MIDTERM EXAM: MARCH 23, 2010

You do not need to bring a scantron or a bluebook.

The exam is closed notes. You may bring the texts; they may have notes in the margins, and you may mark pages with sticky notes. (It is unlikely you will need the texts, but you may bring them if you like.)

The exam will cover the following:

History and practice of science.

Definitions, history, and techniques in science fiction, including the use of science in SF.

The following topics in physics, with an emphasis on evidence:

special and general relativity, including black holes.

quantum mechanics.

The following novels and stories; in particular questions concerning narratives about science and science fiction. In answering the questions be specific as possible.

Timescape

The Dispossessed

Answers will generally be short answers—one to three sentences each.

Example questions:

* The novels Timescape and The Dispossessed, as well as physicist Albert Einstein, did not “like” or agree with quantum mechanics. What, specifically, about quantum mechanics bothers all three?

* Benford uses the strategies of extrapolation/extension and analogy in his arguments about tachyons. Does he use any other strategies to make the science believable? For example, limitations? What examples can you find?

* In class, I said that tachyons are “just a theory.” What did I mean by that? Is quantum mechanics also “just a theory”? Compare and contrast.

* Scientists like to think of themselves as not respectful towards authority figures. Yet in Timescape, Gordon Bernstein is reluctant to stand up to Isaac Lakin. Why doesn’t he?

* Timescape illustrates that scientists do not always argue rationally or with cold logic; that personality and ego intrude. What about The Dispossessed? Are those scientists there cool and impersonal?

* LeGuin is a feminist writer, and yet she made the protagonist of The Dispossessed male. Why do you think that is?

* The equivalence principle is shorthand for the “slogan” behind Einstein’s general theory of relativity. Write out in full that slogan. (For example: the “slogan” for special relativity is “You cannot do an experiment to determine absolute velocity.”

* When Einstein says that quantum mechanics suggests that “God plays dice with the universe,” what does he mean? What feature of quantum mechanics is he referring to?

* Comment on the relation between the images of walls in The Dispossessed, and the invention of the ansible.

* Part of the "culture" of science is skepticism. Give an example of this role of skepticism in science from either novel.

* Science fiction often uses analogies to explain or justify fictional science and technology. Given an example of an analogy from one of our novels.

* What is the definition of a trope, as used in class? Can you give an example of an SF trope?

* Reading an SF story, you come across the following passage:

“Of course we can go faster than the speed of light,” said Zog. “Five hundred years ago Beinstein, or Einsenstein, or someone, said you can’t go faster than the speed of light. But don’t forget—five hundred years before him everyone said the Earth was flat, until Columbus didn’t fall off the edge of the world. And so two hundred years ago the Captain Wuhu revved her engines and zipped past the speed of light, no problem at all.”

What kind of rhetorical device (e.g., extrapolation, reversal, etc.) is being used here in service of the discussion of science?

POSSIBILITY OF EXTRA CREDIT: write your own question and send it to me (by midnight Sunday March 21); if it's good I'll post it on the class webpage and if I use it for the midterm I'll even give you extra credit.