View source for Mohs Scale of Science Fiction Hardness/One Big Lie

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== [[Mohs Scale of Science Fiction Hardness/One Big Lie|One Big Lie]] ==
The author invents [[The "Unicorn In The Garden" Rule|one (or, at most, a very few)]] counterfactual physical laws and writes a story that explores the implications of these principles.

{{examples|Examples of One Big Lie include:}}
=== Anime and Manga ===
* ''[[Patlabor]]'''s only "lie" is the existence of giant humanoid robots that can support their own weight, and even then it's more plausible than, say ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam|Gundam]]''.<ref>This is excepting single episodes with weirdness such as ghosts and [[Kaiju]].</ref>
* Despite what the anime may cut off, ''[[Elfen Lied]]'' is actually very high on this scale. Both the anime and manga do not have any forms of [[Applied Phlebotinum]], [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|except in a few questionable cases]], and the manga ''justifies'' the development and appearance of Diclonii: they have an accelerated growth of a "pineal body", or "[[wikipedia:Pineal gland|pineal gland]]", which is a part of the [[wikipedia:Cerebellum|cerebellum]] and was also known as a "third eye", as well as related to [[Does This Remind You of Anything?|Near-Death Experiences]]. The cerebellum is widely rumored to be a controller of the [[wikipedia:Proprioception|sixth sense]], of which [http://hanslindgreen.com/blog/proprioception-the-sixth-sense/ this page goes further in-depth]{{Dead link}}.

=== Film ===
* The ''[[Iron Man (film)|Iron Man]]'' movies use the Big Lie of the miniaturized Arc Reactor, a palm-sized power source that, in the words of the first movie, can "power [a] heart for fifty lifetimes... or something bigger for fifteen minutes." To a lesser extent, [[Powered Armor]] is also treated as such as this is the technology that the movies explore the consequences of - namely, that every military in the world wants one and every arms dealer wants to sell one - but it's the Arc Reactor that makes such armor possible. It's softened considerably in the context of the other [[Marvel Cinematic Universe]] movies, though, as they imply that the reactor is based on a [[Mohs Scale of Science Fiction Hardness/Science in Genre Only|Science in Genre Only]] alien artifact.

=== Literature ===
* The ''[[Honor Harrington]]'' book series: [[Space Is an Ocean]], but the series is internally consistent, relies on essentially only one piece of "new" technology (gravity control methods)<ref>Two, if you include the ability to translate across hyperspace bands; three, if you also include Treecats' telepathic abilities</ref>, mostly merely extending other pieces of current technology (medical science, nuclear fusion containment, lasers). Additionally, space combat is very three-dimensional and ship-to-ship engagements are often fought at fractional light-second distances (contrast the traditional ''[[Star Trek]]'' Starship Standoff).
* [[Alan Dean Foster]]'s ''[[Humanx Commonwealth]]'' series operates on a great deal of [[Phlebotinum]] mixed with just enough hard sci fi elements to keep things sounding plausible. For example, [[FTL Travel]] is performed by means of [[Artificial Gravity]] generators that violate [[No Conservation of Energy|conservation of energy]], but the rules for employing them are very strict, and most other technologies are based on things resembling known physics, or are logical extensions of the use of [[Artificial Gravity]]. However, once the [[Precursors]] start to show up with their [[Lost Technology]], things get really fanciful really fast. Examples: constructed artificial planetoids that can traverse the galaxy in a week and fire star system-destroying bursts of energy across intergalactic space, entire planets that warp through alternate dimensions, etc.
* [[Robert A. Heinlein]]'s ''Farnham's Freehold'' features a little [[Time Travel]], but is chiefly focused on exploring the fictional future society.
* [[Poul Anderson]]'s ''[[Tau Zero]]'', while it does have the molecular interpenetration anchor (which isn't important to the plot) and [[Inertial Dampening|G-force nullification]] (which is), tries its damndest to get the science of a Bussard [[Ramscoop]] right.

=== Tabletop Games ===
* ''[[Eclipse Phase]]'' is, in the main, [[Mohs Scale of Science Fiction Hardness/Speculative Science|Speculative Science]] based on forecast trends of technological development. However, post-singularity beings and aliens are capable of doing stuff that runs straight into [[Clarke's Third Law]], most notably the [[Portal Network|Pandora Gates]].
** The use of quantum entanglement for FTL communications is a bit iffy too, though at least they acknowledged that attempting to communicate using an entangled particle would collapse the two.

=== Web Comics ===
* In ''[[Firefly]]'', the Big Lies are gravity control and  {{spoiler|[[Psychic Powers]]}}. (And perhaps a [[Reactionless Drive]], but we can't be sure.)

