CREATING ALIEN ALIENS Part 41: The Unreliable Narrator & A Culture of Lying

Five decades ago, I started my college career with the intent of becoming a marine biologist. I found out I had to get a BS in biology before I could even begin work on MARINE biology; especially because there WEREN'T any marine biology programs in Minnesota.

Along the way, the science fiction stories I'd been writing since I was 13 began to grow more believable. With my BS in biology and a fascination with genetics, I started to use more science in my fiction.
After reading hard SF for the past 50 years, and writing hard SF successfully for the past 20, I've started to dig deeper into what it takes to create realistic alien life forms. In the following series, I'll be sharing some of what I've learned. I've had some of those stories published, some not...I teach a class to GT young people every summer called ALIEN WORLDS. I've learned a lot preparing for that class for the past 25 years...so...I have the opportunity to share with you what I've learned thus far. Take what you can use, leave the rest. Let me know what YOU'VE learned. Without further ado...

Let me say first that I don’t believe that there is any chance left that an “honest politician” exists. I don’t care who they are or who they claim to be. Politicians (even our “best and brightest”) have one word in mind: Power. They desire above everything else to get power, keep power, and use power to help a) themselves; b) people they consider family; c) people in my party who think very much the way I do; d) (which normally doesn’t happen) “serve” my city/district/county/state/country/world.

Now that I have that cleared up (and I am uninterested in seeing your arguments unless you can offer me undeniable proof that I am wrong), how can I tell any kind of story about any kind of future I’d like to live in?

Star Wars? No – that’s just 20th Century Earth spread like manure over other planets.

Star Trek? No – that’s just a single man’s absurd belief that the universe would work the way HE wanted it to and that anyone who disagreed in any detail was wrong.

Babylon 5? It’s already just Earth written…well, not larger but spread farther than is believable but during which absolutely nothing changes.

Other Interplanetary Fictions that other people besides geeks read are irrelevant because not enough people know about them or read them (in any visual format that involves visible words) to take the tenets and apply them to reality. The only exception is George Orwell’s 1984, and as we have read (those of us who still read) it’s already been and is gone.

Dune? It offers absolutely nothing new or applicable to human existence – even at its simplest form, we can say that it’s here already (but without sandworms).

Fewer people read because first of all, reading is expensive: doesn’t matter what you read ON, you have to first be able to afford it and all the accoutrements that go with it (NOT including affordable electrical energy whether generated, stored, or created by some kind of chemical reaction.) cost some amount of money or trade.

Religion is unprovable. I happen to be an evangelical Christian myself, but I cannot in any convincing way offer you proof of my faith. The same goes for anything else based on something invisible – which also includes political systems: republic, democratic (true or any one of its various hybrid forms), theocratic, communist, or anarchy, or socialism (which inevitably devolves into dictatorship); or thought or emotion, neither of which is quantifiable in any way. (Of COURSE some aliens somewhere can quantify thought and emotion…it’s what we hope. It’s why Humans created every science fiction world – we want SOMEDAY to be better than we are.

BTW: Fantasy doesn’t count because ALL of it is based on thought or emotion, neither of which is quantifiable in any way.

So, is there any way for the Human organism to create an interplanetary society, explore space, and expand our place in the universe WITHOUT resorting to force?

Because that was the ONLY way Humanity could have evolved/was created – I can’t think of any way Humanity came to be. Every science fiction writer who has ever created a universe based on some science principle or another (or group of them) are only ENTERTAINING THEMSELVES AND EVENTUALLY OTHERS who choose to join them in their fun.

So, is there anywhere for Humanity to go? Once we create the energy to “get to the stars”, we’ll just transport all of the above off Earth and nothing will change; nothing will be different.

NOW, if you want to keep trying, that is up to you…well, not you PERSONALLY! YOU as a single person can’t do anything that would effect the future of Humanity. You’ll be dead in a genetically predetermined amount of time. You can certainly try and “make a difference” – but after watching the fantastical “Monuments Men”, it’s once again clear that Adolph Hitler CERTAINLY did make a difference.

So, what is my reason for writing science fiction? Sometimes I write it long; sometimes short. I certainly want people to READ what I write, but few people have published my writing, so a very small number had READ what I have to say; of course some have read it, but as far as I can tell, my writing hasn’t made any kind of difference in their lives. I haven’t converted anyone to my point of view.

How can I create a world people want to read about as avidly as I read about Anne McCaffery’s world of PERN (which stands for, apparently, Parallel Earth Negligible Resources – now isn’t THAT a joke on me!)?

I can’t be any more sure of my writing leaving a lasting impression on a young person’s mind and heart than she did, or Frank Herbert did, or JK Rowling did (ignore what I said about fantasy, it’s important! Just not my pot of tea!).

Every year fantasy and science fiction is written AROUND THE WORLD. In how many languages? A Western newspaper writes with self-assured authority (and jabs at people who disagree with it as NOT as superior as they are!) here: https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2015/sep/11/seek-out-new-worlds-of-science-fiction-damien-walter#:~:text=Seek%20out%20new%20worlds%20of%20science%20fiction,a%20global%20language%20describing%20our%20shared%20future.

They self-righteously concluded in 2015: “If any single theme unites…African folktales to Chinese legend – into to the science fiction canon…science fiction has become the mythology of today’s…world…embrac[ing] the rich and valuable world mythologies that came before it.”

Sources: Image: https://image.shutterstock.com/image-illustration/alien-human-600w-136457129.jpg

IDEAS ON TUESDAY 673

Each Tuesday, rather than a POSSIBLY IRRITATING ESSAY, I'd like to both challenge you and lend a helping hand. I generate more speculative and teen story ideas than I can ever use. My family rolls its collective eyes when I say, "Hang on a second! I just have to write down this idea..." Here, I'll include the initial inspiration (quote, website, podcast, etc.) and then a thought or two that came to mind. These will simply be seeds -- plant, nurture, fertilize, chemically treat, irradiate, test or stress them as you see fit. I only ask if you let me know if anything comes of them? Regarding Fantasy, this insight was startling: “I see the fantasy genre as an ever-shifting metaphor for life in this world, an innocuous medium that allows the author to examine difficult, even controversial, subjects with impunity. Honor, religion, politics, nobility, integrity, greed—we’ve an endless list of ideals to be dissected and explored. And maybe learned from.” – Melissa McPhail.

Fantasy Trope: Heroic Fantasy (Conan The Barbarian)
Current Event: http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-in-school/fantasy-fighting-takes-modernday-gladiators-back-in-time/article6178357.ece

Sukhjeev Hegde adjusted her brass brassiere and said, “Do you know why they make us wear these things?”

