The age of man-made organs
Check out Evolution! I wrote a bionic eye into a crewmember who was injured on the job. The doc puts the implant in as a matter of course. It’s getting harder and harder to write futuristic fiction.
Remember Marvin the Martian?
Remember Marvin the Martian?
He lived as a Warner Brothers character who does his best to foil Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck in 7 minutes. Given all of the Mel Blanc classics, I have to say Marvin the Martian is one of my top ten favorites from the Looney Tunes archives. I have only one of those famous characters immortalized in a Christmas ornament. It’s Marvin the Martian. Also, I have his dog, K-9, as a wind up toy. Lastly, I have a t-shirt with Marvin on it, and an upside chest pocket, with one of the little fellow’s quotes: “Do they ever shut up on your planet?!” These honors belong to no other cartoon in our home.
Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, and a singing frog animated the small screen with Marvin and K-9.
Created in 1948 (71 years ago!), cartoons starring this creature were scare on the Saturday morning cartoon circuit of the 1970’s. When one of those 16 episodes lit up the television, everyone in the house came to watch it! What enchanted us about this fantasy person, a ‘martian’ with a ray gun, big floppy shoes, and a green tutu? I probably can’t say with certainty, as a talking wabbit was also a member of the family. Perhaps it was the infrequency with which we got to see him.
Don’t forget that Marvin the Martian was accompanied by his dog, K-9. He was a lime green, four legged creature who also wore two pairs of big floppy shoes and a green tutu. Together they traveled the solar system, intent on destroying Earth. It blocked Marvin’s view of Venus. Instant Martians enjoy an occasional spotlight as well, which come dehydrated and activate with a little water.
Who, or what, is your favorite fictitious martian?
How about My Favorite Martian, Exodus, or as his patron Tim calls him, Uncle Martin? You remember him, played by Ray Walston, with a pair of telescoping antennae on his head?
In fiction, we have Valentine Michael Smith, born in space and raised by martians. He reminds people that he is just an ‘egg’ and does not ‘grok’ – a child who doesn’t understand. Robert Heinlein’s masterpiece, Stranger in a Strange Land weaves in and out of our culture to this day, nearly 70 years later.
Then, played by Matt Damon, Mark Watney becomes a resident of Mars when he is left behind. You know this movie as, literally, “The Martian”.
As Mars demystifies,
As humans explore Sol IV, as we sci fi writers would likely label it, we need a new mystery. However, Mars remains a planet newly inhabited of robots, sent by humans. As the robots search for water, I hope they find life forms. Snarks, Boojums, even Marvin the Martian would usher in a new epoch in human history. In the meantime, go watch A Lunar Tune at The Looney Tunes Wiki
Thanks for stopping by! Although not about Martians, if you like stories about aliens, go grab my short story prequel. It’s free to download.
It’s 2019, Apollo 11’s 50th Anniversary
Stop the world, I want to get off.
Well, just slow it down a little so I can take a breath!
So many things happening as 2019 starts. 2019 – does that slap you around a little? We were all supposed to be driving flying cars, instead of cars driving us. We do have quite a few technologies, and a few we never imagined before. It’s also the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11’s historic mission.
Remember just 10 years ago the smart phone came upon the scene – and nothing was ever the same in the industrialized world. I don’t think they’ve helped developing nations as much, but in my wildest imagination I never imagine that PHONEs would become portable computers. They can pinpoint your location on the planet as well as take excellent photos and videos, AND access the entire world’s information online. I mean, there’s an app for EVERYTHING.
Oddly, the one thing I wish a smart phone could do that it doesn’t is take your temperature. Why can’t we just stick it against our forehead and let it tell us if we have a fever worth going to the doctor or not?
If I’d had these technologies as a teen or young adult available! Broken down car – no worry, call someone from the side of the road. Call Lyft to come get you the next day. Look up the problem on the internet, buy the parts online, they’re delivered asap, take Lyft to work again, and the fix your beater over the weekend watching how-to YouTube video. And then there’s e-books.
