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San Francisco, 2:53 PM
Sun Nov 8
11 posts in the last 24 hours
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03/27/09
03/27/09
Oh, and speaking of the "bad earth," I take it back. That was another thing that bothered me. So there are two basically identical earths out there, one of which was home to a race of cylons and was nuked and the other perfect and untouched? That's something I can't come up with an explanation for at all.
03/27/09
From what, I can tell, they aren't identical.
Also, I think the "Harbinger of Death" label makes sense if it applies to Cavil's Cylons. Once Starbuck and company showed up, everyone on that colony was doomed.
Or maybe "Harbinger of Death" means that she was a dead person walking amongst the living. Either way, I think the label fits. It's frustrating that the writers didn't explain exactly how, but I think it makes sense.
03/27/09
03/27/09
I'm just going to assume that this is all brought about by BSG's ending and will die down soon. Here's hoping that the site doesn't become as negative as Kotaku where they have to take a jab or two at things they don't like whenever possible.
03/26/09
When are you going to compile these articles and publish a book on how to write sci-fi?
You teach a class or somethin'?
03/27/09
03/26/09
And don't even come at me with an ad hominem attack because I am posting on a blog.
03/27/09
I may well have a knee jerk reaction if you question the value of the polio vaccine, but will be quite happy to debate whether or not the world really needed George Foreman's grill, or the A bomb, or asbestos.
And sorry but nothing is more of a religion than religion, surely?
cheers!
03/27/09
03/27/09
and your point is that technology created the problem of polio in the first place?
how about pasteurization? or GM wheat? or the cotton gin?
There are technological developments that are unambiguously and measurably good for humanity. We can see that from rising life expectancy, and standards of living.
And then there's baconaisse...
03/27/09
GM wheat? Are you kidding?
Pasterurization led to the extreme overuse of dairy in our society, with effects to our health and planet.
Technology has led to rampant overpopulation, from which epidemics such as polio emerge.
03/27/09
Personally, I'm pretty keen on penicillin. It's been overused, but I wouldn't be here without it.
Aseptic surgery and anesthetics. Nowadays appendicitis is a minor inconvenience instead of a slow painful death.
03/26/09
The New-Agey stuff bothers me not because crystals are any more ridiculous than any other beliefs, but because it usually involves poorly researched and stereotypical depictions of other people's religions. You can't just pick up the cliff notes version of a religion and understand it well enough to use its themes in fiction. And anything with a wise old mystic who is a member of a 'primitive' tribe who are 'closer to nature' than we modern whiteys is going to be embarrassingly bad.
03/26/09
03/26/09
Best two sentences of the day, hands down.
03/26/09
Although I will admit, it was sort of clever that Chip Six was telling the straight-up truth from the very beginning. But not clever enough.
03/26/09
'What does God need with a starship?"
There... now I feel better. Thank you.
03/26/09
03/26/09
03/26/09
03/26/09
That statement is so utterly, demonstrably wrong I dont know where to begin...
Oh, I know... how about the pope and his issue with condoms?
03/26/09
The pope/condom thing is one, so is the previous administration's ban on funding stem cell research, so is the earlier-post-mentioned Terry Schiavo.
03/26/09
I'm not exactly sure what you think the Pope's job is, but it's certainly not Surgeon-General of the world.
So why don't you grow up a little?
03/26/09
my criticism of the pope was not that he wasn't living up to his job description.
By upholding and through his office trying to enforce abstinence as the sole means of preventing the spread of HIV/AIDS the Pope is disregarding Science (spread of HIV, the role of contraceptives) and aggravating an already awful situation.
And sorry we're not talking a mild case of the crabs or even HC here, as your glib reference to "combating STDs" seems to suggest.
If you doubt the veracity of the role of contraception in preventing the spread of HIV/AIDS, unless you can prove that condoms actually increase the chance of transmission we can safely disregard your doubts.
If you don't think that AIDS in Africa ia a big deal... well that would leave me speechless. ( And you do know its a continent and not a country right? Dont worry even VP candidates can make that mistake)
So ultimatley I think its you who needs some maturing.
03/27/09
He's not disregarding science itself, you dope. Of course that's how AIDS is spread. But birth control is a sin according to the organization of which is he the head, so he has to tell people that. Story over. His job isn't to concern himself with the spread of AIDS.
I mean, the church sponsors abstinence education in places like Africa, but they know it doesn't work. It's just the best they can do given the rules of their society right now.
03/26/09
Two very different examples come to mind: Ivanova sitting Shiva after the death of her father in Babylon 5, and the war in Starship Troopers being started by an attack on a Mormon outpost.
It's possible to include religion in a science fiction story without the story being ABOUT religion. And this should be encouraged.
03/26/09
For being written by a total atheist, B5 was extremely respectful to all religions.
03/26/09
03/26/09
03/26/09
03/26/09
It didn't say "You're all wrong, you mistook the aliens for gods/demons", but showed that everyone's religion had been influenced by contact with these aliens.
03/26/09
I should also add that there's a part of me that is loath to really analyze my own work on this level because like any piece of art it can be interpreted in various ways by the audience and not necessarily have any relationship to the intent of the artist.
In other words, your mileage may vary.
[[forums.scifi.com]]
03/26/09
03/26/09
A question for all you io9'ers, assuming indigenous spirituality can be done properly in SF, what would it look like?
03/26/09
Make crazy people useful!
I haven't read it in a long time but I recall Greg Bear using Voudoun/Santeria in an interesting way in Queen of Angel. Gotta get a new copy of that...
Hate, hate, hate stories where gods are discovered to be "real" or aliens, AI whatever. Especially when there's the whole fawning over the Otherness (to borrow David Brin's term). Some people get all woo-woo with non-Western spirituality, "well it ain't like the Church my parents dragged me to, so it must be better!"
I assume you are or have an affinity for Buddhism. You have probably seen the knee-jerk reactions I'm talking about. What I recall from my time in temple with my grandmother, her Buddhist worship looked a heckuva lot like hard-core Catholicism. Less guilt and different incense but a whole lot of dogma. Of course her sect was more of the devotional chanting and idols type rather than contemplative variety like those Zen guys.