Just don’t give them any grimdark fantasy.
Originally shared by ExtremeTech
Improving robot AI.
Feb
16
Feb
15
Little bit of research for my short stories book.
Little bit of research for my short stories book. How hard is it really to sell a story to a top professional SF market?
Methodology: I consulted The Submission Grinder (thegrinder.diabolicalplots.com), and considered only those markets that are SFWA-recognised (since these are longer established and are likely to give the most conservative figure for acceptances). Most of these have submission numbers in the high hundreds – if not over 1000 – recorded in the database, so the figures should be reasonably accurate.
Things that could make them less accurate:
1. People who submit successfully may be more likely to use the paid alternative to The Grinder (duotrope.org).
2. People may not record all of their rejections (but they are highly likely to record an acceptance to such prestigious markets).
I ran the figures only for science fiction, since most of the fantasy markets are also science fiction markets, but not necessarily vice versa. (The only SFWA-recognised fantasy short story market that isn’t also an SF market is Beneath Ceaseless Skies, with an acceptance rate of 4.71%.)
Results:
Acceptance rates (in percent) for the 12 SFWA-recognised markets for SF short stories:
Daily Science Fiction 9.89
Unlikely Story 8.1
AE: The Canadian Science Fiction Review 7.69
Escape Pod 2.95
Orson Scott Card’s Intergalactic Medicine Show 2.77
Analog 2.75
Lightspeed 2.43
Grantville Gazette: Universe Annex 2.08
Strange Horizons 1.86
Fantastic Stories of the Imagination 1.74
Asimov’s 0.81
F&SF 0.53
Average 3.63
However, consider this, which I’ve heard from several editors: Ninety percent of what is submitted to these magazines is completely unpublishable drivel. If you can actually write a story, you should multiply the number by 10 to get a more realistic figure.
That still leaves your chances with F&SF at about 1 in 20.
Feb
15
Another misleading headline (at this point, it’s the painfulness, not the memory, that can be erased), but some…
Another misleading headline (at this point, it’s the painfulness, not the memory, that can be erased), but some interesting implications for the future. Already pretty well explored in SF, though.
Originally shared by CM Stewart
via Shar Banning et al
http://www.sciencealert.com/scientists-have-figured-out-how-to-to-erase-your-painful-memories
Feb
15
The headline is misleading: George Saunders does not “demystify” storytelling in these wonderful extracts from a…
The headline is misleading: George Saunders does not “demystify” storytelling in these wonderful extracts from a film about him. Instead, he tells us: “I don’t care how old you are. Make something beautiful.”
Feb
15
In connection with my day job, I’ve just finished this extensive and comprehensive course on sustainability and…
In connection with my day job, I’ve just finished this extensive and comprehensive course on sustainability and business innovation, taught by SAP’s first Chief Sustainability Officer, the personable and knowledgeable Peter Graf.
A few key ideas and concepts I learned that I want to think about some more:
1. The concept of a “social license to operate”. Governments issue businesses with licenses to operate, but markets issue them with “social license to operate” – that is, if we decide that we don’t want to patronise businesses that don’t conform to our values, their viability becomes endangered. An example is the backlash against Nike when they were found to have child labour in their supply chain; they’ve since tightened up their act and become a model of socially responsible manufacturing, knowing that their brand would otherwise be destroyed. (Look for something similar from VW soon.)
2. The idea of a “circular economy”. The traditional linear economy extracts resources to make consumer goods which end up becoming waste. A circular economy designs from the beginning with reuse and recycling in mind, pays attention to how materials are sourced, how goods are manufactured and shipped to markets, to the costs incurred when the goods are in use (for example, energy efficiency of devices), and to the process of recycling them back into the value chain when they’re no longer usable for their intended purpose.
3. Dematerialisation: a product (or process) that used to be physical becomes virtual. We’ve seen this with music, movies and books so far. It also applies to things like remote education and the replacement of physical travel with electronic collaboration or telepresence. All of this reduces environmental damage incurred by transporting things or people around.
4. Replacing the selling of products with the selling of a service:
– An air compressor manufacturer shifts from selling air compressors to selling compressed air, meaning that they install, monitor, maintain and replace their compressors in the client’s facility and charge for the air they produce. They now have an incentive to make their machines as efficient as possible.
– A tractor company or a fertilizer company shifts to selling agricultural productivity, monitoring farmland and advising on the best way to produce maximum yield, and providing only the necessary machinery or chemicals at the time they’re needed.
– A carpet company shifts to selling floor covering as a service, so it’s now in their interests to make the carpet last a long time and be recyclable when it’s worn out.
All these are made possible by cloud computing; big data and the ability to analyse it; the internet of things (constantly monitoring multiple aspects of performance for big data techniques to analyse); and mobile technology.
