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Either I'm missing something in reading the sentence, or this is a very slanted point of view: "...the power of entertaining people other than shallow pseudo-intellectuals and frustrated academics." That's neither nice nor accurate about early full-fledged science fiction. Arthur C. Clarke and those guys were selling like hot cakes! Am I reading this wrong?— The Realms of Gold ( talk) 07:59, 25 February 2010 (UTC)
I separated stories that are similar from stories where a specific allegation of borrowing has been made. Useful to have all of the data. -- GwydionM ( talk) 11:45, 20 March 2015 (UTC)
For those reading this article now who don't understand what the above was about, there was a section called "Allegations of borrowing" at the time it was written which read as follows:
Kurt Busiek and others have alleged that Godwin essentially took the concept from a story published in EC Comics' Weird Science #13, May–June 1952, called "A Weighty Decision", by Al Feldstein. In that story there are three astronauts who are intended to be on the flight, not one, and the additional passenger, a girl that one of the astronauts has fallen in love with, is trapped aboard by a mistake rather than stowing away. As in "the Cold Equations", various measures are proposed but the only one which will not lead to worse disaster is for the unwitting passenger to be jettisoned. Algis Budrys said that "the Cold Equations was the best short story that Godwin ever wrote and he didn't write it".
The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction points to Robert Cromie's "A Plunge into Space" from 1890 as having a plot very similar to "The Cold Equations", and the theme of Feldstein's story is itself similar to the story "Precedent", published by E. C. Tubb in 1949. As in "A Weighty Decision" and "The Cold Equations", a stowaway must be ejected from a spaceship because the fuel aboard is only enough for the planned passengers. It is possible that neither Feldstein nor Godwin intentionally plagiarized from the stories that came before, but merely produced similar variations on the classic theme of an individual being sacrificed so that the rest may survive, which has graduated from a "rowboat" to a spacecraft.
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It was removed shortly after "The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction" part was added as the first part didn't have a source. I'm not sure if it qualifies as reliable but in The Cold Equations & Other Stories there is "Afterword: Sometime It All Works" by David Drake which addresses the first paragraph. Drake states "The plot is lifted directly from "A Weighty Decision," a story in the May-June, 1952, issue of the EC comic Weird Science. I don't believe that coincidence could have created plots so similar in detail" and goes into the story that Campbell had Godwin change the original happy ending and theorizes "Finally, the plot is such an obvious steal from the comic that I think Godwin would have concealed it better if he hadn't intended to use a completely different ending.". In the Preface of the whole book (by Barry N. Malzberg) the quote by Algis Budrys appears but it in regards to the debate of the intentions behind the story not in regards to any claims of copying.
Even if the statement by David Drake is deemed verifiable by wikipedia standards the "Allegations of borrowing" section would need a serious rewrite to be useable per NOR guidelines and I have no idea on how to do it. The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction indicates that David Drake is wrong as it is doubtful either of the other writers even knew of Robert Cromie's "A Plunge into Space" but to state so would be OR so I'm not sure what can be done with the section but it sure can't go back in as it stands. This is put here so others wiser then me can figure out what to do with it as I believe it belongs in the article.-- 174.99.238.22 ( talk) 20:27, 22 June 2020 (UTC)
From "Allegations of borrowing" on, this article seems to be a nearly word-for-word paraphrase of http://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/nonfiction/the-cold-legacies . JadeNB ( talk) 00:40, 18 May 2015 (UTC)
The Real Problem with “The Cold Equations” goes into another problem with the story - the math premise is wrong.-- 174.99.238.22 ( talk) 08:19, 5 January 2021 (UTC)
Take care when using such sources: if the information in question is really worth reporting, someone else will probably have done so.Also, it would help to see how many times these articles were cited by others (not very likely for the most recent articles).
I entirely understand the modern criticism of this story, but is it not a little strange that the Reception section for a story published in 1954 consists entirely of criticism from the 90s onwards? This seems particularly striking when, as the lede says 'In 1970, the Science Fiction Writers of America selected it as one of the best science-fiction short stories published before 1965'.
