Tag: smart things

Smart Things: KSR on leaving the Earth

When I consider the solar system as our working neighborhood, I am reminded not of “the final frontier,” but of Antarctica. Our Antarctic stations are a bit like moon bases that we can reach with airplanes. We staff them with rotating crews, and carry out interesting and useful research, but fully inhabiting the ice is not crucial to progress in… Read more →

Monday Night Miscellany

Like real-time strategy games? Like science fiction? How about a real-time strategy game where you (and your units) can time travel. Imagine sending future units back to fight alongside themselves against an enemy in the past… you thought keeping track of your units and tech tree was a headache, wait for the fourth dimension. Maybe before you get too interested… Read more →

Today’s Brilliant Quote

Spotted on Jonathan Carroll’s blog today: “The secret of life,” said sculptor Henry Moore to poet Donald Hall, “is to have a task, something you devote your entire life to, something you bring everything to, every minute of the day for your whole life. And the most important thing is—it must be something you cannot possibly do.” Yes, I quite… Read more →

Sf Writers Say Smart Things: Sterling Again

“But, although we’re very good at giving ourselves things to buy, we’re not very good at understanding ourselves. We don’t really know what we want. And that’s really a cultural vaccuum there–it’s kind of a lack. And it’s becoming sinister.” —Bruce Sterling The most stinging part of this observation is that the idea that self-knowledge is a key part of… Read more →

SF Authors Say Smart Things: Speaking Of Wisdom…

You know what I’m tried of? Cynicism that blocks honest attempts to improve the situation. People trying to seem soooo “plugged in” and “been around the block” by acting like shock and anger are inappropriate and even childish reactions to deplorable, illegal, and occasionally reprehenisble behaviour. I could try to make this thought clear, but since immensely talented writer Emma… Read more →

Aside

“I always thought that inspiration is for amateurs. The rest of us just show up and get to work.” That’s one of many, many tidbits to be found at the site for Andrew Zuckerman’s new book, Wisdom. Go there. Watch the clip. Then see if you can resist the urge to buy the book.

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 Canada
This work by Chris McLaren is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 Canada.