Niven's laws

Niven's laws

Niven’s laws were named after science fiction author Larry Niven, who has periodically published them as "how the Universe works" as far as he can tell. These were most recently rewritten on January 29, 2002 (and published in Analog Magazine in the November 2002 issue). Among the rules are:

Contents

Others

Niven's Law (re Clarke's Third Law)

Niven's Law is also a term given to the converse of Clarke's third law, so Niven's Law reads: "Any sufficiently rigorously defined magic is indistinguishable from technology."

Niven's Law (re Time travel)

A different law is given this name in Niven's essay "The Theory and Practice of Time Travel":

Niven's Law
If the universe of discourse permits the possibility of time travel and of changing the past, then no time machine will be invented in that universe.

Hans Moravec glosses this version of Niven's Law as follows:

There is a spookier possibility. Suppose it is easy to send messages to the past, but that forward causality also holds (i.e. past events determine the future). In one way of reasoning about it, a message sent to the past will "alter" the entire history following its receipt, including the event that sent it, and thus the message itself. Thus altered, the message will change the past in a different way, and so on, until some "equilibrium" is reached--the simplest being the situation where no message at all is sent. Time travel may thus act to erase itself (an idea Larry Niven fans will recognize as "Niven's Law").
[1]

Ryan North examines this law in Dinosaur Comics #1818.[2]

Niven's Laws (stories)

Niven's Laws is also the title of a 1984 collection of Niven's short stories.

Included in the 1989 collection N-Space are six laws titled Niven's Laws for Writers. They are:

  1. Writers who write for other writers should write letters.
  2. Never be embarrassed or ashamed about anything you choose to write. (Think of this before you send it to a market.)
  3. Stories to end all stories on a given topic, don't.
  4. It is a sin to waste the reader's time.
  5. If you've nothing to say, say it any way you like. Stylistic innovations, contorted story lines or none, exotic or genderless pronouns, internal inconsistencies, the recipe for preparing your lover as a cannibal banquet: feel free. If what you have to say is important and/or difficult to follow, use the simplest language possible. If the reader doesn't get it then, let it not be your fault.
  6. Everybody talks first draft.

In the acknowledgments of his 2003 novel Conquistador, S.M. Stirling wrote:

And a special acknowledgment to the author of Niven's Law: "There is a technical, literary term for those who mistake the opinions and beliefs of characters in a novel for those of the author. The term is 'idiot.'"

Niven's Laws (from Known Space)

Drawn from Known Space: The Future Worlds of Larry Niven

    1. Never throw shit at an armed man.
    2. Never stand next to someone who is throwing shit at an armed man.
  1. Never fire a laser at a mirror.
  2. Mother Nature doesn't care if you're having fun.
  3. F × S = k. The product of Freedom and Security is a constant. To gain more freedom of thought and/or action, you must give up some security, and vice versa
  4. Psi and/or magical powers, if real, are nearly useless.
  5. It is easier to destroy than create.
  6. Any damn fool can predict the past.
  7. History never repeats itself.
  8. Ethics change with technology.
  9. Anarchy is the least stable of social structures. It falls apart at a touch.
  10. There is a time and place for tact. And there are times when tact is entirely misplaced.
  11. The ways of being human are bounded but infinite.
  12. The world's dullest subjects, in order:
    1. Somebody else's diet.
    2. How to make money for a worthy cause.
    3. Special Interest Liberation.
  13. The only universal message in science fiction: There exist minds that think as well as you do, but differently.
    Niven's corollary: The gene-tampered turkey you're talking to isn't necessarily one of them.
  14. Fuzzy Pink Niven's Law: Never waste calories.
  15. There is no cause so right that one cannot find a fool following it.
    in variant form in Fallen Angels as "Niven's Law: No cause is so noble that it won't attract fuggheads."[3]
  16. No technique works if it isn't used.
  17. Not responsible for advice not taken.
  18. Old age is not for sissies.

References

  1. ^ "Time Travel and Computing", Hans Moravec 1991.
  2. ^ "Dinosaur Comics #1818, Ryan North, 2010
  3. ^ Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle, and Michael Flynn, Fallen Angels, Baen Books, 1992. See also SF Citations for OED

External links


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужно сделать НИР?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Niven — is a surname and given name, and may refer to: Surname Archibald C. Niven, US politician Bryan Niven, US artist David Niven, British film actor David Niven, Jr., British film actor Derek Niven, Scottish footballer Donald Niven Wheeler, accused… …   Wikipedia

  • Larry Niven — Infobox Writer name = Larry Niven imagesize = 250px caption = Larry Niven at Stanford University in May 2006 pseudonym = birthname = Laurence van Cott Niven birthdate = Birth date and age|1938|04|30 birthplace = Los Angeles, California deathdate …   Wikipedia

  • Larry Niven — Larry Niven. Larry Niven / ˈlæri ˈnɪvən/, nacido en la ciudad de Los Ángeles (EE. UU.) en 1938, es un escritor de ciencia ficción estadounidense. Conocido sobre todo como el autor de la serie Mundo Anillo y también por el universo creado bajo el… …   Wikipedia Español

  • Clarke's three laws — are three laws of prediction formulated by the British writer and scientist Arthur C. Clarke. They are: When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is… …   Wikipedia

  • List of eponymous laws — This list of eponymous laws provides links to articles on laws, adages, and other succinct observations or predictions named after a person. In some cases the person named has coined the law – such as Parkinson s law. In others, the work or… …   Wikipedia

  • Ringworld —   …   Wikipedia

  • Man-Kzin Wars — Cover of Man Kzin Wars III. The Man Kzin Wars is a series of military science fiction short story collections (and is the name of the first collection), as well as the eponymous conflicts between mankind and the Kzinti that they detail. They are… …   Wikipedia

  • The Magic Goes Away — is a fantasy short story written by Larry Niven in 1976, and later expanded to a novella of the same name which was published in 1978. While these works were not the first in the Magic Universe or Warlock series, they marked a turning point after …   Wikipedia

  • Kzin — Kzinti on the cover of Man Kzin Wars III. The Kzinti (singular Kzin) are a fictional, very warlike and bloodthirsty race of cat like aliens in Larry Niven s Known Space series. The Kzin were initially introduced in Niven s story The Warriors… …   Wikipedia

  • Neutron Star (short story) — Neutron Star is an English language science fiction short story written by Larry Niven. It was originally published in the August 1966 issue (Issue 107, Vol 16, No 10) of Worlds of If. It was later reprinted in Neutron Star, (New York: Ballantine …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”