Most Popular Posts
Search
-
Spider Star
The human colony on the planet Argo has long explored and exploited the technology left behind by an extinct alien race. But then an archaeology team accidentally activates a terrible weapon...
Read More. -
Praise for Star Dragon
"Seldom does a storytelling talent come along as potent and fully mature as Mike Brotherton. His complex characters take you on a voyage that is both fiercely credible and astonishingly imaginative. This is Science Fiction."
-- David Brin"Star Dragon is terrific fare, offering readers a fusion of hard science and grand adventure."
-- Locus Magazine"Star Dragon is steeped in cosmology, the physics of interstellar travel, exobiology, artificial intelligence, bioscience. Brotherton, author of many scientific articles in refereed journals, has written a dramatic, provocative, utterly convincing hard science sf novel that includes an ironic twist that fans will love."
-- Booklist starred review"Readers hungry for the thought-provoking extrapolation and rigorous technical detail of old-fashioned hard SF are sure to enjoy astronomer Brotherton's first novel."
-- Publishers Weekly"Mike Brotherton, himself a trained astrophysicist, combines the technical acuity and ingenuity of Robert Forward with the ironic, postmodern stance and style of M. John Harrison. In this, his debut novel, those twin talents unite to produce a work that is involving on any number of levels. It's just about all you could ask for in a hardcore SF adventure."
-- Paul di Fillippo, SCI-FI.COM
Black Friday Starlinks
November 28th, 2008
Religion and aliens to come…starting with some aliens from Earth.
Should we resurrect Neanderthals? If we can do the mammoth, and there’s good evidence we can, then Neanderthals will also be possible. Neanderthals are not human, but another intelligent, tool using primate species not very far from us. There’s certainly an ethical case to be discussed here, and we should leave the Catholics out of it based on the statements I read in the article. Sorry if I seem to be Catholic bashing this week, but they seem to be weighing in more and more on issues on which I find their positions ridiculous or hypocritical, and after the election many are still after parishioners who voted for Obama. Anyway, this would make for a potentially great science fiction novel. One part Jurassic Park, one part Planet of the Apes, and one part Robert Sawyer’s Hominds series.
May as well get this one in, too, before tackling the more sciencey topics. Jeremy F. Lewis, author, was kicked out a local non-denomonational church for writing an urban fantasy novel featuring vampires and werewolves. I am not the intolerant one in this society just because I am vocally critical of the actions of organized religion. They do piss me off, and I think the best thing we can do is to check out his book Staked and consider it for ourselves or as a Christmas present.
I’m not exactly happy about the Muslim terrorists in India, either, as you might suspect. I don’t even have the words for them. The Pentagon is taking a cue from science fiction, however, and may have some guided bullets for them, although unfortunately not in time for Christmas.
Sorry. I digress. Tis the season.
CNN.com has an article about Jill Tarter of SETI fame. Jill is a very good speaker and proponent for SETI, and is the basis for the character Ellie Arroway in Carl Sagan’s Contact.
Astronomers continue to find more complex organic molecules in space, which is circumstantial evidence in favor of ideas about the building blocks of life arising out there first and seeding planets like Earth.
And finally, on SETI and Intelligent Design. Both are searching for patterns that aren’t natural, but intentional. How do you do that? Here’s a hint: the problem is very hard, almost impossible, but the two groups don’t proceed quite the same way.
Related Posts
Related Posts
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
<
November 28th, 2008 at 7:00 pm
Sorry, I cant understand why the idea of life appearing on space and arriving on Earth is so popular. Why is it so difficult to accept life may have appeared on Earth itself, 4 billion years ago?
November 29th, 2008 at 7:16 am
I’m not sure where you get your “Catholic information” from. I’m not after anybody that voted for Obama. Nobody I know of in my parish is after anybody who voted for him. In fact, I suspect that the majority voted for him.
Catholics are not one monolithic bloc, like the Borg. There are Catholics, for example, who think most of those in leadership positions in the Church are wrong on many issues. Me, for example.
