Sci Fi Invades Reality

Announcement for today only!  The ebook for Insistence of Vision, my third (and best) story collection is discounted to $1.99 for Kindle. 

Okay, I've been video'd a bit, lately. For example, the “Neo” Project aims to create a vividly beautiful film, combining science and art to offer up something almost totally missing from our world discourse about the future — optimism. Their initial teaser-trailer features some of my blather. But the stars of this show are vivid imagery and remarkable sound editing. I don’t claim to know very much about where the project goes next, but it’s off to a great start! Neo is sponsored in part by Humanity+ and the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies.

In honor of the 50^th anniversary of Star Trek, I earlier offered up this posting: To Boldly Go: Star Trek at Fifty.  The Verge site, cribbed from it along with another baker’s dozen in “13 Science Fiction authors on how Star Trek influenced their lives," with thoughts from Allen Steele, Madeline Ashby, Becky Chambers, Elizabeth Bonesteel and others.

In this lavish and vivid short video (from X Prize Foundation)– with many sci fi flick-snippets in the background – I talk about why so many (not all) sci fi dystopias are turgid and lazy.

Elsewhere I offer a much more extended riff explaining why so many films and books slothfully assume the worst. It doesn't have to be this way! With a little work and creativity, a director and /or author can keep her protagonist in delightful jeopardy without insultingly assuming that all our institutions are automatically crap and all or neighbors sheep. 

Also... be sure to watch the episode Is Privacy Dead? of "Morgan Freeman's Through the Wormhole" discussing privacy in the future.  It's well-done and provocative... and I blather last.

== Sci Fi invades reality ==

Consider seven ways Science fiction predicted the future.  A short list and some are better than others. But he does list John Brunner’s classic 1968 novel Stand on Zanzibar which forecast in 2010 a “President Obomi.” And see the innovations predicted by the visionary H.G. Wells, born 150 years ago.

An AI-made trailer: Fox Pictures asked IBM to set its brainiac series of computers – Watson – onto an artistic task – make a trailer for the new SciFi - horror flick “Morgan.” You can view the results. Coincidentally, I’ll be co-keynoting IBM’s big World of Watson convention in Las Vegas, October 26. 

My colleague author Hannu Rajaniemi (author of The Quantum Thief) is using brain scans to let the emotions of readers decide which way a story goes next.   Volunteers don the Epoc neural sensing headset, then read the story of Snow White, and the story would branch and change in different ways, depending on whether the volunteer showed more affinity for ‘life’ or ‘death’ imagery.  Rajaniemi comments, “I’m actually planning a near future, very biotech-driven story, focusing more on the unpredictable side effects of all these technologies.”  

People who read books lived an average of 23 months longer than those who did not. That makes me your Doctor....  you're welcome.  And I further prescribe...

A wonderful resource: Download or flip through archived issues of Weird Tales, dating back to the 1930s and 40s. And much more if you follow the embedded links ... and much, MUCH more if you follow the sidebar links at this site. You'll find older, but classic stories from Lovecraft, Bradbury, Hamilton, Sturgeon and others, along with those fantastic, evocative covers.

Amid the hoorow over possible (even likely) foreign interference in the U.S. elections, plus ‘bromance’ connections between one of the major U.S. nominees and a major eastern leader… have a chilling look at this! It is like an out-take from The Cool War – one of the creepiest of the great novels by Frederik Pohl.

The “Gerasimov doctrine,” formulated by Russian Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov in 2013, proposes that modern conflicts are waged and won not with guns as much as through dirty tricks. This 'hybrid warfare' aims to destabilize the opponent's political system in order to weaken the enemy.   In The Cool War, adversaries who don’t dare risk open warfare engage in tit-for-tat , deniable sabotage… Oh, note, I have a character named Gerasimov, in Existence.   

== Science Fiction Book Roundup ==

Dark Matter by Blake Crouch. This New York Times bestseller offers a tense, tightly wound thriller that explores the Many Worlds theory of quantum physics. Jason Dessen abandoned a high-profile research career to take up a quiet life with his wife and son, working as a physics professor at a small college. Mugged while out on an evening walk, he wakes up in a new thread of reality and sees where his life might have gone, the paths not taken. For in this world, he is an award-winning quantum physicist at a secret research facility, where he has discovered a way to superimpose quantum states … and he wants desperately to return to his old life. Unfortunately, he’s not the only one…

 Blue Remembered Earth, by Alastair Reynolds, offers a near-utopia set in a post-catastrophe future where Africa has become the reigning economic, political and technological superpower. Humans have established thriving colonies from the moon to Mars and Titan. An omnipresent surveillance system, the Mechanism, maintains peace throughout the system. The story follows the descendants of Eunice Akinya, who established a sprawling family mining empire that stretches to the asteroid and Kuiper belts. After her death, a historic artifact discovered on Luna sets Eunice’s grandchildren off on a journey through the solar system in search of answers that could affect the destiny of humanity. Reynolds, former scientist at the ESA, presents a believable vision for a future forged in space.

