Jackson Allen's Blog, page 4

New Scifi Thought Leader Videos

Thanks for waiting for an update from me – Pleased to say that Jeremiah and I are producing new Scifi Thought Leader videos. Now the STL essays will be video essays on Youtube! Here is the first entry – Kindness is Normal – watch it for free below:

Backstory behind these videos is simple. I’m looking for other ways to connect with people and I heard a suggestion: turn your blog entries into videos! Sounded like a good idea so I reached out to Jeremiah – his response was along the lines of ‘this is insane – I’m in.’ The logic behind video essays makes sense – everyone’s looking for something to listen to while they drive in, take a break, clean the house. What if we can use that moment to make people feel better?

Do me a favor? Let’s keep the objective simple, the outcome focused. I want to live in a world where people are connected and empathetic. As we navigate through darker times – you might feel tempted to make my words more than they are. Please don’t make this weird. I’m just a humble author, sharing what I know I can because that makes me feel good. If you’re looking for helpful general advice on being a better human, I’ve found Bene Brown’s work to be helpful.

DON’T FORGET – GSBCW starts tomorrow at 12PM Pacific – grab a book and join us!

The post New Scifi Thought Leader Videos appeared first on Inkican.

Solarpunk and Other Happy Future Stuff

Skip the bad news, let’s talk happy future stuff and solarpunk. That’s right, I need a break from the bad news and so do you – I see the look on your face. For as much as the slithy toves of 2025 push us into dark corners, Jabberwocky characters present looking-glass possibilities. We might just escape forward into a happy solarpunk future, anything is possible. Ready to hear more about the happy? Let’s go!

Green Concrete and Wood Steel

A new startup just launched to produce ‘a groundbreaking new material that mimics the look and feel of natural wood while outperforming high-grade steel … Maryland-based firm InventWood, revealed that their engineering wood product called Superwood is a result of molecular-level transformation that turns natural wood into a material up to a dozen times stronger and 10 times tougher than its original form.’

But wait, it gets better! Researchers from Florida Atlantic University, along with the University of Miami and Oak Ridge National Laboratory, ‘developed a process to create environmentally friendly material has the potential to substitute steel and concrete in buildings, bridges, furniture, and flooring.’ We could have strong, sustainable, affordable building materials in *everyone’s* reach within a few decades. Good-bye Plastic Waste

Don’t take my word for it – we might see the last plastic bag in the next ten years. Here’s how it works: Turning algae into biodegradable plastic involves extracting oils and carbohydrates from the algae biomass. As raw materials convert into biopolymers, we mold them into various plastic products. Scientists enhance the production of these components by genetically modifying algae strains or optimizing growing conditions. This creates a renewable source of plastic AND reduces reliance on fossil fuels AND lowers greenhouse gas emissions. Score!

So using genetically-engineered algae, we can extract green versions of the necessary materials to make packaging materials and good-bye petroleum-based plastic. Woo! Only one question: How does that get rid of existing plastic waste? Keep reading …

Real Matter Compilers

In Neal Stephenson’s The Diamond Age, post-scarcity society was driven by universal access to matter compilers. Molecular assemblers – not just a mod in Minecraft–  can construct perfect mechanisms from basic components like water, carbon, or air. Molecular assemblers can even break down existing trash (hello, plastic waste!) and turn it into something more useful. Atomic simulations aim to understand and predict complex physical phenomena bring us closer to molecular assemblers and people are working with them *right now.* There’s even an open source frame work called OpenMC (I’ll let you figure out what MC stands for). We’re drawing closer to the day where we can have personalized antibiotics and medicine, food compilers, machines that break down CO2 into fuels. Here’s a Youtube explanation – molecular assemblers are wild and the possibilities are endless.



Open Source Weight Loss

I’m not a huge fan of taking drugs to lose weight but Ozempic is a game-changer for people who have tried every other method. One problem – it’s expensive! The possibility of change came during 2022-2025 shortages where pharmacies were allowed to compound their own (make their own) Ozempic in response to demand. Compounded semaglutide (generic Ozempic) could be re-approved by the FDA at any time. Suddenly, weight loss becomes more accessible and people get healthier!

