Science + Tech
Advances that redefine reality. Welcome to the future.
Interview with Martin Shoemaker
Omni had the opportunity to speak with Martin L. Shoemaker, multi-award winning author and professional programmer. His short story Today I Am Paul was nominated for a Nebula Award and he has won much accolade in the span of his six year career. Martin has written for publications such as Analog, Galaxy’s Edge and Clarkesworld. He has a number of upcoming projects, including several novels.
Joshua SkyPublished 8 years ago in FuturismTop Ten Haunted Places to Visit on Vacation
When a lot of people think vacation, they think of a warm beach with white sand, blue water, and maybe a fruity cocktail to enjoy. But not everybody. Some of us think of a cabin in the woods or a historical site that captures the imagination. Also, tourist season isn’t always in the middle of the summer; sometimes it can be great fun to travel during spooky October. If you’re taking a fall vacation or even like to enjoy yourself with a little morbid curiosity, you can’t go wrong with these haunted travel destinations.
The Best (and Worst) Internet in the World
The internet drives almost every aspect of modern life, more so in developed countries than not. Everything from the phones in our pockets to the watches on our wrists, the fridges we use to the cars we drive. It’s a fast-changing, fast-developing world with broadband speeds only ever rising.
Sci-Fi's Obsession with Ancient Greece and Rome
Sometimes science fiction returns to the past for places, people, and themes to enrich its mind-journeys into the future. Such is the case with these sci-fi movies, TV episodes, and works of fiction, each one drawing from the ancient worlds of Greece or Rome to dress its story. Brit Marling, a screenplay co-writer of Another Earth, says that this isn’t really surprising. “We’re retelling the same dramas from Ancient Greece,” Marling said. “These stories are so fundamentally old, the mythology that they come from, the hero’s journey — the way a narrative works. Science allows you to take the same story and see it from a new perspective because the science is always new and fresh.” Science fiction’s interest in the ancient world goes beyond mere allusion, as in the middle name of Captain James Tiberius Kirk (Tiberius, in case you’re wondering, was a somber, reclusive Roman ruler who nevertheless left the empire in a better state than he found it). If you’re deeply interested in how the speculative worlds of the future and the worlds of ancient Rome and Greece intersect, you may be interested in a serious paper by academic Tony Keen, “The 'T' stands for Tiberius: models and methodologies of classical reception in science fiction.” If that sounds a little heavy, enjoy the following summary of a few times when togas, laurel wreaths, aliens, and spaceships partied it up in one crazy combination.
Sarah QuinnPublished 8 years ago in FuturismHollywood Halloween Hijinks - Count Dracula As An Extraterrestrial?
“Listen to them, the children of the night. What sweet music they make!” Count Dracula in "Dracula" - by Bram Stoker Loyal fans of the insidious exploits of the king of the vampires have been listening to haunting music played as a foreboding symphony from the bloodthirsty undead for decades. Ever since actor Bela Lugosi first put on the iconic cape in director Tod Browning’s 1931 landmark film, Dracula, movie audiences have lovingly embraced the coolest blood sucker of them all - Count Dracula. Before the Hollywood classic flick from Universal studios, readers immersed themselves in the bleak world of author Bram Stoker’s breakthrough novel, chronicling the wild adventures of the world’s most infamous vampire. Once Hollywood got a hold of Stoker's creation, the nefarious prince of darkness went through innumerable permutations, and Tinseltown is still morphing the world's favorite fang master.
Will StapePublished 8 years ago in FuturismBest Cerebral Sci-Fi Movies
The best cerebral sci-fi movies are so intellectually challenging because, while the reality they portray isn't yet possible, it certainly isn't implausible. Unlike fantasy where you can quickly reject the film's challenges as mere whimsy, science fiction has the ability to sink its teeth into you with the very real possibility that one day the problems the film portrays may become real. The ability to challenge the viewer in a way that's new but believable is the hallmark of the best cerebral sci-fi movies.
Eddie WongPublished 8 years ago in FuturismA Crash Course on Curved Screens
Curved TV screens are one of those novelties of the 21st century that not many people quite understand. When we thought normal screens were good enough; higher pixel density, higher dynamic range and larger size, things were changed drastically. The flat screen still exists, but now with a glowing new cousin – the curved monitor. Whilst I won’t be buying one any time soon, namely due to the fact that I can’t really find a spare $12,000 without selling one of my organs, there is no denying curved TVs will be the future ‘norm’ as manufacturing and purchasing prices eventually drop.
The Human Itch
Stan scratched at the red mark on his skin. It was one of many small scabs that had been bothering him for a few days now. A minuscule, amber crusted sore that bordered his left thumbnail. Carefully, he picked, picked, picked at it. Getting a fingernail beneath it, so it would peel off, sending a small shock of pleasurable pain.
Joshua SkyPublished 8 years ago in Futurism