Last night before bed you read another
chapter in Bill Bryson’s A Short History of Nearly Everything and it is
a clear observation that for one reason or another few species last a long
time, and our species will no doubt be no exception, at least that is the jest.
You see one way out of this, leave the planet; that is, make an allowance for
some of the species to survive on Mars in case there is another natural
catastrophe so that the species could survive at least in a brighter place than
a cave until it is safe to return to Earth. – Amorella
1148 hours. This is the only reasonable way for the
species to be better insured to survive intact. It does not conclude that our
species will survive but it gives a better chance of surviving.
You want to defy what seems apparent here,
the natural order of the physical world, correct? – Amorella
1152 hours. Yes. If souls exist and consciousness of heart
and mind survive death itself, then we are seemingly already defying the
observable natural order (physics). In any case defiance is a part of the
natural order.
You completed your morning nap and followed
it with forty minutes of exercises and feel better, at least psychologically,
for it. