M John Harrison

3 posts

That humans quest for cosmic dawn

5 min read
Analysis Culture Scicomm Science 21 cm signal Charles Fort history of science Joel Mokyr M John Harrison military-industrial complex nitrogen vacancy centre recombination epoch scientific knowledge steam engine technological progress world-building

From 'Cosmic dawn: the search for the primordial hydrogen signal', Physics World, November 18, 2025: The EDGES instrument is a dipole antenna, which resembles a ping-pong table with a gap in…

The calculus of creative discipline

5 min read
Culture Op-eds classical mechanics creative discipline critical points Dan Shechtman differential calculus EPR paradox fantasy fiction Imre Lakatos JK Rowling Karl Popper literary criticism M John Harrison Malazan Book of the Fallen mathematical analysis nerdism Niels Bohr Paul Feyerabend Philosophy of Science quasicrystals replication crisis smooth functions Steven Erikson Thomas Kuhn Viriconium world-building

Every moment of a science fiction story must represent the triumph of writing over world-building. World-building is dull. World-building literalises the urge to invent. World-building gives an unnece…