I am an Amazon affiliate and receive a small commission that does not cost you anything if you buy from this link. It helps pay for this blog! We all fight over our favorite books, but I find the more interesting question to be: what are your most frequent books? WHY DO WE RETURN TO BOOKS? With no conscious decision, there are some books I've read dozens and dozens of times, and in contrast, there are some books I love so much or that are so life-changing, I know repeated exposure will never match the feeling, so I've never gone near them again. WHAT distinguishes them? I don't know. This isn't a definitive list of the best books or anything like that, but just a peek into the weirdness and deeply personal experience of reading. I've covered my favorite libraries in fiction before, some other books I've read again and again. BOOKS I'VE READ DOZENS OF TIMES Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen Mostly because I needed something slightly engaging to fall asleep to and … [Read more...] about What Books Do You Read Again and Again?
Science Fiction
ChatBots are Here. Did Sci-Fi Get It Right?
The Internet has exploded in the last month with news of GenerativeAI taking over search, authorship, art, and various other industries. And how it has gone promptly off the rails. DOES IT LIVE UP TO THE DECADES OF HYPE? Speculative fiction has been taking on AI for YEARS. How good a job did the sci-fi author of the past in predicting how this is going, and where is it going next? And how did those doomsday stories affect the development of the thing we have now IT'S NOT INTELLIGENT OR SENTIENT This is all a little disingenuous because ChatGPT/Bing/etc are not artificial intelligence. They're certainly not sentient. The wild turkeys in my back yard are capable of greater intuitive leaps. My favorite explanation as to why is from The Verge about the mirror test. (When you put a mirror in front of an animal, do they know its them or do they think it's another animal?) TOTAL side note, the only species to PASS the mirror test, who know they're looking at themselves … [Read more...] about ChatBots are Here. Did Sci-Fi Get It Right?
How to Make Music & Babies with Sunshine
Last week, I talked about how complexity is our true sticking point, not endless energy (from fusion or anywhere else). WHAT HAPPENS IF YOU DON'T HAVE ENOUGH COMPLEXITY? I'm struck by this question whenever I can fortify myself to dip into the news (see my article about outrage addiction). We talk about the energy crisis and oil and gas and fracking. Then we talk about climate change and CO2 emissions. Then we talk about the economy and inflation. Then we talk about a childcare crisis (at least in the US). And then we talk about our crumbling infrastructure and skyrocketing debt. And we do this like we are talking about different things. THEY ARE ALL THE SAME THING. How are they possibly the same thing? Let me explain, and in the process, hopefully, I can pull back the curtain and reveal the wizard behind our economy, and our governments, and our art, children, health, everything on earth, really. His name is Dan. But let's start at the beginning. DAN THE HYDROGEN … [Read more...] about How to Make Music & Babies with Sunshine
We’ve Had Enough Energy Since 1870. What Have We Done With it?
Last time, I imagined what a world with endless energy might be like in light of the new fusion breakthrough. This is one way an author can world-build a totally new civilization: you take one variable like the energy supply, change it, and see how it might affect everything from the morning coffee to marriage customs to the global economy. But lest you think our problems would be solved with enough energy (without the downsides of torching the world), I don't think it's going to be that simple... WE'VE HAD ENOUGH FOR OVER A CENTURY According to some sources, we've had enough energy to feed, house, clothe, and care for every human on earth since about 1870. Yes, it came with the downside of torching the world, and no, we haven't actually done that with our munificent bounty, but not enough energy is not our problem and hasn't been for a while. The problem and opportunity, and challenge, are what we build with that energy. The true constraint is taking that raw energy … [Read more...] about We’ve Had Enough Energy Since 1870. What Have We Done With it?
How to World Build a New Future with Endless Energy
A scientist made a tiny sun on earth a few days ago, and it took less energy than it produced. It's been all over the news with good reason. It's huge. Endless energy for everyone! Well, maybe. Someday. It's important to note that sustaining a tiny sun on earth may never be possible; though we said that about the energy! At the very least, this solution is decades and decades away. If it ever happens, what does it mean? Let's do a little world-building, shall we? One of the most fun and important steps of writing speculative fiction is, well, speculating. Change a variable in your made-up world and play out all of the implications on money, religion, gender, power all of it. Variable: We now get energy from fusion, not from ancient dead plants. What does a world like that look like? POWER INDUSTRY I feel like this would be the least changed, ironically, since it doesn't fundamentally change electricity. We already have the grid. We even have real estate for … [Read more...] about How to World Build a New Future with Endless Energy
2 Ways to Make Goals in the Face of Randomness and Chaos
STORIES MAKE SENSE I write stories, which means I spend all day in a universe where everything happens for a reason. It's so great. In a traditional story (anything not absurd or surrealist), everything has a cause and effect. Scenes build on the ones before until you get a climactic end that obeys logic. It's so satisfying. It's arguably what our brains do every minute of the day: make meaning out of a very chaotic, complex reality. Everything needs to have a cause and effect when they're happening and credit and blame when they're over. Whether it's ourselves or the stars, the gods, fate, or blind luck. Whatever it is - there's a REASON. WHAT IF ALL OF THAT IS WRONG? There's a great deal more happenstance, nonsense, and chance in our lives than I think any of us are comfortable with. There's a story I learned whose origins have been lost to time, though it's been variously attributed to Buddhism and Taoism of an old farmer and chance. I used to absolutely … [Read more...] about 2 Ways to Make Goals in the Face of Randomness and Chaos
I’m Never Getting on the Metaverse. Or a Boat.
VIRTUAL REALITY IS A TOY It will not become a thing. It will not be universally adopted. I know I JUST wrote a post explaining how I do not make bold predictions after experiencing the worst prediction ever, and I definitely could be wrong about this. The only thing I can confidently predict is that I personally will never, ever put one on. (But I just don't think I'm the only one.) THIS IS NOT A MORAL OBJECTION Tech companies are not morally neutral. They are low-key wrecking democracy as we know it in their pursuit of profits, but that's not new. A new fancy headset is not going to make that worse than it already is. THIS IS A PHYSICAL OBJECTION The reason I will never put on a helmet is because I would puke my guts out. Cyber sickness isn’t new. It’s been estimated that at least 10% of your users experience dizziness and nausea in VR. But a new study has shown that is a drastic understatement, and the number is closer to 65%. Let that sink in. That … [Read more...] about I’m Never Getting on the Metaverse. Or a Boat.
Kids Text Fast. It doesn’t mean they Understand the Internet
JUST BECAUSE WE DON'T GET IT, DOESN'T MEAN THEY DO There's no question that the younger generation are faster texters and have a meme culture that far surpasses anything on the internet heretofore. Quality rhyme, right there. Quality. (This is not sarcasm!) One of my favorite scenes from the TV show Grace and Frankie is when Frankie gets a new computer and calls Apple for support and whispers, "I'm 70!" There is some truth to the idea that older people are not good online and young people are digital natives who, with every generation, will always be soooo much better. But it's only half the truth. START EARLY, GET MORE MUSCLE MEMORY What we mistake for mastery is probably just muscle memory. Muscle memory has nothing to do with muscles. It's actually about an inert white substance in your brain called myelin. This comes from a really excellent book called The Talent Code, about how we get good at things. [Fun fact, researchers thought myelin was … [Read more...] about Kids Text Fast. It doesn’t mean they Understand the Internet