Modern fantasy can be divided into four eras, but there first came a zeroth era which I call the pre-fantasy era.
Space Launch Context
I am far from an Elon Musk flunky, and I don’t have the romantic view of SpaceX that some in the industry maintain, but anyone who has followed the business of space launch since SpaceX entered the business would be hard-pressed to argue that they have not been a boon; quite simply, there wasn’t a space launch business before SpaceX.
Time Travel through a Story
No, this post is not about time travel. Instead, this is a selfish post prompted by issues I’ve been working through with regards to my current novel project, Impressions, and it will focus on how to progress a story through time.
Generosity of Perspective
Generosity, and its application to our interactions and the way we view the world, is not a revolutionary concept, nor is it a complex one, but that does not make it less potentially powerful.
Pondering Utopia: A Fool’s Errand?
Utopias litter the mythological landscape. They crater the philosophical expanse, and they mar the psychological maps. Fiction’s forest is dotted with utopias like delicate, diseased orchids that never quite work.
How We Know
The study of how we know is known as epistemology, and its extensive philosophical tradition offers three main schools of thought that each have innumerable permutations presented by every philosopher who has ever philosophized: skepticism, rationalism, and empiricism.
Normative and descriptive Judgements
This is not a referendum on whether normative decision-making is superior or inferior to descriptive decision-making.
Quantum Magic
Especially in movies and television that fall loosely under the science fiction moniker, ‘quantum’ has somehow become a stand-in for ‘magic.’ Whether this is because the writers don’t understand quantum physics, or think their audience doesn’t, it bothers me.
“Advanced” Civilization
How do we define “advancement” of a civilization? Their technical ability? Their scientific understanding? Their cultural complexity? Their living standards? Their economic vitality? Their individual rights and freedoms? Their average capacity for individual fulfillment? Their life expectancies?
Teaching Thinking, not Thoughts
Surely, it is no wonder that logic is not commonly implemented if we do not even prioritize or value it sufficiently to dedicate a single course to it.
IGC Publishing 