In science fiction . . .
 

Seriously?

They just have them reproduce anyway. Isn't Spock half human and half Vulcan?

Now that we got the dumb answers out of the way . . . .


What creative reasoning or thinking do they use, that allows readers/watchers to suspend their disbelief?

The key is to ratchet up the "fiction" while letting the "science" part slide.
This is particularly true in visual media.

I get it, Star Trek is stupid.

Amen to that, Albi. Stargate SG1 is great IMO - Atlantis, not as great, but good.

Ask a stupid question, get a stupid answer. "How do science fiction writers deal with the fact that they're writing about fictional science?" We're talking about a genre that incorporates faster than light travel, time travel, zombies, god-like entities (e.g. the Eschaton), etc.

I've never seen this episode before. Thanks for the link.

When I've read about the craft of writing science fiction that authors provided, they explain the amount of research they've done, then they used their imagination and creativity to come up with plausible explanations that could explain to readers enough things such as half human half humanoid alien so that readers can suspend their disbelief.

I'm surprised you're not familiar with this method of fictional writing.

I'm sure he is. His point, IIUC, is that it's silly to be unable to suspend disbelief for something like this, but not for the other, sometimes far more egregious violations of science and common sense which proliferate throughout the genre.

XPost

I thought the whole idea of suspension of disbelief was that there is no need for an explanation... http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo...smilies/hm.gif

So why do science fiction writers do research for their novels?

Possibly to come up with new ideas, although I guess they might enjoy trying to come up with a plausible explanation for something that seems ridiculous.

That's not a hybrid. A hybrid is like a mule. Having a tape-worm does not make you a hybrid.

Worth a try...

Harsesis

Actually, the Harsesis has the 'genetic memory' of the goa'uld so I guess there is some DNA being shared. It is still made clear that the offspring is still biologically a human. I don't know.

Oh you lie. I bet you wore the uniform to school http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo...ilies/wink.gif But this is a rather theoretical argument don't you think? Although Greeks do look like the offspring of a normal human and a wookie...

Chromosomal hacking.

SP