Shrugging, Vrishab Brahmbatt pulled up steel supporter and said, “Same reason I gotta wear this thing.”

“And that is…” she hefted the broadsword, swung it – and nearly chopped Vrish’s head off.

“Would you watch out with that thing!” he cried, then added, “It’s verisimilitude.”

“How can dressing this way be ‘an appearance or semblance of truth’ if it’s all fake anyway? We act like it’s true...”

“Why? So it will become truth? That’s the most fantastic thing you’ve said on this entire date!”

He pursed his lips, then said sullenly, “It’s not a date.”

“Sure it is!” Sukhjee said. “You asked me to come with you on this adventure thing and I said yes, if we can have a good cup of coffee afterwards.” She glared at him and added, “You’re not thinking of reneging on the coffee, are you?”

“No, we’ll still do the coffee, it’s just that I forgot to tell you something about this simulation.” The ground trembled suddenly and the rest of their mutuality turned to the castle gate as it wound down on heavy chains. The computer-generated images – Sukhjee had called them barely adequate shimmered and seemed to take on the weight of reality.

Without looking at Vrish, she said, “You forgot to tell me that at some magical command or when the Moon is in the Seventh House and Jupiter aligns with Mars that peace won’t be guiding the planets – those gigantic monster sheep with glow-in-the-dark scarlet eyes will?”

“You took the words right out of my mouth.”

“So, do we run or fight?” she asked.

What he assumed were the ‘real’ people had dropped their weapons and were running away from the sheepsters. “It’s a first date, I’m open to whatever you’d like to do.”

Sukhjee tossed her sword from one hand to the other, almost dropped it then grinned at Vrish then said, “Let’s go fight us some sheepsters, sweetie!” Along with the once-simulated army, she charged the creature who’d been joined by four others.

“Don’t call me ‘sweetie’,” Vrish said as he charged after his date.

Names: ♀ Sikh, India ; ♂ Hindu, India 

Image: https://i.pinimg.com/originals/98/71/e5/9871e52bbc09c525af21b8f6471eab15.jpg

WRITING ADVICE: Short Stories – Advice and Observation #32: JANE AUSTEN “& Me”

In this feature, I’ll be looking at “advice” for writing short stories – not from me, but from other short story writers. In speculative fiction, “short” has very carefully delineated categories: “The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America specifies word lengths for each category of its Nebula award categories by word count; Novel 40,000 words or over; Novella 17,500 to 39,999 words; Novelette 7,500 to 17,499 words; Short story under 7,500 words.”

I’m going to use advice from people who, in addition to writing novels, have also spent plenty of time “interning” with short stories. While most of them are speculative fiction writers, I’ll also be looking at plain, old, effective short story writers. The advice will be in the form of one or several quotes off of which I’ll jump and connect it with my own writing experience. While I don’t write full-time, nor do I make enough money with my writing to live off of it...neither do most of the professional writers...someone pays for and publishes ten percent of what I write. When I started this blog, that was NOT true, so I may have reached a point where my own advice is reasonably good. We shall see as I work to increase my writing output and sales! As always, your comments are welcome!

Without further ado, short story observations by Jane Austen – with a few from myself…

Most of you reading this have no idea who Jane Austen was or what (or more correctly, WHO) she created. Who was this woman who only wrote SIX novels, that have been made into countless movies, plays, and over a hundred adaptations of her novels (all written between 1811 and 1817 – they have only rarely been out of print in the last 218 years…). WHY are they so popular and why do they have such staying power? I did some digging, and thought I’d share what I’ve read! Finally, what can I apply to my own writing?

“I am not at all in a humor for writing; I must write on until I am.”

This one played to my personal strength as a stubborn dork! I can’t even count the number of times or manuscripts that have been rejected. I CAN tell you that I was rejected twenty-one times in the last year…yet in that same year, my novel EMERALD OF EARTH was released and has sold some copies. Even when I’m not “feeling like it”, I write. And like Austen says, “I write on until I AM in a humor for writing.”

1) Avoid stereotypical heroes (especially when unrealistic)

BTW: A woman driver in NASCAR would have been unthinkable a 100 years ago...

I will say that that is a difficult thing to avoid – another word writers use for “stereotypical” is “tropes”. A trope is best described that you use a character who is OBVIOUSLY going to behave in a particular way. The “absent-minded professor”; “action”; “the annoying/nosy neighbor”; “AIs as a menace to all Humanity”; “bimbo/bad boy”; “blind mystical seer”; “the chosen one” (you want to see some more? Go here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_stock_characters). So, I HAVE used one or two of these stereotypes, but then played them OPPOSITE (it’s also called “playing against type”. THAT’S fun; like taking the computer geek who is ALSO the best basketball player in the city who leads an unlikely team to a city championship!

2) Avoid clichés"

This is related to using stereotypes in your story; but clichés are situations that are inhabited by stereotypes. A “good” example of a cliché and a trope turned on its head would be: “‘Girls with guns’ is both a trope and stereotype, especially when it comes to blockbuster movies. Whilst some people may feel it’s a cliché as well, the fact is this trope-crossed-stereotype does well with audiences year on year.”

BUT, if you assign your female character the role of “babysitter” or “home-economics teacher”, then you’re perpetuating a cliché AND a trope. What if you created an interpol agent who had a horrible experience, went back to college, and got an education degree in home economics – and because a criminal he brought to justice was an international spy and assassin, so the agent became a “home-ec” teacher to protect his life and the life of his family. He is ALSO incredibly popular because (during his time as an international agent), he learned that he was a FABULOUS cook! Huh, that sounds interesting – forget you ever read this

3) Avoid superfluous details

"You describe a sweet place, but your descriptions are often more minute than will be liked. You give too many particulars to hold a readers interest." DON’T describe something in minute detail if those minute details aren’t incredibly important to the whole story! As a writing, everything you write needs to be VITAL to the story – if a reader gets to the end of the story in which you had your main character get kidnapped by aliens – and it DOESN’T MEAN ANYTHING, then you’ll have one angry reader (and thus, an angry EDITOR), and you’ll probably never make a sale to them again!

4) Revision requires cutting

"I hope when you have written a great deal more, you will be equal to scratching out some of the past." I have a rule-of-thumb for myself: If I start doing a revision and it’s only about 50 words shorter than when I started – then the revision isn’t DONE! (Unless the story was 100 words to start with. Then I have to go back and figure out if I cut something important!

Your words are just lights on your laptop or words on a sheet of paper – they should NOT BE CONSIDERED PERFECT OR WONDERS OF LITERATURE!

5) If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.

