Are you tired of the apocalypse? Me too. Our collective death wish dominates pop culture sci-fi and fantasy. The depictions can be brilliant (George Miller, you magnificent bastard) but are most often meh. We watch society fall. We follow the survivors through the aftermath. We absorb the allegories for our own behavior. Rinse, repeat. It’s exhausting. There is a solution. I could avoid all fiction that involves the end of the world, or at least reduce my intake. But I’m a sci-fi and fantasy geek; you might as well ask me to stop eating. So I’ll just have to be exhausted, … [Read more...]
Coffee and Chaos Theory: Brain-Dead, or Brains of the Dead?
Viking samurai warrior writer Kristen Lamb recently shot an article my way. The title read “Biotech Company Granted Ethical Permission To Attempt To Use Stem Cells To Reactivate The Brains Of The Dead.” I guess she knows my brand. The article got a lot of play on social media. I’m not surprised; it seems to describe the exact scenario that would precede future documentary The Walking Dead. But that title is serious clickbait. A more accurate wording of the last part would be “…To Revive the Brain-dead.” That’s the experiment—trying to bring consciousness back to brain-dead patients … [Read more...]