Closing tabs, as they say.
- I've seen a lot of people linking to this article from National Defense Weekly, about SIGMA, a group of science fiction writers who are offering their services to the US government in an advisory capacity. News of this group has been around for a while--the idea being, presumably, that people who spend their whole professional lives thinking about the future might actually have ideas about it--but this is the first report I've seen of the group in action. Most of the discussion of this article has focused on Larry Niven's ideas about how hospitals can cut costs (spread rumors that will scare Latinos away from using them, on the theory that they're all illegal immigrants who don't pay their bills), but you've all missed the best part. Namely:
"The 45-minute panel discussion quickly deteriorated as federal, local and state homeland security officials, and at least one congressional aid, attempted to ask questions, which were largely ignored. Instead the writers used their time to pontificate on a variety of tangentially related topics, including their past roles advising the government, predictions in their stories that have come to pass, the demise of the paperback book market, and low-cost launch into space."
No offense to either SIGMA or DHS, but seriously, this was the least surprising outcome EVER.
- Another take on the singularity.
- Elle describes a few steps on the path that led her to become a historian.
- Incredible trainwreck of a First Person column. I believe in being kind to First Person columnists, for a lot of reasons, not the least of which is that being on the job market will drive a lot of people crazy. (For a less calm but highly realistic depiction of what happens inside the brains of some academics on the job market, there's also the Philosophy Job Market Blog.) And in this case, it does look like the writer has at least some self-awareness about what a trainwreck she is. But still. This woman's story is right at the intersection where weak graduate advising meets unrealistic expectations meets a baffling lack of common sense.
- Hugo nominations have been announced! It looks like a good list, in that it has a lot of fiction that I read and loved. Hooray Ted! Hooray David! Hooray Mary (for the not-a-Hugo, sure, but hooray nonetheless)!
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