Circular Dreams

The Post-human Distinction

2010-10-27T04:09:00.000-07:00

The topic of what makes a post-human came up in the recent meeting and, like any good discussion, no consensus was reached. A wolf-dog hybrid Rob brought up a biological distinction: if one group of beings can trace their lineage back to humans, but can no longer reproduce with humans, then they are post-human. In evolutionary terms, this is speciation (like humans from ancient apes); it

Review of Mr. Green: why sci-fi needs to grow up

2010-10-25T23:53:00.000-07:00

Remember my post about giving people the power of photosynthesis? Someone already made a short film about it; Mr. Green by Greg Pak is a movie from the site Future States, and it's been described as "thoughtful, intelligent sci-fi". I disagree. At best, it's a poorly-researched and misguided attempt at environmental activism; at worst, it's the kind of fear-mongering that we've all seen in the

From scratch: algorithmic complexity

2010-10-25T23:52:00.000-07:00

I feel like reiterating a point from my last post. The code that describes a human being has very little impact on the actual complexity of a mature human being. Here's a math example for you: Circumference divided by diameter. Those four words encode the infinite number of digits of pi (perhaps you've seen videos of a 10th grader reciting it out to 10 thousand digits). Four words precisely and

From scratch

2010-08-20T15:45:00.000-07:00

Internet arguments, the best kind of arguments! Transhumanists rallied to defend Kurzweil after PZ Meyer's harsh assault on his blog post "Ray Kurzweil does not understand the brain". Kurzweil himself responded with a thoughtful analysis. The argument centers on one question: "how much information is needed to (reverse) engineer a brain?" Kurzweil guesses about 50 megabytes. Myers says that 50

Carrying capacity

2010-06-08T15:27:00.000-07:00

"Carrying capacity, at its most basic level, is about organisms and food supply, where "X" amount of humans need "Y" amount of food to survive. If the humans neither gain or lose weight in the long run, the calculation is fairly accurate." - Wikipedia Because I adore this kind of calculation, here is the theoretical maximum capacity of Earth, if everybody became vegan: (1.74000 × (10^17) W *

Australia

2010-05-26T01:20:00.000-07:00

(A dialogue with a friend) "Did you know that eucalyptus oil is hallucinogenic?" "Bullshit, they sell that stuff in vitamin stores." "No no, it doesn't work for humans. It's only hallucinogenic to koala bears. It's some kind of evolutionary adaptation. They chew on the eucalyptus leaves and get high all day long. Haven't you seen them, just chilling up in the trees doing nothing? They're like

Hedonism and Utopia

2010-04-18T03:07:00.000-07:00

What is utopia? Not the fake ones in stories like Brave New World, but one that you personally want to live in. Here's what I imagine (somewhat in line with David Pearce's neo-hedonism and Yudkowsky's Fun Theory): It's a typical day; you're walking down the street. You feel happy, safe, comfortable, free. You're going to meet someone to start a new and interesting project together. The weather

Some drink to remember, some to forget

2010-04-09T16:00:00.000-07:00

Looks like I can't be too dismissive of the subtleties of drugs. According to this article, alcohol helps us focus our attention on what's in front of us. It lets us sink into anguish when drinking alone; it lets us indulge in the pleasure of company. It frees us from distractions like our insecurities, inhibitions, indecisiveness, and the whole litter of personal demons that nag at a sober mind

Bandwidth of your brain

2010-03-27T20:27:00.000-07:00

How much bandwidth does it take to run a completely convincing virtual environment for one person? The answer is surprisingly small. In Consciousness Explained, Dennett claims that an "interactive smello-feelo television would have an astronomical bandwidth" (6); he didn't bother to estimate how astronomical. If you've ever studied physics, you'd be familiar with this kind of estimation: a Fermi

The Dating Algorithm

2010-03-23T05:30:00.000-07:00

Dating, or pursuing a relationship, is an example of a stochastic search with simulated annealing algorithm. You work on improving your relationship, but sometimes you get stuck in a rut, in a local optimum. There might be new and wonderful experiences out there, but you can't see past what's in front of you. So, once in a small probability, you shake things up and take a risk. You try something

Soma madness!

