Fantasist's Scroll

Volunteering to be monitored?

Well, according to this article on the International Herald Tribune, folks in London maybe doing just that. There’s a company that’s offering a cell-phone based tracking service in Britain. In theory, it’s meant to track kids and such, but I can see how this kind of thing might get misused. For instance, employers tracking employees. I know that several of my former employers would have liked to know where I was 24/7!
In any case, I can see the value of this kind of service, but I can see how it could be perverted, too.
How would you imagine this service being used in the future? No, wait, go write it!

life was born!

At least, according to this article on MSNBC, that’s what scientists think. The current theory is that microbes, from which all life on Earth sprang, started in the hot primordial soup found swirling around undersea volcanoes.
Every couple of years, someone comes up with a new twist on how life started, but no one really will ever know for sure. I think we’ll have a better idea of what it really takes to create life when we finally find it on other planets and can examine their ecosystems and so on. So, bascially, I’ve reconciled myself to not knowing that answer ever because, unless something miraculous happens, I don’t expect us to get to life-bearing alien planets in my lifetime.
Still, it is interesting to speculate about….

Well, it’s going to be banned in Malaysia.

At least, according to this article on Australia IT, it’s going to be banned. Malaysia is a very Islamic country and, in their religious tradition, a man can divorce his wife by saying “I divorce you” to her three times in a public place. Well, apparently, an Islamic Sharia court ruled that sending a text message via a cell phone counted! Obviously, a number of groups were quite upset by this and that’s what prompted the legislation.
But, it interests me because someone thought to do this in the first place. It seems obvious to me that the intent behind the tradition is to announce to the community that the couple are divorced, but that would be circumvented by using the cell phone. It just goes to show that people will use technology in very unexpected ways for a lot of different reasons.
So, here’s some speculation for you… How does technology effect your world? Would something like divorce via text-messaging be allowed? Would people in your fictional world be offended? I think it’s an interesting aspect of culture that’s worth exploring.

Brian Marsden, apparently.

In this article on Scientific American, he talks about running the Minor Planet Center, which tracks comets, meteors and other near-Earth objects. I’m sure that the job is mainly trigonometry and physics, but it fascinates me that it even exists.
And, what a great bunch of ideas for science-fiction it stirs up. Of course, there’s the ever present idea of a meteor hitting Earth, but that’s been done to death. Or, that the folks who work here make first contact with extra-terrestrials. But, I imagined something more like a galactic air-traffic controller. I mean, if one has lots of space travel, it could become necessary, right? And, think about all the things they’d have to keep track of in three dimensions! Certainly there must be enough tension and action in such a setting to find a story.
Well, something to ponder, anyway.

Kind of creepy, really.

But, I can see how it would be usefull. This article on the Sydney Morning Herald describes a new way to generate power from blood. Sure, the first comparison is to the Matrix, but it’s more likely to be used like the Six Million Dollar Man. This process really doesn’t create much power, so it can only power small devices. In fact, the article speculates that it will only be used to power internal “devices” or “enhancements”.
So, now, imagine a cell-phone implanted into your jaw and mastoid cavity that’s powered by your own blood flow. I can see it in the near future. Fascinating concept, actually. What else might this enable? What enhancements would you want to see installed? The answers to those questions are science-fiction stories ripe for the picking. Go forth and write!

The first movable type Bible available for free.

Gutenberg is widely aknowledged as the first Westerner to use movable type, an achievement that changed our world. His biggest seller was the world’s best selling book, the Holy Bible. Now, thanks to Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center at the University of Texas in Austin, the Gutenberg Bible is available on-line.
It’s worth a look, even if you’re not Christian, just for the historical significance.

“Good morning, Mr. Anderton…”

Wow, shades of science-fiction! According to this article at the Register.co.uk, the US is developing passports with so-called smartcards in them. And, they expect to have them out by the end of 2004. Again, wow.
These smartcards are going to hold biometric data about the holder so that, in theory, they’re harder to copy or counterfeit. At least, that’s what the government is hoping. On the other hand, as my opening line alluded to, there are always ways around security, even biometrics. The line is from Minority Report, which is a pretty damn good movie. It’s based on a story by Phillip K. Dick, who is a great science-fiction author who also wrote the novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, which is the basis for Blade Runner.
In any case, see the movie and you’ll see how they get around security by messing with biometrics. It’s really fairly obvious, when you think about it.

A build it yourself Gauss gun!

No, really, you can actually make this sucker in your own basement. This website, in Russian and English, shows you how. It takes you through the process, step-by-step, in somewhat broken English. And, it makes a pistol, not a rifle, which is doubly cool. So, this isn’t a “firearm”, per se, is it covered by the same rules? I’d imagine so. It would be, basically, a concealed weapon. It looks pretty effective, too, based on the photos(here and here). And, because it doesn’t use an explosive charge, there’s virtually no sound when it discharges. I see all kinds of applications for this little sucker.
Look out Traveller, here we come!