Good-Bye Dentures!

In July 2023, researchers from the Medical Research Institute Kitano Hospital in Osaka, Japan announced the development of a new tooth regrowth medicine that uses RNA to administer antibodies against a molecule called USAG-1 which inhibits bone growth proteins. A medicine to grow new teeth is set to enter clinical trials in July next year after being developed in Japan. Following clinical trials, the medicine could be ready for general use in 2030.

But wait, what if it doesn’t work? Not to worry – Scientists at King’s College London say they’ve successfully grown a human tooth in a lab for the first time. What if you got new implants made from your very own tooth DNA? No dentures, no caps, no fakes. That’s crazy, right?? New versions of your original body don’t stop at the jawline. We’re also getting closer to …

Growing New Organs In the Lab

Imagine a future where you don’t need a clone, you don’t need someone to die and you don’t need anti-rejection drugs to get a new kidney, or liver, or heart, skin, or muscles. Engineering an organ or tissue begins with having the right kinds of cells. ‘In 2016, the institute announced  success printing living tissue structures using a specialized 3D printer that its researchers designed over a decade. The scientists printed ear, bone and muscle structures that, when implanted in animals, matured into functional tissue and developed a system of blood vessels. These early results indicate that the printed structures have the right size, strength and function for use in humans. The series of experiments proved the feasibility of printing living tissue structures to replace injured or diseased tissue in patients.’ Reminds me of that scene in Star Trek IV:



Chemotherapy No More!

The development of mRNA vaccines represents a significant advancement in cancer treatment, with 120+ successful clinical trials treating lung, breast, prostate cancer, melanomas, and more challenging cancers such as pancreatic and brain tumors. Pancreatic cancer? Still treated like a death sentence. Imagine being able to say ‘you’re going to be okay.’ Imagine being able to say ‘no more chemo!’

Fox13 Memphis explains it this way: “Immunotherapy uses your own immune system to fight cancer. It works by boosting the natural defenses in your body—so it can do more to find and kill cancer cells. ‘Cancers have been very good at hiding themselves from the immune system,” Dr. Gravenor said. “If you can neutralize that protein, the immune system can come in and kill the cancer.'”

The Future Can Be Happy If We Want To

Yes, bad news everywhere. Being scared and angry and frustrated and hopeless is a reaction – remaining scared and angry and frustrated and hopeless is a choice. I’m choosing to focus on happy future solarpunk. We can escape forward into a happy solarpunk future anytime we want to. We can be comforted in knowing we did our human duty to plant trees knowing we’ll never sit in their shade, even if we don’t get there ourselves. The sky’s the limit and our hearts are open.

The post Solarpunk and Other Happy Future Stuff appeared first on Inkican.

Netflix – The Case of the Boring Bandersnatch

News out of SlashFilm: Netflix is killing Bandersnatch as a streamable title is because it’s ‘boring.’ Interesting concept, great execution – but Bandersnatch couldn’t overcome the systemic narrative challenges of a choose-your-own-adventure story. Ergo, watchers considered it boring and consigned Bandersnatch to the Netflix dustbin.

Sorry, folks – I know you tried.

It’s never fun to find out you spent $25 million and no one cares – by the way, that $25 million is an estimate: no public production costs are available. We know that Chooseco filed a $25M lawsuit against Netflix for trademark infringement by use of the phrase “choose your own adventure.” The lawsuit was settled with Chooseco on undisclosed terms, but it wouldn’t surprise me to learn that the production costs were somewhere near that amount.

But who cares about that? Why did Bandersnatch – this ultra-expensive Netflix project – turn out boring enough to kill? The answer itself lies in the challenge of COYA-style stories. Here’s what I mean:

Thing is, choose-your-own-adventures only resonate with readers/audiences to a point. Don’t get me wrong, I loved CYOA books as a kid (Looking at you Hark series by R.L. Stine) but I defy you to come up with any amazing scene / character / insight from a CYOA book. TL;DR – there isn’t one.

