Tag: Science fiction

Greg Egan’s Amalgam is close to the most likely interstellar civilization

The other day, I did a post engaging in speculation on, assuming we don't discover a completely new physics, what I thought an interstellar civilization might look like.  In summary: Given special relativity, travel faster than the speed of light is impossible.  This has been verified by innumerable experiments, and nothing in nature has been observed to … Continue reading Greg Egan’s Amalgam is close to the most likely interstellar civilization →

Interstellar: more accurate than the typical sci-fi movie, but still had issues

This week, I watched the movie Interstellar, the Christopher Nolan film about travel to another galaxy, a black hole, a wormhole, and other exotic environments.  I enjoyed it immensely, although I also had some issues with it. In the film, at some point in the future, the Earth is dying due to a global crop blight. … Continue reading Interstellar: more accurate than the typical sci-fi movie, but still had issues →

Writing Excuses: New season, a writing course by podcast

Many of my readers and fellow bloggers are aspiring (or practicing) writers.  If you haven't caught it before, 'Writing Excuses' is a podcast about writing in the science fiction and fantasy genre.  If you've ever contemplated doing that kind of writing, it's a pretty awesome podcast to follow, and even if sci-fi/fantasy isn't your chosen … Continue reading Writing Excuses: New season, a writing course by podcast →

X-Men: Days of Future Past, and multiple instances of a mind

This weekend, I watched X-Men: Days of Future Past, which I enjoyed.  This post discusses some aspects of that movie, most notably the ending, so if you haven't seen it yet and don't want to be spoiled, you might consider skipping it until later. In the movie, mankind is in a devastating war with the mutants, … Continue reading X-Men: Days of Future Past, and multiple instances of a mind →

HBO will make a Foundation TV series

IO9 has the details.  Apparently Jonathan Nolan, of 'Interstellar' fame, is involved. I'm not sure how I feel about this.  The Foundation series, by Isaac Asimov, is classic golden age science fiction.  It's one of those works that has influenced lots of other science fiction, with many common tropes originating from it.  Galactic empires?  Foundation. … Continue reading HBO will make a Foundation TV series →

The mind / body dualism of ‘Edge of Tomorrow’

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vw61gCe2oqI This weekend, I watched the movie, 'Edge of Tomorrow', also known as 'Live. Die. Repeat.'  It's the latest in a common motif in science fiction and fantasy, the time loop story, where the hero repeats the same events over and over until they find a way to break out.  It's a concept that's been … Continue reading The mind / body dualism of ‘Edge of Tomorrow’ →

The Paraphrase Challenge: How to understand what your opponent is saying

Earlier today, John Zande clued me into an awesome science fiction novella by David Brin called 'Stones of Significance', which I highly recommend to anyone interested in AI, post-singularity fiction, and the nature of reality. By coincidence, the author, David Brin, tweeted this video earlier which, given the epic online fights that have happened recently, … Continue reading The Paraphrase Challenge: How to understand what your opponent is saying →