Guy Stewart's Blog, page 20

IDEA ON TUESDAY 616

Each Tuesday, rather than a POSSIBLY IRRITATING ESSAY, I'd like to both challenge you and lend a helping hand. I generate more speculative and teen story ideas than I can ever use. My family rolls its collective eyes when I say, "Hang on a second! I just have to write down this idea..." Here, I'll include the initial inspiration (quote, website, podcast, etc.) and then a thought or two that came to mind. These will simply be seeds -- plant, nurture, fertilize, chemically treat, irradiate, test or stress them as you see fit. I only ask if you let me know if anything comes of them. Regarding horror, I found this insight in line with WIRED FOR STORY: “ We seek out…stories which give us a place to put our fears…Stories that frighten us or unsettle us - not just horror stories, but ones that make us uncomfortable or that strike a chord somewhere deep inside - give us the means to explore the things that scare us…” – Lou Morgan (The Guardian)

H Trope: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BarredFromTheAfterlife
Current Event: “…theorize that the nuclear war destroyed the afterlife…”, “…some people...have studied and manipulated The Dark to such an extent that they've become functionally immortal…”

Functional immortality: “Research suggests that lobsters may not slow down, weaken, or lose fertility with age, and that older lobsters may be more fertile than younger lobsters. This longevity may be due to telomerase, an enzyme that repairs long repetitive sections of DNA sequences at the ends of chromosomes, referred to as telomeres. Telomerase is expressed by most vertebrates during embryonic stages but is generally absent from adult stages of life. However, unlike vertebrates, lobsters express telomerase as adults through most tissue, which has been suggested to be related to their longevity. Despite internet memes, lobsters are not immortal. Lobsters grow by molting which needs a lot of energy and the larger the shell the more energy, eventually the lobster dies from exhaustion during a molt. Older lobsters are known to stop molting which means the shell will become damaged, infected, or fall apart and they die.”

Juana de Forlán shook herself hard, took a deep breath and said, “I can feel the synthetic lobster juice in me…”

Shaking his head, Koegathe Melamu, “You can’t possibly feel a hundred milliliters of a transparent liquid in your...”

“I know that!” Juana exclaimed. She shook her arms, “My head knows it, but my body says otherwise.” She took a deep breath, shuddering. “I feel like I’m getting younger by the moment.”

“It’s not an elixir of youth! If it worked the way we thought it should, the telomerase will let your cells keep dividing – more or less forever. But it’s not going to make you younger.”

She held out both of her hands, palms up, and said, “Might as well. I’m gonna live forever!”

Koegathe shook his head, saying, “Maybe – but we have no idea what the long-term effects of living forever as a lobster might be.” They both laughed, but after a few minutes, Koegathe reigned his mirth in when he noticed the pitch of his voice had been climbing. He took a deep breath then said, “Maybe that wasn’t as funny as it sounded.”

She shrugged, suddenly feeling light-headed.
"What's wrong?" Koegathe said, stepping toward her. "I think I'm going to..." It seemed like the world around her rushed into a single dot of focused, bright light. Everything else was dark around her. The point of light remained steady for some time -- she wasn't sure how long because her *-sense of time was abruptly gone. Then the light moved toward her. She might have been moving toward the light. It didn't make any difference. It might have taken time. It might have happened instantaneously, she had no idea.
Once the light grew around her, she found herself standing on solid ground of pearly white. In a throne of the same pearly substance, there sat a being. She knew that it was Death. There was certainly some kind of harvest implement laying on the ground beside the throne, though it looked more like a silver weed whacker. Death didn't wear a robe, it -- he? -- wore solid work clothes, more or less like a technician in a computer manufacturing plant, though he didn't have a mask or gloves. He did have protective goggles pushed up on his head. Black, well-trimmed, wavy hair made it look like he was wearing a cap. The name badge clipped to his collar read, "Greaper".

"Cute," Juana said. "You're the Grim Reaper?" She rolled her eyes as only a young woman who grew up in the booming first two decades of the 21st Century could.

He lifted a leg to drape it over the arm of the throne and said, "You've presented me with a problem I've never faced before, young lady."

"What?"

"You're dying -- but you are functionally immortal -- and I have no idea what to do with you."

Names: ♀ Uruguay; ♂ Botswana Image: https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51niGRrH6DL.jpg

CREATING ALIEN ALIENS Part 32: AN EXERCISE: Same Environment, Different Aliens – the Koalas and Sloths…

Five decades ago, I started my college career with the intent of becoming a marine biologist. I found out I had to get a BS in biology before I could even begin work on MARINE biology; especially because there WEREN'T any marine biology programs in Minnesota.
Along the way, the science fiction stories I'd been writing since I was 13 began to grow more believable. With my BS in biology and a fascination with genetics, I started to use more science in my fiction.
After reading hard SF for the past 50 years, and writing hard SF successfully for the past 20, I've started to dig deeper into what it takes to create realistic alien life forms. In the following series, I'll be sharing some of what I've learned. I've had some of those stories published, some not...I teach a class to GT young people every summer called ALIEN WORLDS. I've learned a lot preparing for that class for the past 25 years...so...I have the opportunity to share with you what I've learned thus far. Take what you can use, leave the rest. Let me know what YOU'VE learned. Without further ado...

You know what a koala is, don’t you? It’s an Australian animal that, while it resembles a small bear, it’s not. In fact, it’s entirely a vegetarian, eating ONLY eucalyptus leaves, while true bears are omnivores.








You know what a tree sloth is, don’t you? It’s a small bear-like animal that lives in Central and northern South America. While it resembles a bear, it’s not. It is also a vegetarian, but it eats MORE than just eucalyptus leaves.


So, two similar animals, they even have similar – but not exactly the same – environments.

I’m going to give them events and creatures that will force them to adapt as Humans had to adapt what they could find in their environment, see if they end up differently or pretty much identical…

Similarities: both are slow-moving (other differences are obvious, but I'm going to play off this one...)

Differences:
Koalas: Predators: goannas, dingoes, powerful owls, wedge-tailed eagles, and pythons – mostly dangerous to young koalas; marsupial; eat primarily eucalyptus leaves; smaller, “simpler” brain; they defend themselves using their extremely large claws and lashing out; good hearing and they have good vision; NOT a community creature; with two sets of vocal cords (one for mating purposes), one for everyday use, they make grunting and whistling sounds; they walk on ground only when changing trees, and then they are slow – unless they are startled, then they can sprint up to 30 km/h…

Tree sloths: Predators: harpy eagles, ocelots, and jaguars; placental; they have large claws and lash out; poor vision and hearing; wiry muscles, they cannot walk well on the ground; interact with a large bacterial and arthropod communities; NOT a community creature; they make sounds that have been described as “Humans who haven’t learned to talk yet”; they can barely walk, but are extraordinarily good swimmers…

All right, I’ve got enough here to initially develop two societies that might come about if koalas and tree sloths faced environmental challenges that DID NOT wipe them out.