It’s worse than that – COYA books by definition are produced with simple binary choices, shallow storylines and unsatisfying arcs. Depth and nuance are too difficult to achieve when you need to keep book production manageable and scalable. Choose-Your-Own-Adventure books succeeded because they’re a product of their time – a way to play video games when you couldn’t afford a console, or the local video game was too far away. Choose Your Own Adventure books died, killed by the Internet’s democratized game access (which is a problem unto itself).

So Netflix’s interest in Bandersnatch – thinking that viewers *wouldn’t* find it boring? Yeah, that was what we call in the industry ‘a big bet.’ They bet big but it didn’t work. As SlashFilm concluded: it’s not the first time producers have tried COYA-style movies, and they’ll likely continue experimenting. Bless their heart.

I actually appreciate knowing this – I was considering a COYA-style adventure for readers based on Mesh and Mike.Sierra.Echo. Now that I know audience’s limited interest in Choose Your Own Adventure, I can focus my attention elsewhere. So, thanks Netflix – I know viewers found Bandersnatch to be ‘boring.’ However, your experience and what we learned from it is anything but boring to me. <3

 

The post Netflix – The Case of the Boring Bandersnatch appeared first on Inkican.

New Keyboard Arrives – Typing This Post Feels So Good

Not complaining, just explaining – writers need good keyboards – occasionally we get new keyboards. Let me tell you a little bit of how we got to here. First and foremost – I’ve been typing at 60WPM or better for 35+ years. That level of repetitive stress has left my wrists and fingers, shall we say, in desperate need of comfort. Fifteen years ago, I started experimenting with different keyboard shapes to see what worked best.

First and foremost, the Microsoft Ergo Wireless 3000 was a banger of a keyboard – sturdy, comfortable, and made for late-night writing jags. Hunter S Thompson liked an IBM Selectric because it could type as fast as he thought; I loved the MSFT Ergo Wireless for the same reason. Later, MSFT decided in their infinite wisdom to decommission the Ergo Wireless 3000 and go with the Sculpt. Different shape, different format, but hey – it was still the best ergo keyboard on the market and it worked for me.

I’m not saying Sculpts are indestructable – the way I use a keyboard, I’ll go through one every 18-24 months. Carpenters need new sawblades, writers need new keyboards. Makes sense, right? Then, disaster struck …

Microsoft stopped making the Sculpt! For reasons I’ll never completely understand, MSFT decided to chuck the Ergo Wireless 3000 AND the Sculpt – with no intended solution. For months, I looked at alternative keyboards and resources while nursing along my ailing Sculpt. Incase was rumored to have ‘bought the Sculpt license’ – whatever that meant. I should expect the chance to buy a NEW Sculpt keyboard in February 2025!

Cue the Spongebob Card: “Three Months Later …”

I was rage-refreshing the Incase product page for the Sculpt when I noticed a new option: Pre-order! Really, pre-order? They said ‘pre-order this keyboard and it’ll be shipped in 6-10 business days.’ That was 8-12 business days ago. The keyboard arrived this afternoon and it fired right up as soon as I plugged the USB dongle in. Pure, typing, silk. Booyah!

Not that this matters to anyone more than me and my old-guy wrists but it feels pretty dog-gone good to type on something and not hurt. Thanks to Incase for taking pity on me, I’ll be writing the next story on this keyboard. Writers need new keyboards and this one feels great.

The post New Keyboard Arrives – Typing This Post Feels So Good appeared first on Inkican.

Andrew Carnegie and Solarpunk

Sitting around on a Sunday morning – started thinking about solarpunk and Andrew Carnegie. Wealth inequality and the problems it causes dominates our headlines. Common media topics include re-enacting the French Revolution or ‘eating the rich,’ but is there a better way? Are we doomed to repeat the failed hatreds and phyrric victories of the past?

Not necessarily. You know, some ultra-rich people decided to use their wealth to make others’ lives better. Modern examples of wealthy philanthropists include people like Taylor Swift, Dolly Parton, and MacKenzie Scott come to mind, as do Chuck Feeney, Gordon and Betty Moore, and Barron Hilton. These are great, but they all remind me of one historical figure – Andrew Carnegie.