The first book Jane Austen sold for publication was NORTHANGER ABBEY in 1803, the publisher promised to bring it out soon and went so far as to advertise the book. It was 1809 before Jane Austen’s brother wrote to suggest to the publishers that they bring it out already, or at least give it back. The publisher said they’d bought and paid for it, they’d publish it whenever they darn-well felt like it.

This is the point when a lot of people would get discouraged. I’d probably have given up. Two years later, SENSE AND SENSIBILITY was published in 1811 by a different publisher; then PRIDE AND PREJUDICE (the one she’s best known for) in 1813, MANDFIELD PARK in 1814; EMMA in 1815 (of which JK Rowling said, “I love a good 'who-done-it', and my passion is plot construction. Readers love to be conned. The best twist ever in literature is in Jane Austen's EMMA. To me, she is the target of perfection at which we shoot in vain.", NORTHANGER ABBEY (finally!) in 1818 (sadly, Jane Austen had passed away), and finally, PERSUASION that year as well.

6) Don’t worry too much about trends.

Jules Verne was one of the very first true science fiction writers writing: Journey to the Center of the Earth in 1864, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas in 1870, and Around the World in Eighty Days in 1872. In the second one, he “invented” the military submarine; and in the third global balloon travel.

HG Wells invented alien invasions in WAR OF THE WORLDS; unheard of until then; and Arthur C. Clarke invented satellites; equally unheard of until he wrote them. Mary Shelly invented the idea of using electricity to bring a corpse back to life.

We call them defibrillators today…

7 Write About Topics You Know Well

“Jane Austen has been accused by critics of ignoring the larger world and historical events of the day in favor of every day occurrences in village life. Her reasons for these limitations were deliberate. To her way of thinking authors lost credibility if they wrote about topics that were out of their depth.”

OK – I’m going to defend using imagination to write with. I invented the idea of taking 12-years to tour the solar system with an entire, hollowed out asteroid as a spacecraft made out of an asteroid carrying a crew (and families), and all the equipment needed to do an intensive one year survey of each of the eight planets, a few trans-Neptunian objects, and a few more Mars-Jupiter asteroids…I wrote about it in EMERALD OF EARTH. I have physically experienced NO INTERPLANETARY EXPLORATION! (To be honest, neither does Emerald Marcillon…)

Jane Austen wrote much, much more advice about writing. The ones above had stuck with me; below you’ll find several other articles about her that you can use to explore her advice and see if any of it applies to your OWN writing!

References:
https://tammyletherer.com/10-jane-austen-quotes-will-make-sense-writing-life/
https://www.janeaustensummer.org/post/austen-s-advice-to-a-young-writer
https://www.janeaustensummer.org/post/austen-s-advice-to-a-young-writer#:~:text=%22I%20hope%20when%20you%20have,out%20some%20of%20the%20past.%22&text=I%20have%20made%20up%20my,%2C%20yours%2C%20and%20my%20own.

https://www.claudiagray.com/jane-austens-advice-for-writers/
https://medium.com/author-masterminds/how-jane-austens-resolve-sculpted-literary-history-73d00cec20cb#:~:text=Her%20influence%20extended%20beyond%20literature,enduring%20relevance%20of%20feminist%20perspectives.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-07-18/jane-austen-200-years-why-people-are-still-obsessed/8706510
https://exhibits.lib.lehigh.edu/exhibits/show/austen/about#:~:text=By%20the%20beginnings%20of%20the%2020th%20century%2C,universities%20added%20her%20works%20to%20their%20curriculums.&text=The%20films%2C%20modern%20literary%20reimaginings%2C%20and%20Austen%2Dthemed,such%20perspectives%2C%20which%20continue%20to%20prevail%20today.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Austen
https://digitalausten.org/node/50#:~:text=Jane%20Austen's%20novels%20are%20still%20relevant%20today,to%20change%20in%20correlation%20to%20modern%20times. 

Image: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhK6miXJMTMNyB3kzq-r6I2LVCTZJj0CDS0dPV2Qapl6e9rZPuHx2u5QKcKT1QGeDg1_tPMv-lpnuSr_eiBjwPXmex9mcgtuH2-SUtZEpGWV0_HdtJQelVt5K69NulJBUqNju5GNjHgQibXsIo4NeWpTOj4ai85jCRjMHOtwtkqshzxFvZPUSjXZNq6=s320

IDEAS ON TUESDAYS 672

Each Tuesday, rather than a POSSIBLY IRRITATING ESSAY, I'd like to both challenge you and lend a helping hand. I generate more speculative and teen story ideas than I can ever use. My family rolls its collective eyes when I say, "Hang on a second! I just have to write down this idea..." Here, I'll include the initial inspiration (quote, website, podcast, etc.) and then a thought or two that came to mind. These will simply be seeds -- plant, nurture, fertilize, chemically treat, irradiate, test or stress them as you see fit. I only ask if you let me know if anything comes of them. Octavia Butler said, “SF doesn’t really mean anything at all, except that if you use science, you should use it correctly, and if you use your imagination to extend it beyond what we already know, you should do that intelligently.”

SF Trope: "It occurs to me that robot stories about naturally-occurring robots present an untapped sci-fi resource in terms of commenting on what constitutes life, or a meditation on the machine like nature of biological man, etc."
Current Event: http://www.fromquarkstoquasars.com/scientists-create-life-like-cells-out-of-metal/

Ebony Jones pursed her lips, tweaking the landing jets of the surface ship. “I don’t like how it looks down there.”

Marquis Deonte ran another scan, tapping one of the readouts as he said, “It’s mechanical life, sure. Maybe the first time we’ve ever run across it naturally...”

“There’s nothing ‘natural’ about ‘mechanical life’. It’s an oxymoron,” she almost added “Like you...”, but decided against it. They’d butted heads enough times on the trip out from Earth – mostly because you could only live out virtual adventures so many times before you got bored. You could also only prep for landing on an alien world so many times before you were twitching in your sleep with the movements you’d repeated a million times.

You could only tell someone you just wanted to be friends so many times before you both started to... Marquis cut into her litany, saying, “Didn’t you come out here to find life as we DON’T know it?"

“Of course it’s what I want! Just because I question the possibility of some sort of metallic, mechanical...”

“Look! Down there!” he said, aiming the external sensors at the roiling surface.

Ebony said, “Besides, water mixed with just about any kind of salt would be corrosive to metal...”

“Our bones are metallic,” he said, his voice taking on the deadpan, lecture mode they’d fallen into after they’d first become fast friends. Since about ten months into the flight to HD 196944, a star rich in heavy metals when they’d stopped being best friends and become the banes of their separate existences.

“True, that. But...”

“There’s something moving under the surface,” said Marquis.

