Sunday, March 25, 2018 (Original Facebook post with pics >> https://www.facebook.com/notes/joseth-moore/nprs-science-correspondent-joe-palca-sci-chat/1623169987766355/ )
In the, admittedly stereotyping sense, NPR traditions of mostly middle-aged to Baby Boomer Liberals (me included) gathering for a nice, quiet chat over some esoteric issues, the informal TED Talk with Joe Palca went very well! Indeed, Dr. Palca (holds a PhD in psychology!) was serving as Nebraska Educational Telecommunications (NET) of Lincoln, Nebraska’s guest-host while he conducted a laid back interview with two of University of Nebraska–Lincoln’s scientists: Dr. Robert Hutkins (PhD Food Microbiology and professor of Biological Sciences) and Dr. Ali Tamayol (PhD Engineering Sciences and professor; MSc from Sharif University of Technology–Iran). Though Palca was gracious to interview the two other scientists–Dr. Hutkins revealing a high-tech paint that deters barnacles and Dr. Tamayol discussed grafting-tech for dental purposes–we all knew that Joe Palca from NPR was the main reason of our attendance!
He’s got a sense of humor–you know, that self-deprecating wit that most of NPR’s anchors have that gives the Brits a run for their money. (Guess we’re talking the Pound these post-Brexit days instead of Euros!) One of the advantages of having him as a guest was he could tell us “how Nina Totenberg (NPR’s legal correspondent) really looks like!” Remember, Palca comes from the radio world… Dr. Palca went out of his way to emphasize that he sees himself as being in the ‘stead’ for the listeners. That when he’s able to have awesome opportunities to converse with scientists he wants the NPR-listeners to understand that he’d try to ask questions from an everyday person’s view.
One of the most powerful interaction came when Palca, talking with Hutkins on fermented foods, said he would brave tasting one of Dr. Hutkins’ non-conventional (my words) foods if someone in the audience would donate $100.oo to NET/NPR… An older gentleman graciously accepted the offer and Palca took a bit of the fermented substance! Nice way to bring the sciences of food home and still raise some money for public radio!
One of the most interesting subjects, to me, was when the matter of testing on animals for scientific studies came up. I don’t remember which scientist, but Dr. Palca said there was a scientist’s house that was either threatened or actually firebombed because this particular scientist’s work included testing on animals! It may explain why Joe Palca, all joking aside, honestly did not want to focus too much on the subject during the talk! I asked Dr. Tamayol (the discussion had fallen to him at this point) what did people who opposed animal testing wanted to do as an alternative? What of cloning? I mentioned that, as a science fiction author, I could relate to this section of the discussion. But the real science of cloning also had controversies in ethics, too! Dr. Tamayol, then, pointed out that lately there had been advances in (cloning, I believe) growing certain body-parts and utilizing them in a kind of ‘piecemeal’ way while conducting scientific tests…
The main thing to remember about Joe Palca is his “Joe’s Big Idea” >> https://www.npr.org/series/156490415/joes-big-idea . As his slogan goes, Exploring How Ideas Become Innovations And Inventions. I like the way he put it in person during the NET-science talk: with his Big Idea series, Palca likes to focus on the process of results… In other words, the science behind a lot of these headlines we read and/or hear about when they become tech-marvels or some ethical news story of the day.
Ever wondered if those smart speakers–the ones you talk to and they respond–record any of your conversations? The technological ability is there! What conversations would you prefer not go public?
…………
“Tech On the Wall ,” by Joseth Moore. Inkitt. Copyright @ 2018.
“Debbie, list articles on the Supreme Court’s hearings on the tech industry…”
The white pyramidal-shaped device, about the size of a can of soda, flashed its multi-colored lights to indicate that the smart speaker had received the young law student’s command. The device’s “voice” was female in e-gender with an American accent. Melissa Mendoza was seated at the dinner table of her dining room within the small apartment she rented out from downtown Miami. She was trying to complete a term paper for her class on the United States’ Supreme Court. She had gone to Orlando for a family funeral over the last two days and was now having to make up time on her paper for it!
“There are over five million, seven-hundred thousand articles on subjects related to the U.S. Supreme Court and the tech industry… First article—”
“Debbie, stop.” Melissa blew out a frustrated sigh and dropped her hair-cropped head atop her crossed forearms. After a while, she lifted her head up and grabbed her nearby smartphone and started scrolling for any updates from family and friends.
Melissa then checked the news cycle since she had been so engrossed in her paper for the entire day. She ran across an article by a major media journal source about how there had been several lawsuits over the technology industry’s smart speaker devices! She read the article on her phone and began to wonder about her situation.
