Brenda Cooper's Blog, page 44

The Futurist Reads Her Sunday Times

From time to time, people ask me what it takes to be a futurist. Really, it’s an interest in thinking about the future and a habit of keeping my eye’s open. I think there is one other bit: the desire to make the world a better place in the future.

I stay aware of what’s happening in the world, paying special attention to politics, culture, economics, and science.

I read the daily newspaper. In paper. I almost canceled it Saturday when they called to get a fresh and unexpired credit card numbe

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Published on June 14, 2009 22:25

Reading Recommendation: Lost Light by Michael Connelly

I read this for a book group - I would never have picked it up on my own. I do like crime/detective novels, but I don’t read them much since I like some other genres more. I was really glad to have read this one. Mr. Connelly is a very polished writer, and he did a nice job getting me to keep turning pages. I often find this genre to be pretty cerebral, and pretty easy to put down when you’re tired or swamped with workish stuff and non-fiction, like I often get. While solidly in the genre,

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Published on June 10, 2009 22:55

Today’s Tomorrows: First Column now live at Futurismic

I’m really pleased to announce the very first edition of my new column at Futurismic is posted now. Today’s Tomorrows takes a single topic and looks at through a science and a science fictional lens.

This time, I took on a favorite sfnal trope of mine: Artificial Intelligence. As usual, the universe gave me a little daily news to report on the topic — in the column, I talk about Robert Sawyer’s device for waking the Internet up: a firewall over China. Today, in the news, there are articles

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Published on June 03, 2009 22:40

Attention, Glorious and Critical

We live in an attention economy. Which really means our attention has scattered. There is danger here.

Advertisers and news sources spend enormous resources to get our attention. They’re getting better at it, too. A lot of the ads I see these days are actually things I’m interested in. Further, constant connection splits our attention. I’ve typically got Twitter, four or five web pages, a word document, and two email accounts open. I’m tracking a wide range of topics I’m interested in: g

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Published on May 31, 2009 14:56

Twitter: An Explanation

I was helping a friend out with some Twitter questions via email and thought my response to her might actually be useful to others. So here it is:

First, for 140 characters a shot, Twitter is a big topic. So I’ll stick to the basics: followers, following,

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Published on May 30, 2009 10:11

Join Three Women of Speculative Fiction on Wednesday

Join me, Robin Hobb, and Louise Marley at Park Place Books on Wednesday evening at 7:00 PM. We’ll be discussing our books and how science fiction and fantasy can be positive images for young adults. I hope to see some of you there. I know it may be a sunny evening, but come on out, have sushi at Rikki Rikki or wine and a salad at Purple beforehand, wander through Peter Kirk Park, and then drop in and join us. While you’re at it, Park Place Books has wonderful books and gifts, and as an indie

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Published on May 25, 2009 12:10

FiRE (Future in Review) Day 4: Africa, the Oceans, Language, and Whales

The morning started with the most explicit of the conversations on philanthropy: a look at the work Pearson Learning has done in Africa, and a brief discussion of project Inkwell. The first project we saw, the Sara Communication Initiative, helps girls in Africa tell their stories, and actually brought me to tears for a moment. Project Inkwell is working to get more technology into schools. After seeing our resident household twelve-year-old who attends an essentially paperless school, I can s

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Published on May 23, 2009 08:37

FiRE (Future in Review) Day 3: China, the flu, Elon Musk, and Calit2

Wow. I heard there are 87 speakers. With half a day left to go, I think we are through at least 60 of them. I couldn’t give back what they gave to me without writing for hours. So once more, here are a few highlights:

Basically, on the topic of global economics, the most time went to China. Every speaker who addressed China directly or indirectly seemed to believe China is healthy and capable. They are not expected to take over our economy soon, or to pass us immediately, but there seemed to

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Published on May 21, 2009 22:29

FiRE (Future in Review) Day 2: Leadership, the Economy, Thorium, and Dolphins

So the day here in San Diego felt like sitting in the chair being hit by bullets of information. The format is that there are multiple back to back 1/2 hour segments with industry and thought leaders from around the world. I’m not even going to try to capture the day in total. But here’s four bits of it:

Leadership matters. Obama is leading. Leadership also matters in industries. This isn’t exactly new news, but I think the takeaway was that with world problems as severe and varied as they

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Published on May 20, 2009 22:29

In Which I am Included in the SFSignal Mind Meld

The Mind Meld over at SFSignal is a fun little exercise. I first noticed the one they did on women science fiction writers (well, I wonder why?). Anyway, I’m included in the newest one, which is about what books we recommend to people who aren’t usually science fiction and fantasy writers. Go on over there and add your ideas. Its a fun group exercise, and also - as a follow-on to my comments on twitter, the opportunity rose from a tweet I saw and responded to. So hey, another small win for s

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Published on May 19, 2009 23:14