“I don’t see anything...”

“It’s not visible in our part of the spectrum. Change the frequency reception of your scanner. I’m getting lots of movement in the UV band. Also IR.”

She tapped the screen, slid a spectrum bar and watched as the imaged jumped into view. There were larger shapes deeper down. Smaller ones close to the surface. They were angular rather than rounded; mechanical rather than biological. “What kind of ecology would they have?” she muttered. After a moment, she said more loudly, “There’s something – cloudy – under the surface. Seems to be...” she paused, defaulted to a space-view of the lander, zoomed in then added, “The cloud is matching the shape of our shadow.”

“Huh?” Marquis said.

“Our shadow! A cloud is forming underneath us in the water.” Below them, something burbled, as if the water were boiling. A larger bubble burst beneath the surface, splashing the lander. Ebony swung the imager to the belly of the lander and cried, “The ship’s skin is boiling! I’m taking us up!” Without waiting for his confirmation, Ebony pushed the throttle to full...

Names: ♀, ♂ Top 20 Whitest and Blackest Names (http://abcnews.go.com/2020/story?id=2470131) Resource: http://io9.com/5628989/ten-tropes-youll-find-in-science-fiction---over-and-over-again
Image: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e1/Falcon_9_Demo-2_Launching_6_%283%29.jpg/220px-Falcon_9_Demo-2_Launching_6_%283%29.jpg

MINING THE ASTEROIDS Part 30: “Mining” of a DIFFERENT Type!

Initially, I started this series because of the 2021 World Science Fiction Convention, DisCON which I WOULD have been attending in person if I felt safe enough to do so in person AND it hadn’t been changed to the week before the Christmas Holidays…HOWEVER, as time passed, I knew that this was a subject I was going to explore because it's become FASCINATING…

Imagine my AMAZEMENT when I met someone who has done real research on asteroid, 4179 Toutatis! It may very well be one of the defining moments of my life!

I met a scientist who works for the SETI Institute!!!!!!!

Why is that significant? Do I think there are aliens traveling on Toutatis?

No, of course not! You think I’m crazy or something???? ‘cause I’m not! My mom said so! (My wife, kids, spouses, siblings, in-laws, and outlaws) think I’m a little weird, but that’s not the same as CRAZY!) No…the reason it’s so crazy is that:

1) A scientist who works for SETI (Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence) Institute will be coming to speak to a class I teach called Alien Worlds!

2) I used the asteroid 4179 Toutatis as the piece of space rock that NASA and several other world space agencies transformed into the Solar System Survey Ship, SOLAR EXPLORER in my 2024 YA/MS novel EMERALD OF EARTH!

So…I met the SETI Institute scientist at the recently completed MiniCon; and while I reported on the convention, I didn’t specifically mention meeting him.

When I did break away from my “sales table” to go see him, he was really nice AND totally normal! He sent me a link to the paper and I read it, understanding some of it, but not all of it. I DID read enough to know that it is NOT one of the asteroid that we’ll be mining any time soon.

I DO know that its orbit around the Sun takes it into the vicinity of Earth every four years or so, as well as approaching “fairly close” to Jupiter It also has a reasonable velocity and THAT is why I chose it. Below, you'll find a bit from my 2024 YA/MS novel, EMERALD OF EARTH

“…first glimpse of SOLAREX.”

“What is it?”

“Now it’s Humanity’s Last Greatest Adventure,” Rashida said as Emerald echoed word-for-word.

“I mean, what is it? A silver rocket ship?”

“It’s a hollowed out asteroid.”

“A what?” They passed through a garden filled with dark green bushes and plants that all had white blossoms in half-a-dozen shapes and sizes. The air was redolent. Even Rashida fell silent until they were through it.

“At one time, the asteroid was called 4179 Toutatis. We captured it, hollowed it out, and then turned around and smelted the metals from the rock into structural elements. Now it’s ready.”

“How does it move?”

Rashida smiled, leaned forward, and whispered, “It’s a secret, but I hear it has something to do with a subatomic black hole and a long fall.”

“What?”

 (photo of my daughter's interpretation of SOLAREX!)

The upshot of this is that Toutatis isn’t an asteroid we’ll ever mine. In fact, it’s been described as a “rubble pile”, that is, it’s a whole bunch of rocks that crashed into each other and stuck. It’s NOT a goldmine (or a palladium or silver or any other precious metal mine. Toutatis is a dump truck of rocks…which suits its use as an exploratory craft up for a remodel. It’s ALSO, however, not going to be terribly difficult to create a honeycomb of caves, hallways, and meeting places. Asteroids like Toutatis aren’t “soft” the way we think of soft…but they ARE soft in relation to say, an iron ore mine on the Cuyuna, or Mesabi, or the Vermillion Range.

My wife and I LOVE remodeling shows on various minor TV platforms. Maybe that’s why I love the idea of making Toutatis into a solar exploration ship – SOLAREX, in other words! So, this one isn’t about mining the asteroids for riches…so much as it’s about mining the asteroids – particular ones; of which Toutatis might be one; to carry us around the Solar System with relatively little effort. Which may be, in the long run, valuable in and of itself.

Today’s Source: https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/0004-6256/146/4/95/pdf; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4179_Toutatis#/media/File:Animation_of_4179_Toutatis's_orbit_around_Sun.gif ; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4179_Toutatis ; https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0019103512004113#:~:text=Surface%20composition%20of%20near%2DEarth,content%20and%20a%20differentiated%20body.
Foundational Resource: (A general Wikipedia post detailing what the authors currently know about asteroid mining: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asteroid_mining)
Noted Resources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_asteroid_close_approaches_to_Earth
, https://www.pharostribune.com/news/local_news/article_7fcd3ea5-3c14-533f-a8d5-9bf629922f34.html, https://www.fool.com/investing/2022/04/29/like-asteroid-mining-be-careful-what-you-wish-for/, https://www.nps.gov/wrbr/learn/historyculture/theroadtothefirstflight.htm, https://hackaday.com/2019/03/27/extraterrestrial-excavation-digging-holes-on-other-worlds/, https://www.planetary.org/space-missions/every-small-worlds-mission
Interesting Stuff The Might Apply To Mining Asteroids: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cgej7gzg8l0o

Image: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Josep-Trigo-Rodriguez/publication/261287332/figure/fig4/AS:296933672407047@1447805912917/El-asteroide-4179-Toutatis-nos-muestra-que-se-encuentra-formado-por-dos-objetos-de-4-y.png

IDEA ON TUESDAY 671

Each Tuesday, rather than a POSSIBLY IRRITATING ESSAY, I'd like to both challenge you and lend a helping hand. I generate more speculative and teen story ideas than I can ever use. My family rolls its collective eyes when I say, "Hang on a second! I just have to write down this idea..." Here, I'll include the initial inspiration (quote, website, podcast, etc.) and then a thought or two that came to mind. These will simply be seeds -- plant, nurture, fertilize, chemically treat, irradiate, test or stress them as you see fit. I only ask if you let me know if anything comes of them. Regarding horror, I found this insight in line with WIRED FOR STORY: “ We seek out…stories which give us a place to put our fears…Stories that frighten us or unsettle us - not just horror stories, but ones that make us uncomfortable or that strike a chord somewhere deep inside - give us the means to explore the things that scare us…” – Lou Morgan (The Guardian)

H Trope: auto-cannibalism
Current Event: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-cannibalism

Kari leaned from behind him while the movie in Forensics flickered on the screen in front of the class, whispering in his ear, “You know, if you bite your fingernails, the pieces will poke through your intestines and you’ll get a bleeding ulcer.”

