Fantasist's Scroll

Robots for a better tomorrow?

Well, maybe, maybe not. In either case, considering all the things that can go wrong for humans on a battlefield, I can see why the military might be interested in having a robot fight in place of people. And, according to this article on Wired News, they may just be headed that direction. Based on the article I can easily picture something like this replacing current armored divisions. Much safer for humans, but still giving the heavy fire-support that troops need.
Personally, I’m not sure I’d want to follow Sargent “Chips” into battle, but, then again, I’m not sure I’m all that cut out for military life anyway. And, I wonder, too, how long before we get to completely robotic armies. And, how long after that before they get out of control….

I finished Pattern Recognition last night.

Classic William Gibson. Though, it is a bit odd in that it doesn’t have any really science-fictional elements to it at all. Pattern Recognition is set in, basically, modern day Europe, Russia and Japan. Basically, the book is about the search for meaning in mysterious loops of film footage of an unknown source. The chief “footage head”, as they’re known, is Cayce Pollard, who is the main character. Cayce is a “cool hunter”, courted for her innate ability to sense the “coolness” of brands and branding. She’s hired by a somewhat slimey advertising executive to find the Source of the Footage. What ensues is a classic Gibson tale filled with twists, technology and, as always, a gritty reality that makes you wonder how many of these places actually exist.
It’s a bit of a departure for the Father of Cyberspace and the Cyberpunk movement, though he shuns both titles. There really isn’t any science-fiction in this story at all. It’s all pretty much the real thing, so if that bothers you, stay away. On the other hand, if you just love Gibson’s writing style and his skill with words and narrative, dive right in. Personally, I loved it so much I started reading a book about marketing/cool-hunting when I was done!

Today is William Gibson’s Birthday!

For those of you who have been hiding under a rock, or are freshly hatched from the Great Egg, William Gibson is one of the fathers of the cyberpunk movement. He’s generally credited with coining the term “cyberspace” and popularizing a somewhat more realistic, if sometimes bleak, view of the future.
He also ran away to Canada in 1968 to avoid the draft. Which is the only bad thing I can say about him. I otherwise admire his work and thought processes. Certainly his literature is beyond compare.
If you’re interested in science-fiction at all and haven’t read any of his work, you have no idea what science-fiction really is. And not the movies, either, you have to actually read his work.

Anyway, Happy Birthday, Bill.

Yes, this is a fun book!

Okay, first off, .How to Keep Dinosaurs is NOT in any way a serious book. It’s a fun, little quasi-“coffee-table” book about keeping dinosaurs as pets. It breaks the possibilities down into several groups, ranging from dinosaurs for beginners to dinosaurs for safari parks. Each dinosaur entry is accompanied by picutres of the creature in a modern setting, usually with people. These photographs are so good, they look like they’re almost real. And, of course, each entry has notes about what the dino likes to eat and any special care notes that might be usefull. It’s a very funny book, but well crafted and informative. It’s really a load of fun and well worth picking up if you’re a dinosaur enthusiast, or if you’re looking for something that will add a bit of surreal reality to your fantasy life. Very cool.

No, I’m serious.

My darling wife posted a link to the Calorie Restriction Society on her blog and I thought I’d share that with the regular reader of my own blog. (I know there’s at least one of you…) These folks are convinced that if a person restricts their caloric intake, they can radically extend their life. Now, I’ve seen this before and, my wife’s obession with caloric intake aside, there’s actually some research to back it up. Of course, my wide-load Girl Scout cookie loving butt is somewhat skeptical, but, then, who wouldn’t be?
On the other hand, I can see how this might be a really good theme or gimmick for a story. Shoot, it would even work for either a science-fiction story or a fantasy story. In fact, I seem to recall something like this in an Earl Dumarest novel from E.C. Tubb. Though, of course, I can’t remember which one. I just remember a nasty zealot who used food only as fuel for his body. He was, obviously, cadaverously thin. Funny thing was, he was searching for a formula that Dumarest had stolen that conveyed, you guessed it, immortality.

Can it be done?

They used to say that an army travells on its stomache, meaning that supplies and supply lines, especially food, determine how and why an army moves. But, what can you do about that? Well, according to this article on Wired News, DARPA is trying to make a soldier that doesn’t need to eat for five days. The project is called “Metabolic Dominance” and it’s an attempt to use biochemical “cocktails” of various kinds to overcome or get around the body’s need to ingest food for long periods of time. It’s a fairly radical step in both biochemistry and military science. Imagine what might have happened to Moscow if Napolean’s troops hadn’t needed as many supplies. Awsome. This technology, if they can perfect it, combined with the other things DARPA has in the works, really could change the face of war so radically that it may just become science-fiction. Joe Haledman may have been far more prophetic than he imagined with The Forever War, not to mention the classic Starship Troopers by Heinlein.

I honestly believe that this happens all the time. If you live long enough, you’ll see yesterday’s science-fiction become today’s reality.

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!”