“Debbie…” Melissa almost felt silly that she was embarrassed about talking sensitive subjects with a piece of technology! “Play back my conversation with Tyson.”
Melissa wasn’t sure if smart speaker tech had such features. She had heard about it before, but the article she had just read verified it was true.
“Playing latest conversation with Tyson,” the device spoke.
Melissa heard her voice and that of her, now, ex-boy friend from a few days ago. The quality of the recording was sharp, but given that people move around a lot within their homes, it wasn’t perfect. But that was not what was bothering Melissa…
“Debbie, stop!” The recorded argument ceased and left an eerie silence in Melissa’s dining room. As with so many humans, she unconsciously walked up to the triangular device as if talking with another human being. Confusion was on Melissa’s face. “Debbie, how many conversations are there of Tyson and I?”
“There are over five conversations recorded with Tyson. One with Melissa and four others.”
Now that wasn’t right! Melissa had just bought the smart speaker nearly two weeks ago, and there was only one conversation that Melissa had with her then-boyfriend in the apartment since purchasing the device!
University term paper long-forgotten now, Melissa’s mind was reeling! “Debbie…play all conversations of Tyson without Melissa!”
“Playing all conversations of Tyson without Melissa… ‘Hey, Paul, when are you coming over? I don’t have that much time before she comes back!’ ” It was Tyson’s voice. He was apparently on his phone talking with someone that Melissa had never heard of in her ex-boyfriend’s life. “ ‘Yeah, bring her, too! Melissa usually get’s here around six…don’t worry about it; I told you I sold all that! But you better make sure you take your bag out of your car in case the cops stop you on the road, dude! Ha-ha! Yeah, I was—’ ”
“Debbie, stop!” Melissa felt there was something off about Tyson, but she had no idea that he was selling drugs! Was there more to him? Usually, hard-core drug culture had other drama associated with it. “Debbie, play next recorded conversation with Tyson.”
“Playing next recorded conversation with Tyson…” This recording was different. There were several other people’s voices in it with Tyson’s. A party in Melissa’s apartment on a day she was out of town; without Tyson telling her? But within the hoard of other voices, Tyson’s stuck out to Melissa. “ ‘Hey, just let it go, dude…I told you I don’t have it! And I tell you what; the next time you threaten me, it’ll be the last thing you—’ ”
“Debbie, stop!” Silence. “Debbie, what was the day of the second recording of Tyson you played?”
Those flashing party lights on the small, white pyramid. “Yesterday; six thirty-nine pm.”
“Yesterday,” Melissa said to herself. Smart speaker tech was such that the smart device would only respond to the user upon the device’s name used first, so there was no response from the pyramid. She thought further. “Debbie, play most recent recording with Tyson!”
“Playing most recent recording with Tyson… ‘You killed Tyson, you idiot! Paul, hurry up and get this place cleaned up before she get’s back from Orlando…no, put him in the garbage barrel…tomorrow’s trash day!’ ”
Melissa had wondered why the trash barrel was so full when she got back to Miami…
//
There’s no way in hell I was not going to the Martin Luther King, Jr. march today in Lincoln, Nebraska–sponsored by the Lincoln Public Schools, amongst myriad of others. Not with the Trump-era. I’ve been to something like 16 of these marches. That’s 16 years, folks, though it’s been about six years since I’ve participated. Mostly due to me working. I have to say, after attending the Women’s March, the Science March, and one or two other marches in Lincoln when there have literally been thousands of protestors/rally-attendees in Winter-Spring 2017, in the post-Trump regime-era, this was pretty small. Maybe 200 marchers?
The main reason why I’m filing this in my North America Blogs is because my personal history has a extremely sad northern-America precedence: my parents were born and raised in Birmingham, Alabama, under the Jim Crow eon!
They were both born in the middle of the Great Depression period and had suffered under the systemic, codified segregation laws of the dreaded South. Trust me folks, it was always separate and never equal! My mom, born Charlie Mae McClain (Moore, later), cleaned the beautiful homes of rich, Southern upper-class Whites and my future father had attended the “school of hard knocks” in Birmingham’s streets; later, other, bigger cities in the North, as he tried to get away from the racist South.
You know that egregious KKK bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church that killed four African-American girls that many of us read and hear about in the history books and the news media? Well, my mother told me, fairly recent, that she was just across from the street when those terrorists bombed that church! My mom told me how she remembered seeing the gaping hole on the side of the church after the bombing…
This is the same terrorist organization that is still active in 2018 that, now, supports much of Trump’s racist policies toward minorities on immigration, voter suppression, blocking Muslims from entering the United States, etc.
