Learn to lead from James Tiberius Kirk!
http://www.forbes.com/sites/alexknapp/2012/03/05/five-leadership-lessons-from-james-t-kirk/
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Thursday, December 29, 2011
SF, Utopia and Future Economics
Kim Stanley Robinson wrote an interesting piece recently on the difficulties of writing about utopias, located here: http://www.arena.org.au/2011/11/remarks-on-utopia-in-the-age-of-climate-change/
His piece has a lot of interesting points, of which I don't agree with many, but there were two points I wanted to address right now: his thought about our choices going forward and his point about planned economics.
KSR believes that we have two choices: utopia or catastrophe. We can no stumble along, he believes, with mediocrity. Unfortunately, I'm sure we will - we always have. Moreover, his idea of utopia ("paleolithic with good dental care") sounds pretty crappy to me.
KSR also says "let’s briefly contemplate some of the utopian descriptions and blueprints out there today. Take the work of Michael Albert and Robin Hahnel, for example, their ‘Participatory Economics’...a non-capitalist co-operative society in which people band together in small collectives, and then, instead of buying and selling things like a company, they fill out lots of requisition forms,... Now, with much more computing power than it would actually take to run such a non-market society, the idea is there to be contemplated again..."
As Hayek pointed out, the efficiency advantage of market economies lies in their distributed computations and ability to quickly process cost/demand information - much faster than any planners. KSR's thought is that, while in the past no planner could match market transactions, perhaps modern supercomputers could do so.
The problem, in this thought, is that supercomputers are themselves the product of a highly complicated economic system. I suspect that while a supercomputer can calculate economic systems simpler than its own, it would be taxed by a modern economy. Perhaps we can formulate this as a "law:"
"No cybernetic system is able to model the economy that produced it."
Of interest to SF writers/readers, could a society import a central planner able to run it? Hmmm.....
His piece has a lot of interesting points, of which I don't agree with many, but there were two points I wanted to address right now: his thought about our choices going forward and his point about planned economics.
KSR believes that we have two choices: utopia or catastrophe. We can no stumble along, he believes, with mediocrity. Unfortunately, I'm sure we will - we always have. Moreover, his idea of utopia ("paleolithic with good dental care") sounds pretty crappy to me.
KSR also says "let’s briefly contemplate some of the utopian descriptions and blueprints out there today. Take the work of Michael Albert and Robin Hahnel, for example, their ‘Participatory Economics’...a non-capitalist co-operative society in which people band together in small collectives, and then, instead of buying and selling things like a company, they fill out lots of requisition forms,... Now, with much more computing power than it would actually take to run such a non-market society, the idea is there to be contemplated again..."
As Hayek pointed out, the efficiency advantage of market economies lies in their distributed computations and ability to quickly process cost/demand information - much faster than any planners. KSR's thought is that, while in the past no planner could match market transactions, perhaps modern supercomputers could do so.
The problem, in this thought, is that supercomputers are themselves the product of a highly complicated economic system. I suspect that while a supercomputer can calculate economic systems simpler than its own, it would be taxed by a modern economy. Perhaps we can formulate this as a "law:"
"No cybernetic system is able to model the economy that produced it."
Of interest to SF writers/readers, could a society import a central planner able to run it? Hmmm.....
Thursday, December 15, 2011
The Bill of Rights' Birthday, Indefinite Detention and the Twenty-Eighth Amendment
Today is the birthday of the Bill of Rights (the first ten Amendments to the U.S. Constitution). What better way to celebrate this date than for The Congress to pass a monstrous assault on the same? I won't bore readers with all of the problems with the NDAA (I'll let my former law professor Jonathan Turley do that http://jonathanturley.org/2011/12/15/obama-breaks-promise-to-veto-bill-allowing-indefinite-detention-of-americans/).
Instead, what should we do to fix it? I propose the Twenty-Eighth Amendment to the Constitution:
2. This Amendment shall apply to the United States, and the various States individually.
3. Congress and the States shall have concurrent power to enforce this Amendment.
What do you think?
Instead, what should we do to fix it? I propose the Twenty-Eighth Amendment to the Constitution:
TWENTY-EIGHTH AMENDMENT
1. No person, citizen or otherwise, shall be detained, held, or kept in custody for more than one day without an appearance before a judicial officer and the filing of criminal charges, unless validly held as a prisoner of war pursuant to any international treaties and agreements regarding the same entered into by the United States.2. This Amendment shall apply to the United States, and the various States individually.