2010-03-19T19:31:00.000-07:00

Let's imagine the perfect drug. (This is part 2 of the hedonism series. Put your party hats on!) First, it shouldn't have any unwanted side effects. No physical impairment (drunk), no addiction or physical dependence (heroin), no long term impact on your body (cancer from smoking), no bad trips, no risk of overdose, no withdrawal symptoms, no buildup of tolerance. Thanks to advances in

Transhumanist hedonism: or, let's party like it's 2099.

2010-03-01T13:40:00.000-08:00

What's the point of living longer if you're not having any fun? I wouldn't want to do the same old same old for another 40 years, let alone for the kind of lifespan that de Grey envisions. So, How do we extend the range and depth of the human experience? According to sci-fi canon, futuristic recreation will come along the big three: drugs, sex, and videogames. But lets go back to the original

Green sea slugs and dryads

2010-01-29T15:04:00.000-08:00

Here's a fascinating creature: a sea slug that stole the ability of photosynthesis from algae, turning itself into an animal/plant hybrid. Not only does it incorporate chloroplasts (tiny organelles inside plant cells) into its own cells, it has also appropriated the right genes from algae to make the symbiosis work. Think of the advantages for the slug! A creature that's notorious for being slow

"Reinventing Humanity"

2010-01-25T12:22:00.000-08:00

Neil Tyson mentioned in a recent talk that the main obstacle between academia and the public is a lack of good soundbites: short, quotable phrases that are easy to remember and easy to retell. For example: "Supernova, the biggest explosions in the cosmos!" The shortest bits are catch-phrases that has great meme potential. People in marketing and propaganda know the power of these catch-phrases:

Fire

2009-12-28T02:23:00.000-08:00

A man is washing his feet by the river. Another man runs up to him, and says between heaving breaths, "Please, sir, help me, my house is on fire! Everything I have is burning down!" The first looks up and says to the second, "Look to your left and look to your right. The entire city is on fire." The second man insists, "You have to help me, please, do something!" Two men are washing their feet

Usability (A short story)

2009-12-25T15:23:00.000-08:00

God damn, how can we even consider releasing something like this? We should just scrap him. We can't. The dev team will go nuts; they've spent years on this one; all those delays, the resources... Doesn't mean we can't cut our losses now. Forget about this and reassign the programmers to someone more promising. Promising? We all thought he was going to be the next big thing! The RL Chiang of

You have the formula. Give it to me now.

2009-12-25T00:35:00.000-08:00

Longevity has been one of the main goals of transhumanism. We all want to live long enough to see the Future. What if someone tells you that you can live longer without waiting for gene mods, nanobots, or symbiotes? Too easy, right? No, we don't need technology to live longer, better lives. It can be as easy as changing your diet, and we can do that right now. I'm not trying to sell any diets;

Apocalypse!

2009-12-16T14:52:00.000-08:00

As civilization grows toward dizzying heights, we become increasingly aware of how far we have to fall. We dote on collapse, destruction, and survival, because of the uneasiness we feel living in a world too complex to understand. Its machinery has evolved beyond our control, and we are all trapped in lives that we call normal. The sub-genre of science fiction that deals with apocalyptic (and

Too cynical

2009-10-20T08:23:00.000-07:00

You know this quote from Niemöller ? First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a communist; Then they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist; Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist; Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew;

Morality of genetic enhancement: How will it change relationships?