And we’re supposed to just shrug and say, Elections have consequences…? This is why I strongly support the new ANTIFA movement and no way will I ever go back to being a pacifist! That, and why I’ve been active in the Democratic Party and several Progressive, non-governmental organizations. I could go on about the importance of citizenry resistance when needed and me being on-board with the California- (CalExit) and the US Northwest-independence movements, but that would detract from the main meaning of this post. Besides, you can read about my thoughts on the Progressive-secessionist movements on my other blogs >> https://www.facebook.com/joseth.moore?sk=notes_my_notes
My late-father, the first pastor of the First Pentecostal Holiness Church of Lincoln, Nebraska, told our family and his congregants that he and a cousin of his used to break with the Jim Crow laws and drink from the Whites Only drinking fountains from time to time! Ha! And some people in Lincoln’s political, polite society wonder where I get my rebellious streak from! And, in large part (though the search for a new church outside of Birmingham, Alabama was a bigger reason), because of my father’s dislike of the South’s racial-regime, the Moores packed up and moved to Lincoln, Nebraska in 1969. A year later, I would be born here. We did move back to Birmingham for a couple or months or so when I was about four years old, but I was told we ended up moving, yet again, to Lincoln. I still don’t have a full picture of that puzzle of my family’s history for some reason…
Today’s March was very energetic; up-beat–despite the over-all negative climate of America for minorities in the Trump regime. I told a White brother attending that, several years ago, I used to be opposed to all the music and dances of Lincoln’s MLK commemorations because I was so hard-core then. Besides working on most March-days, that was another reason why it had been so many years since I’ve attended the Marches! Now, as I’m in my late-40s, I appreciate seeing the youth carrying on the Civil Rights traditions with their social media tools and Millennial sub-culture! This is the way it should be, given how we, Generation-Xers have, now, replaced the Baby Boomers in all the Progressive marches and rallies and even political campaigns!
Below, in the Comments section, the readers can see my pics from today’s March. I let most of those pictures speak for themselves. All pics were taken by Joseth Moore
(Image: the Martine Luther King, Jr. Youth Rally and March of Lincoln, Nebraska; USA)
Just do a Google-search or go to my LinkedIn page and the reader can see my paperback science fiction novels and ebooks. But I’ve also done several paranormal ebooks, too! Not surprisingly, given I’m an atheist, I’m a skeptic about such things–but not a debunker! And that’s a key difference. From the physical aspect of the paranormal field–UFO’s possibly being other, tangible beings from other tangible planets (or, less likely, solar systems); a Bigfoot or Sasquatch being(s) dwelling in various, thick forested areas and trying to avoid the predatory species called homo sapiens; those kinds of more “practical” paranormal stories, I can see a possibility of such events occurring…
And that word, Events, is key to this new blogging series, Para-Events Blogs. Because, most times, some kind of event happened. Whether someone perceiving to see a Shadowperson, to a creepy feeling someone had at some house, most times some kind of Event happened. It’s just that most people are superstitious and/or of some kind of Faith and they tend to interject their biased beliefs that some “supernatural” or paranormal being or event is there!
With that said, it’s still good to have either one or (preferably) more people who are as objective as possible and with some kind of knowledge of the Sciences and various Cultures so that they could investigate various sightings or reported, well, events… I mention the Sciences and Cultures because it’s good to have the scientific method as a foundation to sift through the bull shit that is out there. It’s popular for those in the paranormal communities to out-right accept any and every paranormal story told to them–or at least act like they do. I believe they do that so that others will do the same for them when they tell their own paranormal stories, as well!
Ok, there are two key aspects to this new paranormal blog-series I intend to do: A] I come at these, admittedly amateur, paranormal research and investigations being a Skeptic! Again, not a debunker. The investigative field of the paranormal is a kingdom of “Believers,” as those in attendance and guest-speakers at the History Channel’s Alien Con in Santa Clara, California in 2016 actually called themselves! I was as much an attendee as the Believers, but I didn’t pursue the issue further than mentioning it to #GeorgeNoory as we crossed paths. B] I think it’s important for me to document the actual items and/or location of said-paranormal events. This is actually pretty common in the paranormal community. Think, the Anabelle movies. I suggest the reader to do a search for the real doll–it looks more like a Raggedy Ann doll than the pernicious porcelain stuffie we see in the movie…the point is, whatever the events that happened–real or imagined (I’m inclined to doubt the main thrust of the movies/books), Ed and Lorraine (the wife is still alive!) Warren really existed and so does the Anabelle doll in a case at the Warrens’ Occult Museum in Monroe, Connecticut. Those are true Events. Hence, the importance of the doll, itself! (Some day I’d like for my wife and I to visit the Warrens’ museum!)