Millennials, you grew up with this technology,
at least with cell phones, if not smart phones, and the internet. You take it for granted that everything will stream to you – music, food, friendship, entertainment, even money if you can build a web page with enough click bait on it. Work as you want – deliver for Amazon, GrubHub, FedEx, or become a Lyft or Uber driver, and all the work is just waiting for you to tap an icon, no set hours, no dry cleaning to deal with, and the money goes straight into a bank account – no standing in line at a bank from 10:00 to 3:00 to deposit a check and wait 3 days for it to clear before you get your money.
I’m fascinated.
Our most wonderful invention in 1980 was the ATM – money without the bank teller. Oh, yeah, and the video rental store, of course, in BETA, not VHS (what’s Beta you ask? Ask Siri). The hardest thing we had to deal with was programming the damn thing because in the 80s, television had you tuning in at their convenience, not the other way around. I like new technology, but I’m not the person who needs the newest of the new the moment it’s released – new phone, computer, television, stereo system, vacuum, car. Technology puttered for decades, even after the horseless carriage arrived. Things move so fast now writing science fiction is a challenge. I’m from the Boomer generation, and Gen Xers are between us and the Millennials.
I’m not certain, and no one else is either, when the cut off from one to the next is, but the Boomers ended in 1964, the year after John F. Kennedy was assassinated. The world changed that day, not just America. No one saw themselves the same way anymore. The birth rate plummeted, and with good reason. The later half of the 60s was filled with Vietnam, riots, Nixon, more assassinations, and some of the most horrible fashions ever to walk a runway. At the same time, technology carried on, taking people to the MOON. This year marks the 50th anniversary of that giant leap.
Humanity has more heroes than Hitlers.
Give praise for the chutzpah of soldiers who stormed Normandy; of Martin Luther King, Jr., who inspired millions; of Truman, who bore the responsibility for Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
As we approach this milestone, remember their names.
They were the ambassadors of human technology, arguably the most courageous men of the 20th century. It takes a special kind of insanity to sit atop a Saturn V rocket, spend 3 days floating in a closet and using the strangest toilet ever invented. Then they must go into orbit, take a little module of a ship to this world, land, get out and take a walk, and get back in and hope the little module of a ship can get off the world, go back up and meet with the rocket engine orbiting the planet. And then COME BACK. Three more days in the closet, and this time they have to get back to Earth. This planet has an atmosphere (that could burn up the ship and passengers). They don’t land, but splash down using parachutes, and wait for the ship to come get you.
Are you f*$#&* kidding me? The space program was the very definition of LUNACY. Armstrong, Aldrin, and Collins have every right to claim bravery above and beyond – why do we celebrate Columbus Day when we should celebrate Moon Day July 19th? It should be a worldwide holiday, like New Year’s Day; at the very least, an American holiday. Only a dozen humans have ever walked on our moon. That’s it. I lament that it may be another 50 years before humans can claim the honor of going to another world. Robots on both Mars and the Moon report that science and commerce could explode wide open, with new opportunities, to answer questions that have dogged humans from the beginning, and encourage the next 100 years of humans to grow beyond the narcissistic view that we are the apex of evolution.
But this is the year of Apollo 11’s anniversary, the 50 year milestone. Who knows what celebrations might spark the next step into the future.
After all, if we can go to the moon, we can do anything. I’m still waiting for that app that will take my temperature, though.
Using CRISPR on Human Embryos.
Using CRISPR as we feared could be here. I don’t want to alarm you, but it is here. The Eugenics Wars of Star Trek fame are just another example of Trek fiction about to come true. I’d love to know what your thoughts are on the subject.
Evolution by natural selection is about to end for Homo sapiens. CRISPR BABIES
I have interrupted my writing jag to bring you this article as soon as I heard about it. Of course, this kind of science is the foundation of my current series, The Jackson Saga. That aside, as this technology is honed and focused, which I think is marvelous, I also worry. I worry that someone “in charge” will be deciding what is a disease, what is a mutation, what’s worth fiddling with, and do we want to end up like the society in GATTACA?
OVERPOPULATION.
I expand on this theme with the biggest single threat
to humanity: Overpopulation. I’m not talking numbers of bodies here. I’m talking about the carrying capacity of the planet to support humans and their need for power (yes, both political and electrical). The United States, by the standards of carrying capacity, is the most overpopulated country on the planet. Americans are about 5% of world population and use 20% of the world resources. Americans waste more food, hence energy and political power, than some people have to eat in the whole day. We use more for cars (tires, gasoline, junkyards), trash (landfills), and especially electricity (air conditioners, big screen televisions, refrigeration).