2009-10-13T19:56:00.000-07:00

With nature: Sandel's main objection revolves around humility and what he calls "the gifted aspect of life". If we can't accept who we are and what we are given, if seek to control our own nature, then we lose appreciation of who we are. He bases this argument on the ancient concept of hubris: we shouldn't play god. I will give the standard transhumanist response: people don't build skyscrapers

Morality of genetic enhancement (part 1)

2009-10-13T16:24:00.000-07:00

"What's the right thing to do?" That's the question Professor Sandel used to open his Justice lectures at Harvard. He served on President Bush's bioethics committee back in 2002 and provided a liberal voice for the ethics of human genetic research and policy, liberal compared to the rest of the Bush-appointed panel. Recently, he gave a lecture for BBC about his moral objections to genetic

Data's struggle

2009-10-06T21:28:00.000-07:00

He is wondering: "Why is she holding my arm?" Until recently, I didn't understand why Data wanted to be more human. His human-like appearance only magnifies the differences: he takes words literally; humor eludes him; he is deprived of pain, pleasure, and emotions; he does not understand human behavior. When put in such negative terms, these qualities make him seem defective and incomplete.

A healthy dose of doubt

2009-10-02T00:11:00.000-07:00

I haven't updated in a while; I think I needed a break from the ever-quickening stream of information about singularity and transhumanism. Too much immersion can lead to a false sense of certainty, of inevitability, and I don't want hold any delusions. Been thinking about philosophy of knowledge lately: "Philosophy, though unable to tell us with certainty what is the true answer to the doubts it

Project: Robot Runway

2009-09-30T15:00:00.000-07:00

I was just thinking about robot models the other night, the kind that struts down runways wearing the latest fashion, pirouetting to the flashes of a hundred cameras. There is something robotic about the expressionless faces and exaggerated movement of runway models anyway. More importantly, robots would be perfect for events that focus so heavily on form and appearance; designers don't have to

Synesthesia: that number is orange-red

2009-09-21T23:20:00.000-07:00

What does September, green, and the number 6 have in common? People with synesthesia can link one sensory concept to a different sense. Think of it as one part of the brain spilling-over into another. The most common connection is between shape and color recognition; letters and numbers can take on different hues and shades. Try looking at this number pattern; can you see the words? Each

Synthetic senses

2009-09-21T11:50:00.000-07:00

We all perceive the world through our senses. Together, they filter reality into subjective experience. But reality has so much more to it than what we can see, hear, feel, taste, and smell, right? Yes, but it is harder to imagine that I expected. A colorblind person can't understand what some colors look like; she has no basis to compare red and green. Just knowing there is a difference doesn't

Death's advocate: part 1

2009-09-18T07:26:00.000-07:00

I mentioned in the last post that people have come up with many ways of justifying their mortality; most of us, when we become adults, have thought about the meaning of our own lives and deaths. But there are some who openly promote death and the idea that death has intrinsic value. I'll try to refute these Death's advocates as best I can. Today's Dinosaur Comics (a hilarious and well-written

Would you ever choose to kill yourself?

2009-09-13T12:50:00.000-07:00

Would you ever choose to kill yourself? That was a loaded question. Most people would say "No, of course not. Life is too precious." Would you choose to live forever? Surprisingly, many people would say "No. Living forever would be boring and pointless." Or they may give another reason - people have come up with many ways of justifying their mortality. Do those questions set up a false

How can you learn to walk if you never fall down?

2009-09-11T09:10:00.000-07:00

Nobody gets it right the first time; not even robots. This video inspired the following story. It's 2 AM and Kimiko had been coding for 6 hours straight. She was about to make a breakthrough, but it would carry with it a painful mistake. Compile. Upload. Run. *** The project was conceived in a moment of inspired laziness. Every time the robot Asimo tripped over an obstacle, or lost its

More than human

2009-09-08T04:14:00.000-07:00

In the olden days, people use to think that the Earth was at the center of the Universe. They thought that their particular city or country was at the center of the world. All of their maps were drawn this way, but this isn't just a matter of convenience - it was an outlook, a philosophy. People are by nature self-centered and narcissistic beings. Today, some people believe that human beings are

Epic Showdown: American power armor vs Japanese cyborg exoskeleton

2009-09-04T22:44:00.000-07:00

We need to make this fight happen. On the right: the XOS combat chassis, developed by Raytheon Sarcos to augment the American soldier of the future; can bench 200 lb weights till he gets bored; flexible enough to go up and down steep inclines, and strong enough to punch your head clean off. May come with bulletproof armor plating and sharp stabbing hooks. Available exclusively to the military. (