5. Changes in behaviour occur when people or companies see a personal, immediate benefit – so that’s the way to pitch the change. For example:
– Sell car pooling as a social benefit that provides networking opportunities and the ability for the participants to grow social capital.
– Use energy use as a proxy for process inefficiency, and make a business case based on saving money on energy costs.
– Demonstrate that employee retention has an impact on training, recruitment and internal efficiency costs, and put a dollar value on an improvement in employee retention – which will give you the budget to offer your employees something that will make them stay around.
6. The idea of a “social sabbatical” – offering skills to NGOs or developing countries, or in mentoring students or entrepreneurs, which in turn cultivates potential valuable employees or business partners.
I personally believe in a mixed economy (which is what we have, of course), neither completely unregulated and relying solely on “enlightened self-interest” to produce good outcomes, nor completely regulated and assuming that good outcomes must always be compelled. Just as laws regarding how individuals behave aren’t necessary for people who have enough social awareness that they don’t attack each other or steal each other’s stuff, but still are necessary because not everyone is like that, so laws regarding how companies must behave aren’t necessary for companies that are smart enough to see that taking care of their social and physical environment is in their best interests – but they are still necessary, because not all companies are that smart. (Also, sometimes acting in a way that harms others is in a person or company’s interest, unless the law provides negative consequences that the act itself does not.)
All in all, thought-provoking stuff, and it will go into the mix for any SF I write in the future.
Feb
14
I’ve had a few people leaving comments on my website to ask me to review books, so I’ve linked to my review policy…
I’ve had a few people leaving comments on my website to ask me to review books, so I’ve linked to my review policy and updated it.
tl;dr: I don’t do reviews by request, because most of the books I got (nearly all of them, in fact) were not very good or not to my taste. I now only review books I choose for myself.
(If I’ve reviewed one of your earlier books positively, though, feel free to offer me a later one. I may or may not accept, depending on how many other books I have in my queue at the time.)
Feb
14
SciTech #ScienceSunday Digest – 07/2016.
SciTech #ScienceSunday Digest – 07/2016.
Permalink here: http://www.scitechdigest.net/2016/02/brain-preservation-win-stent-bci-dna.html
Brain preservation win, Stent BCI, DNA nanocage chemistry, Cell transformation mastery, Gravity waves confirmed, Electron fluid on graphene, Laser boosts superconductivity, Better GPS, Artificial capillary networks, Protein nanoneedles.
1. Long Term Structural Brain Preservation
The brain preservation prize has been claimed by a new aldehyde-stabilised cryopreservation procedure that proves that near perfect, long term structural preservation of intact mammalian brains is possible, with every neuron and synapse appearing to be captured even after freezing and thawing http://www.brainpreservation.org/small-mammal-announcement/. This is a very big step towards validating cryonics and cryogenic preservation for life extension, stasis, and future uploading applications.
2. Stentode is a Less Invasive BCI
A DARPA team has created an electrode-laden stent as a neural recording device that, like similar conventional stents, is designed to be introduced through blood vessels in the neck to reach capillaries in the desired region of the brain in order to record neural firing and function as a less invasive brain computer interface http://www.darpa.mil/news-events/2015-02-08. Proof of concept successfully measured motor cortex signals in sheep and human studies are planned for 2017. In related news we had a new design for an implanted wireless power device for BCIs http://www.kurzweilai.net/powering-brain-implants-without-wires-with-thin-film-wireless-power-transmission-system.
3. DNA Nanocages Accelerate Enzyme Function
Self-assembled DNA origami nanocages have been formed in which enzymes are confined and localised along with their substrate molecules and serving to both accelerate the rate of enzymatic reactions and shield the enzymes from typical degradation processes https://asunow.asu.edu/20160210-chemical-cages-new-technique-advances-synthetic-biology. More complex cages and scaffolds in future might allow more sophisticated enzyme cascades that could perform a wide range of useful functions; another small step on the path to atomically precise fabrication.
4. Mogrify is a Cell Transformation Algorithm
Mogrify is a new algorithm that draws on a large database of human cell and tissue types and, according to the research team, is able to predict the optimal set of factors required to transform any cell type into any other cell type http://www.sciencealert.com/new-algorithm-points-the-way-towards-regrowing-limbs-and-organs/page-2. Initial studies have confirmed this but more are needed and it is expected to become more accurate over time as more data is acquired.
