Mark Skarr Wrote:The simplest way I can explain the problem with handwavium, so you don’t have any trouble with it Mal:
There is no reason to do anything since Handwavium will simply give it to you. That is an oversimplification, but, it’s the fundamental problem.
It's too much of an oversimplification. Handwavium doesn't do anything on its own; it lets people do things. (That's why I called it an "instrumentality" rather than a "deus ex machina.") There are scientific principles in play that we don't understand, and, as I said earlier, one of those sciences is psychology - a science that is still very much in its infancy compared to most other sciences.
Mark Skarr Wrote:My second biggest problem is that all of the Fen know, not believe, but know, handwavium will never stop working. They know at a level that is incomprehensible that their modified devices will work, fundamentally flawlessly, baring outside interference (and, even then, in some cases). There is no concern that it might stop working.
People know that the sky is blue and the Sun will always shine, despite all the stormy days they've lived through and novas they've heard about. It's basic human nature: if something exists in a particular way, people think it will always exist in that particular way.
(Excepting a few people who ask "why," of course. But there are scientists in the setting.)
And there are some characters who do worry about handwavium no longer working. Look at how much "hardtech" is used by my primary character, Noah Scott, for example - he doesn't announce this to all and sundry, but it's between the lines in the description of his space station.
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012