Koala CivilizationAs their usual predators increased, the koalas learned to use their heavy claws to fight off the mostly flying predators. Rolling over on their backs in a burst of speed, they learned to rake with their claws as the birds dove at them. They also became “attack huggers”, when a python attacked, they rolled and clasped, counter squeezing the python until their claws touched skin; then they suddenly raked their claws in opposite directions, sectioning the reptile. The claws were also useful for harvesting branches in order to build more permanent shelters that were used to stay safe from the flyers. The society would then, when a python was discovered nearby while on their slow meanderings for food, gather to create a trap but building it as they did the shelters. A young male or female would then volunteer to act as bait. This initially worked so well at reducing the python population, that an inventive koala built a large, basket/nest higher in the trees. A young one would volunteer to give their lives (or was accused of a crime and tied as a penalty), and the birds were killed when they were trapped.

Koala civilization was cooperative, though typically moved slowly. However, some members developed longer and longer sprinting abilities and as they became a specialized caste of runners, koala societies were able to spread out. Maintaining eucalyptus trees was accidental at first as like their sloth-neighbors did, they went to ground to expel solid waste. One smart koala learned to drop a seed in the waste, then return to the spot, nurturing the growing eucalyptus tree. These clusters grew and eventually extended for hectares.

Others learned to not only cut the branches but weave them together for structures and eventually capture water from the infrequent rains.


Sloth CivilizationThough they initially couldn’t see well, they learned to use their claws with greater precision. While sloths do NOT have great vision, they began to rely on their tongues to “taste” their environment as their young learned what to eat by licking the lips of their mothers. The tongue became the primary organ of sensing, while vision faded and their sense of taste and smell grew. They became adept at tasting and arranging their environment, moving toxic plants to the edges of their dwellings for protection and their foods closer to the center of their territory.

Sloths rarely gather together, mostly during breeding season. Females began to band together, and it was these bandings that led to the growth of Female Villages. While still slow, Sloth youngsters could move fastest and became “sentinels” for protecting the Villages. When they reached sexual maturity, males were chased out to fend for themselves. This led to males forming triads of the strongest, all other males being killed.

While outright combat between the Female Villages and the wandering Triads was rare, the division of Sloth society grew more obvious. In order to protect themselves, the Triads learned to engineer compounds in the trees to keep themselves safe.

The Villages learned something similar. But the problem remained of what to do with their male young. Constantly killing them was wasteful, so they offered them up to the Triads. The Triads, recognizing that they could accomplish more, developed “apprenticeship sites”. The sites morphed as the females sent their males to these Apprentice Homes; and the Triads protected them. Some males – as well as females developed certain skills in weaving branches and doing wood work. (Because they were tree-dwellers, Sloths never really developed metal-working. If they needed something to last, they developed a way of growing plants and weaving flat slate into the pattern. With time, the “slate trees” were as effectively protected as solid rock).

Sloth Swimmers explored the world, sometimes coming into contact with the Koala runners. In time, they formed partnerships, playing off each other’s strengths.

Technology? Hmmm…food for thought. Maybe next time…

Sources: https://www.quantamagazine.org/arik-kershenbaum-on-why-alien-life-may-be-like-life-on-earth-20210318/
Koala: https://friendsofthekoala.org/wp-content/uploads/We-Restore-Habitat.png
Tree sloth: https://www.thefactsite.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/sloth-facts.webpImage: https://image.shutterstock.com/image-illustration/alien-human-600w-136457129.jpg

IDEAS ON TUESDAY 615

Each Tuesday, rather than a POSSIBLY IRRITATING ESSAY, I'd like to both challenge you and lend a helping hand. I generate more speculative and teen story ideas than I can ever use. My family rolls its collective eyes when I say, "Hang on a second! I just have to write down this idea..." Here, I'll include the initial inspiration (quote, website, podcast, etc.) and then a thought or two that came to mind. These will simply be seeds -- plant, nurture, fertilize, chemically treat, irradiate, test or stress them as you see fit. I only ask if you let me know if anything comes of them? Regarding Fantasy, this insight was startling: “I see the fantasy genre as an ever-shifting metaphor for life in this world, an innocuous medium that allows the author to examine difficult, even controversial, subjects with impunity. Honor, religion, politics, nobility, integrity, greed—we’ve an endless list of ideals to be dissected and explored. And maybe learned from.” – Melissa McPhail.

F Trope: Fairy Tale
Current Event: http://www.moonlyf.com/2013/07/the-magic-onions-2013-fairy-garden.html

"Fairy tales do not give the child the idea of the evil or the ugly; that is in the child already because it is in the world already. What fairy tales give the child is his first clear idea of the possible defeat of bogey. The baby has known the dragon intimately ever since he had an imagination. What the fairy tale provides for him is a St George to kill the dragon." —GK Chesterton

Leyla Manghirmalani wrinkled her nose at the overpowering smell of onions and called out, “Jie? What are you doing?”

Jie Busiri leaned back from his dorm room desk, holding a chopping knife and said, “What’s it look like?”

“That you’re stinking up the whole dorm floor on purpose?”

“No, not stinking up anything. I’m calling the onion fairies,” he said it like he was a little kid.

Leyla shook her head, “Another one of your lame attempts at recreating ancient fairy magic?”

“Hey! That’s not fair! Didn’t I make it rain last week after I did that Lakota rain dance?”

She snorted, “After checking the weather report for three weeks straight and then picking a day even the weather divas all agreed had a greater than ninety percent chance of rain.” She waved her hand in front of her face and backed up, “I don’t want to weep over spilled onion juice. I’ll come back...”

“No! Wait!” Jie grabbed something from his desk and strode across the room, chopping knife in one hand.

Leyla laughed, “If I hadn’t known you since pre-school, I’d have just gone running down the hall dialing 911 and telling them a freshman U of M student had just gone crazy.”

Jie shook his head, handing her a piece of pink gum. “Chew this, it’ll keep your eyes from watering.”

“Why didn’t you just soak them in cold salty water?”

He looked at her like she was crazy and said, “They won’t be magic then, stupid.”

“Hey! Don’t call me stupid! You’re the one they’d throw in the loony bin if they asked why you were chopping onions!” She chewed and stepped into the room and her eyes didn’t tear up automatically. “Hey, it works.”

He blew a bubble and said, “Why do you think I’m doing it?”

“I thought you wanted to be struck by your onion magic?”

He sniffed in disdain and went back to his chopping board. “I’m not interested in helping myself. I’m going to place the slices of onions with a slice of mushroom on top...”

Leyla cut in, “If I get a pain hamburger from Mac’s, can I just put them on and make a Whopper?”

“Ha, ha, ha,” he said, chopping again. “Just wait and see how well our floor does on finals – then we’ll see who has the last laugh!”

They hung out the rest of the night and Leyla helped him place the mushroom and onion slices in the rooms of the people willing to go with his craziness. By the time they were done studying and onion-placing, it was past two in the morning. “I gotta get some sleep,” she said, “I have a chem final first thing.”

Jie gave her a hug, saying, “I made sure I put the biggest onion slice in your room and I piled the rest of the mushrooms on top of it.”

“Oh, thank you so much,” she dead-panned. “Thank you so, so much for your fairly wonderful generosity.”

