"Any sufficiently badly-written science is indistinguishable from magic"
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It’s a savage little inversion: Clarke’s famous line about advanced technology and magic gets flipped, and the target isn’t science itself but the storytelling around it. Allston, a novelist steeped in genre ecosystems where “science” is often a costume, is pointing at a particular kind of cheat: when the rules are muddy, the audience can’t tell whether they’re watching causality or conjuring.
The intent is craft-focused and slightly prosecutorial. “Sufficiently badly-written” does the real work here. He’s not saying science is magic; he’s saying bad writing turns it into magic by stripping away intelligible mechanisms, limits, and trade-offs. In other words: the problem isn’t that a starship is impossible, it’s that the narrative treats it like a wand. When anything can happen because the “science” is just a syllable salad of quantum-ish nouns, suspense collapses. Stakes require boundaries.
The subtext is also a critique of prestige language. Science carries cultural authority; it sounds like explanation even when it isn’t one. Allston is warning that jargon can function as misdirection, giving readers the sensation of plausibility while dodging the hard work of coherence. That’s why the line lands: it nails how “bad science” in fiction often isn’t incorrect physics so much as unearned legitimacy.
Context matters: Allston wrote within franchises and pulp-adjacent traditions (including Star Wars) where audiences tolerate the fantastic but still demand internal logic. His quip draws a bright line between science fiction as disciplined imagination and science-flavored handwaving as narrative malpractice.
The intent is craft-focused and slightly prosecutorial. “Sufficiently badly-written” does the real work here. He’s not saying science is magic; he’s saying bad writing turns it into magic by stripping away intelligible mechanisms, limits, and trade-offs. In other words: the problem isn’t that a starship is impossible, it’s that the narrative treats it like a wand. When anything can happen because the “science” is just a syllable salad of quantum-ish nouns, suspense collapses. Stakes require boundaries.
The subtext is also a critique of prestige language. Science carries cultural authority; it sounds like explanation even when it isn’t one. Allston is warning that jargon can function as misdirection, giving readers the sensation of plausibility while dodging the hard work of coherence. That’s why the line lands: it nails how “bad science” in fiction often isn’t incorrect physics so much as unearned legitimacy.
Context matters: Allston wrote within franchises and pulp-adjacent traditions (including Star Wars) where audiences tolerate the fantastic but still demand internal logic. His quip draws a bright line between science fiction as disciplined imagination and science-flavored handwaving as narrative malpractice.
Quote Details
| Topic | Science |
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