Fantasist's Scroll

Well, not in the United States!

This article in Wired News discusses the Korean created cloned human embryo and the stem cells derived from it. In part, it says, the Koreans managed this before us because of our moral and religious leanings. Our politics and medical ethics are derived from our, primarily, Judeo-Christian outlook on the world. Those beliefs have stymied clone experimentation on humans in the United States. Wrongly or rightly is something for every individual to judge.
I, on the other hand, find myself speculating on what that will mean to the future of the world. Will we have thousands of copies of Kim Jong Il? Or, since China is working on these kinds of things too, Chairman Mao? Will we be reading about a genetically “improved” army marching out of Asia somewhere to conquer the world? Or, do we just have to worry about having shorter lifespans than the average Korean? Perhaps, as William Gibson has suggested in his fiction, we will all be going to Asia, somewhere, for the “best” surgeries and “improvements”.
Who knows… But, as a writer, the possibilities are thought provoking, to say the least!

Well, more like a thruster.

Actually, according to this article on Australian IT, it is a thruster. A new plasma thruster developed at the Australian National University is being heralded as a breakthrough in deep space exploration. The thruster, called the “Helicon Double Layer Thruster”, uses solar electricity to create a magnetic field through which hydrogen is passed to make a beam of plasma, which powers a ship through space.
HDLT inventor Dr. Christine Charles says,”For deep space exploration, like going to Mars, you need to use plasma propulsion because it is a lot more fuel efficient and you can go a lot faster.” And, in this case, faster is definately better.
All I can say is, “Good on, ya’, Mate!”

No, this time, they mean it!

According to this article on Australian IT, the long awaited vaporware of e-paper is finally a viable reality. This has actually been around for quite some time, but now they’re able to put it into something that resembles production. What a shame that so many of the e-book readers have gone the way of the dodo. Well, maybe we’ll be lucky and someone like Palm will take this technology and run with it.
In any case, it’s nice to see this finally take hold a bit.

3D ID.

According to this story on WiredNews, holographic “mug shots” are the identification of the future. And, DuPont Authentication Systems and A4Vision, who developed the newest, easiest 3D ID system, think so, too.
Actually, the idea is pretty cool. Basically, the idea is to make it harder to counterfeit ID’s by incorporating a holographic picture of the correct, legal carrier of the ID. I think it’s a good idea. I know that the holograms on credit cards really made them harder to rip off, so the same should be true of other ID. Also, it would help keep passports secure, too. Considering the weight that the Department of Homeland Defense throws around these days, that could be a big deal.
In any case, go to the article and look at the pictures. They’re cool.

He said “bone”, heh, heh, heh…

Yep, “bone phone”. According to this article on AustrailianIT, Sanyo has built a phone that “…transmits sounds through vibrations that move from the skull to the cochlea in the inner ear, instead of relying on the usual method of sound hitting the outer eardrum.” Apparently, it’s quite good and clear, too. There are some early adopters who claim this technology really works well in the field, so to speak.
Personally, I find the implications interesting. Imagine a phone that’s implanted behind the owner’s ear and resonates directly into their ear. It would be the ultimate mobile phone. Hmm, how would you dial, though? With your tounge? Or, by blinking? Well, still not perfected, but at least there are some real posibilities there. Especially for science-fiction authors.

Oh, yeah, this is cool!

Finally, we have the high-tech windows that we were promised in Blade Runner! According to this article on Wired News, Andersen Windows of Bayport, Minnesota, and media giant Time Warner have put together a “concept house” of sorts that feature the highest of high-tech windows. These windows have fiber-optic LCD screens built into them that let them become opaque and be used as a display. Yeah, that’s right, a window that’s also a TV or computer monitor. In fact, these babies even work as a touch-screen so you don’t need a keyboard. Imagine a whole house of these things. Oh, I’m all a-quiver with the possibilities!

Go read the article and dream big, high-tech window dreams!

Is there such a thing?

Well, David Grinspoon thinks there is. In this article on Slate, he questions whether or not we should be going to Mars with the nationalist attitude that is driving our country right now. I have to admit, he raises some interesting points. For one thing, the proponents of Martian terraforming are trying to say that we’ll be conquering Mars the same way we “conquered” the frontier here in America. But, of course, we didn’t do that here. We stole America from Her natives. On Mars, though, we will really be making the frontier.
Right now, Mars is not much more than a ball of rock and dirt and ice. No breathable atmosphere or any real “life” as the layman recognizes it. It will take years to reshape that planet into something that can support life. Well, really, it will take decades, maybe even centuries. In any case, a really, really long time. But, already there are people saying that we, as in Americans, should claim Mars for “ours”. I wonder what they mean? Will we deny the Russians or the Chinese a space base there? How will we control that border when we can’t hardly stem the tide right here on Earth where the borders are relatively well defined?

Well, it’s an interesting and thoughtful article and, of course, a great source of ideas for some science-fiction stories.

Open borders and travel help the planet survive?

Hmm, maybe. Certainly Bruce Sterling seems to think so. In his article on Wired News, Guns, Germs and Software, he talks about diseases breeding in isolated pockets of isolationist extremists that could ravage the planet. And, based on what I read in Guns, Germs, and Steel, he may well be right. (His title is, of course, an allusion to the aforementioned book.) It’s certainly an interesting proposition. In fact, it wouldn’t suprise me to see this in a book from Mr. Sterling one day.
In today’s climate of isolationism and fundamental extremism, there are a frightening number of populations that could incubate such a disease, but the most notable are factions in the Middle East. And, of course, such an extremist group might find a use for such a disease…..
Hmm, something to think about….

Of course, Mr. Sterling takes the opposite stance. He posits that those isolationists are putting themselves at great risk. Cutting themselves off from technology, especially medical technology, and becoming hotbeds of incubating diseases is a recipe for disaster. At least, to them. And, again, something to think about.
Sometimes the business of writing is inspired by grim details of brutish existance.