That’s where I’m coming from with this new series of the Para-Events Blogs…
Now, for my inaugural blog, I start with myself:
EVENT 1) Around 1979-to-1980, my brother and I (nine years old and ten years old, respectively) were out playing in the cul-de-sac of our family’s neighborhood; in Lincoln, Nebraska’s Chiswick area. It was in the Spring season, if I remember correctly. It was pretty foggy out–one of those thick, gray fogs that you can only get during Spring-time, or early-Summer. We couldn’t see about seven yards in front of us, due to the fog, but we heard a scraping sound coming toward us: like someone dragging their feet. Yet we saw no one! We didn’t wait to see who–or what–it was; we ran straight into our house! By my thirties, I really started thinking on this Event. I’ve even written a SciFi ebook partially based on this Event, “There’s No Place Like Zone” (Smashwords . com and Inkitt . com). Sorry I don’t have any pics for this Event. Happened approximately 38 years ago! No way to really retro-investigate this Event. I classify this in the UNKNOWN category, or results.
EVENT 2) From 2012 to 2013 I had two jobs; one of them at the 48 Bowl bowling alley in central Lincoln (pics below, in the Comments section). I heard about a young woman who was, apparently, murdered in that bowling alley by her boyfriend, years prior, and supposedly workers in the alley had witnessed some paranormal Events in the alley since then. One of the Events told to me (I went over today; January 19, 2018, by a former co-worker I talked with before I wrote this blog), was a situation where a manager (same guy pictured below with the chairs) was closing the alley by himself and it was late-night. No one else was at the bowling alley at the time, at least that this manager knew–that’s my input. The chairs used by 48 Bowl, as one can see in the pics below, are designed where the chairs can be stacked relatively high without tipping over…that night, the manager heard some noise in the section behind the pinball area. This same manager demonstrated for me how the chairs were stacked that night (pic); five-high. We both pushed on the stack of chairs, simulating someone bumping into them. They did not fall. Not until he deliberately let some topple over in order to show me how the fallen chairs looked that night. This manager insisted (again, I worked with him for a while; he’s a straight-shooter) no one else was in the bowling alley that night while he closed. Indeed, the manager actually looked at the recorded video footage of the back area–several times! Yet, he saw no one else walk through the back door to the area of the bowling alley. Of the four Events I’ve blogged about in this inaugural posting of Para-Events, this is the only one where I was not a witness. So that makes it even harder to judge for me. But, like I said, this manager is a level-guy. But I place this in the UNKNOWN category.
EVENT 3) In the Summer of 2014, my wife was in Kansas, where she’s from, to take care of some business while I stayed behind in Lincoln; looking for a new job at the time. I went to, and eventually got hired onto, the north 84th and “O” street Burger King (pictured). Months later, during the morning shift, I had a conversation with the general manager of the store. She claimed that there was a ghost in the fast food restaurant after a rectangular, plastic container had unexpectedly fallen off a wire-shelf! She said it had happened often. Ok, I had admitted, it was weird that no one was even in the grill area at that time, but I took it upon myself to conduct an impromptu paranormal investigation–right there; in the grill area of a Burger King store! Well, it turned out, the container had fallen again that same day, and it was due to vibrations on the surface that the wire-shelf (mind you, a slick surface against a slick plastic container!) rested on–I had simulated bumps or as if someone walked by and the surface shook slightly. Also–and this was the main point–it was only that particular wire-shelf did anything fall…nowhere else in the restaurant. That’s key, because it showed there was a pattern. Had there been other items that (often) had fallen off different shelves with different surface-textures, then I could have seen someone going to something paranormal. It’s safe to say that I had conducted my very first (amateur) paranormal investigation and I was solidly able to DEBUNK this particular Event. No joy nor disappointment in that; just objectively observing the Events around us at that time! Oh, by the way, I told my manager of my little investigation and the results, she insisted it was still a ghost.
