I've been wrestling with this post for weeks now because, at its heart, transhumanism isn't a simple set of beliefs, actions, or ideas. It encompasses many disciplines, from cybernetics to engineering to computer science to biology and many things in between. I say that not as a cop-out but because practically every discipline is covered in some way and informs the body of knowledge somehow. It is also a deeply personal philosophy, often attracting adherents who attempt to lead by example as well as participating in the research, development, and deployment of the technologies which originally inspired it (such as …
Every morning I pop open Google News in one of my browser tabs and mainline the top 100 stories to get a sense for what’s happening in the world and what general sort of day I’m in for. Last week the Associated Press announced that it would be modifying the content it makes available on the Net in such a way that they can (hypothetically) control how it can be read, where it can be read, and who can read it. They say they want to be able to monitor how the content they make available to everyone …
It’s long been said that science fiction predicts, or at least inspires some of the things which we take for granted every day. While the exact origins of the genre could be debated until the cows come home (and they most certainly are in some circles), it was some time during the 17th century c.e. during the Age of Reason in which people really began to write stories in which the advances of the time were their inspiration. Great voyages by sailing ship and fanciful aircraft were taken to regions of the globe which had only been seen …
A couple of years ago, I don't remember exactly when or how, I stumbled across an unusual podcast called Tales From the Afternow from Rant Media. I suppose that it's more accurate to call it an audio drama rather than an audiobook because it's not talk radio as we usually think of it, nor is it a performance of a novel. The world described in these stories is a bleak one set on a post-nuclear war, post hyper-corporatization Earth in which licenses are required to read or write, languages and information are considered dangerous weapons, and even Time itself is …
It seems as if we're losing heroes (or at least, people perceived as heroic) left, right, and center these days. People that are put up on pedestals by people (or more often by marketing execs and television networks) are slowly and steadily being knocked from their lofty perches in the public eye and cratering when they hit, sometimes never to dig themselves out. About six years ago (probably a bit more, because I remember reading his book when I was still at IUP) a guy named Mike Warnke published what was ostensibly his autobiography, in which he described being the …
Yep, once again it's October 31st, and Halloween, Samhain, whatever you choose to call it is here for a few scant hours.
No costume parties for me this year, I'm afraid - nowhere to go and no time to do anything. I can't honestly say that this sits well with me, but I guess that's a sign of getting older: You do what you need to do however you can. Oh, well. just like undergrad.
With that cheerful sentiment, I think I'll leave you with links to some of my favourite reading and listening these days. First on the list is …
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, also known as the Tamil Tigers, is a group of rebels active in the country of Sri Lanka who demand the formation of a separate state for the Tamil majority in the northern and eastern regions of Sri Lanka, or a terrorist group, depending on who you talk to about them. They're pretty nasty customers as sepratist movements go, even having separate strike and black ops teams. They also have an unusual degree of technological sophistication - they have their own television station, a bank, a customs service, and it's been discovered that they can …
These days, just about everyone has heard of audio books - people read books (or abridged versions therof) and are recorded, so that you can listen to them in the car, at work, or whenever you can't sit down with a real book but your ears are free. Many people also listen to podcasts, which are recordings similar to radio shows that are released periodically that cover a variety of topics, from science fiction to medicine to politics, and just about everything in between. But not many people have heard of podiobooks, a synthesis of podcasting and audio books. Many authors …
These days, just about everyone has heard of audio books - people read books (or abridged versions therof) and are recorded, so that you can listen to them in the car, at work, or whenever you can't sit down with a real book but your ears are free. Many people also listen to podcasts, which are recordings similar to radio shows that are released periodically that cover a variety of topics, from science fiction to medicine to politics, and just about everything in between. But not many people have heard of podiobooks, a synthesis of podcasting and audio books. Many authors …
