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Cake day: February 22nd, 2024

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  • This is a fascinating one.

    Some things to consider, a toddler can easily defeat a baby but a 40 and 45 year old are evenly matched. There’s also the question of how much is there to learn, at some point the tech tree is pretty much done - iron is much stronger than brass but maybe light-speed heavy plasma guns are pretty much maxed out and physics simply doesn’t allow more.

    This could result in interesting stalemates, a natural limit to the size of conflicts for example if it’s possible to maintain a defensive sphere that can withstand the maximum level of abuse that a circle of attackers can provide - any weapons platform too far back being unable to increase the force applied. We might get technologically perfect civilizations effectively combined to bubbles of influence around their power sources.

    What is possible is that at a certain level of tech we discover how to tap into the universal internet, aliens give us the rest of the answers to physics and philosophy then show us how to build VR gear so we can explore the cosmos in perfect VR and no one ever needs to build Dyson spheres or hyperwarp megastructures because we can do anything with a dark matter powered computanium smart phone.


  • When I was a kid people said the same about typing, homework has to be handwrittena because no boss will ever accept a typed report.

    We had the same when media studies became a lesson, everyone freaking out that kids learning to watch TV is stupid but of course that’s not what they’re getting taught - media literacy turned our to be a hugely important subject even for those that don’t go on to work in the huge and ever growing media sector.

    Teaching kids to use AI tools effectively is the same, you hear it and imagine ‘they put homework prompt into chatGPT and hand in the output’ it’s the same as imagining media studies as being nothing more than watching TV. AI is going to be an ever more present and useful tool in our lives so kids need to learn how to leverage and utilize it or they’ll be at a huge disadvantage.

    You can’t hold back time by denying your kid a full education, they need to know how to effectively use the tools everyone else will be using.













  • I would just like to take this moment to suggest people find a comfortable place to sit with a stiff drink, spliff or whatever and listen to the first chapter of the audio book - and I mean really listen, actively visualize the story and everything being described, let yourself really emotionally connect with the events as much as possible - it’s a really powerful and well written bit of action sci-fi.

    It’s on YouTube read by Christopher Hurt, first chapter is about 40 min, I’ve read a lot of sci-fi and it’s without a doubt in my mind the strongest and most thought provoking opening to a Sci fi. It gets you pulled into the characters, the world, and emotion without a break in the action - and for a book punished in 1959 the action is unbelievably believable, it’s hard to imagine better high energy action sci-fi combat – someone needs to make a real gritty anime of it.



  • It’s all people who don’t read much or only read modern stuff, heinlein was an author who explored ideas he wasn’t someone who believed that his job was to tell people what to think. People who think the book is trying to be pro or anti anything are honestly borderline illiterate, they certainly haven’t read his other work.

    The movie is just a dumbed down action movie directed by someone who didn’t really understand or enjoy the book - is a great movie for an action movie but it’s not very well thought out and it’s certainly not deeply thoughtful.

    The film misses all key moments - the first scene, Zim throwing the knife, etc and everything subtle that really makes the story and emotion work - for the film the ending makes no sense, in the book it’s really powerful.

    The movie isn’t really about much, the book is about everything - along side Friday and Stranger it’s a fascinating insight into the evolution of Americanism and cultural ideals pushed to absurdity. That’s not to say it should be read expecting answers, prime golden era sci-fi wasn’t about giving answers it’s about posing questions - hence foundation, the laws of robotics series, Stainless steel rat, etc - ‘We must be as stealthy as rats in the wainscoting of their society’ it’s not about telling you how to live or how not to live it’s about showing possibilities you probably haven’t thought to explore.