EVENT 4) Now we’re in contemporary time; January 19, 2018. Another kitchen, the name of the business I’ve decided to keep anonymous. Today, a co-worker and I were on dishwashing duties for the day. It was a slow business day and around noon-ish when all of our co-workers present were in the front section of the establishment while my co-worker, on dish-duties with me, and I were in the main kitchen area; talking about something I’ve forgotten about. In the back area–where the large, industrial-grade dishwasher is located and had automatically turned off minutes previously!–there was a clanging sound! We both heard it, and it was quite loud! We both went to the washing machine area (again, it was off at this time!) and I spotted a small catering-spatula that I had picked up earlier and had put it in a washing-basket for the machine to clean–but earlier in the lunch period! Indeed, my co-worker insisted she had washed it earlier and had placed that particular spatula in a drawer! You better believe I took a picture of that spatula, specifically for this investigative blog. Indeed, it was because of this Event today at my morning job that I decided to create the Para-Events Blogs! I will say, there are at least a couple of things with this Event that bring out the Skeptic in me: a) In that back area with the washing machine, we always leave an oscillating fan on there so the dishes will dry faster (always on the locked position). So, it’s very possible that the blowing air from that fan could have, over time, finally blew that spatula off of whatever surface that spatula was on. b) Being a busy kitchen, we have several small, catering-spatulas. It’s possible my co-worker and I had seen a different one. But that point still would not explain why and how the spatula fell to the floor when no one was in the washroom and the machine was not running! Again, that’s were the oscillating fan might come in–though I’ve never seen any other utensils blown to the floor due to the fan in the seven-plus months I’ve been employed at this kitchen… I would classify this Event as UNKNOWN.
I told a co-worker who’s into the #Paranormal about my new #blog series & I told her the importance of EVENTS & OBJECTS & SETTINGS to it. I like how she put it: ‘ yeah, because otherwise you’re just telling ghost stories.” !!
I’ve blogged from Silicon Valley and Orlando for my North America Blogs. This time I’m blogging from my hometown; Lincoln, Nebraska. A friend of mine, Nathanial Hamel , is comic book artist that just had his inaugural gallery opening for his comic-themed boutique called Behind the Glass. It coincided with Lincoln’s First Friday art-walks; the first Friday of every month in the capital city. I met Nathanial about a year ago at one of my favorite vintage stores where I can buy old comics and collectible toys, Toys From the Past, located in the Indian Village barrio of Lincoln: to those who don’t know Lincoln, Nebraska, a kind of Hipstery, Hippie, Blue Collar neighborhood just South and West of Lincoln’s Near-South area. One could say Lincoln’s sound-bite answer to New York City’s Greenwich Village–the last stop in NYC my first wife and I did after a week in America’s largest city back in November of the year 2000; less than a year before the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
Nathanial–some call him Nate–is a muscular, Steampunk-mustached, and tattooed dude who defies that old cliché of what we geeks look like! And just as image-defying is his commitment to his daughter, as one can sense from his Facebook page. He got his break in Denver a few years ago. Here’s an interview with Nathanial done by ComicPact back in 2015 >> comicimpact.com/2015/03/artist-spotlight-nathanial-hamel/ . Yes, those answer well-reflect how Nathanial talks! Aside from his new gallery, his other big project is the Barbarians: A Story of Two Badasses series. I’ve purchased a copy of the first two issues so far and Nathanial has been kind to autograph them both!
Behind the Glass comic gallery’s first guest artist was Langdon Foss. Perhaps Foss’ best-known work are: Get Jiro!–a production of famed-chef Anthony Bourdain, with Joel Rose, in a near-future Los Angeles is controlled by master chefs, much the way under lords controlled cities in the 19th and 20th centuries! Google Books >>https://books.google.com/books/about/Get_Jiro.html?id=D417tgAACAAJ&hl=en . Also, illustrations and designing for role-playing games of Wizards of the Coast and White-Wolf Games (Google Books). That’s pretty impressive…most impressive!
Other artists on hand were Chris Ralston; as is advertised on his business card: custom sketch cards, comic covers, art and more. I love his Star Wars pieces! My wife, Deni Moore , and I met Chris at Lincoln, Nebraska’s version of Comic Con, ConStellation Nebraska. Here’s Chris’ Instagram >>https://www.instagram.com/R10Creations/ .
There was also Caitlin Abele. Awesome artist with the acrylics, watercolor, and even digital mediums (For some reason, on a couple of her pieces I think of Edgar Allen Poe!) >>https://www.redbubble.com/people/ladyholmes25 .
