Orphans of the Sky
by Robert A. Heinlein · first published 1963
8mentions
3recommended by
8HN commenters
2010–2025first – last mentioned
38% recommend50% neutral13% critical
Menschen zwischen den Sternen Das Universum ist fünf Meilen lang und besitzt einen Durchmesser von 2000 Fuß. Das denken die Bewoh- ner des Schiffes, denn sie haben das Erbe und die Mission ihrer Vorväter längst vergessen. Sie kennen die Sterne nicht mehr, und sie glauben nicht daran oder wollen nichts davon wissen, daß außerhalb des Schiffes, ihres Universums, überhaupt etwas existiert. Doch ein Mann lebt unter ihnen, der neugieriger und wißbegieriger ist als seine Mitmenschen. Dieser Mann namens Hugh Hoyland liest die Verbo- tenen Bücher und dringt sogar in den Geheiligten Ort
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Read 'Orphans of the Sky' by Robert Heinlein to get an idea of the many problems with this approach. Human society is not culturally stable enough to utilize a generation-ship method of space exploration.
on “Potentially Habitable Planet Discovered” ↗My favorite generation ship story is Heinlein's 'Orphans of the Sky'. I was asking the poster about the specific plot point he mentioned: running out of food.
on “What is the Limit to Human Population Growth?” ↗"Orphans of the Sky" by R.Heinlein, very much recommended read.
on “A new model for faster-than-light travel that uses conventional physics” ↗I don't know. In the Heinlein novel Orphans of the Sky, the protagonist is taught to recite the Holy Scriptures of Newtonian Physics, but the literal meaning is confused by religious re-interpretation. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orphans_of_the_Sky
on “Aboriginal storytelling accurately records sea level rises 7,000 years ago” ↗It would have been nice for the author to point out the original influences for their "embedded short story", like Orphans of the Sky by Heinlein.
on “The Generation Ship Model of Software Development (2014)” ↗Heinlein also tackled some of these problems with generation ships in Orphans of the Sky[1]. 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orphans_of_the_Sky
on “John Cage recital set to last 639 years recently witnessed a chord change” ↗…much I empathized with the characters. (I probably should have read it slower; by the last two books, I was just flowing with the text, not paying as much attention to the overarching plot.) Heinlein's "Orphans of the Sky" was pretty bad. So much early scifi is considered great because it's groundbreaking, writing about things nobody else has before. The concept of a generation ship was pretty new at the time Heinlein…
on “Ask HN: What did you read in 2025?” ↗Orphans of the Sky wins the influence race by being published in 1951.
on “The Generation Ship Model of Software Development (2014)” ↗