Finally had a chance to start watching Battlestar Galactica after having only seen the miniseries and I have to say it is some of the best TV and Sci-fi I have ever seen.  The character depth, the plot and the number and seriousness of the issues tackled are simply astounding, and production is also very glossy and visually appealing.

Without spoiling much of the plot, one of the many themes tackled throughout the series is the desire of artificial constructs to become human (and acting “more Catholic than the Pope” in the process) so they can assimilate into human communities.  There’s a link to the relationship between immigrants and their host societies there somewhere…

A science fiction short from Uruguay that made me think about the state of neglect of science fiction as a genre in Latin America.  Would love to see more examples like this.

Via Alt1040.

After a very interesting presentation by Dr. José Luis Cordeiro of Singularity University, I was left with a few interesting ideas about the coming accelerating technological and social progress.

• Genetic testing is becoming faster and cheaper.  In 3 years full sequencing will only cost 100 bucks and take 5 days, with a huge impact in ancestry and medicine (think about genetically-tailored preventive medicine). Imagine 23andme going mass market.
• We will go back to the moon, especially now that it is found that there’s water.
• World relationships are changing. For thousands of years the important body of water was the Mediterranean, and until recently the Atlantic.  We are now entering the age of the Pacific.
• Robot rights are already under discussion in Korea and Europe.
• Economic, telecommunications and energy source evolution is accelerating.
• The death of death: The Methuselah Foundation.
• Nano, bio, info and cognitive sciences are converging. Everything is information.
• Marvin Minsky (MIT): “Will robots inherit the earth? Yes, but they will be us!”
• Transhumanism as a possibility, not only a science fiction conjecture.

No lights

Originally uploaded by Chiva Congelado

This weekend we had a small problem as the lights went out in our building. Since there is not many ways in for natural light in the staircase and the building is rather tall it looked like the setting of a post-apocalyptic sci-fi movie of some sort, especially in the mobile phone light I used to get down.
Makes you realise how dependent we are on affordable energy, eh?

He wasn’t particularly impressed by this District 9 ad

Warning, spoilers do follow.

A bit of  2001: Space Odyssey feel to it, with themes of cloning, evil corporations and the nature of humanity (watch for the moment when the computer/robot cries).  Another great example that great science-fiction movies don’t need to have exorbitant budgets.

Sci-fi with a strong social commentary and immigration undertones is right up my alley.  The fact that it’s set in South Africa, has great special effects and is set in a very rich and intelligent universe is of course a plus. What’s not to like? I won’t spoil the movie in the first paragraph of this blog post (you are more than able to read about it online), so go and see it. Now.

That it’s become an absolute classic of our time already 2 weeks after release doesn’t hurt. The social critique of the movie was driven home for me in a post by Inti of Alt1040 (quoted and translated below):

It is no secret that ignorance and fear easily make us racists.  The lack of knowledge of the lifestyles of people of different races and nationalities, together with the fear that we might feel for “possible” aggressions are the best nurture for intolerance [...] outside of all logic and humanity.  Ignorance and fear that are themselves based in prejudice and distorted values.  When we know more about other people and find a reflection of ourselves, this fear should disappear together with any racist or xenophobic attitude.  What happens when ignorance and fear have a justification and there is no way to clear these obstacles?

Part of the sci-fi collection

Originally uploaded by Chiva Congelado

On seeing my sci-fi book collection (of which you can see but a tiny part to the right) a friend asked me what were my favourite books.  While it’s a little like asking a parent who is his/her favourite son, I do have some sci-fi books I’ve reread more than others.

• The Gods Themselves, Isaac Asimov: Parallell universes, love and the laws of physics, what’s not to like?
• The Mars Trilogy, Kim Stanley Robinson: The 200-year history of the colonization of Mars from arrival of the first settlers to terraformation.  Heavy on ecological, economic and sociological themes.
• Flashforward, Robert J. Sawyer: Instead of destroying life, the universe and everything, the LHC shows the whole population of earth their selves 20 years in the future.  Now becoming a TV series.
• The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (a trilogy in five parts), Douglas Adams: Spaceships, aliens and Englishmen were never so funny.
• Spares, Michael Marshall Smith: A bleak, totally dystopian future where clones are raised to replace the body parts of the rich.
• The Postman, David Brin: One of the biggest cinematic flops by Kevin Costner is based on a very solid post-apocalyptic novel, with survivalism as a cancer of society and the difference of science and magic being the main themes of the novel.
• The Forever War, Joe Haldeman: War against aliens on relativistic spaceships means in Earth a 1000 years pass, while our main character ages less than a year.  A stinging commentary on the Vietnam War.
• Space Odyssey, Arthur C. Clarke: An absolute classic. You might have probably seen the first movie, but that’s not the end of it.
• Foundation Series, Isaac Asimov: Another classic.  The Galactic Empire is falling, and a man has foreseen it aided by the scientific approach he has created.  He cannot stop it, but he can try to alleviate it.  Eventually these books were merged with others written by Asimov, charting a fictitious human history spanning 25,000 years.
• Dune Series, Frank Herbert: Last classic series I’ll write about here.  15,000 years of human history.  Rebellions against robot overlords, political intrigue and a big exploration of the nature of religion.
• The Man in the High Castle, Phillip K. Dick:  The Nazis and the Japanese Empire won World War II.  The US doesn’t exist anymore, but the former axis plot against each other.
• The Years of Rice and Salt, Kim Stanley Robinson: The black death exterminates the population of Europe, and we follow a jāti of several characters through several reincarnations until the year 1423 after Hegira (2002 A.D.).  Every chapter follows a different literary style based on literature of the culture in question.
• The Thrawn Trilogy, Timothy Zahn:  Did you think I wouldn’t mention any Star Wars books?  The series that reignited the Star Wars franchise in the 1990’s has it all, including a memorable villain.

Any other sci-fi fans amongst my readers?  Any books/universes you’d like to add or recommend?

Some friends have mentioned in completely unrelated settings that I should probably consider writing a book.  I’ve been actually thinking about writing one either of my experiences as a foreigner/expat/immigrant/whatchamacallit on one hand or a sci-fi novella on the other.  Of course I’d have to find some time to do it as currently I don’t have much, butmight be something worth considering.

Dear readers, what would you think?  What would you like to read more about, in analog form?

I’ve been listening to a lot of Juan García Esquivel lately.  Imagine my surprise when I found this mashup with 2001: Space Odissey, one of my favourite movies.