There was another artist, but the gentleman was dismantling his table when I came across him and I did not want to impede him. He said he’d be there again, so I’ll make sure to blog about him later…
I had touched upon Nathanial’s Barbarians comic series. As one looks at the cover to issue no. 1, you can see the axe wielded in the series (sorry, in my pic of the two issues, the axe is partially covered). Had to give a shout out to Nathan–not Nathanial, in this case. But a friend of his that crafted the pictured axe BEHIND THE GLASS (couldn’t resist!), at the front of Nathanial’s gallery. There’s also a pic of Nathan (don’t remember his last name) standing next to his work-smith…speaking of ‘smith: Nathan and I had a conversation on how he crafted that axe–folks, that shit’s real steel; heavy, and could literally sever your head! It made the experience of the opening even better for me. I thought about the many trips my wife and I have gone to, at the Kansas City Renaissance Festival (KC Ren Fest) in Bonner Springs. We’d see modern-day blacksmiths (and, yes, they actually learned that ancient art!) working on their wares in their Medieval apparels…propagating that ancient art into the 21st century!
It was great seeing the turnout for Nathanial’s first show! I even loved the vintage, and actual-functioning Atari Asteroids Deluxe video game from the 1980s! Those who’ve read my posts on my vintage comics know how much I love vintage and even the 80s-culture! I look forward to seeing how Nathanial’s Behind the Glass comics gallery will help put Lincoln on the map of the Geekdom on the North American continent!
**You can read the original Facebook post HERE, WITH great pics! >> https://www.facebook.com/notes/joseth-moore/behind-the-glass-comic-book-gallery-my-north-america-blogs-edition/1539307436152611/
Like other movie blogs I’ve written, I try to give the reader more of my impressions and interpretations instead of a simple description…that’s what Google and Wikipedia are for! Same goes for Blade Runner 2049. And my obligatory SPOILER notation.
Definitely Dystopian. Even more than the first Blade Runner movie directed by Ridley Scott, and that was pretty future-grime! But that’s great for this series…
Blade Runner 2049, directed by Denis Villeneuve and written by Hampton Francher (whom co-scripted the original movie) and Michael Green, started off letting the audience know that the main protagonist, Officer K (Ryan Gosling), is not only a replicant, but a Blade Runner–a special enforcer sent out to “retire” (kill) the android-replicants; especially those that had escaped to Earth after turning mutinous against their human-creators (Blade Runner ‘82), in particular, the Off-Worlder ones. I think this is a good thing to establish upfront in the movie. Both in terms of “Fourth-Wall”-aspect of, in real life, the story of Blade Runner is one of the most well-loved SciFi movies in history, and in terms of the movie’s plot of not lingering too long as to whether or not Officer K is “one of them…?” There’s already enough back and forth about whether or not former blade runner Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford) is a replicant or human! One existential mystery is at capacity for one movie, in my opinion. Unless there was a very compelling need in the plot to have more identity-mysteries about who’s a replicant.
The bottom line for this particular mission for Officer K is he needs to kill, what is believed to be, the offspring of a human being and a replicant! K’s boss, Lieutenant Joshi (Robin Wright), rather simply, explained to Officer K that it would bring chaos to the known world–id est, only biological beings (humans, specifically) could procreate; not replicants! And certainly not a hybrid of human and replicant!
Speaking as an African-American with two bi-racial daughters from my interracial marriage, plus the history of interracial relationships and marriage in the US and other Western societies, this issue really spoke to me! Mind you, cross-racial relations are totally not even close as mixing a hominid with android, but the similarities works for me as a fan and viewer. Oh, by the way, it just so happens that the hybrid offspring is the union between former Officer Deckard and one of the replicants he was supposed to retire many decades ago by the name of Rachael (Sean Young)–an android made by the late-, and very smushed-face Dr. Eldon Tyrell (Joe Turkel)! The plot thickens… Indeed, a lot more to this detail in Blade Runner 2049, but even I draw the line as to how much Spoilery I put into my review-blogs!
I must say, in regards to character Lieutenant Joshi’s reasons given about maintaining that wall of societal order, besides the cross-species-android aspect to it all, I also saw it as that big word that we, in the Science Fiction business, and scientists love to throw around: SINGULARITY. This aspect of Blade Runner 2049 seems quite well-timed about humanity’s anxiousness about high-tech’s role in replacing us–humans–in the workforce and, dare I say, even in personal relationships, such as goes on quite a bit in this movie! And that’s one of the main thrust to the challenges of the Blade Runner series, isn’t it? In Blade Runner ‘82, did Deckard make love to Rachael in that piano scene, when she tried to run out of his L.A. apartment…? With the exception of a few publications and tv news-shows, the Singularity-issue is something in post-2016 election America that’s not talked intelligently enough in my opinion. Coal industry? Scrapping NAFTA (not as directly tied to Tech, but with productivity due to Tech…)? Does the US military really need to be so populated with humans when a lot of drones, driverless vehicles, etc, can do the job at a much-reduced cost?