3. Congress and the States shall have concurrent power to enforce this Amendment.
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
(Non-SF) Book at a Glance: "Last Call: Rise and Fall of Prohibition" by Daniel Okrent
Really enjoyed this piece on a fascinating time in American history. Mr. Okrent does a great job of presenting the historical figures central to this time and issue, and illuminates the scale of the issues involved with great prose and funny little anecdotes.
Highly recommend it!
http://www.amazon.com/Last-Call-Rise-Fall-Prohibition/dp/074327704X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1316049631&sr=1-1
Highly recommend it!
http://www.amazon.com/Last-Call-Rise-Fall-Prohibition/dp/074327704X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1316049631&sr=1-1
Monday, July 11, 2011
BOOK AT A GLANCE: "Nexus: Ascension" by Robert Boyczuk
And now for something completely different: I just finished Nexus: Ascension, by Robert Boyczuk and printed by ChiZine Publications (http://www.amazon.com/Nexus-Ascension-Robert-Boyczuk/dp/0981374689) and I enjoyed it quite a bit.
The story starts in media res, with a great hook: the four-person crew of the STL starship Ea (no wacky FTL in this universe!) have just returned to their home world of B'haret from a 30-year trading mission. They come out of cryogenic stasis to discover that no one is responding to their hails, and the whole planet is under quarantine. A plague erupted and everyone is dead....
Thus begins taunt, exciting hard-SF tale of desperation, madness, revenge and perhaps some little hope. The story ends hundreds of years and many lightyears later, in places the viewpoint characters probably could never have imagined.
I enjoyed this book, although I had two complaints about it. First, there is a pretty big clue dropped in the prologue as to what is going on. Perhaps it is a clue, or perhaps a red herring - I won't tell you which (trying not to spoil the ending). However, as a clue it is heavy-handed and as a red herring it is pointless. Compared to the relative leanness of the rest of the narrative, it seems glaringly out of place.
Second, while in general Mr. Boyczuk conveys well the mind-crushing effect that the end of the world has on the Ea's crew and other B'harians, he over-does it in the two viewpoint characters. Both of them act, and do not act, in ways that seem puzzling or just downright stupid at points in the narrative. Maybe a little more background on these two characters might explain their choices a bit more?
Overall, however, these are minor quibbles. While I don't think Nexus: Ascension is a book I will return to again and again to tease out buried truths, it was well worth the time and money I spent on it and would recommend it to any other SF fan.
The story starts in media res, with a great hook: the four-person crew of the STL starship Ea (no wacky FTL in this universe!) have just returned to their home world of B'haret from a 30-year trading mission. They come out of cryogenic stasis to discover that no one is responding to their hails, and the whole planet is under quarantine. A plague erupted and everyone is dead....
Thus begins taunt, exciting hard-SF tale of desperation, madness, revenge and perhaps some little hope. The story ends hundreds of years and many lightyears later, in places the viewpoint characters probably could never have imagined.
I enjoyed this book, although I had two complaints about it. First, there is a pretty big clue dropped in the prologue as to what is going on. Perhaps it is a clue, or perhaps a red herring - I won't tell you which (trying not to spoil the ending). However, as a clue it is heavy-handed and as a red herring it is pointless. Compared to the relative leanness of the rest of the narrative, it seems glaringly out of place.
Second, while in general Mr. Boyczuk conveys well the mind-crushing effect that the end of the world has on the Ea's crew and other B'harians, he over-does it in the two viewpoint characters. Both of them act, and do not act, in ways that seem puzzling or just downright stupid at points in the narrative. Maybe a little more background on these two characters might explain their choices a bit more?
Overall, however, these are minor quibbles. While I don't think Nexus: Ascension is a book I will return to again and again to tease out buried truths, it was well worth the time and money I spent on it and would recommend it to any other SF fan.
Friday, June 10, 2011
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Latest Story in Print - "Night of the Sevens" at Aoife's Kiss #37
My latest short story in print is the Eastern-flavored "Night of the Sevens," based on an old Chinese folktale. It appears in the 10th anniversary issue of Aoife's Kiss, which you can order here: http://sdpbookstore.com/aoifeskiss.htm
Also on the ToC - multi-Hugo-Award-winning scifi author Robert Sawyer! Mr. Sawyer wrote the novel Flashforward (source of the TV show), amongst many others. He is one of Canada's most important exports! :)
Look forward to appearing in Aoife's Kiss again, hopefully - and maybe I'll be on a Hugo ballot myself someday.
Also on the ToC - multi-Hugo-Award-winning scifi author Robert Sawyer! Mr. Sawyer wrote the novel Flashforward (source of the TV show), amongst many others. He is one of Canada's most important exports! :)
Look forward to appearing in Aoife's Kiss again, hopefully - and maybe I'll be on a Hugo ballot myself someday.
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