Is there any SF writing that posits that the earth's weather has
been brought under complete human control? It would seem that
something like that would be thought of sooner or later by minds
pondering the future.

In article <%mp8L.4888$1449.352@fx14.iad>,
Charles Packer <mailbox@cpacker.org> wrote:
>Is there any SF writing that posits that the earth's weather has
>been brought under complete human control? It would seem that
>something like that would be thought of sooner or later by minds
>pondering the future.

There is though unfortunately I'm not remembering titles. One was
a story ending, more or less: "It was a perfect day. Of course".

More recently there was Rachel Caine's "Weather Warden" fantasy series
of books (though the focus is more on the heroine's personal problems).

And flipping the premise, Ben Bova had a series where earth's weather
was under non-human control.
--
columbiaclosings.com
What's not in Columbia anymore..

On 02/11/2022 18:54, Charles Packer wrote:
> Is there any SF writing that posits that the earth's weather has
> been brought under complete human control? It would seem that
> something like that would be thought of sooner or later by minds
> pondering the future.

I recall a short story involving fully controlled weather, can't recall
the title or author, but it involved using a "vertical front" to <SPOILER>.

And a bit of rational thought sent me here:
<https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/weather_control>.

And the story I remember turns out to be: 'But the classic
weather-control story remains Theodore L Thomas's novelette "The Weather
Man" (June 1962 Analog), which has been much anthologised.'

Cheers,
Gary B-)

On 02/11/2022 07.46, Gary R. Schmidt wrote:
> On 02/11/2022 18:54, Charles Packer wrote:
>> Is there any SF writing that posits that the earth's weather has
>> been brought under complete human control? It would seem that
>> something like that would be thought of sooner or later by minds
>> pondering the future.
>
> I recall a short story involving fully controlled weather, can't recall the title or author, but it involved using a "vertical front" to <SPOILER>.
>
> And a bit of rational thought sent me here: <https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/weather_control>.
>
> And the story I remember turns out to be: 'But the classic weather-control story remains Theodore L Thomas's novelette "The Weather Man" (June 1962 Analog), which has been much anthologised.'

And the text immediately following that sentence confirms that's the
one that came to my mind. Thanks!

--
Michael F. Stemper
Nostalgia just ain't what it used to be.

Charles Packer <mailbox@cpacker.org> writes:
>Is there any SF writing that posits that the earth's weather has
>been brought under complete human control? It would seem that
>something like that would be thought of sooner or later by minds
>pondering the future.

There was a bit in one of the Liadenverse stories where Jethri
had an ancient tablet that controlled the weather.

On 02/11/2022 08.07, Michael F. Stemper wrote:
> On 02/11/2022 07.46, Gary R. Schmidt wrote:
>> On 02/11/2022 18:54, Charles Packer wrote:
>>> Is there any SF writing that posits that the earth's weather has
>>> been brought under complete human control? It would seem that
>>> something like that would be thought of sooner or later by minds
>>> pondering the future.
>>
>> I recall a short story involving fully controlled weather, can't recall the title or author, but it involved using a "vertical front" to <SPOILER>.
>>
>> And a bit of rational thought sent me here: <https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/weather_control>.
>>
>> And the story I remember turns out to be: 'But the classic weather-control story remains Theodore L Thomas's novelette "The Weather Man" (June 1962 Analog), which has been much anthologised.'
>
> And the text immediately following that sentence confirms that's the
> one that came to my mind. Thanks!

I just took a look and it turns out that I have _Analog 2_, which is one
of the many places it has been anthologized. I haven't seen this story
since high school, so I know what I'm reading next.

--
Michael F. Stemper
Isaiah 58:6-7

In article <pe5a3j-53i.ln1@paranoia.mcleod-schmidt.id.au>,
Gary R. Schmidt <grschmidt@acm.org> wrote:
>On 02/11/2022 18:54, Charles Packer wrote:
>> Is there any SF writing that posits that the earth's weather has
>> been brought under complete human control? It would seem that
>> something like that would be thought of sooner or later by minds
>> pondering the future.
>
>I recall a short story involving fully controlled weather, can't recall
>the title or author, but it involved using a "vertical front" to
><SPOILER>.
>
>And a bit of rational thought sent me here:
><https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/weather_control>.
>
>And the story I remember turns out to be: 'But the classic
>weather-control story remains Theodore L Thomas's novelette "The Weather
>Man" (June 1962 Analog), which has been much anthologised.'