LED displays in a contact lens

2009-09-03T20:07:00.000-07:00

Scientists at University of Washington have embedded 8x8 LEDs into contact lenses, using micron sized circuits. The goal is to turn contacts into high resolution displays and allow us to see the world through an overlay of information - think "Terminator vision". This development, when combined with other mobile gadgets, may change the way we think of both the real and the digital world -

Circular dreams

2009-09-02T07:08:00.000-07:00

The future is approaching faster than ever, and it is accelerating. Fundamental changes in our culture and society happen four or five times in our lives. Even thirty-year youngs are feeling the strains; they are in danger of being left behind by the quickening pace of technology. Those of us who remember asking "why do I need a mobile phone" are now asking "why do I need Facebook on my

(Not so) Important realization

2009-08-25T17:12:00.000-07:00

Historical persons are immortal until their date of death. They can't die before they're suppose to die!

A good primer for Singularity

2009-08-20T19:32:00.000-07:00

This 20 minute talk from Ray Kurzweil should be enough to get anyone started on the subject of technological singularity and tranhumanism. Kurzweil is, as usual, persuasive and his vision is fascinating. Listening to him speak reminds me of Hari Seldon, from Asimov's Foundation books.

Devil's Advocate

2009-08-20T16:40:00.000-07:00

Here's me debating with myself again:The accelerating pace of improvement in computation, also known as Moore's Law, can not continue forever. There are fundamental limitations to how small we can make the circuits and still be able to disperse away heat. The exponential curves that Kurzweil is so fond of are nothing more than the beginning of a logistic curve. Instead of accelerating into

Freak

2009-08-12T20:59:00.000-07:00

I have these two long arms that hang by my sides. Each one has five wriggly appendages on the end. And I have over a hundred thousand thin black strands on top of my head, and every day they get a little bit longer. There are two pits in the middle of my face with round squishy balls lodged inside, and if you stare too long at them I guarantee you'll get creeped out. I also like to sit for hours

Wish Upon a Star

2009-08-07T20:45:00.000-07:00

The star Betelgeuse, resting on the shoulder of the Orion constellation, is a red supergiant, and one of the largest and brightest stars in the sky. In the last decade, scientists have observed it shrinking at an increasing rate - shedding about 15% of its size. At its core, carbon and neon and oxygen are breaking apart and fusing into heavier elements. At its surface, plasma and hot gas boil

A Breakdown of Intelligence

2009-07-25T22:24:00.000-07:00

In the recent transhumanism meetup on AI, the following definition of intelligence was brought up: "the measure of intelligence is how well it can preference order possible futures". In simpler words, intelligence is the measured by the ability to make decisions.How does one make decisions then? Let's break down the process into smaller parts:Predict the outcomes of each choice. This is commonly

Japanese scientists aim to create robot-insects

2009-07-14T16:03:00.000-07:00

Cyborg insects!I'd love to see how Japanese science funding works.

A quantifiable definition of Transhumanism

2009-07-13T05:31:00.000-07:00

What part of our current condition can we change or make better? How about any? I see this as a good measure of transhumanism: how much of what we are can we change? Right now, we can alter a few percent: prosthesis, eye correction, hearing aids, pace makers, vaccines, these are body mods. We can also throw chemicals into our brains to alter perception and behavior, to a certain extent. That's a

Why do we die?

2009-07-01T07:51:00.000-07:00

There is a belief that death is the natural consequence of life. It is an easy conclusion to make: All living things die. No. There is nothing about being alive that necessitates death. The definition of life seems fuzzy, but let's look at the aspects that we humans are familiar with:Interact with environment: eating, moving, breathing, seeing.Self-maintenance: all the internal processes that

Free

2009-06-30T14:56:00.000-07:00

I want to live in a future where everyone is free to choose what they want to do, with a freedom that can only come from a deep understanding of who they are and how they fit into society and in history.