This could roll on a tangent, but when India and China live their lives at the same standard as Americans (and why shouldn’t they?) overpopulation will finally move to the forefront as the foundation for climate change, food shortages, medical and elderly care issues, with a host of others, including poverty and war (power is both energy and politics).
Genetic Engineering
to remove harmful “whatever” is not my argument. In fact, as I said, Paradox is all about the risk of a genetically engineered vaccine. After administration it carries on in the offspring of vaccinated adults, but with unexpected results. Millions and millions of humans die prematurely or become sterile. When we play with Natural Selection, we must also play with Reproductive Rights. Are those with money, who can afford this medical technology, going to dictate who can and cannot have children without diseases? Will it be available to everyone regardless of their political views or the color of their skin or the money in their bank account?
From the article, I quote:
Gene-editing scientist, Fyodor Urnov* reviewed the Chinese documents said called the undertaking cause for “regret and concern over the fact that gene editing—a powerful and useful technique—was put to use in a setting where it was unnecessary.” Indeed, studies are already under way to edit the same gene in the bodies of adults with HIV. “It is a hard-to-explain foray into human germ-line genetic engineering that may overshadow in the mind of the public a decade of progress in gene editing of adults and children to treat existing disease,” he says.
Stop and Think
I find it a revolutionary tool, and worth exploring to the fullest possible good it can do. I wouldn’t want to wish disabilities on people just to keep the population from explosion, but clear, rules must be in place. We must prevent a group from using this to take power, placing genetic superiority in the hands of the wealthy alone, the political party of party alone, or, without looking forward to reduce the chances of a “Eugenics War”. If one race becomes so powerful the world over, humans will lose the diversity of our evolution. We are amazing animals, adapted to various climates, producing different cultures, and having the ability to see that we have so much more in common than we we have as differences. Let us keep what makes us human, and remove what hurts us most.
This is indeed a slippery slope, but an adventurous one to be sure. Talk about the Final Frontier. We should let Nature run the most of the show. It’s done a pretty fair job so far.
*associate director of the Altius Institute for Biomedical Sciences, a nonprofit in Seattle, Washington.
Spring has Sprung
Spring means new stars in the northern hemisphere; Sky Guide can help you find them. Sirius hangs near the horizon, under the moon, around 8 pm. West of the moon, you will still see Orion in the sky, including Betelgeuse and Rigel. Taurus’ horns are up and he is diving down in the west. Winter is over, and it’s time for new star gazing with warmer weather finally. Do you know your stars and constellations? If you’re rusty, there’s a great app I may have mentioned in the past that you will find hard to believe. It’s a few dollars, and worth every penny. It also has a monthly subscription!
Sky Guide
Sky Guide – you can get the regular app or the monthly subscription if you’re even more crazy than I am about the sky. I like it better with a pad than a phone just because you can see so much more at once, but do check it out. I can’t do it justice here, so go ha fun and look at it for yourself in the app store. No affiliate here for recommending this, I just happen to love it.
About the books …
The new book, Jeopardy, will be out before summer. I had some diversions over the winter and have been spending some time letting people know about Paradox, Symbiosis, and now Jeopardy: Firestones and Aliens. After the initial launch, I’ll be offering the three as a set, but this is an ongoing series, and as long as there’s a story to tell, I will keep going.
New covers! Paradox and Symbiosis have been redesigned with new covers fit for paperbacks! Descriptions are also getting a face lift, and for e-book lovers, more links to the science that you can examine in depth. It’s going to be a fabulous year!
Would love to hear your feedback for novellas on the other characters, namely, Quixote, a reptilian from Draconia, and Dr Jane Ferris, descendant of a chimera. Some will be set pre- 2160, some post 2170. More novellas to come on Captain Jackson’s earlier years on the Linus Pauling, and before that, as a pilot on the carrier Saratoga.
Don’t forget to tell me what you’d like to see in the upcoming stories. I write for you – what do you want to read?