From Afar: Hard science fiction, robots and cyborgs

I thought for this post, after the UFO Festival, I'd talk about some hard science fiction I've been reading of late. This genre of science fiction deals more with science, technology and engineering, with much less — if any — emphasis on the emotions. Romance is often completely missing from the mix, or will have a minimal role to play. "Soft" science fiction deals more with themes from the so-called softer sciences like sociology and psychology, and the plots incline more toward politics, history retold or reshaped to fit the far future.