http://cache.io9.com/assets/base/img/thumbs140x140/io9.com.png http://io9.com/tag/quote of the day http://io9.com/tag/quote of the day

From Co.Create's excellent article about the controversy over the Watchmen prequels, Alan Moore explains everything to you: More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5885055&view=rss&microfeed=true

Chan Koonchung's dystopian novel The Fat Years has caused an uproar in China and been translated into many languages, including a U.S. edition. In The Fat Years, everybody in China forgets everything that happened during a six-month period, and meanwhile the country becomes more propsperous, based on denial and selective amnesia. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5884813&view=rss&microfeed=true

Science fiction scientists have been responsible for numerous fictional disasters. They've reanimated corpses that have come back to kill them. They've cloned dinosaurs only to utterly lose control of them. They've shrunk their kids and turned themselves into flies. But one researcher is calling for more fictional scientific triumphs to balance out these disasters. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5884243&view=rss&microfeed=true

In an interview with So I'm Fifty, Above World author Jenn Reese talks about her planning process, including figuring out what her "candy-bar" scenes are: More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5883528&view=rss&microfeed=true

Speaking to DCist, John Hodgman explains that he felt embarrassed to be reading George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire at first, but then he got over it. For good reasons: More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5881930&view=rss&microfeed=true

Though optimistic pundits have declared Twitter largely responsible for social uprisings like Arab Spring, the microblogging network is hardly going to usher in a more liberated future. It's a business, after all, and it bends to the law like every other business does. Over at Foreign Policy's Passport, Uri Friedman counts the ways that Twitter looks more like a tool of the present than a harbinger of better tomorrows. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5881903&view=rss&microfeed=true "To be honest, I'm thinking much more about science than about religion when I'm writing. To me, art itself is a religion and the challenge to it is not religion, it's the hardcore materialism of science. So I spend quite a bit of time trying to make sense of how I seem to have a soul, I have this ghostly consciousness, yet I know as a believer in science that this is just coming from carbon, hydrogen and oxygen molecules. I think if you take science seriously there are a lot of interesting questions to ask. I would be happy if more novelists, not just science fiction writers, paid attention to that." — Freedom author Jonathan Franzen, quoted in the Telegraph More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5880767&view=rss&microfeed=true Aubrey de Grey, a software engineer turned gerontology expert in the UK, is known for his controversial books and lectures about how humans will eventually extend their lifespans. Currently he's the Chief Science Officer at SENS Foundation, a nonprofit in Silicon Valley aimed at funding new biotechnologies that could extend human life. In fact, many profiles of his work emphasize that he's after "immortality." But in an interview last week with readers of Science magazine, he said he's sick of this mischaracterization: More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5880547&view=rss&microfeed=true

Reason Magazine just posted a must-read article from its February 2012 issue by Timescape author Gregory Benford, in which he examines the expansive dream of space exploration propounded in the early 1950s by Wernher Von Braun. And he concludes that even though NASA seems to be scaling back and our dreams of interplanetary exploration have come to a standstill, there's still hope — including a possible Mars expedition by 2033. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5879386&view=rss&microfeed=true

Over at the Atlantic, there's a fascinating interview with Tim Maudlin, one of the founders of a new field, the philosophy of cosmology. He suggests that the mysteries of the universe, including what existed before the Big Bang, may be in part philosophical: More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5878152&view=rss&microfeed=true

We used to think our planet was unique, but discoveries by planet-hunting missions like Kepler continue to indicate that the the odds of Earth being one-of-a-kind are incredibly slim. Now, findings published in today's issue of Nature suggest that there are far more planets in our galaxy that we ever imagined: More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5875640&view=rss&microfeed=true

How much does the Internet weigh? It depends on who you ask. According to one calculation, the information that comprises the Internet weighs little more than a single grain of salt. Other estimates put it at closer to the weight of a strawberry. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5871189&view=rss&microfeed=true Peter Thiel, a founder of PayPal, is known for his extreme views on everything from taxes (there shouldn't be any) and women's suffrage (it never should have happened). He's also a starry-eyed libertarian futurist who has invested heavily in the seasteader movement, which wants to create floating cities in the ocean outside national boundaries. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5871067&view=rss&microfeed=true