I keep an eye open for semi-pro works that rise above that level, and are worth noting.  Mother Moon, by Bob Goddard, doesn’t set the planet ablaze with style or characters or action… but it does relate a story you can care about, with some interesting ideas. About 250 scientists and engineers at an international lunar base use advanced, late-21^st Century tech to exploit buried ice at the moon’s south pole, when word comes that a comet is streaking toward the Earth.  They must at-minimum race to become self-sufficient, since it might take a long time for Earth to recover launch capability. In an interesting device, Goddard alternates scenes set in 1504 aboard a sailing ship whose hometown is being persecuted by an inquisition.  All becomes clear.

With her novella, Murder in the Generative Kitchen, new author Meg Pontecorvo cooks up and dishes out for you not one, not two, but three original sci fi premises. Enjoy and digest them well.

A fun book for Young Adult readers: Mad Science Institute, by Sechin Tower, offers up a teenage girl genius who loves inventing robots and electronic devices. But Sophia “Soap” Lazarcheck’s science projects have a way of going awry, setting off frequent explosions and the occasional fire. When she is admitted into the secretive Mechanical Science Institute (founded by Nikola Tesla), she uncovers a conspiracy of evildoers who want to subvert the institute’s science advances for nefarious purposes. Sophia teams up with her older cousin, Dean, to unravel these mysteries and prevent an imminent doomsday. For more YA, see my extensive list of suggested SF books for young adult readers. 

Teachers and parents! See a Science Fiction anthology for middle grade readers. Bring the stars to a new generation with diversity, representation & great stories!  SFWA has named the 2017 Young Explorer's Adventure Guide  anthology as a STAR project.  A followup to the successful 2016 Young Explorer's Adventure Guide.

Great news.  At long last, the audiobook for my second short story collection, Otherness, is now available at Audible.com - including The Giving Plague, Dr. Pak's Preschool, Detritus Affected, and more..... I worked pretty closely with the reader, veteran Hollywood actor Stephen Mendel and I can tell you, this is what you want for your commute, or those long sessions at the gym! Why not make your commute interstellar and your strides take you across fate and time?

== SF Announcements ==

The Raw Science Film Festival is open for submission! The festival honors films on science and technology worldwide. The film festival partners are Explore Mars, Space Tourism Society Canada, and the Arthur C. Clarke Center for Human Imagination. Categories include fiction and non-fiction for both students and professionals. Cash prizes are awarded. Animations and infographics are welcomed. The film screening and awards ceremony takes place on Saturday, December 10, 2016 on the Fox Studios lot inside the historic Zanuck Theater. The deadline for film festival submission is November 9, 2016. Raw Science Film Festival proudly accepts entries via FilmFreeway.com, the world’s best online submission platform. FilmFreeway offers free HD online screeners, unlimited video storage, digital press kits, and more.  

The 2017 Clarion Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers' Workshop will be held June 25 - August 5, 2017 on the campus of UC San Diego, in partnership with the Arthur C. Clarke Center for Human Imagination. 2017 Clarion instructors will be Nalo Hopkinson, Cory Doctorow, Dan Chaon, Lynda Barry, Andrea Hairston, C.C. Finlay, & Rae Carson. 

See bios at the Clarion site. Established in 1968, the Clarion Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers' Workshop is the oldest workshop of its kind and is widely recognized as a premier proving and training ground for aspiring writers of fantasy and science fiction. The list of distinguished Clarion alumni includes Ed Bryant, Octavia Butler, Bob Crais, Cory Doctorow, George Alec Effinger, Nalo Hopkinson, James Patrick Kelly, Vonda McIntyre, Kim Stanley Robinson, Martha Soukup, Kelly Link, Bruce Sterling, and many others. 

Our phenomenal (recent) accomplishments in space

I am trying... hard ... to keep politics down to half of my postings (or so) and not on weekends!  And hence... something to remind you what a great civilization you are proud of!  Do not let the gloom merchants poison your mood.

After a successful launch, the OSIRIS-REx mission sets off to explore and bring back samples from asteroid Bennu, whose size, orbit and possible carbonaceous makeup suggest real potential for riches... and if that dream comes true, then we can stop digging into Mother Earth. Fly well, Osiris-Rex!

Layered buttes on Mars / NASA Curiosity 

Wonderful latest images from our hardworking, loyal robot on Mars. The Curiosity rover recently sent back stunning detailed photos of jagged finely layered buttes in the Mount Sharp region. And they are beauts! (pictured to right).

