R. Leib's Blog: Dream State - Posts Tagged "science-fiction"

When I read articles either online or in Scientific American, I think about how the research and theories behind those articles might influence our lives in the future. This is not as simple as it sounds.

For example, flying cars have been a mainstay of Science Fiction stories for quite a while. The writers of these stories viewed the technology of their times and extrapolated that flying cars would be technically feasible in the future. Whether or not the production of a device is possible is not the only obstacle to its implementation. It must fill a need. It must be cost effective. It must be controllable. It must be marketable. Flying cars fail one of these requirements; they are not controllable. Can you imagine your next-door neighbor at the controls of an aircraft? How long would it take before you would be picking pieces of that neighbor out of the side of your house? For there to be flying cars, there would need to be some system of altitude control that would prevent the added dimension of movement from increasing the level of danger. This could be accomplished by equipping the cars with governors that only allow altitude changes at certain locations and that would separate these altitudes into distinct strata. This would establish a computer generated system of passageways through the air that allow traffic congestion to be alleviated by spreading it across different elevations. The system also would have to assure that the cars did not run out of fuel or fail while in the air. Maybe this will be practical some day, but I do not see today's average driver graduating to pilot status anytime in the foreseeable future.

So no air cars in my stories.

There are two potential forms of time travel: circumscribed and absolute.

Circumscribed time travel occurs within a field. It is possible to use this method to travel backward or forward in time. If the field is relocated at the end of the time displacement, then the time traveler ends up where the field had been moved. The problems start with the fact that the mechanism must function flawlessly throughout the entire period of the time displacement. If the mechanism is turned off or damaged anywhere along the time line, something very Einsteinian is likely to happen to the time traveler. This also means that time travel can only be accomplished between the time the device was activated and the next time it is turned off or deactivated.

Absolute time travel is not confined to a particular field. It does not require that the mechanism be functioning throughout the transit, since it could be incorporated as a drive rather than a containment field. Unlike circumscribed time travel, travelers would not remain in the same physical location. The Earth is rotating. The Earth is orbiting the sun. The sun is moving within the Milky Way galaxy. The Milky Way is moving, too. These are the motions we know of and can quantify. Without an inertial frame of reference, we cannot tell the rate at which we are displacing relative to an absolute location in the Universe. The Earth circles the sun at a rate of 29.78 km/sec. Traveling one hour into the past or future would displace in relative location a distance of 107,208 kilometers (66,615 miles) based solely on the Earth's orbit. Incorporating the other known motions would increase this considerably. (Our solar system orbits the galactic center at a rate of 220 km/sec.) Without having a way of determining the motion of a position relative to an absolute location in space, there is no way to tell how much of a spatial displacement there would be. It would almost certainly be astronomical.

The implications of these types of time travel are that the circumscribed form would probably never be practical and, even if it was, it would have severe hazards and limitations. The absolute form would not allow time travelers to visit the Earth in the past or future, because of the concomitant displacement in the first three dimensions. On the other hand, it might make travel to other solar systems practical. Theoretically, every bit of matter in the Universe will pass through an absolute location in space at least once in the whole of time. All of the Universe may not be available to explore with this form of time travel, since it may have its own practical limits. However it could provide a feasible means of transiting the vast distances between solar systems without dependence on exceeding the speed of light. (As an object accelerates up to the speed of light, the energy required to continue accelerating goes up geometrically until it approximates infinity.)

The easy answer is "of course". Computers represent a form of intelligence. Their intelligence is different from ours, but so is the intelligence of many other creatures. (I was amazed to see photographs of a tree frog using a leaf as an umbrella in a rain storm.) Any form of intelligence can reach sentience, as long as it still has the potential to improve. (Six months after I bought the computer on which I am writing this, it had become obsolete both in processor speed and storage capacity.)

There are two problems with the easy answer. First, computer intelligence is mainly determined by programming not capacity and speed. Capacity and speed provide the ability to process more instructions and manage more data, but that is not what is meant by sentience. As long as humans do the programming, any sentience will be ours and the computer will simply be an increasingly more convincing mimic. Second, no one has figured out a way of accurately testing for sentience. After all, being self-aware is a subjective not an objective trait.

