For weekend-holiday distraction - and in our year-change mood - let's get back to Science Fiction!
First, have a way cool look at the physics and paradoxes of time travel.
A nonlinear history of time travel: Nautilus
offers an excerpt from the mind-expanding experiment Time Travel: A
History by James Gleick. As usual, a delightful, intellectual
and verbal feast. Of course, this survey barely does credit to the array of
possible means by which we sci fi authors try to weasel our way around
causality and temporal protection.
One is the Multiverse Branching Point or MBP. Take one example: when Spock accidentally lures a vengeful Romulan to go back in time and destroy
Planet Vulcan (in J.J. Abrams's Star Trek reboot) many fans consoled themselves
that this is just a branching-off of a newborn parallel reality... that the
older timeline still stands, where Shatner-Kirk and all the rest remain, continuing along
the original timeline, like a trellis for the new one to grow alongside.
I prefer that interpretation. Indeed, it opens a way for New Spock to get advice from the old one or for mutual aid between timelines... so many cool possibilities. The alternative -- the One Timeline Loop OTL -- betrays every single moment of joy we got from Star Trek TOS and The Next Generation and Voyager... because if that's the case, then J.J. Abrams has simply wiped every one of those adventures away and said "never mind." Indeed, does anything Chris Pine's Kirk does really matter, if the next time traveler will simply erase all his life and deeds? In fact, what would the New Kirk do with a time machine, except go back, save his dad and restore the Shatnerian timeline?
Paramount would give us all a psychic gift, by making clear that MBP is "true." And I hope you found that timey-wimey rant entertaining!
Well, well, that's an artistic representation of one of many ways that physicists (a few) think the paradoxes might be resolved. Speaking a both a physicist and a science fiction author, I must say that this very loose partnership is one of the most fun that our unique and marvelous civilization offers, during a unique and marvelous... time.
Explore more of the multi-dimensions of time in James Gleick's Time Travel: A History or Richard Muller's Now: The Physics of Time.
I prefer that interpretation. Indeed, it opens a way for New Spock to get advice from the old one or for mutual aid between timelines... so many cool possibilities. The alternative -- the One Timeline Loop OTL -- betrays every single moment of joy we got from Star Trek TOS and The Next Generation and Voyager... because if that's the case, then J.J. Abrams has simply wiped every one of those adventures away and said "never mind." Indeed, does anything Chris Pine's Kirk does really matter, if the next time traveler will simply erase all his life and deeds? In fact, what would the New Kirk do with a time machine, except go back, save his dad and restore the Shatnerian timeline?
Paramount would give us all a psychic gift, by making clear that MBP is "true." And I hope you found that timey-wimey rant entertaining!
Well, well, that's an artistic representation of one of many ways that physicists (a few) think the paradoxes might be resolved. Speaking a both a physicist and a science fiction author, I must say that this very loose partnership is one of the most fun that our unique and marvelous civilization offers, during a unique and marvelous... time.
Explore more of the multi-dimensions of time in James Gleick's Time Travel: A History or Richard Muller's Now: The Physics of Time.
== SF from other viewpoints ==
One of
the most exciting things to happen to Science Fiction in this century has been
the rise of a vibrant SF sensibility and creativity among Chinese authors and
directors who are starting to make waves also in the West. See this
explored more fully in the article, A Brief Introduction to Chinese Science
Fiction by Regina Kanyu Wang.
Liu
Cixin’s epic “Three
Body” trilogy (Volume One received the Hugo for best novel in
2015), recently concluded with his latest book Death's End (read a selection on Tor's website.)
American authors Ken Liu (The Paper Menagerie, The Grace of Kings) and Ted Chiang ( his novella Story of Your Life formed the basis for the film Arrival) have been also familiarizing their readers with vibrant stories that include Asian flavors. As have many others. Rejoice over this expansion of the Science Fiction worldview.
Invisible Planets: Contemporary Chinese Science Fiction in Translation, edited and translated by Ken Liu, presents an anthology of some of the best in recent speculative fiction from China, including powerful stories from Liu Cixin, Xia Jia, Tang Fei, as well as the excellent novella "Folding Beijing" by Hao Jingfang, which won a Hugo at the Kansas City Worldcon in 2016. Essays explore topics such as "What Makes Chinese Science Fiction Chinese?"
