Science + Tech
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Sci-Fi Movie Women of the 2000s
Too often when we think “women in sci-fi” we think of what used to be called “scream queens,” that is, the actresses who appeared in scores of latter day B pictures running from extraterrestrials on earth or grappling with tentacled creatures on spaceships or what have you. For this survey we want to pay homage not necessarily to the genre regulars (although you’ll find one or two along the way) but to the performers who made the most unusual and in many cases iconic impressions. The following list is not compiled in any particular order. Each woman has contributed enormously to the universe of sci-fi through their respective roles. Here are our favorites from the 2000s.
Dixon SteelePublished 8 years ago in FuturismMost Underrated Sci-Fi Authors
Science fiction is a massively popular genre these days, and while some authors have achieved mainstream recognition, there are gems to be discovered amongst the most underrated sci-fi authors. Casual readers of sci-fi will have heard of writers such as Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, Harlan Ellison, and Kurt Vonnegut. And film directors have snapped up the rights to works by authors such as Philip K. Dick and Robert Heinlein to ensure their enduring fame. But other writers have created masterpieces of imagination and storytelling in sci-fi, and yet not become household names like their contemporaries. Beyond the established sci-fi bestsellers, who are the most underrated sci-fi authors awaiting your discovery?
Emily McCayPublished 8 years ago in FuturismGhosts Amongst the Stars
The old man sat on the rock near the top of the small hill as he had for many years now and watched the first stars begin to peek out of the deepening purple sky. The boy at his side, watched solemnly, as he had for most of his young life. They sit in silence.
Futurism StaffPublished 8 years ago in FuturismFreeman Dyson's Vision of the Future
Professor Freeman J. Dyson has been discussing mind-boggling concepts in a calm, matter-of-fact, one-should-expect way since 1956. 'One should expect that within a few thousand years of its entering the stage of industrial development, any intelligent species should be found occupying an artificial biosphere which completely surrounds its parent star.' It is his hobby he says disarmingly, something that grew up alongside his career as one of the finest mathematical physicists of the last century. To his former colleagues at Princeton's Institute for Advanced Studies, Dyson was known for his understanding of what goes on in the core of a star or in the interaction of high-energy beams of subnuclear particles—contributions that earned him the American Institute of Physics' Heineman Prize and the Royal Society's Hughes Medal.
George GottPublished 8 years ago in FuturismIs Technology Making Us Dumb?
It won’t be long before computers can think faster and better than humans. Artificial Intelligence exists, and it is getting smarter at an incredible rate. As so many focus on how well machines can think, alarmingly few people are concentrating on how well humans are thinking (or rather, how they aren’t thinking as well as they used to). A side effect of epic proportions has accompanied our ventures into superior technology. We have become inseparable from our computers and, as time goes on, we are relying on them for more and more of our daily cognitive functions. The brain needs exercise. When you don't use it often enough, your abilities deteriorate. The resources at our disposal are enabling us to perform more advanced tasks faster than ever before, but when it comes to plain old thinking, is technology making us dumb? The answer is two sided. On one hand, our ability to locate information is exponentially higher. On the other, we are retaining far less than we ever have.
Chelsea PullanoPublished 8 years ago in FuturismCarol Burnett's Captain Kirk Impersonation
American comedy can’t be neatly categorized into one absolute style, like the country from which it springs, it’s a big melting pot. From early, formative clowns such as The Marx Brothers, Milton Berle or Abbott & Costello, to the shock chuckles of Richard Pryor, Lenny Bruce, George Carlin and Chris Rock, American funny is a uniquely varied thing. However, it’s not only a boy’s club - one thing’s clear for awhile; we’ve been blessed with several of the funniest ladies history has ever known. There was lovable Lucille Ball, pioneer in the flexible art of the sitcom. Then came the outrageous Phyllis Diller, ground breaker in stand-up shtick. And then there's the comedy chameleon, Carol Burnett. Today’s funny ladies - Tina Fey, Kristen Wiig and Melissa McCarthy owe a lot to those original gals, but with Burnett, the modern sketch comedy we know today was basically shaped and fine tuned. If that wasn’t enough, Burnett has more than earned her ‘Geek Cred’, after she lampooned one of the most important sci-fi icons, none other than Captain Kirk. Carol Burnett's Captain Kirk impersonation is the original spoof on the iconic sci-fi figure portrayed by William Shatner.
Will StapePublished 8 years ago in FuturismPreparing for our Posthuman Future of Artificial Intelligence
“Each generation imagines itself to be more intelligent than the one that went before it, and wiser than the one that comes after it.” – George Orwell
David BrinPublished 8 years ago in FuturismChris Beckett's 'Dark Eden'
Chris Beckett’s Dark Eden highlights the evolution of narrative in a quiet coming-of-age story set on an alien planet with no sun. Often considered one of the best space colonization books, the novel spends much of its first half detailing the ways in which humans cope with life on a dark world. Light and warmth comes from “lantern trees,” which pump up hot liquid of some kind from the center of the planet. People hunt dark animals with green-grey meat. They measure time in “wombs” (the amount of time it takes for a baby to be born), as well as in “wakings” and “periods.” Words in Chris Beckett's Dark Eden universe have developed double meanings to make them emphatic, as language evolved from standard English. All five-hundred members of Family (as they are called) are descended from two humans who decided to stay on this strange planet, called Eden, and that the “Three Companions” made a risky attempt to return to Earth. Now, once a year (years are the Earth-time kept by the oldest members of Family), they gather to see the story of their origin acted out in drama, and to touch items from Earth.
Futurism StaffPublished 8 years ago in Futurism