![]() | This article is rated C-class on Wikipedia's
content assessment scale. It is of interest to the following WikiProjects: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Either I'm missing something in reading the sentence, or this is a very slanted point of view: "...the power of entertaining people other than shallow pseudo-intellectuals and frustrated academics." That's neither nice nor accurate about early full-fledged science fiction. Arthur C. Clarke and those guys were selling like hot cakes! Am I reading this wrong?— The Realms of Gold ( talk) 07:59, 25 February 2010 (UTC)
I separated stories that are similar from stories where a specific allegation of borrowing has been made. Useful to have all of the data. -- GwydionM ( talk) 11:45, 20 March 2015 (UTC)
For those reading this article now who don't understand what the above was about, there was a section called "Allegations of borrowing" at the time it was written which read as follows:
Kurt Busiek and others have alleged that Godwin essentially took the concept from a story published in EC Comics' Weird Science #13, May–June 1952, called "A Weighty Decision", by Al Feldstein. In that story there are three astronauts who are intended to be on the flight, not one, and the additional passenger, a girl that one of the astronauts has fallen in love with, is trapped aboard by a mistake rather than stowing away. As in "the Cold Equations", various measures are proposed but the only one which will not lead to worse disaster is for the unwitting passenger to be jettisoned. Algis Budrys said that "the Cold Equations was the best short story that Godwin ever wrote and he didn't write it".
The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction points to Robert Cromie's "A Plunge into Space" from 1890 as having a plot very similar to "The Cold Equations", and the theme of Feldstein's story is itself similar to the story "Precedent", published by E. C. Tubb in 1949. As in "A Weighty Decision" and "The Cold Equations", a stowaway must be ejected from a spaceship because the fuel aboard is only enough for the planned passengers. It is possible that neither Feldstein nor Godwin intentionally plagiarized from the stories that came before, but merely produced similar variations on the classic theme of an individual being sacrificed so that the rest may survive, which has graduated from a "rowboat" to a spacecraft.
--
It was removed shortly after "The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction" part was added as the first part didn't have a source. I'm not sure if it qualifies as reliable but in The Cold Equations & Other Stories there is "Afterword: Sometime It All Works" by David Drake which addresses the first paragraph. Drake states "The plot is lifted directly from "A Weighty Decision," a story in the May-June, 1952, issue of the EC comic Weird Science. I don't believe that coincidence could have created plots so similar in detail" and goes into the story that Campbell had Godwin change the original happy ending and theorizes "Finally, the plot is such an obvious steal from the comic that I think Godwin would have concealed it better if he hadn't intended to use a completely different ending.". In the Preface of the whole book (by Barry N. Malzberg) the quote by Algis Budrys appears but it in regards to the debate of the intentions behind the story not in regards to any claims of copying.
Even if the statement by David Drake is deemed verifiable by wikipedia standards the "Allegations of borrowing" section would need a serious rewrite to be useable per NOR guidelines and I have no idea on how to do it. The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction indicates that David Drake is wrong as it is doubtful either of the other writers even knew of Robert Cromie's "A Plunge into Space" but to state so would be OR so I'm not sure what can be done with the section but it sure can't go back in as it stands. This is put here so others wiser then me can figure out what to do with it as I believe it belongs in the article.-- 174.99.238.22 ( talk) 20:27, 22 June 2020 (UTC)
From "Allegations of borrowing" on, this article seems to be a nearly word-for-word paraphrase of http://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/nonfiction/the-cold-legacies . JadeNB ( talk) 00:40, 18 May 2015 (UTC)
The Real Problem with “The Cold Equations” goes into another problem with the story - the math premise is wrong.-- 174.99.238.22 ( talk) 08:19, 5 January 2021 (UTC)
Take care when using such sources: if the information in question is really worth reporting, someone else will probably have done so.Also, it would help to see how many times these articles were cited by others (not very likely for the most recent articles).
I entirely understand the modern criticism of this story, but is it not a little strange that the Reception section for a story published in 1954 consists entirely of criticism from the 90s onwards? This seems particularly striking when, as the lede says 'In 1970, the Science Fiction Writers of America selected it as one of the best science-fiction short stories published before 1965'.