Why has fantasy gotten so gritty and violent? Why are we so obsessed with Game of Thrones and book sagas about severed limbs and dirty deals, instead of epic quests involving elves and singing swords and Ultimate Evil? Writer David Chandler shares a fascinating theory over at SFSignal. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5866663&view=rss&microfeed=true

Good news! Walter Mosley, best known for his Easy Rawlins novels, will be publishing more science fiction next year — he has a series of SF novellas coming from Tor, whom he describes as "THE science fiction publisher." They'll be packaged as one or more flipbooks. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5865919&view=rss&microfeed=true

Science fiction critic Peter Nicholls, speaking in 1997, explained the enduring love for novels about a "Big Dumb Object" in space, how this helps us to achieve a Sense of Wonder, and why we would want to. Novelist Gregory Benford just posted the text of Nicholls' speech on his own blog, and economist Robin Hanson pulls out the best quotes: More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5860657&view=rss&microfeed=true

Every year the U.N. releases its Human Development Index, a widely-respected ranking of nations based on levels of health care, education, economic growth, and other factors. But now, says one analyst, the long-respected ranking system has to be overhauled. Its definition of "development" is outdated because it doesn't take into account whether any of that development is sustainable from an environmental perspective. So which nations would rise to the top of the HDI if sustainability were taken into account? Chuluun Togtokh, a Mongolian environmental scientist and development policymaker, decided to find out. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5859705&view=rss&microfeed=true

There's a must-read interview with William Gibson over at the Paris Review, in which he explains what was wrong with cyberpunk: "A snappy label and a manifesto would have been two of the very last things on my own career want list. That label enabled mainstream science fiction to safely assimilate our dissident influence, such as it was. Cyberpunk could then be embraced and given prizes and patted on the head, and genre science fiction could continue unchanged." He goes on to explain that science fiction, in the twentieth century, was too triumphalist and focused on a white American future, and lacked real details to go with its shiny ideas. "I wanted to see dirt in the corners," says Gibson. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5855755&view=rss&microfeed=true

One of the most dramatic mass extinctions in history, the End Permian event 250 million years ago, took out 95 percent of species on Earth. Scientists have long believed this holocaust began when a mega-volcano erupted in what is now Siberia, polluting the atmosphere and causing acid rain for possibly thousands of years. But now a new study suggests that the first wave of extinctions after the volcano were self-perpetuating. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5854056&view=rss&microfeed=true

Over at the World Policy Institute, celebrated SF author Neal Stephenson has a great essay that's basically a call-to-arms to fiction writers to start collaborating with scientists. They can do this partly by writing more hopeful stories about the future — but more importantly, by writing stories about massive engineering projects, like Mars bases, that could conceivably be implemented. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5846707&view=rss&microfeed=true Over at FT.com, Tim O'Reilly has a must-read essay about the symbiosis between humans and computers. We're already propagating our knowledge and our culture at a much faster rate than in the past, he argues, and the next step is computers that can learn from "the activity of human teachers" but then notice things the humans wouldn't. He cites the example of Google's autonomous vehicle, which beats other self-driving cars because it can draw on all the experience of "millions of road miles put in by human drivers building the Google Street View database." More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5844033&view=rss&microfeed=true

Brannon Braga is gearing up to bring us his latest show as a producer, Terra Nova, and meanwhile he's reflecting on his time with Star Trek. Including Star Trek: Voyager, which he mostly defends from the critics in a new interview. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5842708&view=rss&microfeed=true

"Do people who are genetically predisposed towards altruism tend to flock together? Or do people become more altruistic when they interact with others who display this trait? Or are external environmental conditions the major influence? Research shows that all three factors play a role. Whatever genetic predispositions people have, their prosociality changes according to where they are and who they are with. Much depends on their social environment." More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5836299&view=rss&microfeed=true

In a graceful and funny column for Quora, screenwriter Sean Hood — whose most recent project was Conan the Barbarian — explains what it feels like to write a movie that tanks at the box office. He compares the excitement (and occasionally self-deluded expectations) as similar to joining a political campaign. He writes: More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5834425&view=rss&microfeed=true

Astronomer Neil deGrasse Tyson was on Bill Maher last Friday, and he said everything that needs to be said about plans to slash NASA's budget, including doing away with the James Webb Space Telescope. His phenomenal, astounding rant is one of the greatest pieces of truth-telling you'll hear today: More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5829707&view=rss&microfeed=true

