Why is this sort of dumb mistake so common?

[cmdr_zoom]

Even though I never did finish System Shock 2 (which is doubly ironic now that I've played Bioshock EDIT: along with the original), I've managed to catch up on the story through various web sources. And a bit of silliness in the details has jumped out at me. In order for Beta Grove to have reached the Tau Ceti system in a mere 30 years, the ejection charges must have kicked it away from Citadel at just a little under half of lightspeed.

Wow.

Comments

[z-gryphon.livejournal.com]

Did you ever play the original game? That was some explosion.

[cmdr-zoom.livejournal.com]

I did (fond memories, even), and I remember the little video mail you get. From that, I would say that the grove's velocity as it tumbles away is considerably under .5 c - probably a few hundred meters per second.

I know, it's just a game. But Jesus, people! This sort of thing is basic math, a grade-school-level time and distance problem, and yet I see it all the time in pop science fiction. Writers only get away with it because the audience is even more uninformed; imagine trying to make the claim that one can walk from LA to NYC in half an hour.

[deromilly.livejournal.com]

You mean you can't? I can't count the number of times people asked me when I lived in Seattle, "why don't you just drive down to LA for the weekend?" Um... because it's a 20 hour DRIVE, people...