“Shut up,” Mark hissed back at her.

Mr. Stanton looked up from the paper he was correcting and scowled at the two of them.

After class, Kari tapped Mark on the shoulder and said, “You’re the one who asked me to bug you about it.”

“Yeah, but…” he stopped talking as a pair of freshmen boys ran like elementary kids down the hall, cutting between him and Kari. It was a good thing, Mark decided. He’d almost told her the real reason he wanted to stop biting his nails. Or horking his snot or sucking the blood from a hangnail or any of the other instances of him eating his own flesh and blood. It started out as accidental. He’d been playing boot hockey over Christmas break and he’d been whanged in the nose and gotten a fierce nosebleed. Swallowing the blood to keep from grossing everyone out by spitting it on the ice had started something inside of him.

“‘Yeah, but’ what?” Kari asked when they pulled together again.

Mark shrugged and said, “I’ll tell you at lunch.”

Inside, he heard his Inner Voice say, “No you won’t. You won’t tell anyone about me. You just keep feeding me and when I’m big enough, I’ll come out and we’ll take over the world…”

Name Source: Local, Minnesota
Image: https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51niGRrH6DL.jpg

SLICE OF PIE: LIBRARY PASSPORT Leads To Surviving the Information Apocalypse!!!

On October 7, 2007, I started this blog. Eighteen years later, I am revising and doing some different things. My wife and I are now retired senior citizens, our kids are both married, we have a bonus daughter and her wife and we have three grandchildren, (with a fourth on-the-way!) the oldest of which will soon finish his first year in high school, one smack in the center of Middle School; the third almost done with kindergarten. I have forty-five professional publications, plus countless other publications as a slushpile reader, and sometime essay contributor to Stupefying Stories https://stupefyingstories.blogspot.com/.

These days, I write whenever I want to – or when I’m not busy exploring the world with my wife or kids or grandkids. I write and read constantly. Then I discovered that I was writing longer and longer pieces. My new focus is to write shorter; and to write HUMOR. On purpose.

To that end, I thought I’d share the startling flow of ideas I gleaned from the results of my birthday present.

A few days ago, my son and his family presented me with a novel artifact: a HENNEPIN COUNTY LIBRARY PASSPORT. Everyone has a library card, right?

Or is that just a naïve assumption made by an old man (68 a few days ago) and foisted off on the world of the first quarter of the 21st Century.

Here are some numbers: “Some 61% of Americans ages 16 and older say they have a library card for a public library. These card holders are more likely to be female, white, under the age of 65, and suburban and urban residents, and are also more likely to have higher levels of education or live in higher income households. About 21% of library card holders did not visit the library in the past 12 months, and 17% of those who have used a public library in the past year say they do not have a library card.”

“According to the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions, there are around 2.8 million libraries worldwide. Most of those (2.2 million) are school libraries, over 410,000 are public libraries, and a whopping 85,623 are academic libraries, like those found here at High Point University.”

OK – NOT everyone has one. BUT, it’s possible for everyone (pretty much) to GET one. So what happened on our first trip to eight different libraries listed on the passport?

First, something funny.

After walking through the library to our areas of differing interests, my granddaughter asked the librarian, “What’s with all the chickens on the columns?” Posted on every column was a picture of some breed of chicken – even the most outlandish: watch this YouTube for the silliest ones (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=daQ7-hi54_E)

The librarian replied, “Well, it’s CHICKEN month!”
My son asked, “What was last month?”
With a totally straight face, she replied, “Financial Literacy Month.”

I couldn’t help it. I busted out laughing, TOTALLY not expecting something so totally opposite from Chicken Month…”

Another fact: one of the Hennepin County Libraries was built out of a couple of buildings that they converted out of the Grain Belt Brewery building. THAT place has a rich history. The librarian and I got into a long discussion because she remembered how UNdeveloped the portion of the Twin Cities that she moved to was. I entered the discourse by telling her that not only was it undeveloped when SHE moved there, I remember when the city she now lives in was INCORPORATED and that there was nothing but potato fields and cows out that way! She tried to one-up-me by acting like she knew more about the northwestern suburbs of Minneapolis than I did…and being who I am, I one-upped-HER…

Which does NOT lead to this following tidbit. She noted that there were, in fact catacombs underneath the old Grain Belt Brewery… (actually, “The Grain Belt name first appeared in 1893 as the "Golden Grain Belt Old Lager," then brewed by the Minneapolis Brewing Company. The Minneapolis Brewing Company was a conglomerate of four other Minneapolis-based breweries, formed in 1890 by the consolidation of the F.D. Noerenberg Brewery, John Orth Brewing Company, Heinrich Brewing Association, and Germania Brewing Association. It was one of the largest breweries in the United States at that time.”)

“CATACOMBS?” I exclaimed.

She leaned forward and said softly, “And they’re still there.”

THAT statement led to this idea: I have a very science fictional mind, and I thought, “Wouldn’t that be a fascinating place for a group to survive the Information Apocalypse?” (“The rise of generative artificial intelligence (AI) has ignited a debate about its effects on the mis- and disinformation landscape. Some scholars foresee doomsday scenarios of epistemic and information apocalypse (Fallis, 2021; Schick, 2020), AI being used as a “weapon of mass disruption” (Bremmer & Kupchan, 2023), or a complete blurring of boundaries between true and false (Metz, 2023).”

And there, you go. Have fun with your imagination!