Yes, yes – Carnegie was a robber-baron – I’m not here to sprinkle pixie dust on his legacy. What I am curious about is whether we can use his example to encourage – not force – modern robber-barons to turn the page on impending apocalypse. Is it possible for Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos to commit to making real, selfless, systemic change through philanthropy? That’s what the rest of this post is about.

Real Change Won’t Be Easy

Short answer: Yes, but it won’t be easy. Let’s start with the truth – the world we live in isn’t their fault. Yes, they exploited a system to make billions and trillions of dollars – but did they build the system? No. They merely exploited it. I’m not excusing their behavior, but how are we to ask them to empathize with us if we cannot empathize with them? So let’s try a little empathy, as a social exercise: Hate the game, not the player.

Now back to Carnegie – he gave away nearly all his fortune to build public libraries, education, and cultural institutions that created lasting infrastructure for society. His giving was transparent, massive relative to his wealth, and aimed at empowering people over generations. By contrast, modern billionaires have given very little. What’s missing here? I’m no sociologist, but a lot can be found in Carnegie’s 1889 essay: ‘The Gospel of Wealth.’

In that essay, Carnegie expressed some personal truths. Among them, he felt wealthy people have a moral duty to use their surplus to benefit society, giving needed to be thoughtful and controlled in ways that promote lasting social good, and that wealth should empower self-improvement. Carnegie saw wealthy individuals as ‘servant-leaders’ of their fortunes, responsible for distributing wealth for public beefit. ‘The duty of the rich was to live modest lifestyles.’ Ostentatious displays of wealth were immoral. The point of all this, in Carnegie’s analysis was: “Help those who will help themselves, to provide part of the means by which those who desire to improve may do so.”

The impact of Carnegie on modern philanthropy is astounding, and also – it saved him from public scorn. Carnegie himself lived by these principles, donating much of his fortune to build over 2,500 public libraries, educational institutions like Carnegie Mellon University, and other philanthropic projects. His blueprint of self-awareness, self-reflection, and self-direted change is still something modern ultra-wealthy persons can use today.

Consequences of Giving

To talk about giving, we have to talk about the consequences. Why haven’t ultra-rich philanthropists just ‘given away’ their money? Because it’s not that easy. Without excusing bad behavior, let’s look at the facts. There continues to be tension between wealth accumulation and meaningful giving. Meanwhile, some ultra-wealthy use charitable giving to avoid taxes and exert influence, while ordinary taxpayers foot the bill. Historically, it’s not enough to give away your money – you also have to overcome the systemic cynicism that accompanies billion-dollar altruism. I don’t have the answer for this – but it helps to define the question better – can we culturally create the framework for people to give without shame?

Let’s face it: ultra-rich philanthropists look like suckers to unscrupulous people. Take Gwenyth Paltrow’s comments on that ski-crash trial. It was clear the plaintiff was looking for a fast payday and Paltrow wisely chose to defend herself. I dislike Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop as much as the next person, but good for her for standing up to a low life.

There has to be a way for us to meet in the middle. Think of how much benefit we could bring to society if we convinced the ultra-wealthy to adopt Chuck Feeney-style ‘humble giving.’

Is it about encouraging them to adopt a lower-profile, impact-first mindset might help move away from the perception of philanthropy as a tool for control or branding? How do we encourage them to active, transparent giving that delivers tangible, immediate benefits?

Nobody’s asking me what I’d say if I had the chance to have that conversation. But if I did, it’d probably sound like this:

The Script

Me: Hey you – I know you’re probably freaked out about how philanthropy projects have gone sideways. It’s made me think about your situation and I wanted to share something that might resonate with you.

Them: You’ve got three  minutes.

Me: Chuck Feeney, right? Guy gave away nearly all his fortune during his lifetime, living modestly and focusing on “giving while living”?

Them: I’ve heard of him. Inspiring, but non-realistic in today’s climate.

Me: Maybe not. There’s a lot to learn from his approach. I know you want to be strategic and flexible about how you invest in causes.

Them: And?

