This week’s readings include Borges’ “The Garden of the Forking Paths” (1941), Clarke’s “The Nine Billion Names of God” (1953) and “The Star” (1955), and Gibson’s “The Gernsback Continuum” (1981). A common theme throughout these four stories is that one person’s dream is another’s terror.
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Cold Day
When will this cold weather end? Spring Break is next week, and it’s still getting into the thirties every night. This Florida boy gets pretty cranky when exposed to the cold for too long. Besides, we want to begin planting our garden. Yesterday, in my New Media seminar, we began talking — perhaps a bit [...]
Pay Attention!
We seem to be in trouble. On the way into work this morning, NPR had a small snippet about what the world will probably be like in 2025. When they say “the world,” they mean human affairs, of course. Well, the US has fallen from its mighty perch, being replaced primarily by southeast Asian countries. [...]
Science Questions
Scienctific American posted some questions about science for the presidential candidates that need to be answered. While both candidates have expressed some opinions on the pressing scientific issues of the day, more details need to be forthcoming. Yeah, this is true not only in science, but other policy concerns as well. I suspect we’ll hear [...]
Virgin Birth
Today, New Scientist reports that stem cells can now be harvested without controversy through parthenogenesis, where an egg keeps two sets of chromosomes and begins to develop as if it’s been fertilized. However, an embryo cannot live past a few days by using this “virgin birth” method: “And that, according to its proponents, is the [...]
Terraforming & Time Travel
Men are weak now, and yet they transform the Earth’s surface. In millions of years their might will increase to the extent that they will change the surface of the Earth, its oceans, the atmosphere, and themselves. They will control the climate and the Solar System just as they control the Earth. They will travel [...]
New Evolution Web Site Combats Metaphysics
Via Wired: The National Academies has created a web site that seeks to educate the public about the theory of evolution and combat the narratives of “intelligent design.” The Wired article also links to another informative site on this subject: The National Center for Science Education (a new daily read for me). Hey, I’m all [...]