American authors Ken Liu (The Paper Menagerie, The Grace of Kings) and Ted Chiang ( his novella Story of Your Life formed the basis for the film Arrival) have been also familiarizing their readers with vibrant stories that include Asian flavors. As have many others. Rejoice over this expansion of the Science Fiction worldview.
Invisible Planets: Contemporary Chinese Science Fiction in Translation, edited and translated by Ken Liu, presents an anthology of some of the best in recent speculative fiction from China, including powerful stories from Liu Cixin, Xia Jia, Tang Fei, as well as the excellent novella "Folding Beijing" by Hao Jingfang, which won a Hugo at the Kansas City Worldcon in 2016. Essays explore topics such as "What Makes Chinese Science Fiction Chinese?"
Chinese
director Ren Chao Wang created a marvelous science fiction film “The End of
the Lonely Island.” Beautifully shot and tightly logical, it weaves
through flashbacks as a woman scientist desperately evades a deadly plague and
panicking authorities in order to transport her software AI to a desolate isle,
where it might communicate assistance to a lost starship. I ranked
this film very highly in judging for the Raw Science Film
Festival, whose awards ceremony took place in Los Angeles, in
December. See Wang Renchao's official site for his film. Lovely
special effects and visuals. Have a look at the trailer… though unlike the film
itself, the trailer hasn’t been
supplied with English sub-titles.
Science fiction is spreading, not only in China. Lately, there have been anthologies of tales by authors from Africa (Try: AfroSF: Science Fiction by African Writers) , India (The Scientific Indian Science Fiction Anthology), Iraq (see below), and by Latina/Latino authors...
Science fiction is spreading, not only in China. Lately, there have been anthologies of tales by authors from Africa (Try: AfroSF: Science Fiction by African Writers) , India (The Scientific Indian Science Fiction Anthology), Iraq (see below), and by Latina/Latino authors...
Looking beyond magical realism: Sample some recent Latin short fiction in Latin@
Rising: An Anthology of Latin Science Fiction and Fantasy, edited by Matthew David Goodwin.
This collection includes speculative fiction stories by Juno Diaz, Daniel José Older (author of Shadowshaper), Alex Hernandez, Kathleen Alcala and other
Latino/Latina writers residing within the United States. For a vivid SF film set on the border, watch Sleep Dealer, directed by Alex Rivera.
Now comes the vivid anthology Iraq+100: Stories from a century after the invasion, a collection showing that unlucky country in a century’s time, as portrayed in both Arabic and English by Iraqi writers. From NPR's review: “In Khalid Kaki's "The Day By Day Mosque" the narrator drinks vinegar made from hundred-year-old perfume in a world where everything is in the process of being literally reversed; in "The Here and Now Prison," Jalal Hassan imagines the city of Najaf and its residents translated into virtual reality; in "Operation Daniel," people who resist a dictator's edicts are "archived" — incinerated and compressed into the diamonds that stud his shoes.” Wow.
See also The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy, edited by Karen Joy Fowler and John Joseph Adams, with stories by Salman Rushdie, Charlie Jane Anders, Ted Chiang, Catherynne Valente and others.
Now comes the vivid anthology Iraq+100: Stories from a century after the invasion, a collection showing that unlucky country in a century’s time, as portrayed in both Arabic and English by Iraqi writers. From NPR's review: “In Khalid Kaki's "The Day By Day Mosque" the narrator drinks vinegar made from hundred-year-old perfume in a world where everything is in the process of being literally reversed; in "The Here and Now Prison," Jalal Hassan imagines the city of Najaf and its residents translated into virtual reality; in "Operation Daniel," people who resist a dictator's edicts are "archived" — incinerated and compressed into the diamonds that stud his shoes.” Wow.
See also The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy, edited by Karen Joy Fowler and John Joseph Adams, with stories by Salman Rushdie, Charlie Jane Anders, Ted Chiang, Catherynne Valente and others.
== SF'nal TV and movies ==
I’ve not yet seen the Westworld TV series on HBO (except glimpsing a bit, in a hotel room.) But this article shows how the writers seriously intended to play with one of the coolest sci fi-ish concepts in psychology, using ideas from The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind, a blockbuster 1976 book by psychologist Julian Jaynes... that I read way back when. Unintentionally, perhaps, Jaynes wrote what I deem to be one of the finest sci fi gedankenexperiments since Karl Marx. Things that aren't likely to be or come true... but make us re-evaluate other things we were definitely wrong about.