Me: So here’s the thing: Feeney’s model was about active, transparent giving that creates immediate, tangible impact. He spent down his fortune within his lifetime, which meant he could see the results and adjust quickly. That urgency and humility made his giving powerful and personal.

Them: So, what? Strategic, long-term investment is important for systemic change. Feeney was outdated and naive.  No one makes personal sacrifices like that anymore. 

Me: Fair point – the criticism has been made, and it’s important to recognize. But what people like Feeney and Andrew Carnegie really pushed for was effective philanthropy-he warned against indiscriminate charity that might foster dependency. Instead, he wanted philanthropy to encourage self-reliance and dignity. Today, that translates into supporting programs that build skills, knowledge, and opportunity.

Them: Okay, but how does that apply to modern billionaires? The world’s problems are so complex now.

Me: Exactly why Carnegie’s model is still relevant. He was one of the first to apply rigorous management and strategic thinking to philanthropy-what we now call “impact-driven giving.” His foundations brought in experts, evaluated outcomes, and adapted strategies. Modern philanthropists can learn from that: be creative, treat giving as an investment, and focus on long-term social good rather than quick fixes.

Them: It’s not completely deranged but you’re making some sense. I’ll think about it.

Me: It’s definitely worth considering. It balances responsibility, impact, and legacy in a way that’s both practical and inspiring-something that could guide today’s billionaires toward meaningful change without losing sight of the complexities involved.

Them: I *said* I’d think about it. We’re done here.

New Strategies to Better Outcomes

Would it work? Well, what have we tried and how has that turned out? Oligarchs read social media, they have the newspaper – even ones they don’t own (Am I talking to Jeff Bezos’ social media team right now? If so, hi!).  They’re afraid of us, they know that the institutional systems they put in place to keep themselves in place are only as solid as they can continue paying for them. That has to be so exhausting.

So, what if we try to empathize with them? Would that be worse what we’ve been doing? Seriously – how has the ‘manufacture an increasingly meaningless chunk of public outrage’ strategy worked for us? Is it working, or has it been weaponized and manipulated through AI and technology?

What if we started an empathetic, ongoing discussion about bridging the wealth gap? How about if we were honest with ourselves: bridge the gap bridging because the gap needs to be bridged? Would that be wrong? How about trying a ‘solarpunk Andrew Carnegie’ strategy, where we encourage ultra-wealthy philathropy by re-imagining the Gospel of Wealth for 2025?

I mean, sure it *might* work. You got your active wealth stewardship for ecological and social good. Then you’d talk about community ownership, rejecting Social Darwinism, blah blah blah. Finally, there’d be something like sustainable legacy, modesty and responsibility in wealth use. Usual nonsense you can find in 30 seconds on ChatGPT. But think bigger.

A Solarpunk Gospel of Wealth transforms Carnegie’s ideas into a framework where wealth becomes a tool. Wealth for ecological restoration, social equity, and community empowerment. Replacing Social Darwinism with solidarity, individualism with cooperation, and philanthropy with systemic change toward a just, sustainable future. Solarpunk could give a framework for rich people to go ‘oh, this is what I’m supposed to be doing with all this money!’

An Andrew Carnegie Solarpunk future, a human reality. Imagine how beautiful a world that would be.

The post Andrew Carnegie and Solarpunk appeared first on Inkican.

Notes from Eugene – 4/30/2025

Notes from Eugene on an unseasonably pleasant spring day. Sunshine and clouds and blue sky juxtapose mid-state Oregonian mayhem lurking around corners and in dark doorways. Sometimes the menace takes the form of hardware store hackery. If it’s not the morbidly obese landlord atop the Rascal scooter arguing about cheap sink faucets at the local hardware store, it’s the unhoused person with a face like a sundried tomato wandering the aisles. Then there’s the weary teen hauling rolls of Romex electrical wire for an online order – Clean up on Aisle 18.

