future
Exploring the future of science today, while looking back on the achievements from yesterday. Science fiction is science future.
Heart-Rending Poems for Sci-Fi Fanatics
Distant relatives to the familiar "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star," these sci fi poems are raw, real, and sometimes almost too close for comfort. They blur the line between speculation and reality in their carefully composed stanzas and bring us to mini existential crises - not earth-shattering ones. Each is just the right size to bring along to a good evening of poetry for the starry-eyed dreamer. (And if no one you know is cool enough to host one, you'd better send out invitations to your own. I suggest hot beverages, an antipasto platter, and no, I'm not doing anything, of course I would be delighted to come, thank you for asking!)
By Sarah Quinn8 years ago in Futurism
Space
In a recent Omni article, "New Words Were Needed," I looked at some of the commonalities between modernism and science fiction. After inventorying some of the ways science fiction transposes modernist formal concerns to the level of story, I wrote, "And those are just some of the techniques of modernism; I won't even mention postmodernism."
By M. Thomas Gammarino8 years ago in Futurism
The Space Museum Lover's Bucket List
One of the best things about going to a space museum is sharing the experience with astrophile friends and family who are as ready to nerd out as you are. If space shuttles, planetariums, lunar rocks, and astronaut suits get you all kinds of excited, then prepare to blast off to geek paradise with this list of the best space museums in the whole world.
By Sarah Quinn8 years ago in Futurism
The Sci-Fi Museum Lover's Bucket List
If you’re a true fan of science fiction, whether campy or classic, space opera or speculative fiction, Star Trek or Jules Verne, you probably can’t get enough of the worlds your favorite characters inhabit, the clothes they wear, and the technology they wield. Lucky you, because some of the most exciting artifacts and memorabilia are exhibited in carefully curated museums around the world, and the momentum is building for even more. Check out this bucket list of already-existing sci-fi museums and exhibits, then get ready for two world-class museums coming to Hollywood, California and Washington D.C. in the years to come.
By Sarah Quinn8 years ago in Futurism
Orwell's 1984 Was Optimistic
When George Orwell wrote his most famous, and last, novel, 1984, it was against a backdrop of rising fascist totalitarianism in Europe. Hitler, Stalin, Mussolini, Franco, all turned their respective democratic nations into oppressive regimes. While Hitler sought war with Europe, Stalin declared war on his own people, purging the Soviet Union of anyone he feared might usurp him – they numbered in the millions. It was after participating in the Spanish Civil War, against Franco’s Nationalists, that Orwell’s writing direction turned towards one of speaking out against totalitarianism and promoting democratic socialism.
By Jacob Frommer8 years ago in Futurism
New Words Were Needed
I spent the past semester teaching two separate courses— one on science fiction, the other on modernism— to some very bright high school students. Having expected to suffer some intellectual whiplash as I shifted several times a day from talking about aliens and cyberpunk to Dadaism and the Harlem Renaissance, I was relieved at how naturally it all came to me. No doubt this is because I like all this stuff and generally know my way around it, but what surprised me was how much overlap these "genres" turned out to have (they're not really "genres," but I can't seem to find a better word)— that is, that I enjoy Ulysses and A Martian Odyssey for many of the same reasons; it's just that these reasons are operating at different levels of the text.
By M. Thomas Gammarino8 years ago in Futurism
Who Will Survive the Next Biotic Crisis?
While the next biotic event is probably not in the near future, fossil records clearly testify that extinction is an unavoidable fate for all species. The real question remains: what is left in the wake of mankind? Our lineage is more likely to be altered through evolution than entirely snuffed out.
By Brian Switek8 years ago in Futurism
Why 3D Printing Will Change the World
1984, Orwell’s prophetic year of Big Brother, saw the release of the Mac which broke the idea that centralized control could ever be what it was before. That year also saw the first workable prototype for a 3D printer. Built by Charles Hull, the technology was then known as stereolithography. We know it as 3D printing, and that’s a term that covers a variety of different processes which may revolutionize all stages of the global manufacturing and distributing process. In that very science fictional year, Hull set off a revolution that is only now seeing fruition. 3D printing continues to threaten the social and economic structures which preceded it. When we speak about 3D printing, we’re speaking of a general technique of printing successive layers to form a three dimensional object at the end. From powder to paper to human tissue, these thin membranes are laid down like the construction of a plaster mask. From that simple concept, the 3D printer offers the reverse of Ford’s mass production revolution. Printing one item is now as cost effective in some cases as manufacturing a thousand items in the traditional way.
By Chris Lites8 years ago in Futurism