He smirked then said, “Just you wait, Leyla Higgins, just you wait.”

She smiled at the MY FAIR LADY jab and headed for bed.

Names: ♀Iran, India, ; ♂ China, Egypt Image: https://i.pinimg.com/originals/98/71/e5/9871e52bbc09c525af21b8f6471eab15.jpg

POSSIBLY IRRITATING ESSAYS: Part II – The State of Life in the Solar System and Exoplanets

NOT using thepanel discussions of the most recent World Science Fiction Convention in SanJose, CA in August 2018 (to which I be unable to go (until I retire fromeducation)), I would jump off, jump on, rail against, and shamelessly agree withthe BRIEF DESCRIPTION given in the pdf copy of the Program Guide. But nottoday. This explanation is reserved for when I dash “off topic”, sometimesreviewing movies, sometimes reviewing books, and other times taking up thespirit of a blog an old friend of mine used to keep called THE RANTING ROOM…

Grinspoon was appointed to a new NASA post in July of 2023. Formerly (or STILL?) Senior Scientist at Planetary Science Institute is now the new Senior Scientist for Astrobiology Strategy. 
"Astrobiology is the study of the origin, evolution and distribution of life in the universe. As Senior Scientist for Astrobiology Strategy at NASA Grinspoon will serve as the Agency's senior leader for astrobiology, spearheading efforts from NASA Headquarters to ensure significant progress is made in the field."
After reading LONELYPLANETS: The Natural Philosophy of Alien Life (2003) by David Grinspoon, his words sparked several thoughts and speculations. Hedoes, of course, have a “doctor” in front of his name, but it appears that hedoesn’t use it very often. He also has the endorsement of Neil deGrasse Tyson –the quintessential FACE of astronomy and the immediate successor to CarlSagan.

Tyson said of Grinspoon’s book “…brings together what has never beforebeen synthesized…he is a planetary scientist as well as dreamer, born of thespace age.” Now, that was in 2003. 

As is apparent to anyone who reads my blog, I LOVE aliens! I writeabout aliens! I do (guardedly) believe that there is intelligent life “outthere, somewhere” – HOWEVER, I don’t believe that we have any real proof yetand that it is, at this point, an intellectual and philosophical exercise. In fact, I (with all due respect) believe that astrobiology is an...imaginary science. Though I suppose genetic engineering was imaginary once, long ago...

Be that as it may, I’ve only read the first 20 or so pages of Grinspoon’sbook and skimmed his website (http://funkyscience.net/),but I find myself looking forward to following this guy for some time to come!

I’m a bit overhalfway through the book now (page 198) and I’ve placed an order for my owncopy through a Half-Price Books near me. I’m even (*gasp*) dog-earing myLibrary copy for later transfer to the book when I get it.

Couple of things Inoticed thus far: the book is old. Published in 2003, (TWO FREAKING DECADES AGO!!!) it was most likelywritten in 2002. This was substantially BEFORE the Kepler Telescope was launchedinto an Earth-trailing heliocentric orbit in 2009, and absolutely FOREVER before the Webb Space Telescope. 
Six years later, Keplercelebrated the discovery of its 1000th confirmed exoplanet. Anotherthree years followed Kepler sweeping more and more prizes into its discovery bin.Then “On October 30, 2018, after the spacecraft ran out of fuel, NASA announcedthat the telescope would be retired. The telescope was shut down the same day,bringing an end to its nine-year service. Kepler observed 530,506 stars anddiscovered 2,662 exoplanets over its lifetime…” (Anyone else hear a faint echoof “…its five-year mission, to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new lifeand new civilizations, to boldly go where no [one] has gone before!”?)

Despite the age ofthe book and now that I’ve read half of its 416 pages, I’m puzzled by Grinspoon’snot mentioning “hot Jupiters”. With statements like: “In the hot regions nearthe Sun, it snowed flakes of metal androck. Farther out, around the present orbit of Jupiter, it was cold enough for icesto form: both the familiar snowflakes of water ice that adorn winter on Earthand more exotic snow of frozen methane and ammonia.” (page 82); and “Theinitial segregation of material by temperature, which made metal and rock nearthe Sun, and ice farther out, has been preserved.” (page 83). He obviously doesn't mention the Grand Tack model of the solar system (Proposed in 2018, it states "In planetary astronomy, the grand tack hypothesis proposes that Jupiter formed at a distance of 3.5 AU from the Sun, then migrated inward to 1.5 AU, before reversing course due to capturing Saturn in an orbital resonance, eventually halting near its current orbit at 5.2 AU.")

Why is that? HeDOES mention the discovery that the star 51 Pegasi had a planetary companion.That happened in 1995 (embarrassingly, this story doesn’t start until page 209and as I mentioned, I’ve only just today reached page 198!). After thisaccount, Grinspoon goes on to marvel at the discovery of some hundreds ofextrasolar planets (!), having only a faint idea that Kepler would soon blowthat number out of the water.

My other troubleis that when discussing Venus, he makes virtually no mention of the fact thatit has a retrograde rotation when compared to the rest of the planets (I don’tcount Uranus among those having a retrograde rotation. That gas giant’srotation is retrograde only becauseits “north” pole is actually south of its “equator” (the Solar Equator, if youwill. That is, the planets and minor planets orbit the Sun orbit in the samedirection on pretty much the same plane. Confused? OK, this is how I explain itto my astronomy classes. Imagine your head is the Sun. If you stick your armsout and start to turn slowly in (ignoring the direction at this time) and stuckball bearings of increasing sizes on your arms with duct tape at increasing distancesfrom your head, you would have a basic illustration of the Solar System as itturns in space. Imagine then, that each of the ball bearings are turning the samedirection: except for Venus. It rotates in the opposite direction of everyoneelse – and it turns VERY, VERY slowly. When you reach Uranus, let it keepspinning in the same direction, but tip its north pole 98 degrees (90 degreesis like a “90 degree angle” or as you may remember from geometry or trigonometry,a “right angle”.) Uranus is tipped MORE than that…but it’s still rotating thesame direction as it did when it was upright…but now it’s spin, relative to theother planets, is backwards (aka “retrograde”).

At any rate, Dr.Grinspoon talks about what it is that has created Venus’ hellish conditions andwhile he does include its location (closer to the Sun than Earth), the factthat the Sun is brighter and hotter today than it was when the Solar systemformed), and a peculiar venology (it can’t be “geology” and “aphrodology” justsounds weird…) that includes a sort of cyclical disruptive plate tectonics (pages171-173); he doesn’t mention the slow, retrograde rotation. By slow, I meanthat a “day” on Venus is 243 Earth days; and the Sun would rise in the west andset in the east…eventually.

It could be that Ihaven’t reached those pages yet, so we’ll see.

