My wife suggested one night at dinner that she was thinking of a vampire western. At first I thought the idea sounded silly, but then I started thinking. What if a particularly ruthless gunslinger was dying of thirst and came across an Indian shaman and decides to kill him to drink his blood? (more…)
Category: science fiction
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First Priest to Contact Intelligent Life
I recently read a book by Michael Z. Williamson called “Contact with Chaos.” It is a story of first contact, one in which we find them. It has a couple of interesting technology wrinkles, and his usual attention to military detail. However, that’s not what I’m going to write about. Instead I want to focus on a minor character named Fr. Dunn. He is one of a large number of people who want to greet the new intelligent life. The others are all opportunists, or with some other selfish agenda. Fr. Dunn, by contrast, is poised, respectful, intelligent, and offers to assist using his medical knowledge when the situation calls for it.
The intelligent species finds his faith puzzling, as does the protagonist (and perhaps the author himself), but everyone respects him. Very often, I find, authors of science fiction and fantasy take pains to mock or insult the Christian (or some other) faith. In doing so, they truncate their sales and shrink their market. In contract, author’s like Frank Herbert succeed, in part, of their positive portrayal of other groups. Dune both exalts and mystifies Arab culture and is beautifully written. When authors take the time to present opposing points of view in a positive light, they create depth. The reader isn’t told what to think, but is more able to draw his/her own conclusions. -
Blurring the Line Between Fantasy and Science Fiction
Fantasy and Science Fiction are lumped together on the bookshelves, but they are clearly distinct. Science Fiction is usually a fanciful prediction of the future and fantasy is sheer escapism. Probably every science fiction author’s dream is to be an accurate prophet of future technology. How does our mental picture change when Lord of the Rings predicts future technology?
What am I talking about? There have been a number of efforts in the recent news to use animals, either in robot or cyborg form, as spies:
Cyborg Moths Robot flies As you may recall, the Fellowship of the Ring had to hide from a flock of birds that it feared to be spies of Saruman. In the very near future, you may either be comforted or terrified to know that ‘Big Brother’ is watching over you through the eyes of the animal kingdom.
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Another Answer to the Fermi Paradox
The Fermi paradox points out a contradiction between our expectations and evidence. We believe that extra terrestrial life is likely to exist, and therefore likely to have visited earth–and yet there is no evidence that it has. What I’m going to suggest is that there is a very good reason we wouldn’t know about it, even if it did happen. The solution I’m going to suggest is not yet listed among the explanations on Wikipedia as far as I can see. (more…)
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On Becoming a vampire without being bitten
A recent psychological study titled “Becoming a vampire without being bitten: A new study shows that reading expands our self-concepts” says that reading about becoming a vampire, or Harry Potter’s school of wizarding, helps us to psychologically feel we are part of a community and satisfies a need for belonging. While I’m not sure I agree with the description of the study’s methods, I find that the thesis resonates with me. Part of the need for belonging (which they don’t state) is belonging in a special group and ties to magic and the supernatural do that quite well. I think when we read we want to see ourselves simultaneously as belonging and set apart. We want to be the chosen people. Christianity is a religion that focuses on literacy, and the telling of Christ’s story. In that story we learn that Christians become “spiritual Jews” by believing in him. We can’t grow fangs, and we can’t learn to cast spells–but we can learn to be better people, to practice love, to be less selfish, to share what we have with others. We can become a part of the chosen people by making ourselves better, and thereby satisfy our spiritual longings in a way that Edward Cullen can’t match.
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How to build a Universal Translator
It occurred to me that something like the “Universal Translator” of Star Trek could be constructed without very advanced technology. I call my more primitive device a “Drongo.”
If you have two technologically advanced races, and they meet, there is a need to construct a basic vocabulary quickly. One can sit in a room, point and say words — but this can get quite tedious and is not readily amenable to computer analysis.
The device I am proposing makes the following assumptions about the aliens we contact:
- They are able to use some reasonable part of the electromagnetic spectrum for communications (i.e. radio, infra-red),
- They see things in images,
- They know what primary numbers are,
- They know what binary numbers are,
- They have the basic concept of nouns and verbs.
An obvious code for an image would be to write it as an array of binary digits, using a primary number for the number of pixels on the x and y axes (similar to what Sagan proposed in “Contact”). Aliens receiving the signal would recognize they were seeing a product of binary numbers and might deduce an image was intended. To aid in this endeavor, the drongo should have one or more displays that show the image in various electromagnetic frequencies.
Images and words could be sent on alternating frames, and by studying the sequence of words and images a number of names, nouns and verbs could be communicated (even basic mathematics concepts such as counting and arithmetic). This might form the basis of a very primitive communication, and if both parties have a drongo they might be able to get up to speed on a basic written language in short order. The device would send the foundational vocabulary out repeatedly in an infinite loop. If the foundational vocabulary is understood, the device could be queried to request a next lesson (This would reduce the amount of information that would need to be in the first loop/lesson).
