Teleportation Milestone Achieved
…or “Beam me up Scotty“. Well not just yet:
Scientists have come a bit closer to achieving the “Star Trek” feat of teleportation. No one is galaxy-hopping, or even beaming people around, but for the first time, information has been teleported between two separate atoms across a distance of a meter — about a yard.
Anathem
July and August have been busy months and posting frequency on the low side… but we’re back. One of the things I missed was Anathem, a new novel by Neal Stephenson, to be published on September 9, 2008. Steven Levy of Wired wrote a nice informative post about the sci-fi author and hacker-hero and his new novel “Anthem”.
The Morning of the Magicians
Well, why not give this a try for a change ? Le Matin des Magiciens was a book written by Louis Pauwels and Jacques Bergier in 1960 or in October 1959. It was first published in English in 1963 with the title The Morning of the Magicians. The book was a general overview of the occult and the works of Charles Fort. It is the best known example of Fantastic Realism (Réalisme fantastique), a literary movement in the 1960s.
Flatland
How would a creature limited to two dimensions be able to grasp the possibility of a third? Edwin A. Abbott’s droll and delightful ‘romance of many dimensions’ explores this conundrum in the experiences of his protagonist, A Square, whose linear world is invaded by an emissary Sphere bringing the gospel of the third dimension on the eve of the new millennium. Part geometry lesson, part social satire, this classic work of science fiction brilliantly succeeds in enlarging all readers’ imaginations beyond the limits of our ‘respective dimensional prejudices’. In a world where class is determined by how many sides you possess, and women are straight lines, the prospects for enlightenment are boundless, and Abbott’s hypotheses about a fourth and higher dimensions seem startlingly relevant today.
Edwin Abbott’s beloved mathematical adventure novel Flatland (1884) is now being introduced to a whole new generation of readers and viewers through Flatland: The Movie, a dramatic computer-animated adaptation starring Martin Sheen, Kristen Bell, Michael York, Tony Hale, and Joe Estevez. This book is the companion to the movie–and the ultimate edition of the classic book on which it is based. A beautiful, large-format volume, Flatland: The Movie Edition includes: the full text of the original novel; the screenplay of the movie; essays on the making of the movie by the writers and filmmakers–producer Seth Caplan, director Jeffrey Travis, and director and animator Dano Johnson; color illustrations; and a new introduction by Thomas Banchoff, a Brown University mathematician and Flatland authority who served as an advisor to the filmmakers.
The Inhabitants of SPACE IN GENERAL
And H. C. IN PARTICULAR
This Work is Dedicated
By a Humble Native of Flatland
In the Hope that
Even as he was Initiated into the Mysteries
Of THREE Dimensions
Having been previously conversant
With ONLY TWO
So the Citizens of that Celestial Region
May aspire yet higher and higher
To the Secrets of FOUR FIVE OR EVEN SIX Dimensions
Thereby contributing
To the Enlargement of THE IMAGINATION
And the possible Development
Of that most rare and excellent Gift of MODESTY
Among the Superior Races
Of SOLID HUMANITY
Weekend reading list
A brief history of the future. Old prejudices against science fiction should not deter new readers from these fables of a technological age.
How will technology change the way we shop, learn and entertain ourselves? How will it change the way we get news, protect our privacy, connect with friends? We look ahead 10 years, and imagine a whole different world. Thinking About Tomorrow.
With global warming hogging the limelight, and Nostradamus predicting our impending demise, this excerpt from Radar Magazine’s February issue explores the other apocalyptic scenarios threatening to do us in.
Kwisatz Haderach
KWISATZ HADERACH: “Shortening of the Way.” This is the label applied by the Bene Gesserit to the unknown for which they sought a genetic solution: a male Bene Gesserit whose organic mental powers would bridge space and time.
We are 1965 and we come to know Arrakis, the only known source of the spice melange.
Of science fiction and aliens
Literary snobs say science fiction is badly written. Most of it is, but so is most literary fiction. At least badly written sci fi can communicate interesting new ideas… as Bryan Appleyard argues.
If you never read a SF book, why not one of these : Borges’s Labyrinths, Stanislaw Lem’s Fiasco, Orwell’s 1984, Huxley’s Brave New World or Wells’s War of the Worlds.
Lists (yes, we need them) : the 40 most memorable aliens – the 50 best movie robots – Hugo Award for Best Novel (since 1953).
A Trip To The Moon
Sep 1, 1902, A Trip To The Moon, a 1902 French black and white silent science fiction film was released. It is also considered by many to be the first science fiction film, and utilizes innovative animation and special effects.
Download this movie (English narration – French narration) from the Internet Archive
Les Cités Obscures
Via I came across Les Cités Obscures (English translation Cities of the Fantastic), an imaginary parallel world (a Counter-Earth), created by the Belgian comics artist François Schuiten and his friend, writer Benoît Peeters. Official site. Obskür, the magazine about the Obscure Cities. Seems like something I might like.
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