5. Gravity Waves Confirmed
In the biggest news of the week the existence of gravity waves has been confirmed by the LIGO experiment, and made possible after a large and expensive detector sensitivity upgrade https://www.quantamagazine.org/20160211-gravitational-waves-discovered-at-long-last/. The finding was confirmed by two separate, correlated detection events at two different LIGO detectors whose signal profiles matched theoretical models and predictions, and believed to be caused by a black hole merger in which three times the mass of our sun was converted into gravitational wave energy. Setting up LIGO detectors in India, Japan, and other sites will help cement gravity wave astronomy and allow pinpointing of gravity wave sources.
6. Liquid Nature of Graphene Electrons
The surface electrons on ultra-pure graphene surfaces have been observed acting like a collective fluid describable by hydrodynamics, with individual electrons behaving like massless relativistic objects https://www.seas.harvard.edu/news/2016/02/metal-that-behaves-like-water. Energy injected into the system flowed across many electrons, like a wave through water. Such a fluid allows for simulating and experimenting with black hole physics and other high energy environments. It’d be interesting to know what the other properties are for the waves in this fluid; if frictionless then energy and charge transfer without losses might be possible.
7. Laser-Boosted Superconductivity
Work to boost superconducting transition temperatures with lasers continues with a new class of fullerene materials in which laser pulses induce superconductivity at minus 170 degrees Celsius instead of minus 250 degrees Celsius without the laser https://www.mpg.de/9949877/superconductivity-fullerenes-light-induced. It is hoped that additional work helps to unveil a general mechanism by which this phenomena can be controlled at ever-higher temperatures. In related news endohedral fullerenes (fullerene cages with a single atom trapped inside) are now available commercially http://arstechnica.co.uk/science/2015/12/oxford-company-now-selling-endohedral-fullerenes-priced-at-110-million-per-gram/.
8. Consumer GPS to Centimeter Accuracy
Newly reformulated algorithms for calculating GPS position are much more efficient and look set to enable mobile and wearable devices to achieve centimeter-level positional GPS accuracy http://ucrtoday.ucr.edu/34932. The technique combines measurements from a GPS unit, an inertial measurement unit, and an internal navigation system. This should prove useful for phones, drones, and internet of things applications.
9. Better Artificial Capillary Networks for Engineered Organs
Using a $40 cotton candy machine allows researchers to spin out special hydrogels into threads that are comparable to normal capillaries and which form three dimensional microfluidic networks able to facilitate the transport of fluids, nutrients, and oxygen through bulk materials http://news.vanderbilt.edu/2016/02/cotton-candy-machines-may-hold-key-for-making-artificial-organs/. The proof of concept artificial organ structures were able to keep cells throughout the structure alive and well for much longer than other approaches and provide a promising platform on which to develop better-performing artificial organs.
10. Retractable Protein Nanoneedles
Protein nanoneedles are found in bacteria where they are used to puncture cell membranes. These structures, which rapidly extend from a coil to a needle and back again depending on changes in pH past a threshold, are being engineered as a tool in synthetic biology as an alternative mechanism to deliver material such as genes into cells http://wyss.harvard.edu/viewpressrelease/245. However, these little actuators might be commandeered en masse to create functional and responsive materials at the nanoscale, for example (i) helping to build little motors for tiny devices, (ii) altering the shape and properties of a material, or (iii) being used in controlled chemical and enzymatic production processes e.g. combined with #3 above offers interesting possibilities.
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Feb
13
Well, my short story submissions are back up to six.
Well, my short story submissions are back up to six. I’ve sent a YA piece I’ve had kicking round for ages to Cast of Wonders, the new YA podcast from Escape Artists; “Castle” to Fantastic Stories of the Imagination; and Brother Blue to Asimov’s.
Yes, I’ve submitted a novella (albeit a short one – 18,700 words) to Asimov’s, knowing that they only take one per issue, at most, and that I’m competing with the best SF writers in the world.
It’s an act of chutzpah, but I don’t want to pre-reject my story on their behalf. I think it’s some of my best work so far.
Feb
10
An excessively pessimistic view of marriage here, but great story fodder in this list of 100 marriages of different…
An excessively pessimistic view of marriage here, but great story fodder in this list of 100 marriages of different social classes (followed by 12 more in depth). Via The Public Domain Review.
Feb
10
When I review books, the ones that earn five stars have both fresh, interesting ideas and excellent execution.
When I review books, the ones that earn five stars have both fresh, interesting ideas and excellent execution. One or the other gets four stars, unless the weaker one is especially weak.
This is basically what Rachel Aaron is talking about, from a writer’s perspective, in this post, using the metaphor of the Great British Bakeoff.
Originally shared by Rachel Aaron
Writing Wednesday: Flavor vs. Bake
First up, if you’re at all interested in the self publishing business, go and check out the latest Author Earnings Report . It’s one of their better ones and paints an amazing picture of the current Amazon book market (which is pretty much the #1 most impor…