Perhaps thebiggest “kick-in-the-teeth” is that he clearly lays out what happened to alterour Solar system longer ago than 65,000,000 years: “As the planets approachedtheir final sizes, giant also-rans, the contenders that could have beenplanets, came hurtling down to Earth (and Mercury, Venus, etc.) at speeds oftens of thousands of miles per hour. These final giant impactors left a trailof destruction throughout the solar system, stripping Mercury of its outer rockmantle, leaving Venus spinning backward, and knocking Uranus on its side And inan event as propitious for us as it was random, a Mars-size protoplanet smackedinto the young, still-forming Earth, splashing a massive ring of vaporized rockinto Earth orbit, which quickly condensed to make out singular, giant Moon.” (page82)

If any of you everread the first book of my proposed series HEIRS OF THE SHATTERED SPHERES:Emerald of Earth (which is serialized here https://stupefyingstories.blogspot.com/starting in January or so…), I have a slightly more fantastic explanation forthe current state of the Solar system. Emerald Marcillon’s mother, Nhia Okon,explains to a group of high-ranking military brass:

“The evidencewe’ve gathered so far clearly indicates that a massive object, probably amicroscopic black hole, grazed Uranus and tipped it on its side….A fleet ofinvading interstellar warships, using black-hole-energy technology probablyexperienced a disastrous explosion shortly thereafter. Debris swept through thesolar system, probably missing Saturn but raining down on Jupiter and settingoff the Great Red Spot hurricane…The worst was yet to happen…Mars had shallowoceans that teemed with microscopic life forms. A large rock, possibly anasteroid knocked from a stable orbit and carried on the shockwave of theexplosion, slammed into the planet, blowing away much of its air allowing theoceans to boil away under low pressure…Another asteroid carried on theshockwave struck off the coast of what would one day be the Yucatan Peninsula.The dinosaurs and thousands of other life forms, already environmentally andgenetically stressed, were launched into extinction…This is the world of analien, probably sauroid intelligence native to the planet we now call Venus.They were aggressive and powerful. Spreading through our solar system, we haveevidence that they conquered beyond it. The invasion fleet had come to put astop to it….But the accident that destroyed the fleet and saved the sauroidsfrom certain invasion, next threatened them with the mindless destruction ofchance…An object nearly large enough to split Venus in half hit the sauroidmoon, knocking it cleanly out of Venus’ orbit, where it drifted until the suncaptured it again, the molten scar on its surface glowing red hot for nearly acentury. The world we call Venus was pounded by meteorites sleeting through thevacuum of space. A second monstrous object was large enough to reverse Venus’rotation…The solar system had been reshaped and the intelligences on the new,second planet of the shattered star system were extinct. We are the heirs ofthose shattered spheres. We are the ones who must piece together the details.We are the ones who must find the bits of technology that we can use to go tothe stars...”

I’ll leave youwith this, and I’ll continue next time.

Links: PSI's David Grinspoon Appointed to New NASA Post (spacedaily.com)Resources:
Part 1:http://faithandsciencefiction.blogspot.com/2018/11/possibly-irritating-essays-philosophy.html,http://www.openexoplanetcatalogue.com/

Part III: https://faithandsciencefiction.blogspot.com/2018/11/possibly-irritating-essays-part-three.htmlImage: http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HvBJ-0Cc1G4/UuMOA98-RJI/AAAAAAAAAwQ/r5JUlNiN2Tw/s1600/Unknown-4.jpeg

POSSIBLY IRRITATING ESSAYS: Part I -- Philosophy, Aliens, Galileo, and Other Stuff

NOT using the panel discussions of the most recent World Science Fiction Convention in San Jose, CA in August 2018 (to which I be unable to go (until I retire from education)), I would jump off, jump on, rail against, and shamelessly agree with the BRIEF DESCRIPTION given in the pdf copy of the Program Guide. But not today. This explanation is reserved for when I dash “off topic”, sometimes reviewing movies, sometimes reviewing books, and other times taking up the spirit of a blog an old friend of mine used to keep called THE RANTING ROOM…

I know I’m a few years behind, but I just checked out a copy of LONELY PLANETS: The Natural Philosophy of Alien Life by David Grinspoon. He does, of course, have a “doctor” in front of his name, but it appears that he doesn’t use it very often. He also has the endorsement of Neil deGrasse Tyson – the quintessential new face of astronomy and the immediate successor to Carl Sagan.

Tyson said of Grinspoon’s book “…brings together what has never before been synthesized…he is a planetary scientist as well as dreamer, born of the space age.”

As is apparent to anyone who reads my blog, I LOVE aliens! I write about aliens! I do (guardedly) believe that there is intelligent life “out there, somewhere” – HOWEVER, I don’t believe that we have any real proof yet and that it is, at this point, an intellectual and philosophical exercise.

Be that as it may, I’ve only read the first 20 or so pages of Grinspoon’s book and skimmed his website (http://funkyscience.net/), but I find myself looking forward to following this guy for some time to come!

My main reason for noting him today is that he fully and completely believes that science and faith don’t HAVE to be at war. In fact, he blithely pops the balloon that many, many, many, many science-oriented-Humans float as proof that science is smart and faith is stupid.

Let me go back a few years (…well, more than a few), when I was an 8th grade Earth science teacher. At the beginning of my last two years and then for the next 11 years, I showed an old, old, old (1997) video tape called, "Junk Science: What You Know That May Not Be So", by “mild shock jock”, John Stossel. It’s my attempt to get eighth graders (and later, ninth graders) to THINK and challenge their beliefs.

Later on, we also watched a movie called “Galileo: The Challenge of Reason” – a fairly common subject for middle school and early high school science classes as well as in astronomy classes (all of which I taught at one point or another (“from 5th grade to physics” is what I would tell people, or “from astronomy to zoology”). The particular film I used, available through our school’s media department as a film (in the late 80s and through the 90s), was very hostile to the Church of the time and painted Galileo as a hero of reason and the Church the enemy of intelligence. I tried to point out that even in the movie, Galileo wasn’t tried just because he found planets.

I walked a lonely road for a long time, but Grinspoon offers some evidence that backs what I’ve always believed: “Galileo caught hell from the Church. In what has become a modern myth of science’s collision with biblical authority (italics mine), he was brought before the Inquisition, forced to recant his Copernican beliefs, and lived out his days under house arrest (p 14)…Nicolas of Cusa, a German ecclesiastic, wrote OF LEARNED IGNORANCE, a widely celebrated book that exuberantly rejected Aristotle’s hierarchical, Earth-centered cosmology, advocating in its place, a universe bustling with life on every star…Cusa was made a cardinal. So why did the Church celebrate Cusa and, 150 years later, condemn Galileo?”

“Galileo was a tactless boor…he seemed to go out of his way to piss off the Church authorities with his know-it-all comments on Scripture…in his DIALOGUE CONCERNING THE TWO CHIEF WORLD SYSTEMS…the character who played the role of doubting the Copernican system was a pompous ass…name[d] Simplico…who gave voice to the views of Pope Urban VIII…[making] his claims when the Church was threatened by the Reformation…[and] before the ashes of…a Dominican friar monk…had cooled…[who] believed in an infinite cosmos filled with life virtually everywhere. He is often mentioned in the same breath with Galileo as another martyr for Copernicanism and science in general…[though that] was a minor offense compared to his sorcery, pantheism, and denial of Christ’s divinity…” (page 16)

All of this to make a couple of points. First, there are a number of issues that currently appear to be science versus “stupid”. Among them, climate change, vaccination, organic foods, nuclear power, and “the opioid addiction epidemic”. I might tackle all of them if I decide to write a series, but for now I’ll stick with one.