Cat Killers attempt four-legged foul play on our feline fraternities. They have a suspect description already – ‘EPD is asking for help from the public to locate the person of interest seen running down the hill. He is described as a Hispanic man in his 20s, 6-feet-tall, with an average build, shaved head, and a ponytail, and last seen wearing a red shirt. The man drove off in a vehicle described as a dark colored Acura sedan with the partial plate of ‘8908’. Eugene Police would also appreciate information about the victim cat, described as a young brown tabby female (not spayed). Please call 541-682-5748 if you have tips.’

I hugged Mason and Moxie extra tight upon the news. Our animal friends look upon us with such trust – it sickens me that someone could violate their peace so casually. They aren’t the only sufferers of suburban slithy toves. A creeper has been peeping in the local windows and Eugene PD would like a word. Call 541-799-5720, and ask for Detective John Yu. Reference Case-Number 25-088338 if you have any information.

For those of you in the writing game – another ridiculous AI writer story. This time, Quartz embarrassing itself by replacing the human writers with AI. Quartz bill itself as ‘a guide to the new global economy for people who are excited by change.’ Their CEO will likely be on a street corner near you, asking for spare change. It’s their readers to lose, their mistake to make.

Finally, a reminder to Trader Joe thumpers of innocent third parties – that’s considered assault and battery and you might end up complementing your Pirate’s Booty with a hand-crafted knuckle sandwich from the deli aisle.

In conclusion – although it’s a beautiful spring day in Eugene, keep your eyes open. Vigilance, after all, is the price of safety.

 

The post Notes from Eugene – 4/30/2025 appeared first on Inkican.

Sci-Friday #223 – Weird Retrofuturism – Honeywell Kitchen Computer??

Here’s a moment in weird retrofuturism – did you know Honeywell had a kitchen computer back in 1969? Neither did I, but thanks to the good people at Rarehistoricalphotos we can stroll down geek memory lane with the H316 Pedestal home kitchen computer. And you thought the Skymall catalog sold weird stuff!

The H316 was a DDP-116, one of the first popular 16-bit minicomputers built by Honeywell starting in 1969. ‘They were commonly used for data acquisition and control, remote message concentration, clinical laboratory systems, Remote Job Entry and time-sharing,’ according to Wikipedia. It ran on 475 watts of electricity (as much as a modern smart fridge), included 4KB of magnetic memory, expandable to 16KB, and a system clock running at 2.5 MHz – beefier than the computer that took our astronauts to the moon! Per Rarehistoricalphotos – ‘the machine’s functionality was limited to pre-programmed recipes and basic calculations for meal planning or checkbook balancing.’ So, everything your little homemaker needs. /s

No, This Wasn’t a Joke

Neiman Marcus tried to market this as the new ‘it’ item for modern American homes but I’m not buying it. No seriously, I couldn’t afford this. It cost $10,600 in 1969 to purchase this monster ($85K in today’s dollars). Nonetheless, this curious little piece of electrokitsch was ‘the first time a computer was offered as a consumer product.’

Not so much a technological achievement as a reinforcement of sexist gender norms.

I’m trying to picture the chrome-plated monkey nuts on the guy who came home and said ‘honey, your cooking stinks. It’s so bad, I spent $10K on a computer that will help you cook better. By the way, the price includes a 2-week course in programming your very own  DDP-116. No offense.’

Too bad the Kitchen Computer didn’t include a phone directory. The unfortunate recipient could save the number of her favorite divorce attorney. Or maybe a defense attorney – receiving this gift would *definitely* constitute justifiable homicide. Thanks Rarehistoricalphotos!

The Honeywell Kitchen Computer stuck out to me as cool little retrofuturism item to share. I hope it brings a smile to your face. Please feel welcomed to dive down the rabbit hole of every other Sci-Friday I’ve published in the past couple years. Have a great Weekend. <3

The post Sci-Friday #223 – Weird Retrofuturism – Honeywell Kitchen Computer?? appeared first on Inkican.

STL: Kindness is Normal

I’m sharing something important: Kindness is normal. Where current events lead us to believe that apathy and cynicism are expected, average behavior – it’s more important than ever to remember that being mean isn’t normal. Kindness is normal. Even if the world makes being kind feel weird, it doesn’t matter. Kindness matters. Kindness is normal.