I could envision two alien races constructing an intermediate language (albeit a primitive one) after only a few hours of drongo communication.
Key to the success of a drongo is the development of various recognition technologies, such as this. It will make it possible for us to classify images received from an alien’s drongo.
There might be other kinds of reasonable assumptions that would enable deeper communication to progress, this is only the kernel of the idea.
Obviously this device is vastly inferior to the device on Star Trek. It is very much dumbed down, but could be quite effective. I named the device “Drongo”, after a type of bird known for its effective mimicry of human speech. “Drongo” is also an Australian slang word for “idiot.”
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It’s About People, Not Technology!
I often hear that sf should be about people, not technology. And I don’t disagree. There’s nothing worse than reading page after page of technobable (or watching Trek characters spout it for minutes on end). After all, future technology is really nonsense. But sf/fantasy is not just a story about people with a strange backdrop. I think it is strange kinds of people.
Sci fi fiction and fantasy present to us characters that have goals and motivations that are unlike any a human would have. The exploration of the psychology of these non-human characters is (for me) one of the most fascinating things about these genres.
Spock, Data, and Worf are the foundation of the Star Trek empire. The humans, by and large, were far less interesting. Of these three, perhaps Worf was the closest to human — we can all identify with someone who is cranky all the time. These characters alternate between human and alien. This allows you to identify with the character and then makes it possible for you to be carried in to its more alien mind. An episode of TNG, in which Data tries to start dating, draws us in as Data’s motives and actions in seeking romantic companionship seem quite human — but at the end when his girlfriend breaks up with him he is not even bothered.
Another interesting aspect of sf/fantasy characters is what I call “the hidden character:” a person in a place where you don’t expect one to be. In this regard we have Solaris, the illusory soldiers from John Carter’s Warlord of mars series, the lava creature in episode 26 of TOS, and Professor Moriarty in “Elementary, my Dear Data” from TNG, and probably many others.
But let’s come back to the idea that it is about “people” not “technology.” Certainly this line is blurred if we are talking about Hal or Data. But this is not the only way that it is blurred.
Technology, or some relevant bit of magic, can completely transform a society, changing the normal behaviors and motives of people. Indeed, utopias of various sorts are a common theme in sf/fantasy. A big part of sf/fantasy is the exploration of how new technologies and abilities change us. One of my favorite books is “The Mote in God’s Eye” by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle. In this book, the Motie race itself is essentially a character.
So, for all you science fiction and fantasy writers or wanabees out there, it is not enough to remember that it’s about people and not technology, you have to consider how the sf or fantasy elements change your story. That is what the rest of us find the most memorable.
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Orion’s Twins:
Recent pictures of Orion with the Spitzer Telescope are telling us more about the science of star formation. I think a region of active star formation might have interesting story possibilities. Imagine two similar star systems, formed at about the same time, from similar materials — possessing a common seed of life carried in the wave of debris from the explosion….
In evolution and development the races that evolve on the two worlds are similar, but in pschology they take opposite roads: One follows a severe rationalism, the other an elaborate spirituality — each imagines that it should be superior to the other, but each finds a similar amount of bloodshed in its past and each has similarly advanced (but different) technology.
Each race has also failed in similar ways: The spiritual race has made meager use of its stunning mathematical ability, and the rationalistic race has suppressed and feared its latent psychic ability.
But when a demonic race attacks the spiritual world the two must work together to fight off an invasion that threatens both of them, they must each look past their own self deceptions for the truth that will enable them to survive.
Pre-order your copy now! 🙂
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Using Brown Dwarfs to Make Smoke Signals
This article from PhysOrg says that brown dwarfs may be like light houses, emitting beacons of strong radio pulses. An appropriately advanced civilization might be able to manipulate such an object (if it were within its solar system) to send a “we are here” message, getting a tremendous boost in signal strength from such a natural radio powerhouse.
My first thoughts centered on the use of magnets to deflect the beam, wondering if they could be built to make adequately large deflections in the radio signal to send information to distant stars. A colleague of mine, Dr. Zink, suggested that instead a large net of conducting material could be used to deflect the beam, something where the size of the mesh would be appropriately comparable to the wavelength of the signal. Certainly this net would be much easier to construct, possibly this would not require much more advanced technology than we currently have.
If such a signal house were constructed by aliens, they could do far more with it than send a “we are here” message. They could use it to send messages to ships taking a long slow journey between the stars, or to communicate with a distant colony.
On occaision, SETI does find possible signs of alien life. And they are building more and more powerful radio detectors. If there are aliens, and they make use of such a radio light house, we may be able to see them from very far away indeed.