There is a very similar story by Alan Dean Foster, except
focused on fish management: A Miracle of Small Fishes (1974).

--
My reviews can be found at http://jamesdavisnicoll.com/
My tor pieces at https://www.tor.com/author/james-davis-nicoll/
My Dreamwidth at https://james-davis-nicoll.dreamwidth.org/
My patreon is at https://www.patreon.com/jamesdnicoll

On Wed, 02 Nov 2022 07:54:35 GMT, Charles Packer <mailbox@cpacker.org>
wrote:

>Is there any SF writing that posits that the earth's weather has
>been brought under complete human control? It would seem that
>something like that would be thought of sooner or later by minds
>pondering the future.

Not quite on-topic, but the film /Geostorm/ is set in such a future.
And a very near future, at that.
--
"In this connexion, unquestionably the most significant
development was the disintegration, under Christian
influence, of classical conceptions of the family and
of family right."

In article <pe5a3j-53i.ln1@paranoia.mcleod-schmidt.id.au>,
"Gary R. Schmidt" <grschmidt@acm.org> wrote:

> On 02/11/2022 18:54, Charles Packer wrote:
> > Is there any SF writing that posits that the earth's weather has
> > been brought under complete human control? It would seem that
> > something like that would be thought of sooner or later by minds
> > pondering the future.
>
> I recall a short story involving fully controlled weather, can't recall
> the title or author, but it involved using a "vertical front" to <SPOILER>.
>

Give a dying man his last wish (which is the spoiler).

> And a bit of rational thought sent me here:
> <https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/weather_control>.
>
> And the story I remember turns out to be: 'But the classic
> weather-control story remains Theodore L Thomas's novelette "The Weather
> Man" (June 1962 Analog), which has been much anthologised.'

The story I was going to mention if nobody else did.

--
"We have advanced to new and surprising levels of bafflement."
Imperial Auditor Miles Vorkosigan describes progress in _Komarr_.
—-----------------------------------------------------
Robert Woodward robertaw@drizzle.com

On 11/2/2022 2:54 AM, Charles Packer wrote:
> Is there any SF writing that posits that the earth's weather has
> been brought under complete human control? It would seem that
> something like that would be thought of sooner or later by minds
> pondering the future.

Not on Earth but on Darkover. "Stormqueen".
https://www.amazon.com/Stormqueen-Darkover-Marion-Zimmer-Bradley/dp/0879976292/

Lynn

On 11/2/22 00:54, Charles Packer wrote:
> Is there any SF writing that posits that the earth's weather has
> been brought under complete human control? It would seem that
> something like that would be thought of sooner or later by minds
> pondering the future.

Not "complete control", but in
Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus
by Orson Scott Card

After a great failure and reduction of population,

"Though the weather stations high in orbit could not
change the climate they tweaked the winds often enough
that no spot on earth would suffer drought nor flood or
lack of sunlight."

On Wednesday, 2 November 2022 at 07:54:40 UTC, Charles Packer wrote:
> Is there any SF writing that posits that the earth's weather has
> been brought under complete human control? It would seem that
> something like that would be thought of sooner or later by minds
> pondering the future.

Weather control is a plot element in Arthur C. Clarke's
_The Fountains of Paradise_. Recent enough to include
the point that calculating all of the effects is difficult.

1967 Doctor Who serial <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Moonbase>
references "The Gravitron", which is a ray gun built
on the moon - by humans - to control Earth's weather.

Possibly _Skylark of Valeron_ features a planet where
weather as well as everything else is perfectly regulated:
I don't remember if that actually includes weather.

On 2022-11-02, Charles Packer <mailbox@cpacker.org> wrote:

> Is there any SF writing that posits that the earth's weather has
> been brought under complete human control?

In the _Perry Rhodan_ series it is occasionally mentioned that
Terran weather is completely controlled. The forecast is always
correct because the weather is made to be that way. That's just
background, I don't think it ever was a plot point. nor do I think
were the mechanics of it ever explored.

