Fantasist’s Scroll

Well, not in the United States!

This article in Wired News discusses the Korean created cloned human embryo and the stem cells derived from it. In part, it says, the Koreans managed this before us because of our moral and religious leanings. Our politics and medical ethics are derived from our, primarily, Judeo-Christian outlook on the world. Those beliefs have stymied clone experimentation on humans in the United States. Wrongly or rightly is something for every individual to judge.
I, on the other hand, find myself speculating on what that will mean to the future of the world. Will we have thousands of copies of Kim Jong Il? Or, since China is working on these kinds of things too, Chairman Mao? Will we be reading about a genetically “improved” army marching out of Asia somewhere to conquer the world? Or, do we just have to worry about having shorter lifespans than the average Korean? Perhaps, as William Gibson has suggested in his fiction, we will all be going to Asia, somewhere, for the “best” surgeries and “improvements”.
Who knows… But, as a writer, the possibilities are thought provoking, to say the least!

Not the usual Fantasist’s Scroll book.

But, well worth looking into. I first got interested in Rastafarianism by way of William Gibson, who had several characters who were Dreadlocks. My ignorance of what that was all about was, well, somewhat shocking for me at the time. So, I started poking around. Quite a few years ago, I found Rastafari: Roots and Ideology by Barry Chevannes. It followed me around, unread, in a box for several years. Well, I finally read it this past week. What a shame I waited so long!
This was a very good book about the history and origins of a relatively new religion. Among other things, it was fascinating to track the birth of a new faith from its very start through the modern day. As a sociological look at a small, but growing, religious or spiritual movement, this is a great book. It is, however, a rather schollarly look at this movement and, as such, is somewhat dry at times. Still, it presents not only a well-rounded look at the religion, but also the socio-economic forces that shaped it. One of the main “pillars of faith”, for instance, is the concept of “repatriation” to Ethiopia. This would never have come about if not for the practice of black slavery in the New World.
I’ll not attempt to describe the intricacies of Rastafarianism in a short message, but, if you’re interested in knowing more, this book is a great place to start.

Okay, this is an old concept, but it’s back in the news, so…

Data-goggles. Info-shades. Whatever you want to call them, they do the same thing. They’re an on-line manual that you can see, and sometimes hear, hands-free while working on something else. According to this story on EE Times, there are auto manufacturers that are actually using them right now on assembly lines to cut training costs and improve effieciency.
Of course, this is a staple of science-fiction. William Gibson used it in Virtual Light and there was a manga (Japanese comic) that used something similar, too. So, once again, we move a little close to science-fiction becoming our reality.
Personally, I’m waiting for a scene like the commercial where the guy is shouting buy and sell orders to, apparently, pidgeons. How soon before we have this technology available to the public? How soon after that will people crash cars because they’re looking through a goggle display instead of looking at the road?

Okay, so writing, and writers, can be fun, too.

Here are two examples:
Speculations, for writers who want to be read and
The Bruce Sterling Online Index.

Speculations is a ‘zine about writing and writers. I read a couple of articles there the other day and was suitably impressed. Some good advice on some subjects that aren’t always covered other places. Well worth a look.
And, of course, Chariman Bruce’s site. Well, what else is there to say? He’s not William Gibson, but he’s a close second. In fact, should William Gibson not be able to fulfill his duties, I nominate Bruce Sterling to be the next William Gibson. And you can tell them both I said so, too.

Now that I finished Zohar, I’ve started All Tomorrow’s Parties, by William Gibson.

This is a sequel, of sorts, to Idoru. Idoru is about just that, a Japanese pop idol (an “idoru”), who is a completely generated character. She simply doesn’t exist, except for being bits and bytes in RAM. The story is about finding this out, and what’s behind it, and a lot more complicated stuff than that. It is, of course, classic Gibson.
All Tomorrow’s Parties is what happens after all that. My wife told me that it is an engrossing and quick read. So far, she’s right. I fear it will all be over before it registers that I’ve started. Gibson is like that. And, it’s the standard which I use to judge all other literature.

We also have his latest, Pattern Recognition, which looks like it’s a fun one, too. I’ll post something when I start that one. Though, it might be awhile. I have a lot of other stuff to read before I get caught up to that!

Military Fish.

Well, actually, they’re still mammals, but you get the idea. William Gibson created a character for Johnny Mnemonic that was a military veteran who happened to be a dolphin. Jones, who showed up again in Neuromancer, if I recall, had advanced sensors and software hardwired into him that was useful for extracting information out of people’s electronic heads. His background was military intelligence, specifically RECON. He found, and tracked, enemy submarines and mines. At the time I read about Jones, he seemed like pretty far-future fiction. But, then I saw this… View image on MSNBC News.

So, military dolphins. I wonder what they’re paid? What kind of retirement benefits do they get? What’s their length of service? Do dolphins have conscientious objectors? The possibilities are mind boggling. And, it’s interesting to see that it’s not as far-future as I thought.

But, isn’t it ironic that we’re using marine mammals in a desert war?

Today is William Gibson’s Birthday!

For those of you who have been hiding under a rock, or are freshly hatched from the Great Egg, William Gibson is the father of the cyberpunk movement. He’s generally credited with coining the term “cyberspace” and popularizing a somewhat more realistic, or bleak, view of the future.
He also ran away to Canada in 1968 to avoid the draft. Which is the only bad thing I can say about him. I otherwise admire his work and thought processes. Certainly his literature is beyond compare.