Law and SF

Any old topic will do, I suppose.
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Omphalos
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Law and SF

Post by Omphalos »

I've started another blog, and this time I think that it has some directions. Omphalos' Blow Hole Noises was fun while it lasted (kind of), but with the new one I think I've hit upon something fresh and new out there. Take a look, and feel free to leave comments.

I will often post on the new blog and on the book review site about the same book, but they will never be the same posts.
Something is about to happen, Hal. Something wonderful!

-James C. Harwood, Science Fiction Writer, Straight (March 5, 1956 - May 25, 2010)



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Post by inhuien »

God bless her and all who sail in her...
Look, I'm not much good at big speeches, and I know I haven't always been an easy guy to get on with, and I know, that given the choice, I wouldn't have chosen you as friends, but I just want to say, that over the years, I have come to regard you as people I met.

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Post by GamePlayer »

Any chance you'll examine the horrible legal mess that is the Macross franchise? Hell, you could write a book and make a career on that one :)
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Post by SandChigger »

It's cool when you can combine what you do with something you love.

I really should do more with scifi & linguistics. :(


(I like the WordPress theme you're using. May grab two different ones from the creator (Mina?) to use on my blogs. ;) )
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Post by Omphalos »

GamePlayer wrote:Any chance you'll examine the horrible legal mess that is the Macross franchise? Hell, you could write a book and make a career on that one :)
If I knew aobut it, Im sure I would. That is an android/robot show, right? never seen it.
Last edited by Omphalos on Fri Jan 30, 2009 12:54 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Omphalos »

SandChigger wrote:It's cool when you can combine what you do with something you love.

I really should do more with scifi & linguistics. :(
Exactly!!!! Im even going to slow off on book reviews while I do this. Its more fun for me, and its something nobody else is doing.
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Post by A Thing of Eternity »

I look forward to reading this, thanks Omph.
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Post by Liege-Killer »

Great idea for a blog!

I'll be sure to send my Sci-Fi Standpoint readers your way.
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Post by Omphalos »

Thanks guys! Working on article 2 right now. Should be done in a week or two. Its on copyright.
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Post by chanilover »

Cool idea for a site. I'll have a read through that and chuck in my two pence worth.

I did US Law & Politics as part of my undergraduate pains, and it's always interesting for me to see how Americans approach legal issues, compared to the approach in English law. It's like being in a familiar room but someone has rearranged the furniture.
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Post by Omphalos »

chanilover wrote:Cool idea for a site. I'll have a read through that and chuck in my two pence worth.

I did US Law & Politics as part of my undergraduate pains, and it's always interesting for me to see how Americans approach legal issues, compared to the approach in English law. It's like being in a familiar room but someone has rearranged the furniture.
Exactly. You are a contract attorney, right CL?
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Post by chanilover »

I'm in corporate practice, yeah. I still have just under two years before I can be let loose on my own! :lol:
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Post by GamePlayer »

Omphalos wrote:
GamePlayer wrote:Any chance you'll examine the horrible legal mess that is the Macross franchise? Hell, you could write a book and make a career on that one :)
If I knew aobut it, Im sure I would. That is an android/robot show, right? never seen it.
You're probably better off not going through the legal mess. It's a disaster. But it would make for an interesting case that matches the blog. How about the Blade Runner fiasco?
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Post by A Thing of Eternity »

Finally got a chance to sit down and read everything, looks really good Omph.
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Post by chanilover »

Are you planning on doing anything Dune-related on this blog?
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Post by Omphalos »

I think so, but I have to go back and read first. Maybe on the institutionalization of social schemes over time by government, like with Faufreleches. Maybe with the War of Assassins, though I don't know if there is enough there to really make a single post with the Dune books. There are a lot of other things I will be getting to first.

Herbert has some better legal related ideas in The Dosadi Experiment. McKie is the only human who is admitted to practice law before the alien Gowachin bar. He litigates the fate of a planet called Dosadi before a court in that system. It will be very dangerous if those on Dosadi are freed, but McKie argues anyway.

Whipping Star has some restrictive laws in it too, but they bind McKie from doing his job and really are not analyzed too deeply. That is one wierd book.

I just started a book called "Circuit" about a joint US/Soviet program to put a US-style district court on the moon, because mining "towns" have essentialy become the wild-west in space.
Something is about to happen, Hal. Something wonderful!

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Post by SandChigger »

Who's that by? Doesn't sound like something I'll be rushing out to buy, but a bite more info, Good Sir Omphy! :)

(Is it an older book? Your use of "Soviet" makes me think maybe... ;) )
"Chancho...sometimes when you are a man...you wear stretchy pants...in your room...alone."

"Politics is never simple, like the sand chigger of Arrakis, one is rarely truly free of its bite."

Arrakeen is an unawakened ghola.
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Post by Omphalos »

SandChigger wrote:Who's that by? Doesn't sound like something I'll be rushing out to buy, but a bite more info, Good Sir Omphy! :)

(Is it an older book? Your use of "Soviet" makes me think maybe... ;) )
Its the first book in a trilogy from the 80's by a Con Law professor named Melinda Snodgrass. Not one of the giants, but as she is a lawyer herself and obviously has an understanding the theory of laws, it should be interesting. It's probably full of hornbook law with minimal analysis, but Ill give it a full chance. I have read the first several pages, and so far it does not suck. Even if it does, it can still be a winner because general literary quality is not what Im most concerend with on that blog.
Something is about to happen, Hal. Something wonderful!

-James C. Harwood, Science Fiction Writer, Straight (March 5, 1956 - May 25, 2010)



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Re: Law and SF

Post by Omphalos »

Was wondering if anyone out there has read any SF books that deal with legal issues or are courtroom dramas? I'v got a long list of stuff to review on this blog, but this is a topic that nobody has ever done any work in before, so Im kind of starting from scratch. Any help would be very much appreciated. Even if the legal connection is tenuous at best, Id like to hear about it.
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Re: Law and SF

Post by Liege-Killer »

I just read a short story by Asimov called "Galley Slave" that is both a robot story and a courtroom drama. Wasn't bad.
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Re: Law and SF

Post by Omphalos »

Liege-Killer wrote:I just read a short story by Asimov called "Galley Slave" that is both a robot story and a courtroom drama. Wasn't bad.
Is that one in I, Robot? Or was it in The Rest of the Robots? I have those books sitting in the pile.
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Re: Law and SF

Post by The Phantom »

Omphalos wrote:
Liege-Killer wrote:I just read a short story by Asimov called "Galley Slave" that is both a robot story and a courtroom drama. Wasn't bad.
Is that one in I, Robot? Or was it in The Rest of the Robots? I have those books sitting in the pile.
i think it must be in "the rest" because I haven't read it.. just bought that anthology though :)
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Re: Law and SF

Post by Liege-Killer »

Omphalos wrote:
Liege-Killer wrote:I just read a short story by Asimov called "Galley Slave" that is both a robot story and a courtroom drama. Wasn't bad.
Is that one in I, Robot? Or was it in The Rest of the Robots? I have those books sitting in the pile.
I read it in an anthology called The Seven Deadly Sins of Science Fiction. It's set at the time when robots are first being produced, and the company that makes them is trying to gain public acceptance for them, so they lease one to a university so it can show off what it can do. But one professor tries to use the robot for his own purposes by manipulating the Three Laws, and the whole story is a courtroom drama exploring these events.
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