Dangerous ideas

2009-06-23T17:10:00.000-07:00

I need to give more examples of ideas consuming the people that hold them, or forcing them to destroy each other. I'm writing from the evolutionary point of view of the ideas, treating them as entities, instead of from the people and cultures that support those ideas.Human sacrifices took place in cultures all over the world, from Mesopotamia to America to the Far East. These sacrfices were

Memes and ideas as a symbiotic parasite

2009-06-22T19:46:00.000-07:00

Why are people willing to die for an idea? To charge into bullets for a flag, a symbol, a word? Why would people kill themselves for a promise? It doesn't make sense from an evolutionary or genetic point of view. There is no genetic benefit to dying for an idea, compared to the sacrifices one would make for siblings or children.Susan Blackmore explains in her TED presentation how memes can evolve

It made me feel better

2009-06-21T03:21:00.000-07:00

"here, this should make you feel better." she gestured toward the console.there's a yellow button here. on the button were the words "PUSH ME", printed in a very official-looking font. "what does it do? what happens if i push the button?""it will make you feel better." she smiled."hmm." i reached for the button. the surface was smooth and rounded and felt slightly warm.i pushed. it resisted for a

Words

2009-06-17T04:52:00.000-07:00

Mmmmm onomatopoeia.Whisper.Murmur.Rustle.Susurrus.

Zero Sum

2009-05-27T02:55:00.000-07:00

A better understanding of the complexity and multitude of roles and relationships in society:Suppose every person is entirely self-sufficent. There would be nothing I could do to help anyone else, nor they for me. Suppose the resources available are limited. Then the only way I could get more resources is to take it away from other people. I would be in direct competition with everyone in the

The Infinity Blade

2009-05-23T05:49:00.000-07:00

The Economist did this satire of Moore's Law: More Blades Good. The razor blade meme recalls the incredibly prescient Onion article Fuck Everything, We're Doing Five Blades. Well, the Economist predicts that, if the trend continues, razors will have infinite number of blades by the year 2015.Ridiculous? Satire? I don't think so. I'm calling it now. Before 2020 at the latest, we will see a razor

A pre-historical essay

2009-05-23T05:18:00.000-07:00

I love fictional non-fiction. Funny piece by Aaron Diaz of Dresden Codak.A Thinking Ape’s Critique of Trans-Simianism by Thog, Professor of Finding an Animal and then Killing it.It raises an awareness of how far humans have gone beyond biological evolution. Life, for billions of years, have been limited by their genetic code. Improvements could only take place over thousands of years, through

Hob from Dresden Codak

2009-05-14T22:03:00.000-07:00

I feel a deep connection to Kimiko in this story. I too wish to be more than human.

An analysis of tipping

2009-05-10T01:43:00.001-07:00

From a waiter's perspective, there are two types of customers.a) Customers who always tip the same percentage. It could be the standard 15%, or it could be less from the bad tippers. They are indifferent to the quality of service and there's nothing a waiter can do to change the tip amount.b) Customers who tip an amount correlated positively with the quality of service. Better service means more

A parable

2009-05-01T02:20:00.000-07:00

I like to imagine there exists another paragraph to my favorite story, the parable Inferno, I, 32 by J. L. Borges.In the middle of the 20th century, Borges, a sucessful writer, a beloved professor and a respected literary critic, was turning old. Like all men of his age, he comtemplated his own mortality and whether or not his life and his work had a higher purpose. But he had read Nietzsche. He

On Realism and Pancakes

2009-04-06T22:08:00.001-07:00

Hollywood gives us paper cut-out heroes, archetypal characters from the tradition of Greek epics. They hold our larger-than-life expectations, fight against impossible odds, make inhuman sacrifices, and in the end, things always work out. To them, their lives are already written and their decisions are guided by higher fate. There's never any uncertainty when Ripley goes back to save Newt, or