=== Web Original ===
* ''[[Ilivais X]]'' likely falls within this. Though it's set only somewhat late in the 21st century, a [[Lensman Arms Race]] at the time the Aztecs fought of Cortez elevates the technology several millenia beyond what it should be (notably, space travel occuring in the 1700s). Most of the technology is fairly plausible- the [[Humongous Mecha]] are, for the most part, incapable of walking on land and usually meant solely for flight (even the ones that can move on land have some vertical thrust), cities prone to disasters are suspended in the air via satellites, hovering vehicles operate on a computerized maglev system, mechanical and organic regeneration occurs with [[Nanomachines]], advanced neuroscience allows the Drive Cores to work, etc. The [[Desperation Attack|End Codes]] are not explained at all, however, as they apparently stop time for anything that doesn't have an End Code itself, though it generally drains the user's energy very quickly. It's presumed the titular mech's teleportation works this way, which is only possible with its Cyclic Engine, but that isn't explained either aside from stating it took a long time to make. The latter is essentially the [[MacGuffin]] of the story.

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== One Small Fib ==
These stories include only a single counterfactual device (often [[FTL Travel]]), but this mechanism is not a major driver of the plot.

{{examples|Examples of Small Fib include:}}
=== Anime and Manga ===
* ''[[Rocket Girls]]'': Except for the skintight spacesuits, the technology for everything depicted in this story exists right now - and MIT is working on the spacesuits. Whether we ''should'' send 16-year-old girls into low-Earth orbit is another matter, of course, but we ''could''. The only reason this doesn't belong on the [[Mohs Scale of Science Fiction Hardness/Speculative Science|Speculative Science]] list is that one character appears to have some sort of minor psychic ability that doesn't really affect the story (except to make almost-impossible landings probable).

=== Comic Books ===
* ''[[Watchmen (comics)|Watchmen]]'' has something called an intrinsic field, which is said to be a field of energy that holds atoms together. When Jon Osterman was trapped in an "Intrinsic Field Separator" he is disintegrated and afterwards becomes Dr Manhattan. The concept is never brought up again and Dr Manhattan's powers are based on quantum mechanics. There is also a second fib in the form of psychics existing but that is only brought up twice.

=== Film ===
* ''[[Alien]]'' and its sequel. Spaceships have slow FTL travel, during which the crew lie in cryogenic sleep for months or even years. The many discovered planets go by numbers, but almost none of them are naturally inhabitable. Technology is otherwise quite plausible. The [[Bizarre Alien Biology|titular Alien's physiology]] stretches credibility a little, with its rapid growth an ability to infect seemingly any species.
** Other films [[Fanon Discontinuity|diverge from the first two]] in various ways, and become somewhat less hard as a result. Things like the chestbursters taking on features of their host, super-rapid growth into adult aliens, stealth warships, etc etc require disbelief to be suspended somewhat higher. Novels and comics set in the Aliens/Predator extended universe inevitably follow the [[Rule of Cool]] and the authors [[Did Not Do the Research|do not always understand the consequences of their ideas]].
** Arguably, the [[Artificial Gravity]] on board the ''Nostromo'' bumps the count to '''two''' small fibs. Although one could argue that maybe the spacecraft is under constant engine thrust every time they show somebody walking around in it.
*** When they're taking off from the planetoid, Carter says "engaging artificial gravity" as they exit the planet's gravity well.
* ''[[Silent Running]]'''s one small fib is [[Artificial Gravity]], probably because filming in zero-G was impossible for the filmmakers.
* ''[[Avatar (film)|Avatar]]'' has aliens who share the same basic body resemblance as humans (walking on two legs, two arms, head, vaguely similar facial layout), and FTL communication but no travel, with the latter playing no part in the actual film and only existing in backstory.

=== Literature ===
* In the universe of the [[1632]] series, the plot device behind the transposition of the West Virginia town to the middle of the [[Thirty Years' War]] is only ever mentioned in the preface to the original novel. Everything else in the story is based on fact or speculation.
* Many Hal Clement novels, such as ''[[Mission of Gravity]]'', ''Close to Critical'', are set in a universe featuring FTL, but only as a background element explaining the presence of humans in other star system. The planets themselves are designed by straightforward extrapolation of known physics to situations vastly unlike those of Earth.
* [[Arthur C. Clarke]]'s ''[[The Songs of Distant Earth]]'' is an interstellar saga without faster-than-light travel. The only piece of fictional science Clarke uses in the story is Zero-Point Energy, and that only to get around the need to carry a civilization's worth of rocket fuel for interstellar travel otherwise.
* [[C. J. Cherryh]]'s ''[[Alliance Union]]'' universe (which includes the [[Chanur Novels]]) has a faster-than-light drive (which also allows for instantaneous changes in velocity).

=== Web Comics ===
* ''[[Freefall]]'': Tends to limit itself to 'theoretically possible but difficult' technologies, such as [[Petting Zoo People|genetically enhanced sapient animals]], [[terraform]]ing, AI and [[Human Popsicle|cryogenics]]. Even artificial gravity is absent (as the name suggests), and though the Dangerous and Very Expensive ([[Fun with Acronyms|D.A.V.E.]]) Drive enables interstellar voyages measured in ''days'', it is explicitly ''not'' [[Casual Interstellar Travel|Casual]] -- Planet Jean was colonized by slower-than-light ships carrying [[Human Popsicle]]s.


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