Sci-fi tropes in Known Space

Kzin as big cats: the central lazy invention. Enough sf detail to avoid being merely “space cats” — mulligan granted. Would’ve been cooler if they had more “not terrestrial organism” details, but this is saved with good historical and cultural background (e.g. sentience of kzinretti, genetic modification towards mythical heroes, achieving space flight by being conquered & enslaved; octal number system)

Ringworld: extreme enough to stand on its own; its wow factor excuses the necessary physics hand-waving

Jotoki: several cool concepts wrapped in one, very much the "alien aliens" I’m in sci-fi for

Pierson’s puppeteers: alien aliens par excellence; somewhat overpowered technologically; nevertheless brilliant from start to finish, alien along multiple dimensions, great stuff.

Planet naming (“We Made It”, “Wunderland”, “Jinx“): good Feng Shui, solid world-building

Ramscoops: hard sf at its best

ARM: on one hand heavy-handed social commentary based on a right-wing conspiracy-theory, on the other hand a clunky hard sf near-future premise. A consistent idea followed across many stories to great effect but still occasionally disturbing in what it says about real-world political beliefs

Wireheading: nice culturally aware hard sf, well explored

Organ banks: a fun hard sf premise, only moderate suspension of disbelief necessary, well milked for stories

Gravity polarizer drive: okay, fine

Hyperspace blind spot: sure I guess

Teleportation squares: this is getting a bit much

General Products hulls: great concept, a good example of the tendency to overpower everything Superman-style, but well balanced use saves them

Stasis fields: same. Good plot driver. What’s the name for that kind of thing?

Slavers: far cooler as part of universe lore than when they actually appear in plot

Pak Protectors: a mediocre and flawed idea implemented to great effect; works well with the rest of the universe, bravo

Linkage/Linkers: another de rigeur sf trope, nicely mitigated by applying the AI-insanity trick. Unfortunately also victim to the “high intellect equals high-octane rationalism equals finding the one right answer very fast” fallacy seen in the Pak. Jumps the shark when they add mind upload/download as a throwaway two-page deus ex machina so everyone’s storyline gets tied up nice and tidy like a goddamn sitcom. Thumbs down.

Translator machines: mulligan granted on obvious grounds. At the same time, humans and kzin speaking each others’ language(s) naturally but badly was also nice

Retro underground tribal Martians: an oddball approach to Mars which fits nicely with the Feng Shui of the universe

Autodoc: overpowered and usually a plot shortcut, except for one story which does a great job bringing it front and center

Thrintun telepathic mind control: overpowered silliness; why not make it a device or only short-range? Far too much magic for my taste.

Monofilament: de rigeur for hard sf of the time as both a weapon and a specific technology, I gladly grant the mulligan

Mind-projecting powers of illusion: the worst example of overpowered throwaway ideas that don’t make sense in universe. Please no.

AI which goes insane: a clever way to avoid a tech concept the author doesn’t want to deal with; occasional use felt okay but too throwaway for me

Outsiders: top-notch alien aliens; so alien they are simply outside all social plot lines. Ruined imho in “A Garker Geometry” – it’s sexier to leave a little hidden, y’know?

Matter conversion (slaver tech): the paragon of overpowered but I want to let it slide because it’s so simple in a hard sf sense

Tnuctipun: moderately alien aliens, not tremendously fleshed out and their tech is Star Trek/ Slaver-style excessive

Slaver-era intelligent dogs: lazy af, mulligan not granted

Luck gene: silly level 9000 yet executed such that it works

Lasers on Mercury to push light sails: lovely hard sf

Memory wipe: perfectly good off-the-shelf sf tech, mulligan granted mostly on the basis of Spider Robinson nostalgia

Force shields (by puppeteers): okay is there any tech in Star Trek you don’t want to crib? Mulligan denied with extreme prejudice – don’t pull a stunt like this in my courtroom again

It’s okay to hold some back

The risk of making short stories out of lore is that implicit myths are often more extraordinary and incredible than explicit plots. The origin of the outsiders, humans’ acquisition of hyperdrive, kzin acquisition of hyperdrive, usw. all vary in terms of how well the now-concrete versions live up to the implied versions mentioned elsewhere in known space’s many stories.