Inspiration: https://www.highpoint.edu/library/2023/06/12/16252/#:~:text=According%20to%20the%20International%20Federation,here%20at%20High%20Point%20University.
Links: https://libguides.ala.org/librarystatistics/largest-public-libs, https://www.highpoint.edu/library/2023/06/12/16252/#:~:text=According%20to%20the%20International%20Federation,here%20at%20High%20Point%20University. ,
https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2013/12/11/section-1-an-overview-of-americans-public-library-use/#:~:text=their%20family%20does.-,Library%20card%20holders,not%20have%20a%20library%20card. , https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grain_Belt_(beer) , https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/polp.12617#:~:text=While%20an%20%E2%80%9Cinformation%20apocalypse%E2%80%9D%20has,Vaccari%20&%20Chadwick%2C%202020). 

Image: https://i.ytimg.com/vi/eXjZE9XyfnM/hq720.jpg?sqp=-oaymwEhCK4FEIIDSFryq4qpAxMIARUAAAAAGAElAADIQj0AgKJD&rs=AOn4CLD9BOGeXBu6-9FfdYmRzmKgq0iwJg

IDEAS ON TUESDAY 670

Each Tuesday, rather than a POSSIBLY IRRITATING ESSAY, I'd like to both challenge you and lend a helping hand. I generate more speculative and teen story ideas than I can ever use. My family rolls its collective eyes when I say, "Hang on a second! I just have to write down this idea..." Here, I'll include the initial inspiration (quote, website, podcast, etc.) and then a thought or two that came to mind. These will simply be seeds -- plant, nurture, fertilize, chemically treat, irradiate, test or stress them as you see fit. I only ask if you let me know if anything comes of them? Regarding Fantasy, this insight was startling: “I see the fantasy genre as an ever-shifting metaphor for life in this world, an innocuous medium that allows the author to examine difficult, even controversial, subjects with impunity. Honor, religion, politics, nobility, integrity, greed—we’ve an endless list of ideals to be dissected and explored. And maybe learned from.” – Melissa McPhail.

Fantasy Trope: Shapeshifting and Animal Creation 

https://www.discoverwildlife.com/animal-facts/insects-invertebrates/biggest-spiders-in-the-world
Current Event: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/researchers-discover-a-rare-carnivorous-caterpillar-that-wears-dead-insect-parts-to-fool-spiders-180986506/

Huda crouched behind the wall of an American office building, staring at the surface. “It’s moving like bugs are crawling all over it.” She’d grown up in Gaza after the War.

Her best friend, Schlomo said, “You trying to make me run out of here screaming? You know how much I hate creepy-crawlies!”

“You sound like an American movie star.” She refused to admit that she loved the American movies when his Israeli-Administrator mother kept letting them watch.

“I do not!”

“Oh, you’re right. In American movies, the boys are brave and eat spiders for breakfast, and all the girls do is dress nice and scream when anything interesting happens.” Shaking her head, she rolled her eyes.

“It wouldn’t hurt you to act more…feminine.”

“O. Ouch,” she deadpanned. “You’re just jealous because my clothes are nicer than yours.”

“And you’re always irritated that your future consists of an arranged marriage and the life of a scullery maid.”

She snorted, “As if!” She paused and lifted a finger. The immense spider began to glow.

Schlomo said, “It has to be slow. I can’t hold onto it if it starts to grow too fast.”

“I’ll just step on it…”

“Like you say? ‘As if’. This sucker’s going to inflate faster than a Martian Rescue Pod. I need to hold it in thrall until we get everything ready. Do it like we planned – slow and steady and we’ll have an enchanted spider big enough to climb the wall and slip through that open window.” He paused, rolled his eyes and said, “Which I have to admit, you did a nice job of getting that loud-mouthed soldier freak to do the dirty work. I heard he’s got a kill list as long as his arm,” he glanced at her. “That’s literally, by the way. He gets a tatt of each Israeli he snuffs.”

She nodded. “You’re welcome.” The spider continued to inflate until it was the size of a child. Concentrating, Schlomo made it stand up slowly, then take a step. “It looks like a spider trying to walk on its back legs!”

“It is!” he snapped. “You try making a spider look like its walking like a Human – even a little kid!” After several steps, it started walking and teetering less. “Good. You’re good at this.”

He glanced at her. The new generations of Israelis and Palestinians were tired of hearing how bad “the other side” was. With the first Apparation Spell opening a gate Humans could travel to the Red Planet. The manifesting spell that formed a breathable bubble of air ten kilometers across had held for the past Earth-year. The fact that it was too dangerous to adapt older adults into Humans who could not just survive there, but live there for good – colonizing fell to the young. They were grinning like idiots.

Huda scowled, then muttered, “What’s going on? There’s some kind of magical energy leaking into the Dome.”

“What?” Schlomo. Then he held his breath. Whispering, “I recognize the signature on that spell…”

Names: ♀ Palestinian, Huda ; ♂ Israel, Schlomo

Image: https://i.pinimg.com/originals/98/71/e5/9871e52bbc09c525af21b8f6471eab15.jpg

SLICE OF PIE: Why Do the Avenger Movies Make Me So ANGRY; Part 1?

On October 7, 2007, I started this blog. Sixteen years later, I am revising and doing some different things. My wife and I are now retired senior citizens, our kids are both married, we have a bonus daughter and her wife and we have three grandchildren, (with a fourth on-the-way!) the oldest of which will soon finish his first year in high school, one smack in the center of Middle School; the third almost done with kindergarten. I have forty-five professional publications, plus countless other publications as a slushpile reader, and sometime essay contributor to Stupefying Stories https://stupefyingstories.blogspot.com/.
These days, I write whenever I want to – or when I’m not busy exploring the world with my wife or kids or grandkids. I write and read constantly. Then I discovered that I was writing longer and longer pieces. My new focus is to write shorter; and to write HUMOR. On purpose. Maybe I can still irritate people while being funny. It works pretty well for John Scalzi! We’ll see what happens.

This essay isn’t going to be funny. Actually, it’s sort of grim…

I grew up on the short, “average end” of the DNA strand. When I tell people I grew up in a family where my father had played football and basketball as a kid growing up in a poorer neighborhood of Minneapolis. I know anyone living in New York City, Chicago, Calcutta, or Port-au-Prince had it far tougher, probably deadly. Two younger brothers were football, hockey, then baseball and track-and-field; sister was softball and volleyball, and mom had been on the Fencing team at the University of Minnesota.

To say we ate, drank, and lived SPORTS was an adequate conclusion. I was pudgy after I had my tonsils out, and it seemed that what I WAS interested in (music was OK, Dad and one brother did it, Mom sang, too). Acting, swimming, and camping were WEIRD. Being a committed follower of Christ was even weirder. I was smart enough, but never EXCELLED at anything…

Bullies – from my brothers down to Tom, a neighborhood bully who physically slugged me; added to that all the guys who intimidated me at the slightest drop of a hat. The cherry on top was my name: Guy. The decade had arrived where calling me gay-Guy carried a truckload of sexual innuendo (and not ONLY innuendo – some was outright claim-that-it-was-a-fact.) and stigma.