For now, I want to point out that each of the subjects above have served to divide the people who LIVE in a technologically advanced civilization and the scientists and engineers who regularly produce the scientific and technological advances that CREATE the small slice of the world that holds a technologically advanced civilization inhabits.

Grinspoon attempts to shine a bit more light on what at first seems to be a simple situation of the irrational Church lashing out against the truth of Science in the issue of the centricity of Humanity in the universe.

I’m going to apply this attitude liberally to anthropogenic global warming (the phrase has been toned down in this second decade of the 21st Century to climate change, though the argument and rhetoric. First, I will say that “Of course Humans have an impact on the planet, contributing to global warming. However…I don’t think Humanity has CAUSED it.” I think we give ourselves far too much credit. Fact: when in sunlight, there is no visible evidence of Humans on Earth from orbit. Night is a different story; and there is abundant evidence that “something” is here on the EM spectrum.

Many in the scientific community attribute the “Livers” with immense stupidity, claiming that they must take the “Creaters”’s words without question because Science is smarter than anything else. Creaters, like Galileo, dismiss their own attitude as having any sort of impact on Science.

Proponents of AGW ignore that facts. FACT: The UN Climate Change Conferences are held in world class cities (the list: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Climate_Change_conference). While I am sure that they are held in these cities because they are easily accessible, some of the places – Kyoto, Buenos Aires, Bali, Cancun, and Paris are ALSO well-known vacation spots. If I can ask this question (I’m no PhD, just a science middle school and high school teacher; and in case you were wondering, a labor union member since I was 16), I’m sure others can think of it. Another question that leaps to mind is “How did they get there and what was the carbon footprint of the COP/CMPs?” At a bare minimum, the Paris conference hosted two individuals who appeared there after flying in private jets. None of the participants addressed their own impact on the environment – it appeared (at least to me) that because they were so concerned about AGW, their actions were excused.

The fact that the Creaters community has maintained and promoted the fiction that Galileo was persecuted by the Church for no reason except his evidence that the Sun was the center of the Solar System, holding him up as a hero of science and identifying him with whatever cause they wish to. It seems to me however, that us science TEACHERS had done our job too well. Whenever we did an experiment in my science class, I insisted that observation and evidence was of paramount importance. Speculation was welcome as far as it provided questions to answer. But once the experiment was over, EVIDENCE was supposed to either support or NOT support the theory.

If the Creaters spent more time patiently presenting evidence and less time suggesting that Livers were stupid and wouldn’t understand the evidence anyway, we might have come a lot farther (I was told once by a once-popular science fiction writer who also had a PhD, that because I wasn’t convinced that AGW was Science, and HE UNDERSTOOD THE MATH, that I was supposed to, therefore take his word that it was Science Truth, and that was that.)

Flying back to aliens, Grinspoon has taken the time to explain; he is funny and relaxed; and at this point, he appears to be one of the best kinds of teachers. He seems to count himself as not ONLY a Creater, but also a Liver…we’ll see, but that’s my thought right now.

Part II: https://faithandsciencefiction.blogspot.com/2018/11/possibly-irritating-essays-part-2-state.html
Part III: https://faithandsciencefiction.blogspot.com/2018/11/possibly-irritating-essays-part-three.html
Resources: https://www.millikanmiddleschool.org/apps/video/watch.jsp?v=86444, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Stossel
Image: http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HvBJ-0Cc1G4/UuMOA98-RJI/AAAAAAAAAwQ/r5JUlNiN2Tw/s1600/Unknown-4.jpeg

IDEAS ON TUESDAYS 614

Each Tuesday, rather than a POSSIBLY IRRITATING ESSAY, I'd like to both challenge you and lend a helping hand. I generate more speculative and teen story ideas than I can ever use. My family rolls its collective eyes when I say, "Hang on a second! I just have to write down this idea..." Here, I'll include the initial inspiration (quote, website, podcast, etc.) and then a thought or two that came to mind. These will simply be seeds -- plant, nurture, fertilize, chemically treat, irradiate, test or stress them as you see fit. I only ask if you let me know if anything comes of them. Octavia Butler said, “SF doesn’t really mean anything at all, except that if you use science, you should use it correctly, and if you use your imagination to extend it beyond what we already know, you should do that intelligently.”

SF Trope: inside a computer system
Current Event: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn23343-interspecies-telepathy-human-thoughts-make-rat-move.html
Old Event: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willard_(1971_film)

Amelia Qasoori curled her lower lip, tucking it under her teeth then tapped them as she stared at the Apple 27 inch Cinema Display screen. She tapped another key on her computer.

Artem Torres tossed his backpack on the lab table, peeked over her shoulder then went to his own computer and booted it up. His screen was much smaller however and there were multiple images. All of the images were of rats.

Amelia glanced over at him and wrinkled her nose and said, “I don’t know how you can stare at those ugly things all day long.”

He smirked at her and said, “I can open the cages and play with them if you’d like.”

“You’re both obscene and disgusting at the very same instant,” she said, leaning closer to her screen and tapping a section of an image. The screen was covered with tiny squares.

“What’s even more disgusting and obscene is that we’re trying to do the same thing with organic and inorganic matter.”

Amelia nodded slowly as she tapped another square then made an entry on an old-fashioned yellow notepad with an even older-fashioned pencil. She made a few more notes, then typed for several minutes. The images on the screen whirled wildly and when they were done, Artem leaned back on his lab stool, looked at the image and said, “I don’t see any difference.”

Amelia made a raspberry. “That’s because you’re a wetwareologist. You people couldn’t feel your way off a kindergartner’s graphing calculator.”

“That’s not true! I use computer modeling all the time!” He waved at his smaller computer screen. “Just because everything I do is reality instead of virtuality doesn’t mean it’s not important.”

“I’m not talking about ‘importance’ here, Art! I’m talking about relevance. What I do is relevant. What you do is...cute in a sort of old-fashioned way.”

From behind them, a stentorian voice spoke, “My two favorite high school geniuses continue to banter mindlessly, ignoring my strict instructions to MELD the techniques and technology to form something new.”

Artem and Amelia jumped to their feet, spinning around. In unison they said, “Hello, Dr. Willard.”

He nodded to them and passed between them. He was tall. Unusually tall, well over two meters tall. He patted both of them on their heads. “So, my tremendous twins, what do you have for me today?”

“Look, Dr. Willard, I can make a fine rat robot for you! There’s no need for...”

“Dr. Willard, if you get me some really great tech who won’t talk back every time I ask for something, I could have a ‘borg rat ready for you in two shakes of a…a...”

“A rat’s tail, Mr. Torres? There’s no need for me to have a biological brain, Ms. Qasoori?” He stood back and studied her screen. Then he stepped sideways and leaned forward to study Artem’s screen. Straightening, he said, “What I need, dear pupils, is a seamlessly integrated part organic-part inorganic creature to do a very, very interesting job.” He favored each one with a cold glare, then left the lab, adding without turning around, “A word from me can get you into the most select graduate study programs in the world.” He stopped in the doorway, and still without turning around, said, “A word form me can get you barred from the most pathetic study programs in the world.”