Consider

2009-03-25T08:06:00.001-07:00

Consider three men: One spends his time in front of a mirror. He dotes on his appearance. He sculpts his hair. He bathes and perfumes his body. He enjoys working out and feeling his muscular form develop into the ideal image he had in mind. He takes the right blend of nutritional supplements. He dresses fashionably, always wearing the appropriate outfit for the occasion. He walks with grace and

Catching up

2009-03-24T04:08:00.000-07:00

As I said before, it is possible to stream interactive media the same way we stream high def video. Well, IGN has an article about OnLive cloud gaming. The future is catching up to us fast.If this works, it will invalidate the current paradigm of perennially upgrading personal hardware. I'm sure the big tech companies are already thinking about this. If there's no more demand for faster and more

Meaning and purpose are subjective

2009-03-15T05:28:00.001-07:00

"What is the meaning of life?" is not the right question. Rather, ask "What is the meaning of MY life?" And it's OK to not know. Most people don't.

Language and concepts

2009-03-14T00:29:00.000-07:00

Concepts and words are not equal < Signal13 > 03/13 23:13:56 To draw an analogy to programming, concepts are rich data structures, and words are pointers to those structures. For example, we all know what the concept of love is. But the word "love" is just a label for the multitude of feelings that we associate with the concept. The question "what is love?" is a

War story

2009-03-10T04:57:00.000-07:00

This happened years ago. I loved playing Battlefield 2 and had logged hundreds of hours in an attack chopper, but my favorite moment in the game was as commander of the US Marines on Wake Island. The US forces had taken the beach and were fighting hard to get across the bridge to the main island, but the Chinese had tanks and snipers covering it, so the fighting was at a stalemate. I called

Possibilities using current technology

2009-03-01T03:22:00.001-08:00

A fully 3D, navigable Google streetview. Right now each view is a panoramic photo wrapped around to give the illusion of perspective. You can navigate using the standard WASD keys, but the camera is stuck on a rail (the Google streetview van). There's software being developed that can automatically construct 3D geometry based on photos. Using the vast database of panoramas from Google, it is

Time travel

2009-02-08T06:34:00.000-08:00

Sometimes when I glance up at the clock, I see the second hand moving backwards. But it quickly resumes its regular motion, like an office worker just noticing the presence of his boss.

All is possible

2009-02-01T03:56:00.001-08:00

a poet that writes poems without words.a composer who create symphonies out of the elements; rain, wind, fire, wavesa mathematician who constructs shadows of infinite dimensionsan architect who melds water and sky into his floating palacesa director that blends dreams into movies and reality into dreamsa writer who tells an endless story, because the story is a journey of infinite

8 years ago

2009-01-17T05:36:00.000-08:00

I'm pretty sure the Onion has a staff of psychics and precogs. Evidence.

Re: Plato's Cave

2009-01-17T05:06:00.000-08:00

"We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that we voyage far." - HP Lovecraft, "Call of Cthulhu"

On the preservation of knowledge

2008-12-24T17:11:00.000-08:00

The oldest multiple-page book is supposedly a golden Etruscan codex, dated to be about 2500 years old. The Etruscan language is lost, though there is hope of translation pending further discoveries. The Dead Sea Scrolls were written over 2000 years ago in Hebrew on parchment and papyrus. Inscriptions on stone walls and tablets date back much further, to the Sumerian and Akkadian cuneiform script

Circular Reasoning: the Time-traveling Computer

2008-12-21T02:25:00.000-08:00

From Wikipedia:Let's suppose there is a computer that can communicate with itself both in the past and in the future. The computer calls up its future self:Computer: [12:00] Hello there. What's the answer to this really tough problem?Future Computer: [12:05] It's 16 widgets.Computer: [12:01] Great, thank you! (Hangs up) Let me check if this is correct... Yes it is! (Phone rings)Past Computer: [12

Reducing Presentism to Solipsism

2008-12-20T04:18:00.000-08:00

Presentism: the past is a memory; the future is a possibility; the present is the only reality. Objects in the past or the future do not actually exist; they are constructions in our minds. Let's suppose this theory of time is correct, and look at the example of the Sun. The sunlight that hits Earth is about 8 minutes old. When you look up during the day, you're not seeing the Sun; you're

No matter how far you run...