I survived due to a complex protective mix of…well, I’ll stop there to say that after re-watching for the dozenth time, I discovered that the AVENGER movies – specifically, the SPIDERMAN movies, the IRONMAN movies, and finally, the THANOS movies were making me seethe with anger.

I discovered that the Avengers Universe (aka the MCU or Marvel Comics Universe) overflows with BULLIES. Every single one of the movies – these UNIVERSAL GOOD women and men – not only faced unfairness and persecution by bullies over and over – they also BULLIED characters (including each other – I think specifically of Antman, who appears to be a doormat more than a LOT of times…) in the movies. Even the highest and mightiest, the ones I MOST respected: Captain America, Spiderman, Black Panther, Captain Marvel, and Vision…are repeatedly bullied – and they respond with bullying others weaker than them.

Of course, the biggest and most powerful bully was Ironman. And yet, the writers and watchers worked hard to make us both feel sorry for him, and endear him to us, so that, despite how much bullying Spiderman and Ironman perpetrated, not only were they OUTBULLIED by Thanos, I wept at that last scene where Spiderman (aka Peter Parker) wept over the loss of his (abusive) father-figure, Tony Stark (aka Ironman)…

By definition I will use this one from THE ANTIBULLYING ALLIANCE: “The repetitive, intentional hurting (physically, emotionally, or spiritually) of one person or group by another person or group, where the relationship involves an imbalance of power. Bullying can be physical, verbal, or psychological. It can happen face-to-face or online (or in the Spirit realm or in another dimension, or teleportation (whether actual or spiritual).” (https://anti-bullyingalliance.org.uk/tools-information/all-about-bullying/understanding-bullying/definition)

I’m not going to go through all of the Avenger movies; I will note some obvious instances – of course is in the first scene of the first movie: Steve Rogers is getting beat up by a kid in Queens in 1942.

After that, all you need to do is think a bit and you’ll find scenes from all of them of bullying. The ones that leap out to me are Wanda bullying just about everyone she comes into contact with for her entire tenure in the Avengers. She even bullies Vision.

Steve Rogers (himself a victim of brutal bullying) resorts to bullying what’s left of the Avengers when he repeatedly says that nothing anyone else says or thinks is important – his opinion is the only valid one.

King T’Challa, like all the other bullies in the MCU vacillates wildly between a (literarily pathetic) figure and a brutal bully, forcing his will on everyone in sight – including the woman he’s trying to woo…I could see the results of THAT one coming from a million light-years away.

The god Thor acts like Steve Rogers and pushes everyone around, even resorting to bulling his “girlfriend” to get his way…(isn’t that an actionable behavior…Oh! He’s a god, he’s exempt…)

Rocket Racoon continually bullies everyone he comes into contact with (and is excused because he was treated badly as a cyborg raccoon); also, Ego bullies the entire universe; Star Lord does some bullying, then retreats a bit…

OK – I’ve got both a point and a badly missed deadline. I’ll be back to finish this next week.

Inspiration: The Marvel Cinematic Universe, https://www.space.com/marvel-movies-in-order
Image: https://rchsprowler.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/il_794xN.2741269623_o55v-636x900.jpg

IDEAS ON TUESDAYS 669

Each Tuesday, rather than a POSSIBLY IRRITATING ESSAY, I'd like to both challenge you and lend a helping hand. I generate more speculative and teen story ideas than I can ever use. My family rolls its collective eyes when I say, "Hang on a second! I just have to write down this idea..." Here, I'll include the initial inspiration (quote, website, podcast, etc.) and then a thought or two that came to mind. These will simply be seeds -- plant, nurture, fertilize, chemically treat, irradiate, test or stress them as you see fit. I only ask if you let me know if anything comes of them. Octavia Butler said, “SF doesn’t really mean anything at all, except that if you use science, you should use it correctly, and if you use your imagination to extend it beyond what we already know, you should do that intelligently.”

SF Trope: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ForWantOfANail
Sparking Event: http://www.breitbart.com/video/2014/11/15/maher-if-obama-had-lost-us-wouldnt-have-fruit-or-jobs/ + A Prompt From My Niece-In-Law: wool, celery, parallel universe, dynamite, fireman’s ball, fishing tackle.

Jose Taylor-Perez shrugged his shoulders, settling his wool sweater more comfortably. “You eat that and it’ll be like someone lit a stick a dynamite and shoved it up your…”

Emily Patel-Kelly tossed the celery stick at him then punched Jose in the shoulder, “If you weren’t my best friend, that would have been hard enough to knock the humerus out of the ball park.” She snickered, “Not that anything short of a wrecking ball would be able to knock any of your face bones free of that fishing tackle in your mouth.”

“Hey! No fair! I can’t do anything about braces!” he said, shaking his head, “Besides, your premed jokes are only funny to you…added to that, you won’t even be able to BE premed until at the earliest your junior year.”

Ignoring the frustrating fact that she couldn’t start college until she could do College In The Schools, she said, “Like I can do anything about a celery allergy?” She lifted her chin, “Besides, I don’t exactly have a standard reaction to it.”

“You can say that again,” he said as he fiddled with his transparent computer tablet where it hovered over his lap. “You’re the only person I know that can use a V8 Harvest and Strawberry Smoothie as a gateway to a parallel universe.”

She shook her head, “I wish I could see into the universe where I passed this history final with flying colors.”

“That’s for sure,” said Jose. “I’ll never remember who came after President McCain.”

“Don’t be such a sexist – President Palin took over after McCain had his coronary two years after he got elected.”

“Right, the first lady...”

“No, it was the First Husband Todd…” she said, adding a smirk.

“I was gonna say, ‘President’.”

Shaking her head, Emily hunched over her own transparent tablet, setting it to project a holographic screen in front of her. Walking her fingers through a manipulation panel, she absentmindedly picked up a celery stick and shoved it into her mouth. After her eyes grew wide, she muttered, “Oh, crap...”

“What’s wrong?” Jose asked. Her tablet began to glow then flames flickered around the edges as she tried to shove the instrument away from her. “You ate the celery!” He exclaimed. “Why did you do that?”