Names: ♀ Australian (NSW), Pakistan; ♂ Russian, Spanish
Image: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e1/Falcon_9_Demo-2_Launching_6_%283%29.jpg/220px-Falcon_9_Demo-2_Launching_6_%283%29.jpg

WRITING ADVICE: Short Stories – Advice and Observation #24: Orson Scott Card “& Me”

In this feature, I’ll be looking at “advice” for writing short stories – not from me, but from other short story writers. In speculative fiction, “short” has very carefully delineated categories: “The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America specifies word lengths for each category of its Nebula award categories by word count; Novel 40,000 words or over; Novella 17,500 to 39,999 words; Novelette 7,500 to 17,499 words; Short story under 7,500 words.”

I’m going to use advice from people who, in addition to writing novels, have also spent plenty of time “interning” with short stories. While most of them are speculative fiction writers, I’ll also be looking at plain, old, effective short story writers. The advice will be in the form of one or several quotes off of which I’ll jump and connect it with my own writing experience. While I don’t write full-time, nor do I make enough money with my writing to live off of it...neither do most of the professional writers...someone pays for and publishes ten percent of what I write. When I started this blog, that was NOT true, so I may have reached a point where my own advice is reasonably good. We shall see as I work to increase my writing output and sales! As always, your comments are welcome!

Without further ado, short story observations by Orson Scott Card– with a few from myself…

Like everyone else, I first “met” Orson Scott Card in a world inhabited by a kid named Ender Wiggins. This kid “played” a Game – a game of war against a nearly implacable aliens who had invaded Earth called the Formics…because they were like ants…

But I didn’t meet Ender in August of 1977, when the first ever Ender Wiggins story appeared in ANALOG Science Fiction and Fact. I read it and reread it. I’m sure I tried to imitate it, but actually? I never really got into the Ender books. I don’t recall reading the novel, either. I just read the short story. Saw the movie, too, and I read one of the Alvin Maker books. But that was about it.

However…it is an undeniable truth (though many, many “non-religious” people have tried to knock Card down), that his work is popular. His work changed science fiction. And he continues to influence the field even today, almost half a century after the publication of a little, tiny novelette in a pulp SF magazine.
How does he influence it? Probably the first thing that comes to mind is his thirty-three-year-old book, HOW TO WRITE SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY. It’s short. Succinct. And I’ve read it at LEAST a dozen times. Every time I read it I try to apply something I’ve learned from it. Probably the MOST memorable is his discussion of something called the MICE Quotient.

In his article, Carlos Luis Delgado writes: “[is]…an organizational theory — coined by Orson Scott Card and popularized by Mary Robinette Kowal, among other fantastic writers — proposing that every story consists of one, or a combination, of these four elements: Milieu, Inquiry, Character, and Event.”

Briefly, the Milieu is the PLACE the story happens. NOT, “In Minnesota…” place; rather it’s the world that I create as a writer. As I’ve always loathed what I call “disposable worlds” or worlds that a writer creates for a single story, I have four worlds I place all of my science fiction stories into.

Others design a world for a story and then throw it away. They build that world so that whatever it is the writer is trying to say will HAPPEN there in precisely the way that will make the end of the story both obvious and clearly say whatever message the writer’s trying to communicate.

Card, Brin, Czerneda, Cherryh, and hundreds of other writers – even non-genre writers like Stieg Larssen wrote two more books in a series. Though NONE of them were published until after he died, and then the first became an international best-seller: THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO; as did the next two…which sparked two MORE writers to write two MORE trilogies in the series…

At any rate. Milieu is a place that can be reused over and over. I made pact with myself that I wouldn’t throw away a world. As far as I can recall, ALL of my stories take place in on of these four worlds:

Empire and Confluence: There’s no one but US. The Empire of Man insists a person must be 65% congruent with the first completed Genome (Human Genome Project completed: March 30, 2022 [ https://www.genome.gov/about-genomics/educational-resources/fact-sheets/human-genome-project ]); the Confluence of Humanity allows ALL genetic engineering on the Human genome in order to design Humanity to fit ANY environment.

WheetAh-Human: There is one other sapient species in the known universe. The WheetAh are intelligent, space-travelling plantimals (aspects of both animal and plant).

Unity of Sapients: Thirty-four Sapient species make up a (roughly!) unified civilization in the Perseus Spur of the Milky Way. We are the newest and least advanced (sent out our first interstellar probe; how we discovered our “watchers”.) To get other stuff, we have to trade with the others. But there's really only one thing they want...

Heirs of the Shattered Spheres: An aggressive civilization of "saurians" evolved on Venus. Expanding rapidly, they left our Solar System to conquer the rest of space. Eventually, they were beaten back by Others. During the final battles, a micro-singularity engine broke free and blew uncontrolled through the Solar System. Uranus was tipped on its side; Mars' atmosphere was torn away; the singularity destroyed other ships, scattering debris through the Solar System. It rained destruction down on Earth about 65 mya and blasted Venus and its large moon, reversing Venus' rotation; and liberating its moon to fall into a new orbit around the Sun...

All of my stories can be placed in one of these Milieus. There are stories that take place EARLIER than First Contact, but the end result is the same.

Idea: “Idea stories are about the process of finding information. They begin with a question and end when that question is answered. Books in the mystery genre are often in this category.” These are OK for me, but I prefer a deeper story.

Character: I’ve finally started to learn that my main character has to CHANGE from what they were like at the beginning to someone (or some part of them) that is new – and that change is catalyzed by the PLOT (the things that happen). NO character can just randomly change. I am who I am today because certain things happened to me. Lots of time travel stories talk about “what if this hadn’t happened to…” Maybe the most profound one I’ve seen (which also inspired all kinds of arguments!) was “What if Adolph Hitler had gotten into the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna?” (The arguments stem from the idea that Hitler WAS what he WAS. History would be no different if he’d gotten into the school…)

Event/Catastrophe: “Event stories begin with a catastrophic event that threatens to totally destroy or alter the world and end either when the characters stop or overcome the catastrophe, or when everyone perishes.” I’m not fond of this one, but it HAS been used to impressive effect. Adrian Tchaikovsky uses this to amazing effect in his first novel CHILDREN OF TIME, in which a mission to seed a world to make it habitable by Humans goes…quite creepily…wrong. (I have a friend who could NOT read the book because of the creep-factor!)

This is a useful tool – and I need to go back to using it.
Lastly, this quote from Card is one I’ve taken to heart:

“Everybody walks past a thousand story ideas every day. The good writers are the ones who see five or six of them. Most people don’t see any.”

I’ve learned to see one or two a day!

