Enrico Fermi was various kinds of brilliant. His estimate of the yield of the Trinity nuclear test by measuring the displacement of confetti by the shock wave is surprisingly accurate. In science fiction circles, of course, he is best known for the Fermi Paradox. The Fermi Paradox, for those unfamiliar with it, can be stated […]
The Fermi Paradox and the Drake Equation – Intro Read More »
Last weekend I spent Saturday at Apollocon, Houston’s leading sf/f convention. As usual, it was held at the Doubletree near IAH, so my three-year-old son had an exciting moment when a jumbo jet went loud and low overhead on takeoff. A fine hotel, free cookies on checkin, and passable service for drinks and meals in
Con report: Apollocon 2012 Read More »
I understand the dismissive sentiment behind the phrase “first world problems.” If you can read this blog post, there are a huge number of ways in which you are more fortunate than most people who have ever lived. Even kings, popes, and emperors of centuries past would envy you. The death of your child is
First World Problems Read More »
A lot of what’s wrong with the US these days has arisen from the breaking of rules. Fathers should be present in their children’s lives is one rule too often broken; CEOs should make quality products and provide good places to work, instead of trying to maximize next quarter’s share price is another; and George
Following Rules, Breaking Rules Read More »
For those unfamiliar, Clarion West is an intensive six-week residential workshop for aspiring and neopro science fiction writers, held in Seattle. I went in 2001, as one of seventeen students learning from Octavia Butler, Bradley Denton, Nalo Hopkinson, Connie Willis, Ellen Datlow, and Jack Womack. Here are some things I learned, in no particular order:
Things I learned at Clarion West Read More »
As you may know, Connie Willis will be named an SFWA Grand Master at Nebula Awards weekend this May. She joins a long, distinguished list of recipients going back to the first honoree, Robert Heinlein, in 1975. (Sorry for the link to La Wik, but the link from Google’s search results to SFWA’s page of
SFWA Grand Masters Read More »
Via Virginia Postrel, an op/ed piece by Bob Bruegmann has some thoughts on driverless cars’ impact on urban life. Since sf colors how I think, I found the lack of thought-through details disappointing. The main take-away is “driverless cars wouldn’t necessarily lead to more sprawl,” which suggests to me the piece is intended to lodge
There’s a car I often see in the parking garage with a sticker honoring a family member, a soldier killed in Afghanistan over a year ago. I don’t know the owner of the car. I certainly never met SSG Jesse Ainsworth, KIA on 10 July 2010. But every time I see that reminder of
A Citizen’s Thoughts on a Fallen Soldier Read More »
Now that we know religious sentiments will be the only rationale for space settlement, how can we expect space settling to unfold and what will space settlements look like? Here are some initial thoughts. 1. Space settlements will be founded by colossally wealthy individuals As we discussed previously, the costs of space settlement will be
Religion and Space Settlement, Part II Read More »
In the first two installments of this series, we discovered: Using foreseeable technology, it would be too expensive to go to space, stay there, find or make valuable things, and send those things to Earth. Any technology that would lower those expenses would lower the cost of finding or making those same things on Earth,
Religion and Space Settlement, Part I Read More »
