A couple science links (for a change) and some more endpiece.
Big Think, 22 Aug 2022: This logarithmic view of the Universe will blow your mind
Subtitle: “As we look to larger cosmic scales, we get a broader view of the expansive cosmic forest, eventually revealing the grandest views of all.”
Some 14 days ago, in this post, I linked and quoted from a NYT guest essay by William MacAskill about valuing the future as much as we value the present. Which struck me as a reasonable position to take, a kind of science-fictional position to take. In contrast to the short-term views that most people, not unreasonably, take.
(Also, there’s an Endpiece to this post, below.)
This week’s novella covered by the Facebook Group reading Gardner Dozois’s big anthology first discussed here is “Mr. Boy,” by James Patrick Kelly, first published in the June 1990 issue of Asimov’s Science Fiction.
No substantial post today; the afternoon got away from me, then we had a birthday dinner in Alameda for Y. However I did spend part of the day reformatting and updating the Short fiction reviews page, and will continue with that tomorrow.
NYT, Paul Krugman, 15 Aug 2022: Why Republicans Turned Against the Environment
In 1990 Congress passed an amendment to the Clean Air Act of 1970, among other things taking action against acid rain, urban smog and ozone.
The legislation was highly successful, greatly reducing pollution at far lower cost than business interest groups had predicted. I sometimes see people trying to use acid rain as an example of environmental alarmism — hey, it was a big issue in the 1980s, but now hardly anyone talks about it. But the reason we don’t talk about it is that policy largely solved the problem.
What’s really striking from today’s perspective, however, is the fact that the 1990 legislation passed Congress with overwhelming, bipartisan majorities.
John Scalzi is a popular science fiction writer (though alas one of those writers who remains most famous for their first book, in his case Old Man’s War from 2005, though I’m sure he, and critics, would say he’s written many novels since just as good or better) who is also a very astute commentator, about many things including politics. He runs a blog with daily posts, many given over to less famous writers promoting their latest books (which is very nice of him), and only occasionally discussing politics. Scalzi lives in Ohio, a red state with some notorious policies, but doesn’t let that bother him. He holds strong opinions but comes across as reasonable and mind-mannered, quite unlike the in-your-face attitude of David Brin. Here are some comments from his post two days ago:
The theme of my post two days ago — about the similarity, albeit to differing degrees, between the attack on Salman Rushdie, and the attacks on education and democracy by today’s political right in the US — is the theme of today’s Morning Heresy blog.
I’ve been pondering (by request) the future of Locus (magazine and website) in recent weeks, as well as my sfadb.com site. And in browsing around the web for research today, checking Wikipedia’s entry on Locus Magazine (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Locus_(magazine)) I saw references to Locus Online, the Locus Awards, and even my own Science Fiction Awards Database! The latter page is here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_Fiction_Awards_Database. I hadn’t known there was a Wikipedia page for that until today
Between the attack on Salman Rushdie, and book banners in the US. Both motivated by religion and ideology to suppress the thoughts of others.
“The Hemingway Hoax,” by Joe Haldeman, first published in April 1990, is the third story in the big Gardner Dozois anthology being perused by the Facebook reading group I’m following. (See previous Sundays’ posts.)
