The idea of a working computer model of the economy is at the heart of a story idea I’m incubating. (It also features in Terry Pratchett’s Making Money).
This is a good article in general, and I could equally well have posted it in my Collective Endeavour collection.
http://evonomics.com/orthodox-economic-is-broken-how-evolution-ecology-collective-behavior//
Via Winchell Chung, a letter from Robert Heinlein to Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle about the book that became The Mote in God’s Eye. He takes them to task pretty thoroughly for not starting the story until page 100, for numerous errors of naval protocol, and for even more numerous copy editing errors.
This is what a friend and colleague does.
Originally shared by Dean Calahan
The Mote in God’s Eye is usually within my top five, and always within my top ten, science fiction novels*. In my youth, even as a poor college student, I would often almost resent it** when Heinlein came out with a new novel, because I would enter an algorithm by which as soon as I saw it on the stack at the U bookstore I would walk half a block to the ATM and then half a block back to buy the book, no matter the status of my checking account. Hardback. Sometimes cursing in sort of a reflexive Shadenfreude.
Anyway, suffice it to say I today have a much more nuanced view of Heinlein and others, and have read Patterson’s biography.
All that said, if you have any interest in the above, and haven’t read it yet, you will surely be delighted to follow the supplied link, a letter from Robert to Larry and Jerry after reading a draft of their epic novel.
*I don’t really keep a list, but if one were to ask me off hand, this is probably how it would break down.
**Right, not really.
There are plenty of stories here.
Increasingly, governments are attempting to control not just physical, but also virtual presence in specific places.
Originally shared by Singularity Hub
You Can Ban a Person, But What About Their Hologram? http://suhub.co/2nhXFV2
The most recent episode of The Librarians I watched featured two women literally in a refrigerator.
They passed the Bechdel test.
I could be wrong, but I suspect that was deliberate on the part of the writers.
The brain isn’t really like a computer. But computers could be like brains.
Originally shared by Singularity Hub
New Artificial Synapse Bridges the Gap to Brain-Like Computers
Foresight – envisioning the future so you can attempt to change it – is becoming an important business skill. There are techniques and strategies for it, too.
Originally shared by Singularity Hub
If We Can See the Future We Want, We Can Shape It Too http://suhub.co/2mJMEul
This year’s Campbell Award anthology, now known as Event Horizon, is downloadable (for now) from this link. It includes nearly 400,000 words from 75 authors who’ve had their first professional sale in the past two years, including me. (My flash piece “Forget You” makes up almost 0.1% of the book.)
You will need to give your email address, but I know the guy behind it and I don’t believe he’ll abuse it (plus, you can always unsubscribe if he does).
There’s a theory that large herbivores could play an important role in reversing some global warming effects, and the Siberian mammoth is a prime example.
Originally shared by Singularity Hub
Long Extinct Species to Be Revived in the Lab With Powerful New Tools http://suhub.co/2nfTARl
These are excellent suggestions.
With yeast – which is harder than it initially sounds, and also potentially very useful. Yeasts have already been genetically engineered to brew medicines, perfumes, and other useful or desirable stuff.
Originally shared by Singularity Hub
How Fully Synthetic Complex Life Just Got a Lot Closer http://suhub.co/2mWZ0jz