Ponderings of science, philosophy, history, society, and many other topics
Last night I finished reading Ada Hoffmann's The Outside, a pretty strange but interesting space opera. In the far future, humanity is ruled by AI gods. Humans invented the gods, although there are hints it was more complicated than that, like maybe there was a singularity event or process of some kind. The gods now … Continue reading The Outside
I just finished watching the first three episodes of the new HBO Max series: Raised by Wolves. Lamentably, HBO made this difficult since they've been in a dispute with Roku, my preferred steaming platform, on getting an app into their environment. I had to watch it on as ASUS Chromebook mini I keep connected to … Continue reading Raised by Wolves
The Human is the third and final book in Neal Asher's most recent series, The Rise of the Jain, which I've discussed before. The series takes place in Asher's Polity universe, one where humans have expanded into an interstellar community ruled by AIs, and have interactions with numerous alien species. It's also a universe where … Continue reading The Human
I noticed today that it had been released for streaming, so I went ahead and watched. (I missed it in the theaters.) Based on everything that had been said about it, it was better than I expected. It was entertaining and Abrams managed to get the emotional high points right. It felt like a decent … Continue reading Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker
I just finished reading J. T. Nicholas' Re-coil, a space opera novel. It takes place in the solar system, so it's not an interstellar story, although there are hints the series might go there eventually. It involves a future where everyone's mind can be backed up and instantiated in a new body if they die. … Continue reading Re-coil
Netflix dropped the second season of Altered Carbon on Thursday, so naturally I had to binge through it. This show is based on the novels by Richard K. Morgan. While the first season (which I reviewed) broadly followed the plot of the first book, albeit with a lot of additions and enhancements to the storyline, … Continue reading Altered Carbon, season two
Just watched the first episode of Star Trek Picard. What follows has spoilers, but only from the early parts of the episode. It takes place about 15 years after the events of the last Next Generation movie. Picard appears to be living in retirement in his family vineyard, apparently with a couple of Romulans, presumably … Continue reading Star Trek Picard
When I was very young in the early 70s, I remember coming home after school and watching afternoon TV, a lot of syndicated shows from the 60s. One of those shows was the original Star Trek, in the early years of its syndication run that would pull it out of oblivion and eventually turn it … Continue reading Lost in Space
Season 4 of The Expanse TV show was released Friday on Amazon Prime, so I just spent today binging on it. There was a lot of uncertainty about the show last year when SyFy canceled it, but within a short period Amazon stepped in and saved it, renewing it for a fourth season. And earlier … Continue reading Recommendation: The Expanse (season 4)
The movie Ad Astra is a strange mix. In many ways, it's a visually stunning film with excellent production values. And it has first class name stars, most notably Brad Pitt and Tommy Lee Jones. But the plot has serious issues. On balance, I enjoyed it, but this is a case where your mileage may … Continue reading Ad Astra: Apocalypse Now in space
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