That’s not data models, it’s women who model clothing. There was a near-future SF novel I read many years ago (I don’t recall which one) that posited that actors would be replaced almost entirely by computer-generated models. We’re already seeing the precursors of it — all the Pixar releases, for instance. And characters in games [...]
Archive of posts filed under the Science Fiction and Fantasy category.
“IBM: Mind-Reading Machines Will Change Our Lives”
I have no doubt that it will — but in five years? That seems more than a little overly optimistic. I’d love to be proven wrong though. Oddly enough, this sort of thing rarely appears in science fiction, at least the SF I know of. When people in SF literature deal with computers, it’s almost [...]
“The Incredible True Story of the Collar Bomb Heist”
When I saw the TV ads for the movie 30 Minutes or Less, I thought the plot was interesting but pretty unworkable. A few days ago, I discovered that the basic plot was lifted from real life, nearly verbatim (though the people involved in the movie apparently deny knowing of it). Another case where reality [...]
“Mysterious metal ball from space falls in Namibia”
A large metal ball that fell from space into the Namibian grasslands last month is not alien, officials say, but that’s about all they know for certain about the object. [...] Uh-oh. Ape #1: Dear me. What are these things coming out of her nose? Ape #2 (looks through binoculars): Spaceballs. Ape #1: Oh, shit. [...]
“A Very Portal Christmas Tree”
For those of you who don’t know, there’s a rather famous game called Portal. From the Wikipedia entry: [...] The game primarily comprises a series of puzzles that must be solved by teleporting the player’s character and simple objects using “the handheld portal device”, a device that can create inter-spatial portals between two flat planes. [...]
Keeping Score of SF Author Predictions
SF authors generally make up their technologies based on the needs of the story they’re trying to tell, rather than based on reality, but the more “hard” science-oriented ones try to make their science as believable as possible too. This site seems to fit a common theme in this blog, of “track[ing] predictions and descriptions [...]
“One week playing violent video games alters brain activity”
More news on the effects of violent video games. Only preliminary results, but it’s something to keep an eye on. As a somewhat-related item: most of us figure out the difference between reality and make-believe when we’re very young. Apparently those who don’t end up in organizations like the Red Cross, which is considering accusing [...]
“Paul Krugman: save the economy by staging an alien invasion hoax”
A nice idea, but I suspect the execution would be pretty difficult. Hollywood special effects are a lot better now than in 1938, but there are many more science-educated people who would be a lot harder to fool too. All it would take is one slip-up, caught and pointed out by some bright teenager, and [...]
“Japan, Russia in plan for elephant to birth CLONE MAMMOTH”
This sort of thing has been talked about for decades (it was the idea that spawned the book Jurassic Park, published in 1990, after all). I look forward to seeing the results, but I have to wonder how much mammoth behavior in the wild was learned and passed down from the herd. I suspect that’s [...]
“What should a sci-fi spaceship REALLY look like?”
An excellent review of science fiction spacecraft to date and how close each might be to future reality, though sadly concentrated solely on TV and movie SF. I find the spacecraft in SF literature to be much more varied and interesting, and usually more realistic-sounding as well, given the science they’re based on. (There’s a [...]