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I love collisions of science and art, especially when they speculate on the future of the human race. Thus, as brought to my attention by HowStuffWorks’ Jonathan Strickland, the Science Gallery in Dublin, Ireland is currently hosting the exhibit “HUMAN+” about the future of our species.
Outer space is rough. If it had a Yelp profile, users would probably give it one star, raving about the view but decrying the nausea, bone loss and nightmare toilets. But is this common sense or diva-like behavior? Instead of changing space or terraforming other worlds to meet humanity’s ridiculously specific backstage rider, should we maybe just change the space traveler?
Yep, in the latest episode of Stuff to Blow Your Mind, Julie and I contemplate what sci-fi author Clifford D. Simak dubbed “The Werewolf Principle” — the concept of using technology and medical science to alter the human form to better meet the harsh demands of space travel.
It’s Black History Month, so is there a better time to discuss the space music of Sun Ra? Stick to the facts and you have in Herman Poole Blount (Ra’s birth name) a highly prolific and influential black musician. Take the artist at his word and you have a being from another planet, come to Earth to save us with a message of cosmic liberation.
As always, it’s best to tread a middle path between the reality and the myth. In this post we’ll explore Sun Ra’s origins and contributions, as well as just what Afrofuturism is all about. So don your favorite space robe and light-up Egyptian headpiece because we’ve quite the celestial crash course ahead of us.
Sure, steampunk makes for adorable costumes and some snazzy-looking gadgets, but is it really the stuff of haunted houses? Pittsburgh’s ScareHouse seems to think so, but just when is science terrifying and when does it merely promise us jazzy retro bikes?
I find that much of what I read regarding neuroscience stirs the unsettling notion that the human experience itself is little more than an absurd dream, a strange byproduct of evolution. Canadian author R. Scott Bakker ruminates on these topics, weaving imagined worlds with philosophic discourse and neurological research. In his book “Neuropath,” he refers to something he calls “the semantic apocalypse.” This catastrophe occurs when science shines enough light on the human condition for reason to fail.
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