@xyfdi @freemo

> Then Sci-Fi as a genre would be dead in the water if they had to adhere to physical reality.

I beg to differ. Most of Hal Clements novels and short stories happen in a world with our physics (with some actual mistakes once in a while). Many of Greg Egan's novels and short stories also happen in world with unchanged physics (though not the most well known ones). Also Martian-the-novel had few (2?) purposeful departures from reality.