A very cool (get it?) summary of mysteries revealed about Pluto-Charon by the New Horizons probe.   

A rare double eclipse: Kewl! NASA’S Solar Dynamics Observatory caught BOTH the Earth and the moon crossing the sun! 

The U.S. government has approved Florida-based Moon Express for a planned 2017 robotic lunar landing, hoping eventually to exploit its resources. And  I am rooting for em!  Though I am deeply skeptical – I see no evidence for anything usefully available from the bottom of the Lunar gravity well, in the immediate time horizon. (I much prefer what NASA and planetary scientists, industrial investors and this administration see as an obviously better prospect: asteroids.) But go ahead guys!  Prove me wrong.

NASA's Solar Probe Plus mission is moving ahead with its daring 2018 launch to study the sun's super-heated atmosphere. Now of course I have mixed feelings. First, I’m certainly glad to see this daring voyage-endeavor which, it turns out, will require seven Venus flyby maneuvers in order to get into a near solar trajectory. (Do not imagine heading toward the inner solar system, to be ‘easy because it’s downhill.’ It is excruciatingly difficult, dynamically. Much harder than - say - going to Mars.)

Still, one of the competing groups had enlisted me on its board of advisers - as both a planetary scientist who used to do solar astronomy and later a member of NIAC.  But also, I suppose, because they had planned to name their mission Project Sundiver, letting me serve as mascot.  Ah well.  I suppose the JHUAPL guys had a better mission plan. Good luck sundivers!

For up to two billion years, some investigators believe, Venus may have been a hospitable place for life. “Venus receives 40% more heat and light than Earth does. At first, that wasn’t a problem since the sun was 30% dimmer in the early days of the solar system, but its brightness—and heat—increased over time… if Venus ever had plate tectonics, the process would have begun grinding to a halt, due at least in part to the lack of water to keep the upper mantle viscous. Without tectonics, carbon in the atmosphere can’t be recirculated underground, worsening greenhouse conditions.” 

Channels on Titan/ NASA Cassini

NASA's Cassini spacecraft has probed the surface of Titan with microwaves, providing evidence of liquid hydrocarbon-filled channels and rivers on Titan.  Stunning!  This is where I'd go.

Some astronomers think that the oddly-extended and somewhat retrograde orbits of a small class of trans Neptunian objects amount to a ‘treasure’ map that will let them pinpoint and spot “Planet Nine.” It used to be Planet X, when “X” could also stand for Ten.  There have been a lot of wild goose chases in the search for new planets.

Read how sun watchers stopped World War III in 1967. Yep!  Solar astronomers save the world! BTW... I was the first to spot the Great Flare of 1972! That one, too, could have caused a war, but for solar astronomers. Learn about flares & such in… SUNDIVER!

A new study shows another unique connection between Jupiter and its innermost large moon Io: In addition to its raging sulfur volcanoes and sputtering ionic radiation storms, Io's atmosphere collapses every time it passes into Jupiter's shadow, and scientists just watched it happen for the first time. The newly arrived JUNO mission should be spectacular - its goal to analyze Jupiter's atmosphere and map the giant planet's magnetic and gravitational fields.  

Oh, did I mention that you are a member of a civilization that does stuff like this?  Shame on you for buying into the gloom! Statistics refute almost every negative thing that politicians and media are saying about this society and era. Do not let gloom merchants get (or stay) in power! And change channels.

On the other hand... we do need to be prepared...

== Space Tech ==

Orbital targets for hackers? Satellites are at significant risk of cyber-attacks, by individuals or state-sponsored terrorists. These vulnerabilities could interrupt communications, defense, weather monitoring and navigation. 

China confirms that its Space Station Tiangong-1 will fall to Earth sometime in 2017. Heads up.

A 'space train' concept that can get to Mars in two days? There are too many awful-dumb things about this article to even begin commenting on… and I hope it is the reporter’s fault.  Because the underlying concept – having a space station that transit loops from Earth to Mars and back again – is actually a pretty good one.  Trajectory options are very very very limited but possible and alluring, allowing passengers to torch their rendezvous with this space liner in teensy capsules. Only there’s no going into “orbit” at either planet. That… defeats… the… whole… notion.

Lockheed SkyFire Cubesat

In 2018 the much maligned NASA Space Launch System will finally take off, delivering a test (unmanned) Orion capsule to lunar orbit and back, paving the way (one hopes) for an efficient dawn of the asteroid exploration (then mining) era.   Along the way, the Orion adaptor ring will deliver to lunar orbit 13 cube-sat  mini-satellites, opening a bold new era for miniaturized exploration, available to a far wider scientific and technical community.  Lockheed Martin announced a few details of its 6U CubeSat,called SkyFire. Lockheed's payload will capture high-quality images of the Moon. And in exchange for the ride into deep space, NASA will receive data from the mission. 

