humanity
The evolution of humanity, from one advancement to the next.
Earth to Bill
It was 2013. I was now three and a half hours into a six-hour bus ride back to New York City from my hometown of Syracuse, NY. After an exciting, yet stressful visit with family, I wanted nothing more than to be back in my comfy little walk-in closet of an apartment. Instead, I sat motionless on a never-ending voyage on the river of pavement. I scanned the skies from my window as the evening sun had just about set. A passing sign indicated that we had just crossed into the Hudson Valley area. Snippets of such books as Dr. J Allen Hynek’s "Night Siege" and Ellen Crystall’s "Silent Invasion" began to trickle through my mind. I entertained the thought that perhaps a UFO sighting could cure my current state of boredom. I covered every angle of the sky I could, but the sun disappeared quickly and I was now left with an endless abyss of black. Any hope of seeing a structured craft soon faded with my patience for the incessant amount of elbowing from the woman sitting next to me. She noticed me peering intently through the smudged window and asked what I was doing. Three answers flashed through my mind:
By Ryan Sprague7 years ago in Futurism
From the 5th Book, "Hegira," The Prologue, "Decision on Vandeventer"
She remembered. It was a Saturday morning over 30 years ago. Must have been early Winter, steam billowed from car exhaust. Sitting alone, in a diner on Vandeventer Avenue, a plate of eggs and bacon in front of her, she made a decision.
By Teresa McLaughlin7 years ago in Futurism
That Ain't No Little Green Man
Decades of entertainment and pop culture have invaded our eyes and ears with tales of little green men coming from destinations unknown and plaguing our skies and our homes. These little green critters often changed throughout the decades as stories spread and culture shifted. So when we hear the stories of close encounters with what we often consider aliens, it's no wonder that some of these more radical reports get brushed to the side. They just seem to be too damn strange. They don't fit the prototypical alien mythology we've been conditioned to believe (or not believe) is true. They bend the rules and they challenge the norm. So what are these outsiders amongst outsiders? Let's take a look at a few cases of possible monsters from above... or possibly below.
By Ryan Sprague7 years ago in Futurism
Excerpt From the 3rd Book, "To Break Bread with Strangers," The Prologue, "Banquet at Uruk"
She felt a cascade of changing memories. Like double vision, as if one eye blurred while the other remained clear. Different images of the same event vibrated against each other. The dissonance made her dizzy. Standing alone in the cathedral, looking from the nave to the crossing, she felt it.
By Teresa McLaughlin7 years ago in Futurism
Humanity 2.0
I’m going to take a moment to point out some observations on how humanity has developed, and what they may mean for our future. As a lover of all things science and science fiction, I have always been keenly interested in wondering how technology has affected us as a society. It has just sped communication up, as expected, but it changed the fundamentals of communication. It hasn’t just given us more information about the universe, it has changed the entire skyline of reality. In the 1960’s, everyone was certain that we would be settling and mining the solar system by now. Why aren’t we? Because we haven’t taken the next step in our evolution, yet. That evolution will probably lead to the end of life as we understand it, because there are far too many unpredictable hazards for biological organisms to explore space.
By Mickey Finn7 years ago in Futurism
Enceladus' Ice-Covered Ocean Closer to Surface Than Previously Thought
When it comes to places in the Solar System to search for possible alien life, Saturn's moon Enceladus is now right near the top of the list. Like Jupiter's moon Europa, it has a subsurface ocean of water, and even plumes/geysers of water vapor which erupt from fissures in the icy surface near the south pole. Those plumes contain organics as discovered by the Cassini probe and there is evidence for hydrothermal activity on the ocean floor, just like on Earth. The fissures are warmed by heat from below, and now there is evidence that some of them are even warmer than expected, meaning that water could be closer to the surface than previously thought.
By Paul Scott Anderson7 years ago in Futurism
Outrun Stories #14
This is it, I’ve decided and there’s a smile in there somewhere, for everything that she put me through, I know I have to go back. What’s it been, three years? Every day for three years she’s been in my head, I’ve denied it for so long. Make the change, right, change is good?
By Outrun Stories7 years ago in Futurism
Excerpt from the Chapter "The Perseus Spiral Arm" of the Book "To Break Bread with Strangers"
“Crossing in three hours,” Captain Hurin announced. Namazu bit her lip. “Hurin continued, “No activity in orbit,” she said referring to Ditallu, the first planet inside the border. “…a few dead scanners.”
By Teresa McLaughlin7 years ago in Futurism
Onizuka's Aliens
Throughout the history of modern UFO research, there have been many reports of crashed flying saucers and dead alien bodies being shipped off to destinations unknown. And while many of these reports come from dubious and less than credible witnesses, there are those rare occasions when the story rests on the shoulders of extremely prominent and highly credible individuals. Such was the case for Clark B. McClelland, former Spacecraft Operator of the NASA Space Shuttle Fleet.
By Ryan Sprague7 years ago in Futurism