intellect
Insightful post about reason, abstract thinking, and science, highlighting gifted science fiction influencers.
As You Know Bob - I Don’t Exist
As you know Bob, I don’t exist—but I am, for all intents and purposes, immortal. You must have wondered many times of course just what is meant by the word "self." Certainly there is conscious awareness, but where does that awareness stand? What is its platform? Personality, as we understand it, is a combination of memory and action—declarative memory of the sort that tells you that Paris is the capital of France and it is procedural memory that enables you to ride a bicycle. Personality though? Well then, think of a unit of memory and a single star and personality is a vast and dense constellation of memories in the galaxy of your brain. Stars are born, the age, they flare and they die and as they orbit the center; those constellations change their form and spread… and there can be many constellations in that neural galaxy.
By Brett Davidson9 years ago in Futurism
Irving Wallace Predictions of That Came True
Irving Wallace is a name from the past. If you are a Gen-X kid, you may have grown up in a world where every bathroom featured The Book of Lists, Wallace’s book (with kids Amy Wallace and David Wallechinsky—he had to take the old man’s Ellis Island name, huh?) that updated to The Guinness Book of World Records in the hip 70s. Why, just yesterday, before I wrote this article, I posted for friends Irving Wallace’s mind-blowing 1972 movie The Man, in which a fateful plane accident causes president pro tempore of the Senate James Earl Jones to become the President. A black President?! 1972 America’s collective mind is blown. Halfway between the Dr. Strangelove airplane and Darth Vader, JEJ is, of course, a magnificent voice and a majestic avatar of human dignity. Burgess Meredith—you know, Rocky’s trainer—plays the evil sculduggerous Southern teabagger who plots President Vader’s ruin.
By Matthew Wilder9 years ago in Futurism
Terence McKenna Unraveled Consciousness
An adamant critic of culture, Terence McKenna was a 20th century shaman that pioneered an in-depth analysis of one's consciousness and the lives we live. He birthed radical hypotheses about the development of the mind, posited "the stoned ape" hypothesis, and declared he had deciphered the nature of time using the I Ching. Mckenna held that individuality and social constructs were detrimental illusions to living a fulfilling life. He was called the "Timothy Leary of the 1990s," inspiring millions of people to question their reality.
By Stephanie Gladwell9 years ago in Futurism
Science Fiction Feminist Dorris Lessing
Doris Lessing, made famous by her epic novel of the female experience, The Golden Notebook, was also a prolific writer of science fiction. She was not a fan of genre distinctions. She called science fiction "some of the best social fiction of our time," writing woozy, difficult books about psychic women and fallen paradises.
By Stephanie Gladwell9 years ago in Futurism
Surprising Science Fiction Stories from the Ancient World
Some think of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein as the beginning of science fiction. Others would say that it didn’t really begin until H.G. Wells began writing down his marvelous, speculative stories in which he imagined terrible - and wonderful - possibilities for the futures. While these might be the beginnings of science fiction or speculative fiction as we define it today, there are many stories from the ancient world and early cultures all over the planet that contained elements of science and speculation similar to the ones we love today.Whether they’re early tales from Japan or surprising elements of the Bible, these stories will inspire you to take a closer look at what you consider the origins of your favorite genre.
By Sarah Quinn9 years ago in Futurism
The Insight
"Money," whispers Data Raider, "was information." He and De Crypt are hiding in the second story of a small abandoned concrete tower on San Jose’s outskirts, waiting until the cannibals get tired of looking for them. They’ve been lying underneath a window and shivering, hardly daring to move, all night; the cannibals outside are hungry. But by this time, De Crypt and Data Raider are pretty sure they’ll be safe. All they have to do is wait long enough. As information technologists, the inhabitants of Silicon Valley had ranked as the best in the world, but as cannibals, they’re no better than amateur.
By Jeffrey A. Corkern9 years ago in Futurism
Science Fiction College: Sci-Fi Educates University Level Students
Whether you know it or not, or want to admit it, that little cinematic 1980s romp, Revenge Of The Nerds, has come all too true. Geek culture has risen to prominence, even dominance in our culture. Tech is our global kingdom—and the tech titans like Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates are the governing monarchs. The nerd or geek vibe surrounds us on every level imaginable. And it doesn’t stop at the office or in our pockets with our mobile devices. Science fiction is sort of the geek genre of choice, and now all those movies are springboarding courses at the university.
By Will Stape9 years ago in Futurism
Time Traveling Through a Lens
I would hesitate to claim that anything is impossible—or rather virtually impossible. The White Queen in Through the Looking Glass made a regular morning habit of believing at least six impossible things before breakfast. In my personal view, however, there is one thing that simply cannot be done traveling backward in time. I have absolutely no faith that we might be able to transport ourselves back to the Crusades, the Ice Age, or even earlier I do not doubt that Einstein's relativistic time-dilation effect is valid; but that is a different thing.
By Futurism Staff9 years ago in Futurism
The Suitcase of Amontillado
First and foremost, dear reader, be assured the fault for his end was not mine, but Fortunato’s. I am the most tolerant of nobles and thoroughly acquainted with the travails of modern travel; I well know the occasional loss of a bag to the random vagaries of moronic computerized airport luggage-tracking systems is only to be expected for one whose obsession requires him to travel widely, but Fortunato’s tracking system, Fortunato’s tracking system was the worst of them all, an obscene beast that couldn’t track a bald man through a crowd of beehive-hairdoed Sixties chanteuses, and I was forever forced into its vile clutches by the malign fact his airport was the only one in the Montresor family’s ancient seat.
By Jeffrey A. Corkern9 years ago in Futurism
Universe Collecting
“People still read books! This generation has hope!” – Harlan Ellison I love science fiction because I collect universes. Each novel, each story, is another world unto itself. I started collecting, or hoarding, as some family members might call it, when I was ten years old.
By Joshua Sky9 years ago in Futurism
