Optimism is hard. For most of us, thinking good thoughts about the future doesn’t come naturally. Even trying to be optimistic about the next few months feels like running uphill (and I hate running). These days, optimism in one particular subject—the effect of technology on our collective future—can feel downright impossible. There’s a good reason you don’t see happy movies about the future. Off the top of my head, the only one I can recall is The Fifth Element, and that’s more fantasy than sci-fi. Even the new Star Trek (from what I’ve read) has traded cerebral hope about the good of … [Read more...]
The Roundup: Space Rock Edition
Interstellar Asteroids are Wonderfully Weird If you'd told me last week that before now, we had never witnessed an interstellar object of any kind enter our solar system, I’d have said “Let's get lunch. I’m hungry.” Then I would have said, “I’m not finished watching season two of Stranger Things, so we can’t talk about that.” THEN I would have said “Seriously? Nothing from outside our solar system, ever?” If you’re a non-scientist/barely casual space watcher like me, then you probably had no idea either. But it’s true. The newly-arrived asteroid “Oumuamua”—Hawaiian for “scout”—is the … [Read more...]
My Personal Gom Jabbar
In Frank Herbert’s Dune universe, the Gom Jabbar was a standard-issue aristocrat-on-aristocrat assassination device. The weapon consisted of a poisoned needle attached to a thimble-like housing that rested on one’s fingertip, easy enough to flick into a person’s neck should you want to alter the power structure of the great houses. The Bene Gesserit, a powerful order of women with great political influence and extra-human capabilities, adapted the Gom Jabbar for a different purpose. They used the device to test the humanity of an individual—to find out, by their standards, whether you were … [Read more...]
Blade Runner Redux: New Toys and Old Toys
I saw Blade Runner 2049 on opening night. Now, a full week on, several friends have expressed surprise that I haven’t at least made a Facebook or Twitter mention of my impressions. I don’t think I will because I recognize that I’m uniquely unqualified to judge the film on its own merits. The original has meant too much to me. I couldn’t give an objective review its 35-year later sequel if I tried. But I can’t say nothing about it, so I’d like to praise a bit of continuity world-building they brought forward from the original film into this one. It’s the wonderful juxtaposition of shiny new … [Read more...]
Blade Runner, Je T’aime
I rewatched Blade Runner last night as a sort of prep session before seeing the new Blade Runner 2049. The original is my favorite film (still) and has been for the past 20 years, so I’ve got the thing pretty much memorized, but it seemed fitting that I see it again. From this point on, any popular discussion of Blade Runner is going to center on the new film, or at least include it in a big way, and I feel a strange sense of loss as a result. Silly, maybe, but there it is, so watching the original was also about visiting this universe for a last time while remains the dominant version out … [Read more...]
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