Six Minutes To Touchdown

I was using StumbleUpon earlier and I came across this fascinating video that explains what happened in the last six minutes before the Spirit Rover landed on Mars (which translates to how all our probes end up getting to the Red Planet’s surface). Think of it this way: how do you get a big metal […]

A Little Time Travel Goes a Long Way (Or Something Like That)

If Philip K. Dick had failed to represent the true confusion of hallucinogenic drugs and the reality/unreality dichotomy in any of his other works, those very ideas are firmly planted within Lies, Inc. Not only is there direct mention of an LSD trip—and it should be noted that it is forced upon Applebaum, rather than […]

Ten SF Technologies/Ideas I Think Will Come True

Science fiction has been criticized over the years for failing to provide us with all those glorious inventions and ideas we remember from the Golden Age (and after). Let’s face it, a lot of those inventions and ideas will never happen and some are actually being debated right now. Of those hundreds of inventions and […]

Do Other Star Systems Need Protection From Earth Life?

That’s the question asked and answered by New Scientist. It’s an important question to ask, not only because we may contaminate potentially important ecosystems on the planets in our own solar system, but we could have a negative impact on any life, microbial or otherwise, that we might find in our long journey to discover […]

Ubik, the Miracle Cure For All Your Needs

Here is my response to the novel Ubik by Philip K. Dick for my independent study course. Hope you enjoy it!     Philip K. Dick’s fascination with what is real and what isn’t real is inextricably linked to his fictional and non-fictional dealings with aspects of the mind—psychosis and mind-altering drugs especially. The fascinating thing about […]

Do Electric Sheep Have Android Dreams?

Yes, that is a clever pun and it’s entirely intentional. I’ve been incredibly unproductive today, mostly because I wrote two essays yesterday (still have two left) and my brain literally just wants to sit around and do nothing. I spent most of today trying to think of a good topic for one of my other […]