)
>>> 
>>> If that scene had actually had a Prisoner's Dilemma dynamic it would have been a lot more interesting.

>>> **u/None** [+1]  (17 hours later)
>>> 
>>> [deleted]

>>>> **u/FeepingCreature** [+2]  *GCV Literally The Entire Culture* (21 hours later)
>>>> 
>>>> > press the button instantly or not at all.
>>>> 
>>>> <Tattooed Prisoner> Give it to me. You can tell 'em I took it by force. Give it to me, and I'll do what you shoulda did ten minutes ago.
>>>> 
>>>> :[throws the remote overboard](http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167268113001522):

>>>>> **u/None** [+1]  (a day later)
>>>>> 
>>>>> [deleted]

>>>>>> **u/FeepingCreature** [+2]  *GCV Literally The Entire Culture* (a day later)
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> The point of the scene was that the Tattooed Prisoner is more rational than the whoever held the button. Thus the "what you shoulda did ten minutes ago"; it's an object lesson in precommitment.

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