--
Christian "naddy" Weisgerber naddy@mips.inka.de

Christian Weisgerber wrote:
> Charles Packer wrote:
>
>> Is there any SF writing that posits that the earth's weather has
>> been brought under complete human control?
>
> In the _Perry Rhodan_ series it is occasionally mentioned that
> Terran weather is completely controlled. The forecast is always
> correct because the weather is made to be that way. That's just
> background, I don't think it ever was a plot point. nor do I think
> were the mechanics of it ever explored.

"60 Fortress Altlantis" says this about lake Goshun and weather
control:

The salt lake Goshun could no longer be seen since the bold
architectural forms of Terra's capital obstructed the view. The
little lake had lost its importance. Its salty water had never
contributed to making the former desert of Gobi bloom.
Now the weather on Earth was controlled to perfection. The
artificially produced rains had turned the desert into a verdant
land.

Lake Goshun captures my imagination because it's peaceful. It's where
characters relax between adventures.

One of the best things about Perry Rhodan is how everything's so well
documented. It's time for an experiment, to see if this translated link
will work:

<https://translated.turbopages.org/proxy_u/de-en.en.a1377701-636322b5-957b42ac-74722d776562/https/www.perrypedia.de/wiki/Goshun-See>

Danke,

--
Don.......My cat's )\._.,--....,'``. https://crcomp.net/reviews.php
telltale tall tail /, _.. \ _\ (`._ ,. Walk humbly with thy God.
tells tall tales.. `._.-(,_..'--(,_..'`-.;.' Make 1984 fiction again.

In article <20221102a@crcomp.net>, Don <g@crcomp.net> wrote:
>Christian Weisgerber wrote:
>> Charles Packer wrote:
>>
>>> Is there any SF writing that posits that the earth's weather has
>>> been brought under complete human control?
>>
>> In the _Perry Rhodan_ series it is occasionally mentioned that
>> Terran weather is completely controlled. The forecast is always
>> correct because the weather is made to be that way. That's just
>> background, I don't think it ever was a plot point. nor do I think
>> were the mechanics of it ever explored.
>
>"60 Fortress Altlantis" says this about lake Goshun and weather
>control:
>
> The salt lake Goshun could no longer be seen since the bold
> architectural forms of Terra's capital obstructed the view. The
> little lake had lost its importance. Its salty water had never
> contributed to making the former desert of Gobi bloom.
> Now the weather on Earth was controlled to perfection. The
> artificially produced rains had turned the desert into a verdant
> land.
>
>Lake Goshun captures my imagination because it's peaceful. It's where
>characters relax between adventures.
>

I was wondering about that after Christian's note. It seems like
a very 60s thing to make the desert bloom. I'm sure now it would
be regarded as an ecological catastrophe.

They probably have a sunny Seattle too..
--
columbiaclosings.com
What's not in Columbia anymore..

From my page https://www.nfld.com//~dalton/poemfrag.html :

12. On Zenna Henderson's books on The People (which someone
else described, in which the word platt is a magical working of
weather, for example; I haven't read them yet):

to a young platter
-------------------
when you platt
you are platted
and unless careful
can get splatted

Also, my global new age magickal workings include,
in the regular higher dimensional body edits portion
of the sudden evolution, an update to a
weatherworking special ability, which is NOT included
at 1/3 strength as part of wide range magickal special
ability or psychedelic drug enhanceable special
ability. And someone with weatherworking special
ability who is also an assisted shaktipat recipient
will be able to combine it with technomagick.

--
David Dalton dalton@nfld.com https://www.nfld.com/~dalton (home page)
https://www.nfld.com/~dalton/dtales.html Salmon on the Thorns (mystic page)
"I'm on my way/And I must flag the last train down"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_x0jjvslUuY (Bill Bourne - Baggins)

On 02/11/2022 02.54, Charles Packer wrote:
> Is there any SF writing that posits that the earth's weather has
> been brought under complete human control? It would seem that
> something like that would be thought of sooner or later by minds
> pondering the future.

Was Arrakis weather-controlled (in a non-obvious way) in _Dune_?

--
Michael F. Stemper
This sentence no verb.