References: https://www.ericjamesstone.com/biography/about-writing/my-notes-from-orson-scott-cards-literary-boot-camp-2003/ ; https://writelabel.medium.com/using-mice-in-your-copywriting-c1a8ee6f2bf2 ; https://www.azquotes.com/author/2450-Orson_Scott_Card/tag/writing ; http://www.hatrack.com/writingclass/index.shtml Image: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhK6miXJMTMNyB3kzq-r6I2LVCTZJj0CDS0dPV2Qapl6e9rZPuHx2u5QKcKT1QGeDg1_tPMv-lpnuSr_eiBjwPXmex9mcgtuH2-SUtZEpGWV0_HdtJQelVt5K69NulJBUqNju5GNjHgQibXsIo4NeWpTOj4ai85jCRjMHOtwtkqshzxFvZPUSjXZNq6=s320

IDEA ON TUESDAY 613

Each Tuesday, rather than a POSSIBLY IRRITATING ESSAY, I'd like to both challenge you and lend a helping hand. I generate more speculative and teen story ideas than I can ever use. My family rolls its collective eyes when I say, "Hang on a second! I just have to write down this idea..." Here, I'll include the initial inspiration (quote, website, podcast, etc.) and then a thought or two that came to mind. These will simply be seeds -- plant, nurture, fertilize, chemically treat, irradiate, test or stress them as you see fit. I only ask if you let me know if anything comes of them. Regarding horror, I found this insight in line with WIRED FOR STORY: “ We seek out…stories which give us a place to put our fears…Stories that frighten us or unsettle us - not just horror stories, but ones that make us uncomfortable or that strike a chord somewhere deep inside - give us the means to explore the things that scare us…” – Lou Morgan (The Guardian)

H Trope: apocalyptic diary/journal/log
Current Event: http://news.discovery.com/earth/oceans/lost-continent-discovered-beneath-indian-ocean-130225.htm

Andrianampoinimerinatompokoindrindra Zehrezgi – who preferred to go by Andri Zee – tried to keep his last meal down as the boat rocked beneath his feet.

“Isn’t this exhilarating?” exclaimed Shamma Maslah.

“When do you think the hurricane is going to stop?” he asked.

Shamma burst out laughing. “There’s no hurricane! In fact this is the calmest day I’ve seen since we were out here.” She glanced at him and went to the railing and said, “If you don’t like the ocean, why’d you come out here?”

“This site is within the waters of my country.”

She made a face, saying, “I didn’t know you had a country. Not how you talk about it anyway.”

“Madagascar is my homeland!” She grunted and leaned over the rail, looking deeply into the water. “Watch out!” he cried, stepping forward, arm outstretched.

She looked at him and laughed, “What? It scares you when I lean out this far?” she said, leaning back over the railing. Suddenly the water below her grew dark and began to bubble, gently at first, then wildly. Water geysered into the air. She screamed and staggered backward, into Andri Zee’s arms and they watched in horror as...

A fluorescent orange conning tower surged out of the water, sluicing aside until the hatch on top opened up and a young lady waved at them.

Shamma shouted, “Laura! What’s going on?”

Laura shouted back, “You won’t believe what we discovered! Not only is Mauritia a sunken island – there was some sort of sealed chamber there!”

“What?” Andri exclaimed. Majoring in archaeology, THIS is what he’d come for! “Where is it?”

“They had to send down the big sub and they’re bringing up the entire chamber right now.”

Shamma looked at Andri then Liz, bobbing in the conning tower of the sub and shouted, “The time is all wrong! Mauritia sank when the dinosaurs died. There shouldn’t be anything there.”

Liz shrugged, “I don’t know about when it sank or what should and shouldn’t be there, but there’s something big and it looks like it was sealed. See you in a bit!”

*

They rendezvoused at the small sub dock. The massive winch from the ship platform had lifted a barnacled encrusted, roughly cubic case into the air and was swinging it over the helipad, where it lowered the box down.

The metal groaned as the cables above relaxed. Andri said, “It’s heavier than it looks.”

“Way heavier,” said Liz.

Shamma frowned. There was something about it. Something strange. Despite the noise around her, she could hear…not exactly hear…sense? Feel? She wasn’t sure. Something. The hot sun of the Indian Ocean beat down on the head of the crew. Men and women in trunks and halters scampered around the deck, disconnecting chains, cables, hosing down the object. SCUBA divers were lifting up from the waterline; heavy metal music abruptly blared from the deck speakers and the recovery work began in a part atmosphere.

Shamma found a spot, out of the way. Her work on the project was cataloging and identifying life forms; part of a survey team that had set out to begin to quantify the anecdotal evidence that the oceans were beginning to recover now that the world population had precipitously fallen during the H7N9 Pandemic of 2038-2042. With over two billion people dead, the Earth seemed empty now. It scared her sometimes. Abruptly, a migraine assaulted her. It had been years since she had one.

That was when heard a voice, speaking in Olde English. She only caught the first few words, vaguely familiar, but somehow wrong as well, “In the beginning, I created this earth to inhabit heaven...” The migraine became blinding and with a squeak, she passed out.

Names: ♀ UAE, Somalian; ♂ Madagascar, Ethiopian; ♀ Hebrew (diminutive of “Elizabeth”)
Image: https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51niGRrH6DL.jpg

MINING THE ASTEROIDS Part 18/POSSIBLY IRRITATING ESSAYS: Asteroid Wars?

Initially, I started this series because of the 2021 World Science Fiction Convention, DisCON which I WOULD have been attending in person if I felt safe enough to do so in person AND it hadn’t been changed to the week before the Christmas Holidays…HOWEVER, as time passed, I knew that this was a subject I was going to explore because it interests me…

On August 21, 2023, I reported this: https://faithandsciencefiction.blogspot.com/2023/08/nasa-understanding-solar-system-or-bold.html. The headline reads, in part: “US-China space war over mining asteroids…” Below, follow the link to a 2022 article in the U.S. Sun – same subject.

Currently, it seems to be that the US has continued its stranglehold on all things space – though China and India have landed probes on the Moon and Russia crashed on the Moon (again – though they are the only program anywhere that has successfully landed a probe on Venus…perhaps a testament of the toughness of the Russian psyche (absolutely no pre-pun intended.)

Speaking of Psyche: the US launched a probe to the asteroid 16 Psyche in October of 2023. Ostensibly the mission to Psyche (expected to conclude in 2029) is to “…study Psyche’s exposed core…providing insights into our own planet’s core, the mantle on top, how they both formed, and the conditions during the birth of our solar system.”

That sounds like a noble, NASA-like mission. The exploration of space. Seems perfectly innocent. But when NASA began to hatch the plan, there was a slightly more…lucrative temptation. NOT just the “exploration of space”, but there was something about Psyche that made the eyes of metals investors sparkle like diamonds: “…our Earth-based radar and spectral observations indicate Psyche is either nearly all-metal or a mix of metal and rock, and is either way at least twice as dense as most asteroids…”

While PURELY SPECULATIVE, ruminations on the composition of Psyche produced statements like this: “Earlier in the project, a reporter asked her how much an asteroid like Psyche might be worth given its high metal content. The numbers ranged as high as $10 quintillion.” [ https://www.cbsnews.com/news/nasa-launches-asteroid-probe-psyche/] While it’s a gamble, investors the world over have always been challenged by a good bet. Even the investment site pointed out, “…even if 16 Psyche isn't the orbiting goldmine it was once thought to be, the asteroid belt has long been understood to be full of riches.” (Motley Fool)

16 Psyche might be the launching point of a new commodities race. While the “big names” in space are the obvious ones – first Russia, then the US, now China, India, as well as a HOST of other countries (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_government_space_agencies). And then we have to mention the PRIVATE companies that are getting into position to exploit the riches of the Solar System – besides SpaceX and Blue Origin, there are another half-dozen private companies who are seriously designing space vehicles to compete with the bigger companies.