Yeah, we’re in the midst of 2049-Singularity right now in 2017 and most of us don’t even seem to realize this! The Tech-Singularity is not like Hollywood’s SciFi movies; think self-checkout kiosks at a grocery store, a sensor on a production-line in a factory (I’ve seen that tech in person at one of the factories I’ve worked at years ago), or apps for social drivers instead of taxi cabs…Welcome to 2049; 2017-style!
From a more formal or design aspect of Blade Runner 2049, I really liked how they “culturally” tied in the environs of the settings with the original movie–tech-gadgetry whirring in the background that, we, Blade Runner fans recognize; the very manner how the characters give voice-commands to their computer-devices (think how Deckard talked to his device in ‘82-version while he inspected a photograph: makes me think of our phones and domestic voice-interface devices of today!); and, of course, that gritty, dystopian “feel” of Los Angeles of the future with all its cyberpunk naughtiness, neons, and holograms!
I’m not giving away the ending. I don’t think any Spoilery-blog or movie review should ever do that. I will say that a potential reviewer should beware that, happily, I’d put ‘49 more into the “Intellectual-SciFi,” or “Cerebral-Scifi” category. Trust me, I love the typical Hollywood, action-packed SciFi movies. But it’s refreshing to watch a movie where there is so much silence or quietness; giving the viewer time to absorb the scenes! I’ve mentioned this in one of my other movie blogs: The gauge that my wife and I use as to how good a movies is or is not, we ask this simple question to one another: Is It Blu Ray-worthy?
Now, that, spoiler I can unequivocally answer and say hell yes!
Ok, I’m a classic Geek but not a Techie, but even I get that Tech-industries and their spin-offs are what’s happenin’!
I’ve mentioned several times of my trip to Silicon Valley in 2016–though for Alien Con, it still taught me a lot of where the future is. And it’s not just the San Fran region, but Silicon Alley, and, hell, there’s even a Silicon Prairie! This shows that there are a lot of people throughout the US that are not necessarily trying to mimic the Valley, but, rightly so, trying to compete with it and even learn from the kids out there. (And I do mean Kids! Check out my “A Slammer’s Wist: San Francisco” >> https://www.facebook.com/notes/jose… )
What’s driving me crazy is it’s not just the Baby Boomer generation that’s still holding recalcitrant attitudes toward Tech, in general–as if it were some fad or something, but even my peer GenXers!
Without divulging any details, I recently sat with a professional investment agent. Originally I went to this person for one line of service, but got excited when I was told by this individual that s/he also worked with clients on investing in sectors such as Tech! Several days later, as we sat to discus my options, this agent showed me the OGs of Mutual Funds and the likes–as in, certain “legacy companies’ ” investments in Tech stocks–and even then, the levels were modest by my standards! Perhaps it’s because I’m a blue-collar worker. Never mind that I’m in Grad School, but I suppose that doesn’t count.
The agent seemed to try to steer me away from actual Tech investments and to stick with that good ol’-fashioned holdings and shit… I basically told this person, Look, I’m in my late-forties, I want to make money fast and specifically in Tech–something I believe in.
Also, I was watching Bloomberg TV and they had the CEO of Verizon, Lowell McAdams, on and he was interviewed during a conference. No offense to him, but he seemed rather nonchalant about Tech-platforms! As if Verizon would eventually get to it, but, to paraphrase McAdams, the industry was saturated! Platform Hunt did a great article on plaforms >> https://medium.com/platform-hunt/th… . What’s the big deal? I’m a SciFi author, and though I’m not making a living out of it, but if it weren’t for Smashwords and Inkitt ebook publishers (platform), and if it weren’t for Soundcloud (platform), and the podcasts I’ve done with a couple of podcasters (platform)–one out of Toronto–my eNovels, eNovellas, and eBook-shorts would not have gotten the thousands of readings of my books. Which is very modest, still. I’m old enough to remember the days of, literally, cut-and-paste flyers to get your name out; mailing paper copies of my books to publishers and agents–lots of money on postage for me!