To be clear, I oppose the US taxpayers funding any near-term return to the (probably) sterile-useless lunar surface - for the time being.  But lunar orbit is extremely valuable! A space station there could do our asteroid mining experiments safely.  And that station could provide services to the European, Russian, Chinese, and billionaire-private efforts at landing on the moon. Charge the fools... I mean copycats... I mean brave explorers a nice fee.

Ever since the Obama Administration opened up launch services to competition, the United Launch Alliance’s monopoly on U.S. military and intelligence cargoes has been under threat, with Elon Musk’s SpaceX offering bids up to 75% discounted from ULA’s normal price. Oh but let's get those problems solved. Interesting times.

Aquila is Facebook’s solar-powered airplane designed to stay aloft weeks at a time and beam internet to remote parts of the world.

== Comets, Asteroids and more ==

  

Terrific! Hubble before and after images of Comet 332P breaking apart.

E-Glider concept, JPL

This promising concept from JPL: an E-Glider, or electrostatic glider that could maneuver around asteroids without expending fuel, in the electrically charged environment around an asteroid. Further research has been funded by NASA NIAC, where I'm on the advisory council.

NASA’s Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM)  will demonstrate advanced, high-power, high-throughput solar electric propulsion; advanced autonomous high-speed proximity operations at a low-gravity planetary body.  Exactly what we should be trying to do. 

Rosetta’s mission to Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko finally spotted the lost Philae lander. Pretty amazing photos reveal the lander tumbled on its side in a shadowed crevice, a fate long suspected suspected since it ran out of solar power soon after touch-down… or bounce-down. Ah well.  A lot of science got done anyway, verifying much of my doctoral thesis. (And some bits from Heart of the Comet!)  Thanks Europe!  Now onward into space!

And Rosetta's mission recently came to an end. After twelve years in space, and two years flying around Comet 67P, the orbiter crash took a final dive onto the surface of the comet on September 30.  Adieu, Rosetta! Mission Accomplished.

Like most sun-grazing comets, this comet was torn apart and vaporized by the intense forces near the sun.

Images from the Dawn mission provided evidence for a “fairly recent” salty water/mud volcano on Ceres. 

== Outside the Solar System ==

Interesting item. My comrade Stephen Baxter’s 2013 novel PROXIMA seems to have predicted almost every aspect of the newly discovered earthlike planet “Proxima b” orbiting our neighboring star, Proxima Centauri!  Lee Billings' writeup in Scientific American offers you a generous excerpt!  The James Webb space telescope, scheduled for launch in 2018, may provide more information. 

The mysterious dimming of “Tabby’s Star” – both periodic and secular, perhaps across the last 100 years – has both amateur and professional astronomers peering at old photographic plates and new Kepler data to seek possible explanations.  And yes, “alien constructions” are still on the table!  Though you have to make some assumptions…

Biggest galactic map may throw light on the nature of 'dark energy,' -- and fascinating echoes of the formation of our universe of galaxies with hints at the behavior of both dark matter and dark energy. All from the biggest and most detailed galactic mapping, ever.

The Future First series of brief online tech-shows is a credit to Popular Science, well edited, informative and on target. This one — “Where are all the aliens?” — starts with my description of the Fermi Paradox or SETI Question, then segues to Jason Crusan, director of NASA’s Advanced Exploration Systems. Such cogency, charisma and… science!

Directed Energy Comms and SETI/METI: UC Santa Barbara physics professor Philip Lubin — "The Search for Directed Intelligence" appears in the journal REACH - Lubin is a scientific advisor on Milner's Breakthrough Starshot, which is using his NASA research as a roadmap as it seeks to send tiny spacecraft to nearby star systems.

Of course mysteries remain... as explained in The Unknown Universe: A New Exploration of Time, Space and Modern Cosmology, by Stuart Clark. A look at how the latest discoveries are shedding light on the formation and evolution of the universe.

Send a fingernail sized digital archive containing human knowledge. Profs. Lubin and Bradshears, in this (unsuccessful) Kickstarter campaign, aim to create the world's first "Space Time Capsule" - a Humanity Chip, a custom semiconductor memory device that can be attached to the small, wafer-scale spacecraft that are part of DEEP-IN and other directed-energy concepts. This chip will contain volumes of data, including tweets, media files, and even the digital DNA records of all those who want to take part in the mission.

There, that was a lotta space stuff!  It oughta hold you across the weekend. And maybe convince you to tell every single grouch out there... and they are rife in the FAR left and the ENTIRE right... to get bent!  There is zero justification for gloom!  Every bad thing you hear is either exaggeration or else reason to step up in confident problem solving mode.

Because we are mighty beings, citizens of a spectacular civilization that can do a lot!  And the gloom merchants can go to hell.