The Observation

I don’t have to tell you, you already know. The world is full of apathy, cynicism, and cruelty – it’s happening every day. We try to stay above it, but the heartbreak is there for all of us to see every day. I can’t fix it, but we can try to learn.

One thing that stuck out to me is this: Some people react to other individuals with empathy and compassion, others react with apathy and cynicism. I’d like to call it a function of generational or cultural norms, but the fact of the matter is kindness is a universal cultural norm. Maybe you think that treating people with apathy and cynicism is doing them a favor. Maybe you think treating them with apathy and cynicism helps them understand that the world is apathetic and cynical. I get it, someone taught you that lesson. Wasn’t right but they did it. Now, where did you learn that teaching other people that lesson was your job? Shouldn’t you have learned through empathy and compassion that you never want other people to feel that way because of you?

I’m not saying it’s easy to show empathy and compassion after being treated with apathy and cynicism. In fact, my entire life is a masterclass in knowing that lesson. It doesn’t mean I get to go around showing people apathy and cynicism.

Learning this lesson, I have discovered that there is both a carrot and a stick to growth. Growth. On the one hand, the carrot is I get to grow and learn, and people see that I am a person who treats them with empathy and compassion. Maybe it doesn’t immediately lead to Fame and Fortune, but I get to sleep at night knowing that I did not actively try to make people’s days worse. That makes me feel good.

Kindness is a universal cultural norm.

But let’s say, a person who is apathetic and cynical cannot be reasoned with or taught empathy and compassion. Then, there’s a stick to go along with that carrot. Kindness and compassion is everyone’s privilege and responsibility. If somehow you believe that you’ve graduated from showing kindness and compassion, that it’s a ‘you problem?’ Sorry, but you misunderstood the assignment. In fact, I don’t care where you come from or how old you are – you’re a low life creep.

I’m not the Karma Police – You don’t have to worry about me being some sort of avenging angel. But your life is going to be dramatically worse. You will be more lonely, you will be more angry, you will be more confused, and you will be more disconnected from the people around you. You’ll spend your life watching other people in your community, enjoy more connection and more meaning, and you’ll never really understand why.

Now if this doesn’t sound like something you care about, no problem. I’m not your dad. What I can say is, as a science fiction author who happens to care about people, this is an important learning lesson for anybody who wants to enjoy more connection and more meaning to their lives. That’s what I’m focusing on, and it’s led me to other people who also care at that level about their quality of their life. Like attracts like, nature abhors a vacuum, so on and so forth …

Scifi and Kindness

Think of science fiction as a ‘kindness delivery machine.’ I write scifi because it’s good for me and for my brain. The point of writing scifi is for me to create some emotions and feelings and share them with you. You feel those feelings, there’s a part of you that goes ‘I feel seen.’ You read my stories and you get to take a moment out of your day where you aren’t thinking about your troubles. Then, mission accomplished. My kindness delivery machine is working.

So if you’re taking notes – here’s the takeaways:

The strongest people continue showing empathy and compassion after being shown apathy and cynicism.Kindness is normal, no matter how weird they may make you feel.If you think you’re above being kind – you’re a lowlife and you misunderstood the assignment.Scifi is a kindness delivery machine.

I hope you can take this information with you as a proof-of-concept that your kindness and your decency are worthwhile endeavors. No matter how hopeless, or desperate we get – kindness matters. Your kindness is correct. Kindness is normal.

The post STL: Kindness is Normal appeared first on Inkican.

Retrofuturism Now – Fixing Voyager

Hold all the ‘V’Ger’ jokes to the end – this is retrofuturism now – fixing Voyager from fifteen billion miles away. Check out this ~1 hr breakdown on the technical challenges of fixing a 50 year old computer – any command takes 22.3 hours to send and another 22.3 hours to receive. Gives new meaning to Spock’s line in Star Trek: The Motion Picture: ” A simple binary codetransmitted by carrier wave signal. Radio.” I thought my old 2400 bps modem was bad.  Watch the clip and then let’s discuss:

