The first really effective dystopian setting I saw in movies was Ridley Scott’s 1982 Bladerunner, which both made me a fan of anything Ridley Scott made (and I am still a diehard fan), and made me aware that there was no guarantee that humanity’s actual future would be rosy, the way the Star Trek franchise
The Quiet Acts of Small Individuals Read More »
My post earlier this month, “A Step Closer to Unlimited Power“, got a strong reaction from you. Lots of comments that pointed out that solar power beamed from space was a stupid idea, that it was essentially a weapon and no one would put a weapon like that in space, where it could attack any
Solar Power from Space Isn’t Going Away Read More »
A couple of years ago, I watched a short video on YouTube that compared the depths of the oceans. I found it again today. It’s quite mind-blowing seeing how puny human efforts are to reach the greater depths. And it’s equally as jaw-dropping to see how truly deep the oceans run. Both times I’ve watched
We Don’t Need Spaceships to Find Strange New Worlds. Read More »
Farnam Street recently posted one of the clearest explanations for why utopias can’t work in real life. Apart from being super interesting reading, the post also made me reflect on utopias in fiction. I don’t like utopian fiction and tend to avoid it. Even before I read the Farnam Street post, I thought most of
Why Utopias Don’t Work…anywhere! Read More »
The article is a bit old, now, but the breakthrough it reports on is a highly positive one. Perhaps that was why it didn’t get more coverage than it did. (Yes, I’m a bit cynical!) Space.com reported back in June that, “Scientists beam solar power to Earth from space for 1st time ever.” The article
A Step Closer to Unlimited Power Read More »
A few weeks ago, I gave my very personal take (it wasn’t structured enough to be called a review) on Apple TV’s Foundation series versus the books by Isaac Asimov. What I forgot to mention was that in the first few episodes of the TV series, when Harry Seldon was still on Trantor, the ecumenopolis
Only Book Readers Spotted It Read More »
If you’re a regular reader of my blog, I’m sure you’ve figured out by now that I’m just a little bit in awe of science fiction writer Robert A. Heinlein – for a variety of reasons, including the fact that he’s one of a microscopic collection of authors who can make me cry. Heinlein had
Aim to be a Live Lion Read More »
It’s a well-known phenomenon that an author of a runaway bestseller will be found to be disappointing in all future books. This might even be true. I went into the reading of Andy Weir’s Hail Mary with what I thought was an open mind, after thoroughly enjoying The Martian, his monster best-seller turned hit movie
Andy Weir’s HAIL MARY — About Five Chapters Too Long Read More »
If it can’t be expressed in figures, it is not science; it is opinion. Robert A. Heinlein – The Notebook of Lazarus Long Say what you will about Robert Heinlein, he does make you pause to think at least once in every book. His The Notebook of Lazarus Long is stuffed full of thinkers. I’ve
The Immoveable Object and The Irresistible Force Read More »
Any talk about AI tends to be radically polarized. The lovers and the haters seem to have zero middle ground in common. I’m personally cautious about AI…for now. There are copyright issues yet to be sorted out, and most of the tools like ChatGPT (which I’ve tried) produce generic pablum that requires just as much
And sometimes AI is actually useful… Read More »