The fact is that NO place on Earth was colonized for benevolent, nature-appreciation. From Indigenous cultures around the world to NYSE companies – Humans have explored a teensy bit out of curiosity; nut our main reason for exploration is to USE IT; to make a profit; to GET SOMETHING FOR OURSELVES.

Space won’t be any different. While most people would like to see a society like the one in STAR TREK grow, STAR WARS is most likely to be the true end result. Even STAR TREK has to create baddies to drive their shows and movies. STAR WARS just did away with any pretense and went straight to the thing that drives Human society: war.

So, as to the coming space war – and don’t try to convince yourself otherwise, there will be one! It might just be starting sooner than you think though. There IS wealth in space. Some of the estimates are jaw-droppingly amazing. Even the starriest-eyed kiddo knows however, that SPACE WILL BE DANGEROUS! People from Earth have died in space – and more will follow.

America’s initial launch to “study 16 Psyche” isn’t to just “look at it”; it’s to check on the feasibility of MINING THE ASTEROIDS; in particular, this ultra-dense object that will take a specially designed spacecraft SIX YEARS TO REACH. The thing cost over 2.2 BILLION DOLLARS. Since when have Humans EVER spent that much money just to “see something”? At the most base level, there is at LEAST a small amount of greed driving this mission.

And where you have greed – you have conflict. How will that conflict manifest? Missiles to blow probes out of the sky? Nah. Then the country that did the shooting would have to build their own vulnerable ship…

What about HACKING? Maybe that’s why Russia hasn’t sent their own probes out – they’re well-known as a nation of hackers! There’s even a quote in a highly authoritative movie that states, “Are all hackers Russian?” “Honey, there aren’t any Russians who aren’t hackers.” (Oceans 8) All they need to do is hack into NASA or any other space exploration country’s ship; or into any of the private space outfits – and they could just sell the information (or their silence). Why waste money on spaceships that keep blowing up?

My main points are:Gigantic amounts of money are being spent and invested.
Prestige will land on anyone able to successfully do ANYTHING in space.
Humans are competitive.
As soon as you add all of that together, you get the possibility of CONFLICT.

There WILL be a space war – not just like the “race to space” but a shooting war. People will die – not by accident, but by intent.

Does it seem like a dark vision of the future? Yeah, well as much as I’d LOVE for it not to happen, my “faith in Humanity” has experienced a massive amount of erosion as I’ve gotten older…

U.S. Sun News: https://www.the-sun.com/tech/4736656/us-china-space-war-mining-asteroids-superpowers/
Fundamental Resource: (A general Wikipedia post detailing what the authors currently know about asteroid mining: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asteroid_mining)
Noted Resources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_asteroid_close_approaches_to_Earth, https://www.pharostribune.com/news/local_news/article_7fcd3ea5-3c14-533f-a8d5-9bf629922f34.html, https://www.fool.com/investing/2022/04/29/like-asteroid-mining-be-careful-what-you-wish-for/ https://www.nps.gov/wrbr/learn/historyculture/theroadtothefirstflight.htm, https://hackaday.com/2019/03/27/extraterrestrial-excavation-digging-holes-on-other-worlds/, https://www.planetary.org/space-missions/every-small-worlds-mission
Image: https://everydayastronaut.com/wp-content/uploads/Post-Launch-Reviews/CNSA/Long-March-2C_Xinhua-1200x800.jpeg

IDEAS ON TUESDAY 612

Each Tuesday, rather than a POSSIBLY IRRITATING ESSAY, I'd like to both challenge you and lend a helping hand. I generate more speculative and teen story ideas than I can ever use. My family rolls its collective eyes when I say, "Hang on a second! I just have to write down this idea..." Here, I'll include the initial inspiration (quote, website, podcast, etc.) and then a thought or two that came to mind. These will simply be seeds -- plant, nurture, fertilize, chemically treat, irradiate, test or stress them as you see fit. I only ask if you let me know if anything comes of them? Regarding Fantasy, this insight was startling: “I see the fantasy genre as an ever-shifting metaphor for life in this world, an innocuous medium that allows the author to examine difficult, even controversial, subjects with impunity. Honor, religion, politics, nobility, integrity, greed—we’ve an endless list of ideals to be dissected and explored. And maybe learned from.” – Melissa McPhail.

Fantasy Trope: Fantastic Noir (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/FantasticNoir)
Current Event: (not-so-much-this-time) http://narnia.wikia.com/wiki/Mole

In a hole in the ground, in the lawn of a museum given over to the collection of scientific inventions both weird and wonderful, there lived a mole.

This wouldn't have been terribly surprising except that the museum was in Narnia and the mole was really a Mole named Loamy Trowel. She lived in a very comfortable hole with shuttered windows that overlooked an antique cotton gin as well as a rocket preserved from the brief but exciting Narnian Space Age.

Loamy would have loved to close her windows day and night. Daylight made her squint in a way her nephews and nieces thought was comical. Like most Moles, she felt that if she must be out and about, it should be at night. For this reason, she'd taken up a small hobby. She looked for things that daylight people had lost in darkness.

Her first job had been to find a sack of coins Fennerish the Faun had lost. Loamy had found it quite easily and felt her nose blush red at the acclaim accorded her for a bit of simple night-time looking.

The next time, Tincture the Skunk was certain the family of Chitteringfools, the Squirrels had made off with an ancient family heirloom reputed to possess magical powers. It turned out that the moth-eaten pelt had been sold at rummage by the youngest Skunk family member; and that the only magic it had was the ability to make virtually anyone sneeze because of the dust.

Her fame spread and soon she was doing far more mystery solving than gardening. Her services had grown to be in such demand that she'd recruited four other Moles, five Squirrels, a Raccoon, and a very young Centaur. The Mole Agency as it had come to be called, was busy all the time. Word spread from one shore to the other of Narnia, and Loamy was certain that would finally be the end of it, until one night there was a knock on her door.

Having grown used to such visits, she opened the door and for the first time in many years, stood with her mouth open in total surprise. Standing on her doorstep was a girl, her head carefully wrapped in the turban favored by the people of Calormen. She dipped in a curtsy and only then did Loamy see the circlet of gold atop the wrapping of fine cloth. The young woman said, "If you please, Madam Trowel, my name is Lucy Pevensie Caspiansbintithe Fourth, and I would like to hire you to solve a deep mystery..."

Names: ♀ Moleish; ♀ English Image: https://i.pinimg.com/originals/98/71/e5/9871e52bbc09c525af21b8f6471eab15.jpg