Or, how about this: How many of us know any Boomers (roughly 65 and older) that have high-quality smartphones? I mean, Apple or, even, a Samsung? If they cannot afford one, that’s different. I’m talking about Boomers who deliberately go out of their way to not buy a quality (does not have to be the most expensive) smartphone. When I run into a co-worker of such age and we chat about phones, I get the sense that they see smartphones as some toy that’s just a fad and all these Millennials and GenXers are missing the “real” important things in life–you know; puppies and shit.
Deloitte has a wonderful article on Tech-trends >> https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/pag… . From 3D Printing to robots to cognitive technologies, they point out this is where the world is going, Kids!
Indeed, for certain major urban centers on the globe, it’s not the future; this is happening now, Baby Boomers… You, too, fellow GenXers!
SECULAR ORDER takes the position on Climate Change, in general, from a scientific view. It has been explained by geological and climate scientists for years that, among other methods, ice core samples of the earth provides static evidence of the earth’s prior environs from thousands and even millions of years. Take a look at Ice Core 101’s link >> http://climatechange.umaine.edu/icecores/IceCore/Ice_Core_101.html
Striated sedimentation also provides evidence–look at how humans discover a lot of dinosaur fossils and ancient human history! Of course there are even more high-tech means to study earth’s ancient climate, such as radiocarbon dating…in other words, there are plenty of disciplines within science to accurately measure the earth’s climate from eons before.
And yet we let a political movement within the Conservative political parties and churches all over the world try to make us doubt, literally, millions of years of data that the earth provides for us because some of us are scared of political retribution!
“Global surface temperature relative to 1951-1980 average temperatures. Sixteen of the 17 warmest years in the 136-year record all have occurred since 2001, with the exception of 1998. The year 2016 ranks as the warmest on record.” (Source: NASA/GISS) That’s NASA, folks. Here’s the link to that article >> https://climate.nasa.gov/vital-signs/global-temperature/
Now that we got the elementals out of the way…so, now that we are actually living in the era of Climate Chaos that climate scientists had warned us about–The Great Indian Ocean Tsunami of 2004, Hurricane Katrina, Super-Storm Sandy, entire islands being swallowed whole by rising ocean-levels in the Pacific (Daily Mail, May 9, 2016 >> http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3578249/Sea-level-rise-claims-five-islands-Solomons-study.html ), the constant, epic monsoon flooding in the Asian seas that mostly affect India, Bangladesh, and Pakistan that are augmented by Global Warming (Wikipedia >> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monsoon )…and, of course, the most recent of these monstrous storms, Hurricane Harvey striking Houston, Texas; the forth largest city in the United States–
Again, so now that we are actually living in the era of Climate Apocalypse that earth scientists and Science Fiction authors had warned us about (including yours truly!~see my LinkedIn page) for nearly 100 years, what now? Even climate-experts and organizations, such as 350.org (> https://350.org/ ), admitted that the earth has already surpassed the benchmark of 350 parts per million of particulate-pollution in the atmosphere since around 2016 and the best we can do is slow the warming of earth! What can we do?
Well, as much as I hate to admit it, but this assessment is true and we, Humans, all over the world need to start crafting legislation and curbing cultural habits based on where we are now as a planet! As in:
–National governments step up and be big kids and not be intimidated by the private sector and start prohibiting development on most of the coastal areas of, pretty much, all continents! Yeah, the ocean- and sea-levels are rising, but we can stop Humans from building in coastal strips where we know will, eventually, crumble into the waters!
–Again, time for national governments to give corporations and the private sector the finger and stop subsidizing the coal, oil, gas, and other retro-energies and start funding (yes, by taxes, damn it! But also some incentivizations, etc) wind, solar, bio-mass, and other alternative energies! This will require governments (private sector can jump in on this and actually make a new cottage industry with lots of money!) to invest in citizens and educate them and re-tool the masses for appropriate, alternative energy sectors.
–Citizens, we do not get a pass just because this is some big-picture shit. My wife and I recycle; that’s awesome and all, but that’s only a fraction of a fraction of what we, as global citizens, have to do. We could volunteer to pick up trash in our cities and country-side from time to time; attend local city council meetings when our respective municipals have special votes and legislation on our local environment.
Had city officials of Houston done these principles, especially after Hurricane Katrina–where there was an actual environmental apocalypse in real time, with scientists constantly warning the US government about building in flood-zones and attacking Global Warming–it is very safe to say that Hurricane Harvey could have been greatly mitigated! Not avoided, but the hundreds of thousands of citizens affected in Houston could have been a few hundred…
This is it, kids. As the new aphorism goes, There Is No Planet B, so we might as well try!
(Image: Collapse of Industrial Civilization, via Google-search)
SECULAR ORDER 