The Trouble Twisters

What Hacker News says

1. dasmothFeb 2015
   Poul Anderson's "Technic" stories, e.g. "The Trouble Twisters". Must re-read some.

   Somewhat more recent: pretty-much anything by David Brin.

   For my taste, a lot of recent sci-fi seems to be a little too focused on politics and society vs. the exhileration of a good technical solution. But do enjoy Charles Stross and John Scalzi.

   thread
2. wolverine876Feb 2022
   It was first used by Paul Anderson in Trouble Twisters (1967) and Anderson's spouse Karen claims to have coined it. (Though I still have never heard 'sophontic', and I've never heard 'sophont' used outside sci-fi/fantasy. I was wondering in the GP if it's used elsewhere.)

   * https://sfdictionary.com/view/298/sophont

   If anyone wants an excellent dictionary of sci-fi / fantasy terms, look at the (free, online) Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction by Jesse Sheidlower, a lexicographer who has had a career with the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) and others. It started as an OED project to record sci-fi words and IIRC still has access to their internal databases.

   * https://sfdictionary.com/

   They have other interesting features, like a list of words coined by author:

   * https://sfdictionary.com/most_first_cites_authors

   And they want help, if anyone on HN happens to be familiar with sci-fi or related literature: "It is hoped that the site will grow to include subfields or related areas, such as gaming, comics, or anime/manga."

   * https://sfdictionary.com/how_to_help

   Show morethread
3. wolverine876Dec 2021
   Thank you. That motivated me to dig into a little research (what could be more important this evening?). Brave New Words: Oxford Dictionary of Science Fiction ed. Jeff Prucher (2007) says,

   * "sapient n. an intelligent being". First known use of any form of sapient/ce: 1960 in Woman Day by PJ Farmer: "It seemed to him a possibility that the Cold War Corps of March might have contacted hitherto unknown sapients on some just discovered interstellar planet."

   * "sapience n. [< S.E. [standard English?] sapience, "wisdom"] intelligence"

   * "sapient adj. [< S.E. sapient, "wise"] intelligent"

   * "sentience n. 1. an intelligent being", "2. intelligence". Sense 1's first known use: "1947 G. O. Smith Kingdom of the Blind in Startling Stories (July) 48/1"

   * "sentient n. an intelligent being". First known use: 1965 by PJ Farmer (again) in Maker of Universes

   And a new word (to me):

   * "sophont n. ... [< Gk. sophos, "wise" + Gk. ont-, "being"] an intelligent being". First known use 1966 in Trouble Twisters by P. Anderson

   Available in the amazing Internet Archive library: https://archive.org/details/bravenewwordsoxf00pruc

   -----------------

   EDIT: But wait! There's also the "Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction" edited by Jesse Sheidlower ("offshoot of a project begun by the Oxford English Dictionary" - which another article says is the same origin as the dictionary above [1]). Here are the significant differences with the above source:

   * sapient, first use of any form: "1935 B. Olsen Who Deserves Credit? in Amazing Stories Feb. 81": "When EXPLORATION blazed through space...And found men, sapient, on Mars, He gained renown's most honored place."

   * sentience/nt:, first use of any form: "1931 J. Williamson Stone from Green Star in Amazing Stories Nov. ix. 739/2": "'We are dealing with an utterly alien world,' Midos Ken said several times. 'There is sentience here-but sentience in no familiar body. We must be prepared to deal with manifestations of intelligence that are unfamiliar or even inconceivable to the human mind.'" There's a 1920 quote, but it doesn't represent human intelligence: "1920 Punch Feb. 25 150/3": "By systematic and scientific training is it possible to produce that perfect type of manhood gifted with the best powers of what we are wont to call the 'lower orders of creation'-keen sighted and swift of motion as a bird, sharp-scented as a greyhound, faithful and acute as a dog, and full of sentient wisdom as an elephant."

   All from: https://sfdictionary.com/

   [1] https://blog.archive.org/2021/03/24/major-scifi-discovery-hi...

   Show morethread