Bad Engineering in Science Fiction Analytical Essay by BrainC

This paper discusses that some of the devices and instruments featured in many popular science fiction novels and films are, in essence, conceived through bad engineering, meaning that these devices and instruments are neither practical nor possible according to present scientific knowledge. The author points out that Verne's "rocket to the moon" stands as the ultimate example of bad engineering, even when one takes into consideration that Verne was using his imagination as a means of conveying his ideas to the reading public, who, at the time of the novel's publication, were obviously quite ignorant of science. The paper relates that Capek's plot in "R.U.R" is the seminal robot motif that has influenced every science fiction film, but the vision of creating a race of robots that take over the roles usually assigned to human beings in the context of work and labor was far-fetched for its time and is still so even in the 21st century.