Brilliant short story writer George Saunders has written his first novel, and reflects here on the process.
Originally shared by Samantha Dunaway Bryant
A very articulate description of what can be a very inarticulate process: what we actually DO when we write. H/T Shannon Turlington
Originally shared by Self-Rescuing Princess Society
Ooo! Great list!
And I love that there are comments with the names of other amazing warrior women from that era!
Originally shared by David Brin
Joel Garreau writes about our latest strategic worry – “weaponized narrative” seeks to undermine an opponent’s civilization, identity, and will by generating complexity, confusion, and political and social schisms. It can be used tactically, as part of explicit military or geopolitical conflict; or strategically, as a way to reduce, neutralize, and defeat a civilization, state, or organization. Done well, it limits or even eliminates the need for armed force to achieve political and military aims.
http://www.defenseone.com/ideas/2017/01/weaponized-narrative-new-battlespace/134284/
“Far from being simply a U.S. or U.K. phenomenon, shifts to “post-factualism” can be seen in Poland, Hungary, Turkey, France, and the Philippines, among other democracies. Russia, whose own political culture is deeply post-factual and indeed post-modern, is now ably constructing ironic, highly cynical, weaponized narratives that were effective in the Ukrainian invasion, and are now destabilizing the Baltic states and the U.S. election process.”
Garreau continues: “By offering cheap passage through a complex world, weaponized narrative furnishes emotional certainty at the cost of rational understanding. The emotionally satisfying decision to accept a weaponized narrative — to believe, to have faith — inoculates cultures, institutions, and individuals against counterarguments and inconvenient facts.”
http://www.defenseone.com/ideas/2017/01/weaponized-narrative-new-battlespace/134284/
The company I work for has just been through a certification process for some of their products which can feed into this initiative.
The headline exaggerates, and New Zealand is a group of islands, not a single island, as the article implies.
However, this is large and important news: an official proposal to use gene drives (genetically-engineered changes designed to spread through the whole population) to eliminate invasive pests.
Lots and lots of due diligence is required, and it won’t happen soon, if it happens at all. But the conversation is happening, and that in itself is remarkable.
Originally shared by Singularity Hub
Natural Selection Is About to Be Overpowered by the First-Ever Mammalian Gene Drive http://suhub.co/2meaZbW
For all your cold sleep revival sciencebabble needs.
Originally shared by Daniel Lemire
Nanowarming appears to bring back to life cryopreserved organs with minimal damage.
The decision to give this five stars was easy; it’s wonderfully executed, with clean copy editing and a plot that escalates stakes in textbook fashion.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1926757805?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1
Sharing to read later.
Originally shared by Adafruit Industries
Print your own body parts: Inside the promising world of 3D-printed prosthetics #WearableWednesday
Quartz has a great piece on 3D printing, wearables and prosthetics
…Stories of lives devastated by conflict or disease are all too common across low-income countries. Lack of an arm or leg can be tough anywhere, but for people in poorer parts of the planet, with so much less support and more rickety infrastructure, it is especially challenging. Some are victims of conflict, others were born with congenital conditions. Many more are injured on roads, the casualty toll soaring in low-income nations even as it plummets in wealthier ones. Every minute, 20 people are seriously injured worldwide in road crashes. In Kenya, half the patients on surgical wards have road injuries.
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates there are about 30 million people like Nhial and Lam who require prosthetic limbs, braces or other mobility devices. These can be simple to make and inexpensive. As one veteran prosthetist told me, his specialism is among the most instantly gratifying areas of medicine. “A patient comes in on Monday on crutches that leave them unable to carry anything. By Wednesday they are walking on a new leg and on Friday they leave with their life transformed.”
Yet more than eight in ten of those people needing mobility devices do not have them. They take a lot of work and expertise to produce and fit, and the WHO says there is a shortage of 40,000 trained prosthetists in poorer countries. There is also the time and cost to patients, who may have to travel long distances for treatment that can take five days—to assess need, produce a prosthesis and fit it to the residual limb. The result is that unglamorous items such as braces and artificial limbs are among the most-needed devices to assist lives. Yet, as in so many other areas, technology may be hurtling to the rescue, this time in the shape of 3D printing.
Read more
Imagine if we had a basic income and millions of people had lots of time to participate in citizen science.
Originally shared by Singularity Hub
Citizen Science Means Anyone Could Discover Planet Nine—Even You http://bit.ly/2m3xmAO
If real, basically makes stealth aircraft no longer stealth.
Originally shared by brian wang
More technical details about China’s Quantum Radar claims and quantum radar lab work
In September 2016, there were claims from China that they had developed quantum radar. There has been recent articles discussing China’s quantum radar The quantum radar system was developed by the Intelligent Perception Technology Laboratory of the 14th Ins…