Should apes and other animals accompany humans on their path to transcending biological limitations? Many scientists and philosophers say no. But futurist George Dvorsky has published a thought-provoking article championing animal enhancement, arguing that the opportunity to do so represents a bioethical imperative. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5826650&view=rss&microfeed=true

It's not actually Michael Bay's fault that the Transformers movies make no sense. According to the blindingly detailed Transformers Wiki, which tracks the continuity of the Transformers franchise: More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5819125&view=rss&microfeed=true

You may have heard of U.K. author Zadie Smith's smash hit novel White Teeth, or her more recent book On Beauty, which won the prestigious Orange Award. Now this literary superstar tells The Literateur that she's excited to spend the next decade writing speculative fiction and scifi. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5816106&view=rss&microfeed=true

Over at the Paris Review, William Gibson has finally told the full story of how he invented the term cyberspace — partly by scribbling on notepads, and partly by watching kids playing videogames in early-1980s arcades. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5815019&view=rss&microfeed=true

Is "spoiler culture" ruining the twist ending? That's pop culture scribe Chuck Klosterman's argument in an essay over at Grantland. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5812858&view=rss&microfeed=true

At the Hero Complex Film Festival, director Nicholas Meyer revealed a confrontation he'd had with Gene Roddenberry over Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5811911&view=rss&microfeed=true

"They [the studio and the network] were so upset about the crime of this episode having been written. The note session as a whole was preceded by a 45-minute period of them walking around the lot whispering to each other. They told me they would come up to my office and meet me privately. When they came up, I had the director and all of the writers in the office with me, because I was terrified. They sat down, and they said, ‘Look, where do we start?' I couldn't believe this was happening. I was like, ‘This is opposite of how you should feel right now. This is a great episode. We're going to get a 1.7 no matter what. We will build our ratings in other ways. The episode is not about credit cards; it's not about Hilary Duff. It's going to get the same numbers. There is a cultural build to a hit show. We have to prove to people that we're capable of good things so they can trust us, so that we can have a relationship. One day we will either be a highly rated show or we'll be canceled. It will not have to do with this moment. This episode is good, the story is good, these characters are good. Anyone who doesn't tune in because the commercial says they're playing Dungeons & Dragons, it's not my fault. It's not on me." More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5810498&view=rss&microfeed=true

In a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, John Barrowman quelled any worries that Captain Jack Harkness' pansexuality would be tamped down for American audiences. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5806533&view=rss&microfeed=true

Futurist Kyle Munkittrick has an interesting essay about Pixar movies over at Discover's Science Not Fiction blog, where he argues that most of the studio's films are offering a message about how non-human creatures (like robots or rats) are just as sentient as humans are, and deserve to be treated like people. He sees this as a distinctly transhuman or posthuman perspective, a sensibility that everyone might share in a future with intelligent robots and uplifted animals. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5803837&view=rss&microfeed=true

Michael Keaton tells the L.A. Times that he wasn't as happy with Batman Returns as with his first Batman movie. And then he had second thoughts about doing a third movie. Here's why: More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5801793&view=rss&microfeed=true

Monster author A. Lee Martinez has just published a funny essay about H.P. Lovecraft's brand of cosmic horror, and why it's always written "by humans for humans." What about cosmic horror from the perspective of someone — or something — else? More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5798728&view=rss&microfeed=true

It's Badass Fantasy Day at io9! But before we kick the festivities off, what makes a fantasy tale demonstrably badass? More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5795404&view=rss&microfeed=true

In this clip from Comic-Con 2007, Neil Gaiman recounts how dinner with Alan Moore involves in-depth descriptions of human viscera. Gaiman also reveals how he received his nickname, "Scary Trousers." More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5795092&view=rss&microfeed=true

Want to write something that's both weird and gorgeous? That pushes the boundaries of storytelling and includes moving, relatable characters? Then you should read the masters of this odd not-quite-genre. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5791119&view=rss&microfeed=true

In the 1980s, the bestselling Secret Wars miniseries was an antecedent to today's comic book mega-events, as it featured almost all of Marvel's marquee heroes and villains beating the tar out of each other. But how was it named? More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5790820&view=rss&microfeed=true