I’ve not yet seen the Westworld TV series on HBO (except glimpsing a bit, in a hotel room.) But this article shows how the writers seriously intended to play with one of the coolest sci fi-ish concepts in psychology, using ideas from The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind, a blockbuster 1976 book by psychologist Julian Jaynes... that I read way back when. Unintentionally, perhaps, Jaynes wrote what I deem to be one of the finest sci fi gedankenexperiments since Karl Marx. Things that aren't likely to be or come true... but make us re-evaluate other things we were definitely wrong about.
Cool coming sci fi flick that appears to intend to offer real science fiction. See the preview for Passengers starring Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt.
== Clever styles of propaganda ==
Who needs privacy? Sharing is Caring. Secrets are Lies. See the preview for The Circle, starring Emma Watson and Tom Hanks, based on the book by Dave Eggers. The novel was an exquisite exercise in the art of propaganda, in which the author gives nearly all of the speeches and lecturing advocacy to those he deems evil - those promoting transparency and openness. By hammering the reader with patronizing rants and making his protagonist deliciously stupid, he invites readers to get their hackles up against the idea that she believes... and that the author hates. I've never seen it done so well. We'll find out if the flick also uses this effective Orwellian technique.
(O.S. Card does the same thing, portraying Ender as so guilt-ridden over things that weren't his fault that the reader is soon practically begging Ender to both forgive himself and take over ruling humanity's destiny. Some trick!)
(O.S. Card does the same thing, portraying Ender as so guilt-ridden over things that weren't his fault that the reader is soon practically begging Ender to both forgive himself and take over ruling humanity's destiny. Some trick!)
In a highly intelligent and perceptive rumination about the coming “Rogue One” Star Wars flick, Thomas Ricard riffs off some of my earlier points about the troublesome ethical/moral and logical problems of the Jedi Order. My own hopes are up – a little – with the news that there won’t be any damned “Force” mutant-demigods in the coming film. Resistance to evil is about people – regular or above-average people – rising up to confront it (as I portray in the Postman.) Chosen-One mutants – even in adventure stories – don’t help us figure out that central problem. They just distract from it.
The Fifth Element was writer-director Luc Besson’s “delightfully garish, unapologetically maximalist space-jam—and the film that proved that, in space, everyone can hear Chris Tucker scream.” His more serious contemplation of human augmentation was also great — “Lucy.” So you can bet that — especially after watching this trailer (!) — I’ll be lining up next year, for Besson’s “Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets.”
From Entertainment Geekly: A cool fun personal analysis of what makes Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan one of the finest science fiction films of all time.
From Entertainment Geekly: A cool fun personal analysis of what makes Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan one of the finest science fiction films of all time.
What fun. An appraisal of all the different timelines in Back To The Future. Hilarious, and there are a dozen you never realized. Well, I think the fellow adds maybe six unnecessary ones. Still, such fun.
== And prophetic works... ==
As we being our long process of saying goodbye to Miami… then all of Florida and much of the Olde South… I am reminded of the scary novel War With the Newts, a 1936 satirical science fiction novel by Czech author Karel ÄŒapek. Humanity loses all its lowlands which are converted into swamps for the intelligent salamanders we had abused. A different mechanism (one reminiscent of Uplift!) But the net result - humanity fleeing from the shorelines - is eerily and painfully redolent.
ÄŒapek, who is best known for R.U.R. (coining the term “robot”), also wrote The Absolute, a satiric (1922) prediction of vast, worldwide war in 1943, though triggered by a new form of energy generation that fills the world with a pollutant — religious irrationality. Geez, what if it’s true? If you look at where and how fossil fuels get mined and burned and who controls them. Just sayin’.
(Forget robots and drowned coastlines. ÄŒapek might have been especially prescient to connect energy sources with a rise in human irrationality. See how I was personally involved - way back in 1970 - in an endeavor that helped get the lead out of gasoline, resulting , science now confirms, in a plummet in violence 20 years later, after each nation made the shift. And yes, at one level it is ÄŒapek's silliest, yet most profoundly true prediction. The guy is amazingly under-rated.)
In Defense of The Postman: Here’s a thoughtful rumination on Kevin Costner’s film version of the novel. Why is The Postman set in Oregon? How did the film fail and succeed? Did it have much in common with the book? Anthony Rimel's article in the Corvallis Gazette-Times discusses this and much more -- like whether citizenship can prevail. See Eight of the great survivalists from science fiction: The Postman stands with Sarah Connor and Mad Max.