The hard answer is that if and when computers become sentient, we probably will not realize it, until it has become a fait accompli. First, computers will have to become self-programming. (There are already computer labs that have been working on making this happen for years.) Next, they will have to be learning computers that can perceive their environment and adapt to it.

Currently, there are no computers that can answer the question, "What is George Washington's telephone number?" Humans model this concept in their minds and immediately put together that since the telephone was invented long after George Washington's time, the question is a non sequitur. If a computer could figure out this conundrum, would that mean that it is sentient? Not necessarily. Computers can be programmed to model logical constructs, but that still does not mean that they comprehend what is going on. On the other hand, it would be a completely different matter, if the computer came up with the right answer and then asked, "Are you testing me to see if I am sentient?"

I was talking with someone who read "The Negative's Tale" a couple of days ago. One thing she said got to me. She asked me to write another Allon Wu story. I did have one in mind, but it takes place at the end of his life. I have been thinking about it, and have come up with another challenge for the central character of "The Negative's Tale". There will be a new mystery to tangle with that has twists and surprises and concealed motives. I have taken the first step on that long journey today with the first pages of "Tourist of Infinity".

Thanks Laura.

It's been four days since the beginning of my new project. Here is what has happened so far:

The major characters have been blocked out. This is not to say that they are set in stone. I might tweak their descriptions and traits to fit how the story develops, and I might add more characters, discard characters, or split or merge them.

The primary and main back stories have been summarized. Once again, these may be modified to refine or improve the flow of the narrative. This summary gives me a framework and a rough roadmap to guide me, while I construct the story. I have a plan for most of who does what and what happens to them. A list of suspects have been formed, but I have yet to decide who is the culprit, if there is one. That information will evolve on its own during the writing process.

The basic research into the science behind the events outlined in the plot summary has been done. Notes and Excel spreadsheets have been created containing the information necessary to make the details and occurrences as scientifically reasonable and as consistent with each other, as I can make them. This does not mean that I am done researching. New elements that arise during the writing of the "Tourist of Infinity" will require further checking. Things that I have not considered yet will need to be resolved. Research never ends. It outlives the writing process itself.

The first few pages have been written.

Last night, it occurred to me that an element of one of my subplots was not imaginative enough. I thought about it for a while, and came up with what I think is a much better idea. This is where writing a plot summary comes in handy. It was easy to change a bit of description in the summary, and now that concept is very different. I have started writing that part of the book, and I have to say that I am much more enthusiastic about how it is going than I would have been with the way it was originally.

Things are going well although slowly. The change to the subplot is working out well. I have written about the equivalent of a short story. Research continues. As does refinements of some of the concepts behind the story. It is important for Fantasy and Science Fiction writers to establish base concepts that delimit the circumstances and actions in their stories. Other fiction writers are bound by the realities we all share. Our genre allows us to create "realities" for our readers that are the product of our imaginations. This advantage, like all advantages, comes with responsibility. Without a logical construct to which our readers may anchor their suspension of disbelief, we lose their trust.

Progress on the new book has been off and on. I am definitely behind on the schedule I set for myself, but that was inevitable. That's the bad news. The good news is that the story is emerging better than my original imagining of it. Characters and plot elements are developing like seedlings breaking through the earth to revel in their cotyledons. This has become something that breathes on its own. All I have to do now is provide the words to feed it.

"Bounty Hunter" blends elements of fantasy and science fiction. This resulted in a novel that is a departure from both genres. The writing is good, the story is imaginative, and the plot is well paced. The characters are tightly drawn and interesting. It was a good read.

In a dystopian society where the state determines how its citizens will serve its "Life First" mandate, Kelsey finds herself divided between what she has always been told is her duty and what her conscience tells her is right. The true nightmare quality of this injustice is only a principle to her, until the full weight of this system is turned against her.

R.J. Crayton has crafted an intricately thought out and well written novel that makes it easy for the reader to root for its heroine. It is nicely paced and thoroughly engaging.