And I don’t recall anybody threatening me despite my “radical” positions (i.e., allowing women to become priests, allowing for abortion and more). Heck, it’s been at least a week or more since the Pope called me and threatened me with excommunication.
( would suggest, for example, a read of the book “God’s Mechanics” or “Brother Astronomer” by Brother Guy Consolmagno, S.J. You might know him as the co-author of the excellent sky observing guide “Turn Right at Orion”.)
As for bringing back the ‘thals, that’s probably a subject for debate among many groups, scientists included.
November 29th, 2008 at 10:16 am
Sure why not, see what they got to say.
Logan Lamech
http://www.eloquentbooks.com/LingeringPoets.html
November 29th, 2008 at 5:42 pm
Fred, I know Guy. Plenty of good Catholics like him, but according to the leadership, it is a monolithic bloc and the Pope and Bishops to claim to speak for everyone. Plenty of Catholics go along with that claim, too. In my defense, I was reading a local newsletter in St. Louis where I was visiting for Thanksgiving where a reader wrote in to shame all Obama-voting Catholics, and that wasn’t the only place I’ve seen this recently. Personally, I see no compelling evidence for the supernatural, a cornerstone for the Catholic religion, from resurrection to the miracles of saints, and I reject all positions or reasoning based on such. I believe that such reasoning when presented should always be called out for what it is — intrinsically flawed. I get frustrated when religious experts are credited with being ethical experts, because I have seen no credible studies to suggest that this is true, and plenty of examples showing a lack of correlation. The Catholic leadership has, in particular, taken a number of very shameful positions from WW II to the present (African Bishops lying about AIDS and condoms is the worst current one, and the blatant politicking of the 2008 presidential election being still fresh in mind as of this week).
Sorry if I offend. Calling it like I see it. I’d love to see the Catholic leadership taken to task by their own followers and thrown out for what can only be considered tremendous sins. I mean, someone is paying these guys to sit around and ponder how evil is Harry Potter, and to argue that the spiritual problems of our times are due to too much education. Frankly, it’s completely disgusting. I’m happy to hear that these views do not represent those of many Catholics, but if that’s the case, I don’t see them denounced nearly often enough.
Too long-winded here, but the Pope really does have huge influence, and much of it seems bad to me in modern times. The leadership views, unfortunately, are not irrelevant.
November 29th, 2008 at 5:45 pm
Rogerio, I think astronomers like to push the relevance of their research, and the origin of life would be a very strong point in favor of relevance. It’s also an interesting angle for a reporter. May not be right, of course. It is in many ways easier to study. We can’t study the early Earth, but conditions in space somewhere should be similar to conditions in space when Earth formed.
November 29th, 2008 at 5:48 pm
Fred, here’s one story about a Catholic priest telling Obama voters not to take communion:
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/129751.php
This is not the only incidence of this sort of story. Many in the Catholic church went political over Kerry in 2004.
We aren’t a theocracy, and I refuse to live in a theocracy, and will rant about religion reaching into politics whenever it happens.
November 29th, 2008 at 7:49 pm
Oh believe me, I rant about it as well (religion in politics). And I agree, we don’t live in a theocracy. I believe strongly that both have teir own place. Religion, for me, gives me a framework of ethics (oh, stop laughing now!) to work on.
But, “we are the Church”, or so we keep getting told. I think the current leadership is a backlash to Vatican II, a return to conservatism. It’ll fade, eventually.
Change starts at the lowest level. Our local parish is pretty mixed (black, white, Hispanic, Filipino, Asian, even Indian–not Native American). We have gays and lesbians who are parishioners. Divorced people. Even people who voted for Obama and Kerry.
Amusingly, your statement “plenty of Catholics”, of course can be applied to other groups. Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Jews, the Left, the Right…heck…even scientists.
Nobody is “without sin” when it comes to the problems of the world.
Now…get back to work on that next book!
November 29th, 2008 at 8:11 pm
“Now…get back to work on that next book!”
Keep telling me that, please!
November 29th, 2008 at 8:18 pm
No problem. Or how about: “Hey, Mike, I’ve got twenty-five dollars in my pocket with your name and your publishers name on it…”