http://cache.io9.com/assets/base/img/thumbs140x140/io9.com.png http://io9.com/tag/periodization http://io9.com/tag/periodization

With the recent death of Albert Hofmann, the inventor of LSD, it's a perfect time to travel back in time and assess how Hofmann's generation helped shape their future — in other words, our present day. Luckily the Boston Globe's Joshua Glenn is here to help you sort it all out. In a recent post on his Brainiac blog, Glenn writes about the "Partisan Generation," which includes Hofmann as well as Joseph "The Hero With A Thousand Faces" Campbell. This generation, born 1904-13, also includes a generation of science fiction writers who made SF mainstream. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=386000&view=rss&microfeed=true Were you born between 1974-83? Do you have implanted pop cultural memories of The O.C., Jackass, Britney Spears, online social networks, and high school shooters? Joshua Glenn, who spins the brilliant Brainiac blog at the Boston Globe, has just written an intriguing essay that explores the Net Generation as a glorious and weird cultural stereotype. What's cool about Glenn's writing is the way he effortlessly weaves together so many touchstones for this generation, from the highbrow journal n+1 to the lowbrow American Idol. These are 20- and 30-somethings who grew up in a world of violent media interconnectedness, Glenn suggests, and it's no wonder they tend to hit their prime young and flame out, in YouTube-is-watching Britney style. Check out the essay. It's a fun, provocative read about a generation that's just putting its stamp on the world. [Brainiac] More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=369530&view=rss&microfeed=true

When the movie Independence Day aired in theaters in summer 1996, audiences always cheered when aliens blew up the White House. Finally a journalist asked the White House Press Secretary about this strange audience response, and he replied that people were cheering because "they knew that the president had gotten to safety." The 1990s Clinton Era was a strangely science fictional time, an era when the President insisted that Camp David receive the SciFi Channel and White House press conferences dealt with Will Smith movies. With the possibility that another Clinton will be in the White House this year, it's time to go back through the mists of time to contemplate the five biggest themes in Clintonian scifi, or scifi created during the first Clinton's regime. We've laid it all out for you. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=343146&view=rss&microfeed=true