“I wasn’t thinking! I was playing around with tensor calculus…”

“And you opened a door into a parallel universe!” Jose shouted as the fire alarms went off and a robot fireman’s ball floated out from its nook and began to sprout nozzles. “Now we’re gonna…”

An explosion cut him off…

Names: ♀ ; ♂
Image: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e1/Falcon_9_Demo-2_Launching_6_%283%29.jpg/220px-Falcon_9_Demo-2_Launching_6_%283%29.jpg

SLICE OF PIE: Contemplating The Future

On October 7, 2007, I started this blog. Sixteen years later, I am revising and doing some different things. My wife and I are now retired senior citizens, our kids are both married, we have a bonus daughter and her wife and we have three grandchildren, (with a fourth on-the-way!) the oldest of which will soon finish his first year in high school, one smack in the center of Middle School; the third almost done with kindergarten. I have forty-five professional publications, plus countless other publications as a slushpile reader, and sometime essay contributor to Stupefying Stories https://stupefyingstories.blogspot.com/.

These days, I write whenever I want to – or when I’m not busy exploring the world with my wife or kids or grandkids. I write and read constantly. Then I discovered that I was writing longer and longer pieces. My new focus is to write shorter; and to write HUMOR. On purpose. Maybe I can still irritate people while being funny. It works pretty well for John Scalzi! We’ll see what happens.

With the birth of our new GD, I’ve been thinking about what kinds of things might be “normal” for her when she “gains her majority” (aka Turning 18!). As she was born a few days ago, that will be in April of 2043. Truthfully? That doesn’t seem to be all that far away!

So, let me add a few years and make her legal anywhere (currently) on Earth: make her 25, to the year and it will be 2050. Nice round number; I should be able to get a few INTERESTING Futurecasts!

The WORLD IN 2050: PS – I will be staying ENTIRELY AWAY FROM POLITICS (except in a very, very broad way). Let’s start by looking backward 25 years, to 2000.

Now THERE was a year! The number one thing was the there was a firm belief – practically a a-Religious PROPHECY, that all computer programs would be crashing into an incoherent alphanumeric pile of incomprehensible gibberish. Doubt me?

https://cdn.forumcomm.com/dims4/default/12c6c2d/2147483647/strip/true/crop/927x618+119+0/resize/1680x1120!/format/webp/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fforum-communications-production-web.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2Fce%2Ffe%2Fd43181d84cff9b15bd00ea2e97ce%2Fthe-forum-1999-12-17-23.jpg

https://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/picture-gallery/news/local/2019/12/17/20-years-since-y-2-k-burlington-free-press-covers-millennium/2672976001/

And of course, our great friends at the Weekly World News:

https://www.thecrudelife.com/2022/10/08/esg-tricks-in-energy-environment-and-empowerment/

Really?

No big deal, eh?

So, what do the pundits expect for the world ALL of my grandkids will likely be living in?

Well, the Worst-Casers are certain Earth will look like this:

https://www.single.earth/blog/worst-case-climate-scenario-rcp85

This outlook expects Paris to feel like North Africa (ie. Sahara); “By the end of the century, we’ll have an entirely different planet.”

It’s concerning that this particular “prophecy” expects that everything will continue on as it is, without any kind of technology advances, nothing mentioning a space program, nothing changing to replace drilled oil, nothing with Artificial Intelligence…in fact, it seems to miss a number of different possibilities to arrive at a very grim future for Humanity. Oddly, the author talks about their great hopes for NetZero and the continued march of the “consensus among scientists” and “limiting global warming” and that “emissions of greenhouse gases must be reduced quickly.” Apparently, “most politicians” know about it, but any effect in which they lead by example “is far from global”. Sadly, “…it's easy to assume [that pollution, extinction of species, depletion of resources, and climate change] are exclusive to the modern world. But a huge collaborative study in Science reveals that early humans across the entire globe were changing and impacting their environments as far back as 10,000 years ago.” https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/08/190829150702.htm

So, what are some of the GOOD changes we might see by 2050?

“…not just about AI… Clean energy technologies, such as solar energy and electric vehicles, have crossed the tipping point into mainstream commodities that are rapidly scaling and getting cheaper every year…gene-editing technology, such as CRISPR, have brought us bioengineering, the ability to engineer all living things, and are opening up the possibilities of a much more sustainable world more in sync with nature…”

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/08/190829150702.htm)

“Technology may be seamlessly integrated, and augmented/virtual reality, with artificial intelligence is everywhere. We no longer work, learn, or interact with each other. It will be as different as the Zulu Kingdom with its advances in warfare, agriculture, and pottery interacting through the Fourth and what was registered in Europe as the mid-19th Century, and Last Imperial Dynasty. They knew of each other, but didn’t interact much separated by culture, language, and history.

“TRULY renewable energy sources, actual ecofriendly, circular economies will be the norm, with cities designed for minimal environmental impact will begin to grow -- literally. Space Exploration and Colonization will become an unremarkable norm. Space tourism will become common, allowing many more civilians to experience the wonders of the cosmos. A healthcare revolution, led by advances in tele-health and medical technology may lead to personalized medicine, genetic therapies, and breakthroughs in disease prevention. Nanobots may be used to treat countless conditions from common diseases, to re-engineering DNA to prevent the passage of heritable disease, and wearable devices will monitor and enhance our mental health on a moment-by-moment basis. MIGHT leverage artificial intelligence for efficient public services, decision-making, and policy implementation. Smart cities with interconnected systems will enhance urban planning and resource management. Bioengineered organs may appear, but ethical considerations surrounding genetic modification will enter public discourse. Hyperconnectivity might facilitate instantaneous communication and collaboration on a global scale. Brain-machine interfaces may enable direct communication between the human brain and computers.

The biggest surprises of 2050 might be the ways my grandchildren interact in unexpected ways as we adapts and innovate in response to the challenges and opportunities of this wild future.

Did ANYONE really foresee (in 1975, the year I graduated from high school, thank you very much), what EXACTLY…(no, let’s not even demand exactness…) even approximately, what the 18-year-old-me’s grandchildren would be doing with a device so thin is could be slipped into their jeans pockets, whipped out, and do the equivalent of SEARCHING THE ENTIRE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS as well as the libraries of virtually whatever language they chose -- to answer a science, sociology, or technology question…or INSTANTLY know which of the Beatle’s were still alive; the original name of the current Dali Lama; or the value comparison of 1 ₽ or 1 ₼ or 1 R$ or 1 € or 1 ₪ or 1 ₱ to 1 $, in an amount of time that would (on a bad day) take sixty seconds to discover?

No.

And THAT’S what I expect to happen in 2050. I don’t freaking know; I can’t guess; but I CAN imagine, and no one can argue with me…

(https://www.forbes.com/sites/soulaimagourani/2023/12/09/2050-unveiled-a-glimpse-into-the-future/)

Image: https://www.shutterstock.com/image-generated/dubai-downtown-2050-flying-cars-virtual-2452049793