On 11/3/2022 6:23 AM, Michael F. Stemper wrote:
> On 02/11/2022 02.54, Charles Packer wrote:
>> Is there any SF writing that posits that the earth's weather has
>> been brought under complete human control? It would seem that
>> something like that would be thought of sooner or later by minds
>> pondering the future.
>
> Was Arrakis weather-controlled (in a non-obvious way) in _Dune_?
>
No. The Fremen were bribing the Spacing Guild to prevent that.

--
I've done good in this world. Now I'm tired and just want to be a cranky
dirty old man.

On 3 Nov 2022 02:51:57 GMT, ted@loft.tnolan.com (Ted Nolan <tednolan>)
wrote:

>In article <20221102a@crcomp.net>, Don <g@crcomp.net> wrote:
>>Christian Weisgerber wrote:
>>> Charles Packer wrote:
>>>
>>>> Is there any SF writing that posits that the earth's weather has
>>>> been brought under complete human control?
>>>
>>> In the _Perry Rhodan_ series it is occasionally mentioned that
>>> Terran weather is completely controlled. The forecast is always
>>> correct because the weather is made to be that way. That's just
>>> background, I don't think it ever was a plot point. nor do I think
>>> were the mechanics of it ever explored.
>>
>>"60 Fortress Altlantis" says this about lake Goshun and weather
>>control:
>>
>> The salt lake Goshun could no longer be seen since the bold
>> architectural forms of Terra's capital obstructed the view. The
>> little lake had lost its importance. Its salty water had never
>> contributed to making the former desert of Gobi bloom.
>> Now the weather on Earth was controlled to perfection. The
>> artificially produced rains had turned the desert into a verdant
>> land.
>>
>>Lake Goshun captures my imagination because it's peaceful. It's where
>>characters relax between adventures.
>>
>
>I was wondering about that after Christian's note. It seems like
>a very 60s thing to make the desert bloom. I'm sure now it would
>be regarded as an ecological catastrophe.
>
>They probably have a sunny Seattle too..

This past summer was pretty darn sunny in Seattle.

And lasted till mid-October.
--
"In this connexion, unquestionably the most significant
development was the disintegration, under Christian
influence, of classical conceptions of the family and
of family right."

Robert Carnegie <rja.carnegie@excite.com> writes:

> On Wednesday, 2 November 2022 at 07:54:40 UTC, Charles Packer wrote:
>> Is there any SF writing that posits that the earth's weather has
>> been brought under complete human control? It would seem that
>> something like that would be thought of sooner or later by minds
>> pondering the future.
>
> Weather control is a plot element in Arthur C. Clarke's
> _The Fountains of Paradise_. Recent enough to include
> the point that calculating all of the effects is difficult.
>
> 1967 Doctor Who serial <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Moonbase>
> references "The Gravitron", which is a ray gun built
> on the moon - by humans - to control Earth's weather.
>
> Possibly _Skylark of Valeron_ features a planet where
> weather as well as everything else is perfectly regulated:
> I don't remember if that actually includes weather.

If I have it correct "The Weather Man" by Theodore L. Thomas and related
short stories or novellas which were published in _Analog_ in the early
1960's at least, featured "sessile boats" and a fair degree of weather
control. I will try to find my copies of some of those issues.

--
Stephen Harker sjharker@netspace.net.au
was: http://sjharker.customer.netspace.net.au/
now: http://members.iinet.net.au/~sjharker@netspace.net.au/
or: http://members.iinet.net.au/~sjharker_nbn/

On 2022-11-03, Don <g@crcomp.net> wrote:

> One of the best things about Perry Rhodan is how everything's so well
> documented. It's time for an experiment, to see if this translated link
> will work:
>
><https://translated.turbopages.org/proxy_u/de-en.en.a1377701-636322b5-957b42ac-74722d776562/https/www.perrypedia.de/wiki/Goshun-See>

That translation engine is... poor. It doesn't even produce
grammatical English.

