I Miss the Future
There’s something about the Golden Age of science fiction and the period I call “Post Golden Age” that still captures my imagination and keeps me interested in science fiction. Some might call it the ‘adventure’ and others might think of it as a sense of wonder. Perhaps it’s both. The thing is, science fiction is fighting a little battle right now. Technology has caught up with it, to some extent, and the more we learn about space travel the more we come to realize that we’re most likely never going to shoot off to the stars to land on Earth-like planets inhabited by intelligent aliens. Not long ago we lived in a society where cell phones were, for the most part, nonexistent. If you had a cell you looked like an idiot because it looked something like the picture to the right. Such bulky devices had practically no features–they couldn’t take pictures, record your voice, text message, play games, display information, surf the net, or do anything except call people. Not long ago there weren’t any computers like we have today. Any computers that existed were owned by the government and personal computers had barely even come into the market–those in the market could do little more than a standard scientific calculator can do today. We didn’t have electric cars or hybrids, at least not as an economic option. Space travel wasn’t being turned into a private enterprise by companies like Virgin Galactic, etc. and medical research was a long way off from growing a functioning ear on the back of a mouse. But today we have all these things. So much of what science fiction writers predicted would happen at some point in the future, even if their dates were wrong, has happened. To some it is as if we live in a science fictional world–I’m sure if we went back in time and showed Asimov what the world of today is like he would agree. This is a hurdle, a miniature battle for science fiction. What value does SF have in a world that is rapidly advancing to the point where many of the things that once were SF are now reality? Does science fiction still have something to say? You damn well better believe it! Science fiction has plenty to say about the future, the world, heck even the universe! So long as some people with crazy brains can think about things that haven’t happened yet, SF will exist. Certainly there might come a time when a lot of SF isn’t as impacting as it is today, but it will still have value. Science fiction doesn’t have to be loaded with technology or vast interstellar empires. It doesn’t require space ships or space travel. There don’t have to be vast networks of matrix-like worlds or super-humans with extraordinary powers due to evolution. Science fiction needs future. A powerful definition of SF might be that it is the future. Provided that a future of some sort exists there will be something for SF people to write about. Even in the event of the knowledge of our extinction there will be things to write about, and there is a TV program that takes on this very issue. What will science fiction have to say? Science fiction can talk about the environment, it can talk about what might be the future of a political decision, or the future of a new, advanced cell phone that has a built in AI, or a myriad of other things. Even if technology becomes dull because it’s ‘everywhere’, SF can still discuss societal changes and future issues of human rights, the evolution of ‘race’, the power of technology and its influence, etc. SF is a treasure trove, a giant metaphorical idea box where everyone can submit suggestions. Some of them will be heard and some of them will not. We might be living in a time where SF seems to be losing a little ground against the more escapist fantasy–I love fantasy too–but it still has value and importance because only science fiction can discuss the things that are more pressing in our future. Only science fiction can tell us what to expect. Science fiction is the future.
Why I’ll Never Buy A Mac or Anything By Apple
This was all inspired by a recent viewing of this most excellent funny video about Bill Gates on his last day at Microsoft. It’s a spoof video with real people in it and it’s quite brilliant and an example of why Microsoft is so much better than Apple anyway. I have a lot of reasons besides being an avid Windows user as to why I will not buy anything from Apple. And here it is the list: iPods actually suck. I’ve used one. And everyone I know who has owned one has watched the darn thing die over and over. My sister’s broke, and a friend of mine had hers break at least six times. The batteries suck too. I have a Creative Zen Vision:M 30 GB and it can do a lot of things many of the iPods can and the darn thing is practically perfect. The iPhone is overpriced and Apple is being sued for some hundreds of millions over patent infringement. Seeing Apple products get blown up in movies makes me laugh. Seeing Microsoft products (except Windows ME) get blown up makes me cry. Windows is a superior operating system for a lot of reasons. In fact, it’s so superior that if not for Bill Gates making sure poor Apple stayed afloat it would have become a monopoly. Remember, you Apple folks owe it to Gates for your existence. Bow to Windows in all its glory. When Windows breaks you can fix it by yourself and it’s really not that hard. When Macs break it’s not the same. Jesus doesn’t like Macs. Yes, I’ve asked him. He told me in a dinner conversation with Joseph and Moses. By the way, apparently Lucifer is a huge mac fan. Not sure what that means, but he was banished to hell for a reason… I refuse to buy anything that freezes when I try to print a document. Yes, this happened to me on Campus. I clicked “print” and the window froze. I had no idea how to close it and neither did anyone else and I tried forcing the program to end and it wouldn’t. If Mac OS freezes on something that simple, why should I bother using it? You know what I have to do to get my Windows PC to freeze? I don’t because it rarely ever happens. The blue screen of death? Never seen it. The worst I’ve ever had with Windows is a virus, which was easy to remove. You might see it as a flaw that Windows has viruses, but remember that if the Mac takes any sizable portion of the OS market it will have virus problems too. And they are going to suck really bad. You know what I’ll be doing when that happens? Laughing so hard that milk shoots out my nose because it’s ACTUALLY FUNNY. And Apple will deserve it for the next thing on the list. Apple and Apple people lie…a lot. You know those cute little Mac commercials? They are 90% B.S. In fact, Apple should have an honorary B.S. degree for those things. They exaggerate everything as a smear tactic, which I think is remarkably pathetic. If Apple is so great, why should it have to smear Windows just to get a bone. I’ve yet to see Windows, the OS with class, do any such videos.As a rule, I don’t buy products from companies that have annoying commercials or smear the competition just as I don’t vote for politicians that do the same thing. If you want me to buy your product you should give me a reason to, not make me hate you. Microsoft doesn’t have DRM like Apple does in their iTunes market. DRM is stupid. Well, maybe they do, but I don’t know where it is and they’re not cramming it in my face like iTunes. iTunes sucks. I’ve used it, it sucks, it’s annoying, and I shouldn’t have to use some stupid program to put files on my mp3 player. I just drag and drop and Windows Media Player keeps my files all organized for me. The PC gods wrote on Stonehenge: “Windows doth rule.” Umm, because using Apple computers with Intel hardware to run Windows is way too much freaking work. I can just turn on my PC and Windows just goes. I can’t play my computer games on a Mac. I can’t do the things I can do on my Windows PC on a Mac, contrary to popular belief. I don’t need fancy programs and user-unfriendliness in an OS. I like my OS to be simple and easy to use. Windows is easy to use. “Start”…how much clearer could that button be? I refuse to join in to the pandering masses of Mac users who think Mac is the greatest thing since sliced bread. It’s not, get over it. It might be the greatest thing since sliced bread shaped as triangles, but it’s not better than sliced bread. I can’t make a sandwich out of a Mac. I already know how to use Windows. Why should I switch when Mac offers me nothing I want? That’d be like finding out that your Cheerios were turned into Cheerisquares and lost all nutritional value. Because people at Mac are stupid enough to build space probes and shuttles that use Mac software as a basis. Windows people aren’t because they know what will happen if the system crashes. Macs are sort of like that accident we had a while ago where the scientists forgot to convert properly into metric… Bill Gates is cooler than Steve Jobs. Did you watch the video? Yeah, so much better. Look at that A-list cast! In nature the following number sequence shows up in relation to all things coming to life: 23, 9, 14, 4, 15, 23, 19. In relation to all things dying you get: 13, 1, 3. (Yes, those the alphanumeric values of Windows and Mac…I worked it out) Because Mac people are delusional. When I