2008-12-12T15:12:00.001-08:00

... you'll never get away from yourself.

System Shock and the art of writing in video games

2008-10-25T05:19:00.001-07:00

When the history of my glory is written, your species shall only be a footnote to my magnificence. -SHODANThis remark shows the essence of the incredibly rich characterization in the game System Shock 2. SHODAN is an egomaniacal and manipulative A.I. with a god complex. Look at the comparison she makes here: the millions of years of human evolution, all of humanity's history, civilization,

Microwaving a burrito

2008-10-05T07:34:00.001-07:00

When microwaving a burrito, don't place it radially, like the hands of a clock. There are spots in a microwave oven that are cold - the microwaves destructively interfere there. If you put the burrito in the center of the spinning plate and look at the motion of the burrito, you'll see that the part in the center of the plate does not move at all, while the other parts of the burrito follow

Jewels

2008-06-06T06:15:00.000-07:00

Tolkien once praised the phrase "cellar door" as one of the most beautiful sounds in the English language. While reviewing vocabulary for the GRE, I came across a few words that struck me as particularly beautiful:CravenGossamerJabberNefariousSome words, however, are just awful:Pulchritude: (n) physical beauty.I'm sure I'd be slapped if I ever tell a girl I find her pulchritudinous.

"Nightfall" and the allegory of the cave

2008-06-02T00:58:00.000-07:00

You can read the short story "Nightfall" by Asimov here. Spoilers in the post below. Maybe Asimov had Plato's allegory of the cave in mind when he penned this story; he drops many references to the allegory. Both deal with the subject of revelation. It is an ironic transposition that the "Cave of Darkness", explicitly mentioned in "Nightfall", serves to reveal the truth rather than conceal it.In

A Writer's Nightmare

2008-05-17T19:15:00.000-07:00

Sometimes when I write, I have to stop to convince myself that I am not unwittingly committing plagiarism. What if, my little demon would nag, what if every word and phrase I am writing now has been written before? What if those ideas in my head are only memories of has-beens? My fear is that one day, while browsing in a bookstore, I find my stories in a book, verbatim, written years ago by

Future according to Sci-fi

2008-05-11T01:12:00.000-07:00

Here is a list of science fiction visions for the future.Apocalyptic wasteland: Mad Max. Terminator. Waterworld.Cyberpunk metropolis sprawl: Neuromancer, Matrix, Ghost in the Shell.Enlightened Utopia: Star Trek.Utopia with a twist: Brave New World. Gattaca.Dystopia: 1984.City-state as microcosm: Land of the Dead, Aeon Flux, Battlestar Galactica.Space westerns: Star Wars, Cowboy Bebop, Firefly,

I'm aware of my tongue

2008-05-06T17:24:00.000-07:00

Wonderful article from the Guardian by Charlie Brooker:Sometimes I feel giddy at the thought of being aliveI need to find that Peanuts strip he refers to.

Beauty

2008-05-04T22:54:00.000-07:00

I can't see beauty in things anymore. The flowers, the clear night sky, a girl's smile, they no longer stir my senses. It's as if my sense of beauty has been amputated, with only a stump left to remind me what was lost. But last night, in a dream, I found it again. I was riding a bus home and had gotten off at the wrong stop. I started to walk uphill, and the slight exertion heightened my sense

Detachment

2008-04-29T21:38:00.000-07:00

While outside, I have this feeling of separation from the concrete, the tangible. Everything seems filtered through a lens, as if I am viewing a memory or a dream. The morning commuters are usually perfect examples of realism, but to me they take on a film-noir tone. Their faces are obscured or expressionless masks. Vapor rises from the exhaust of a truck. Colors are dampened by the rain.

Untitled

2008-04-29T07:15:00.000-07:00

These are my thoughts. They were my thoughts, but now they are memories. They were memories, but now they are uncertainties. They were uncertainties, but now they are nothing.