--
Christian "naddy" Weisgerber naddy@mips.inka.de

On Thursday, 3 November 2022 at 02:52:02 UTC, Ted Nolan <tednolan> wrote:
> In article <2022...@crcomp.net>, Don <g...@crcomp.net> wrote:
> >Christian Weisgerber wrote:
> >> Charles Packer wrote:
> >>
> >>> Is there any SF writing that posits that the earth's weather has
> >>> been brought under complete human control?
> >>
> >> In the _Perry Rhodan_ series it is occasionally mentioned that
> >> Terran weather is completely controlled. The forecast is always
> >> correct because the weather is made to be that way. That's just
> >> background, I don't think it ever was a plot point. nor do I think
> >> were the mechanics of it ever explored.
> >
> >"60 Fortress Altlantis" says this about lake Goshun and weather
> >control:
> >
> > The salt lake Goshun could no longer be seen since the bold
> > architectural forms of Terra's capital obstructed the view. The
> > little lake had lost its importance. Its salty water had never
> > contributed to making the former desert of Gobi bloom.
> > Now the weather on Earth was controlled to perfection. The
> > artificially produced rains had turned the desert into a verdant
> > land.
> >
> >Lake Goshun captures my imagination because it's peaceful. It's where
> >characters relax between adventures.
> >
> I was wondering about that after Christian's note. It seems like
> a very 60s thing to make the desert bloom. I'm sure now it would
> be regarded as an ecological catastrophe.

Mainly if you mess up somewhere else when you do that.
Also if a lot of species go extinct when you do that.
For instance, the 21st isn't a good century for being
a polar bear.

I was going to mention that the X-Men character Storm,
when I last looked, was usually represented using her
superpower to control weather with responsibility,
because disrupting weather here usually leads to
disrupted weather there. So like Ged in _A Wizard of
Earthsea_, she gets rained on. But in one quite early story,
she's claustrophobically trapped and sub-consciously
generates a world record hurricane.

> They probably have a sunny Seattle too..

Citation needed...

On Thursday, 3 November 2022 at 17:53:16 UTC, Stephen Harker wrote:
> Robert Carnegie <rja.ca...@excite.com> writes:
>
> > On Wednesday, 2 November 2022 at 07:54:40 UTC, Charles Packer wrote:
> >> Is there any SF writing that posits that the earth's weather has
> >> been brought under complete human control? It would seem that
> >> something like that would be thought of sooner or later by minds
> >> pondering the future.
> >
> > Weather control is a plot element in Arthur C. Clarke's
> > _The Fountains of Paradise_. Recent enough to include
> > the point that calculating all of the effects is difficult.
> >
> > 1967 Doctor Who serial <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Moonbase>
> > references "The Gravitron", which is a ray gun built
> > on the moon - by humans - to control Earth's weather.
> >
> > Possibly _Skylark of Valeron_ features a planet where
> > weather as well as everything else is perfectly regulated:
> > I don't remember if that actually includes weather.
> If I have it correct "The Weather Man" by Theodore L. Thomas and related
> short stories or novellas which were published in _Analog_ in the early
> 1960's at least, featured "sessile boats" and a fair degree of weather
> control. I will try to find my copies of some of those issues.

If we're playing a game of dates, I'll bid what I think
is in the first episode of British radio comedy show
_Beyond Our Ken_, starring Kenneth Horne in 1958,
where one application of "atomic power" is a precisely
timed and quite abrupt delivery of rain on demand.

Apparently Nathaniel Hawthorne in 1836, and others,
wrote of the <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clerk_of_the_Weather>.
<https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?1029368>
notes the piece as uncredited, and perhaps not very available.

....and someone in comments here
<https://notalwaysright.com/its-the-happiest-place-on-earth-not-the-driest/274440/>
eventually quoted from "Camelot":

"...Camelot! Camelot!
I know it sounds a bit bizarre,
But in Camelot, Camelot
That's how conditions are.
The rain may never fall till after sundown.
By eight, the morning fog must disappear.
In short, there's simply not
A more congenial spot
For happily-ever-aftering than here
In Camelot."

On Wednesday, November 2, 2022 at 6:54:40 PM UTC+11, Charles Packer wrote:
> Is there any SF writing that posits that the earth's weather has
> been brought under complete human control? It would seem that
> something like that would be thought of sooner or later by minds
> pondering the future.

There was a Judge Dredd comic where weather control was an important plot point. Citizens of Mega City One got to vote[1] every day on what the weather would be and the people that could be bothered voting unsurprisingly voted for "fine". The plot of that story involved a group of citizens trying to rig the vote[2] for "rain" as they hadn't seen rain for years and really missed it.

[1] Mega City One was perfectly democratic about things deemed unimportant.
[2] Or possibly sabotage the weather control apparatus.

-Moriarty