SFContario Panel: Food in SF

Notes behind the cut. People are attributed by initials; aud -> indicates an audience comment or question. As always, transcribed fast and edited only vaguely, misattributions and errors are my own. Assume everything outside of quote marks is a paraphrase. (?) indicates something that I missed.

Food in SF
Panelists: Derwin Mak, Teresa Nielsen Hayden (mod), Suzanne Church, Matthew Johnson, Al Katerinsky

Description: From gagh to soylent green to vat-grown protein, food is depicted in many forms in science fiction. Our panelists discuss the role of food in world-building. There may even be recipes, although probably not for soylent green.

writers need to keep in mind:
- source of food/spices
- necessity of storage, etc.

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SFContario Panel: Keeping the Science in Science Fiction

Notes behind the cut. People are attributed by initials; aud -> indicates an audience comment or question. As always, transcribed fast and edited only vaguely, misattributions and errors are my own. Assume everything outside of quote marks is a paraphrase. (?) indicates something that I missed.

Keeping the Science in Science Fiction
Panelists: Dr. Alex Pantaleev, Hayden Trenholm, Alison Sinclair, Robert Charles Wilson, Robert J. Sawyer (mod)

Description: The technology of a story is critical to any work of science fiction. How does a writer keep the science believable and interesting to maintain the enthusiasm of the reader? How do you make unrealistic science, FTL drive, time travel, etc, believable to the reader without reversing the polarity of the tachyon beam and rerouting it through the deflector dish?

RJS - is keeping science in the saving grace of print vs. Hollywood?

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SFContario Panel: Biotech: Friend or Foe?

Notes behind the cut. People are attributed by initials; aud -> indicates an audience comment or question. As always, transcribed fast and edited only vaguely, misattributions and errors are my own. Assume everything outside of quote marks is a paraphrase. (?) indicates something that I missed.

Biotech: Friend or Foe?
Panelists: Mark Offer, Stephen B Pearl, Jane Carol Petrovich, Peter Watts, Eric Choi (mod)

Description: This science holds out a myriad of possibilities: supplying fuel while removing carbon from industrial emissions, regenerating cartilage, restoring mobility to millions, and curing human illness... as well as generating plagues that are racially specific, destroying our food supply by killing off bees, and converting farm land to deserts. A look at this double-edged sword and where it might take us... for good or ill.

Note: was late arriving to this one due to having popped out for lunch with some other folks. Missed the introductions and initial round of questions.
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