geekdom

Interstellar Archaeology

geekdom, Science, science fiction
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An interesting post up at Centauri Dreams about the possibilities of interstellar archaeology:

Suppose a civilization somewhere in the cosmos is approaching Kardashev type III status. In other words, it is already capable of using all the power resources of its star (4*1026 W for a star like the Sun) and is on the way to exploiting the power of its galaxy (4*1037 W). Imagine it expanding out of its galactic niche, turning stars in its stellar neighborhood into a series of Dyson spheres. If we were to observe such activity in a distant galaxy, we would presumably detect a growing void in visible light from the area of the galaxy where this activity was happening, and an upturn in the infrared. Call it a ‘Fermi bubble.’

That’s the term used by Richard Carrigan (Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory) in his latest work on what he calls ‘interstellar archaeology,’ the search for cosmic-scale artifacts like Dyson spheres or Kardashev civilizations. A Fermi bubble would grow as the civilization creating it diffused through space. Carrigan notes that, as Carl Sagan and others observed, the time to colonize an individual system is small compared to the travel time between stars. An expanding front of colonization might then move forward at a rate roughly comparable to the space travel velocity. A civilization could engulf its galaxy on a time scale comparable to the rotation period of the galaxy, and perhaps a good bit shorter.

We may not have gotten our jetpacks or domed cities on moon and in the oceans, but the mere fact that ideas like this are not just interesting speculations but actually testable proposals should convince anybody we’re living in the future. The only disavantage is that the more we are able to observe from Earth or Solar System based space telescopes, the less likely it will be that the old science fiction future of three men scouting rockets exploring the Galaxy will come to pass…

Sidney Mellon lives!

Comix, geekdom
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Reincarnated as a toy collector:

There is a fanboy that I see a lot at my local comic shop. His name is Eric. Eric loves the Marvel Universe line. He told me that he just thinks they are fun toys, that the lower price point makes him feel more relaxed about collecting them and that the scale was easier for him to both display and store. So, basically he was making an argument for how convenient they are. Seriously? That’s how we’re going to evaluate superhero toys now; how “easy” they are to collect? And how much “fun” they are? I’m sorry but I have no time for people that want to half ass toy collecting. If you’re not willing to make the sacrifices necessary to collect toys properly, then in my opinion, you don’t derserve to collect toys.

[…]

Think about it. What happens if we don’t buy comic book action figures? They won’t get made, is what. Toy companies have our nuts in a vice and they know it. They know we’re forced to buy whatever they put out. But I’m not going to sit here and be all Kum-bay-fracking-yah about what they’re forcing down my throat. I’ll buy them, but I won’t buy them without a fight.

Sidney Mellon was a parody of the worst kind of 1980ties Marvel fanboy imaginable, the kind who bought everything they brought out, thought Secret Wars II was piercing examination of the human condition and that Love and Rockets could be a good comic one day if only a solid Marvel writer like Tom deFalco would write it and half the cast was turned into mutants. He had a occasional column in Amazing Heroes, written by Gerald Jones, who took great pleasure in attacking his own comics. The guy quoted above must be a modern version of Mellon, right? Right?

Pohl for the Fan Hugo!

geekdom, science fiction
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One of the miracles of the modern world is that Frederik Pohl has a blog. Nicely chatty and interesting it is too, with much about the early days of science fiction fandom, which is enough reason for Jo Walton to nominate him for the fan Hugo. Fanzine turned blog File 770 finds this ä bit special”:

All very true. So haven’t you stopped to wonder why has he never been nominated for Best Fan Writer in any of the 40+ years the category has existed? Certainly not because his writing isn’t good enough. Nor that he failed to write about fandom — surely we all remember his autobiography “The Way the Future Was.” The real question is whether a long-time pro like Fred Pohl would take the nomination as a compliment. This enforced egalitarianism is not always welcomed by pros. Recall that Harlan Ellison turned down his Best Fan Writer nomination.

This is a bit like, as we say it Dutch, looking for nails at low tide, raising objections for the sake of objecting, rather than from genuine concern. Anybody familiar with Frederik Pohl and sf fandom enough to worry about the fan Hugo should know about his long involvement with fandom, even longer than his career as a filthy pro. The fact that he started a blog in his late eighties on which most of his posts are about his love for fandom, the history of how he get involved with fandom and science fiction and so on is a rather large clue as well that Pohl has no problems with fandom.

He’s also about the only living link with First Fandom still present and active – honouring him for this work by nominating him for a fan Hugo does not seem an insult to me and I doubt very much he would think differently. Doesn’t necessarily mean he needs to win it too, but the nomination is at very least a signal that people in fandom like and appreciate what he’s doing. Good on Jo to do so.

The idea that pros are pros and fans are fans and they’re separate species is a filthy modern heresy (for some values of modern). Pohl surely is somebody who knows otherwise. File 770 should know otherwise.

The only real objection you could make to Pohl’s nomination is the idea that people will then vote for him based purely on name recognition. Since this is a long existing problem that has never stopped anybody before, i wouldn’t worry too much about it though.