Comments from HackerNews helps give the achievement more context: “Writing an assembler for a bespoke CPU is one thing, many of us have done it as a toy project, but stakes are a bit different here. You’d have to mathematically prove your assembler and disassembler are absolutely 100% correct. When your only working model is utterly irreplaceable and irrecoverable upon error, it probably takes a lot more resources to develop.” – mystified5016

And then: “I think what fascinates me the most about all of this is how there are wide gaps in how much design and engineering documentation from that time period has survived to present day. For a long time, I just assumed that NASA owned and archived every design spec, revision, research paper, memo and napkin doodle related to their public-facing missions. I learned recently that even a lot of the original Gemini and Apollo program code (let alone source code) and docs are apparently gone forever.” – bityard

Crazy, right? Goes to show that geek takes many, many forms. Fixing Voyager is how retrofuturism works now. I’m proud of the JPL geeks that brought this to life. If you want to chase your dreams, chase ’em all the way to Mars. Or maybe 15 billion miles away. Go nuts!

The post Retrofuturism Now – Fixing Voyager appeared first on Inkican.

No Mo NANOWRIMO – Elegy for Writing Challenges

Well that’s that – NANOWRIMO is no mo’ – an elegy for writing challenges everywhere. The nascent National Novel Writing Month ‘was an annual, international creative writing event in which participants attempted to write a 50,000-word manuscript during the month of November. Well-known authors wrote “pep talks” in order to motivate participants during the month. The website provided participants, called “Wrimos”, with tips for writer’s block, information on where local participants were meeting, and an online community of support.’

And now it’s gone. I’m still processing my emotions about that. I know that NaNoWriMo – the annual ‘write a novel in 30 days’ competition that encourages writers to ‘write more’ has been around for 25 years. Wool by Hugh Howey, Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins, and Cinder by Marissa Meyer are NaNoWriMo novels along with almost 400 other titles. I’ve talked about this before.

But within the previous discussion came the seeds of NANOWRIMO’s own destruction. GenAI writing and the people who love it and the people who hate the people who love it. ‘The nonprofit has had some challenges in recent years, stemming from both money and missteps. Arts nonprofits seem to always be struggling for cash, but NaNoWriMo’s troubles were made worse after it was scrutinized for some inappropriate behavior by volunteers and moderators and then more recently for its equivocating stance on AI.’

Then It Got Worse

Reddit – as per usual – dunked all over NANOWRIMO’s good-bye message. ‘This is SO typical of how all of their communication has been over the past couple of years…. absolutely no acknowledgement of their own responsibility for what happened. Nothing about their tolerating a pedophile, nothing about their support of AI for writing, nothing about how they basically said that people with disabilities couldn’t possibly write 50,000 words in a month without AI, those poor things, etc etc etc. Instead, they want to blame everything on general problems with funding that most nonprofits are having.’

Was Anything of Value Lost?

That’s the real question. Anyone who wants to be a writer is going to write, with or without a contest. Gamifying the creative process reminds me of what Dave Grohl said about American Idol.

“It’s destroying the next generation of musicians! Musicians should go to a yard sale and buy an old f****** drum set and get in their garage and just suck. And get their friends to come in and they’ll suck, too. And then they’ll f******* start playing and they’ll have the best time they’ve ever had in their lives and then all of a sudden they’ll become Nirvana. Because that’s exactly what happened with Nirvana. Just a bunch of guys that had some s***** old instruments and they got together and started playing some noisy-a** s***, and they became the biggest band in the world. That can happen again! You don’t need a f****** computer or the Internet or The Voice or American Idol .”

Any time you systemitize the process of human expression, you lose. I always thought NANOWRIMO was hurting the writing process. It’s convincing a generation of creative artists that success only comes in one size. NANOWRIMO said you had to wait for a single month to write, and then maybe your 50,000 words will get noticed in among every other person writing 50,000 words. Completely bogus.

Anyway, now it’s gone. Time to get back to writing, folks. You never needed NANOWRIMO’s help – the art was always within you. Take on other writing challenges because that’s what you want to do. NANOWRIMO’s elegy is a moment for you to realize that.

Write on!

The post No Mo NANOWRIMO – Elegy for Writing Challenges appeared first on Inkican.