Day: October 6, 2018

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: A long dormant volcano is about to go off and a daring scientist has a crazy idea to stop it. He’s being opposed by rigid thinkers and as a result the world is in imminent danger. This feels like a syfy channel show I saw. Or maybe seven. The end of the world is a common plot device. In climate fiction this is generally the result of mother earth fighting back against us humans being really stupid or just the normal cycle of nature reminding us that, in the end, we ain’t all that. Of course the victory condition is that we hardy humans survive the rampage of nature and stand to face a new future. This plot device, while common, is not entirely fictional. In fact, we are dealing with a version of that right now. There is a SuperVolcano under Yellowstone that erupts every 600,000 years and it is primed to pop relatively soon. 

So, if the story was being written then the opening sequence would show Old Faithful not being faithful. In fact, erupting in irregular patterns. This started becoming noticeable back in ’96 (https://www.nytimes.com/1996/02/05/us/time-trouble-for-geyser-it-s-no-longer-old-faithful.html) and was revisited by the media just recently (https://www.npr.org/2018/05/03/608210968/yellowstones-largest-geyser-erupts-3-times-puzzling-scientists). In the fictional version (or at least the screenplay) people get hurt. Human lives have to be put at stake in order for the problem to seem to matter. 

Next we find ourselves interacting with our wayward scientist who must already be at the end of a downward spiral. S/he has to be in trouble already and need this. S/he could already be working on the solution but is being overlooked because this feels like a problem that is not a problem.

There’s more to the story, but because I only have 10 I’ll get to it tomorrow.

Some Thoughts:

1. Given the speed of light and the rampant use of radio waves to convey messages into the ether of deep space, we will eventually contact another civilization. The question is how will they react?
2. Pardon the shoddy linking. This interface (or computer) is not functioning as designed. 

I have to admit the ‘press publish twice’ feature is a situation. It sounds like a simple thing to remember. Press the button and then just do it again, but I don’t do it again and I find myself publishing the next day again and again. See? Problem. I’m not entirely certain the problem rests on my side of the responsibility spectrum. I’d guess somewhere in between…

That is how I wound up making this blog about the role of technological thinking in writing–wait let me make that the title… brb.

Back. So, yes. Tech thinking in writing. Consider this factoid: The far fetched imagination of Gene Roddenberry is partially responsible for cell phone technology. Now we have cell and our thinking about tech ought to be scaling so vastly upwards that we are opening our world to new ideas and possibilities. The most far fetched thing I’ve read since then is about AI-enhanced everything from smart missiles to smart clothing. This is not terribly far fetched. It is instead  sensible and possible evolutionary next step in scientific thinking. I am talking about twenty steps ahead. Forty.

I am also just talking, because I haven’t made that leap myself. When I think about what Cli-fi means to me I think about that leap forward. Science fiction tends to dwell on the unintended consequences of advancements, but also requires the imagining of those advancements in order to question them. 

I do have one thought: Microweather.

When I was a kid and designing superheroes for a self-made role playing game, I came up with the concept of a Cherokee (it was the ‘it’ tribe back then) woman who could manipulate moisture in the air. I looked hard for a good name and that research brought me to the concept of a Rain shadow. Of course, it became her name. However, the idea of the leeward side of a mountain being shielded from weather effects made me wonder if, in a bowl-shaped geographical depression or at least at very low altitude as to limit movement, one could create micro-weather effects. In other words, could there be a climate shell in a specific region influenced and aggregated by technology? Could we use airborne nano or other types of wide spectrum effects to control the weather? 

That led me to thinking about short run seasons in a commercial zone and how that sped up cycle might lead to the production of or evolution of bacterium to the point where new diseases are birthed out of that zone. Now we have a story! 

Maybe I’ll consider writing it. Or maybe you will.

Fact: We can all get sucked into the daily routine and, especially if we get behind on stuff, we can forget to take care of ourselves. 

Fact: Healthy writers are better equipped to work than those whose bodies are constantly falling apart.

Both of these facts are influencing this ten minutes of conjecture and lecture. I want to be honest with you all: I can no longer touch my toes. No, it’s not a fat thing. I cannot stretch that far, my back hurts everyday, and until two days ago, I did not recognize that those two things could be connected. 

We get this one body in life. In the futures of my imagination we will get multiple bodies (and planets) and have the opportunity for a do over or to recklessly neglect ourselves. However, in the time and space my temporary consciousness inhabits, I gotta stretch. I am beginning to accept and believe in the connection between body and spirit. I feel that I am a better writer when I feel better in my body.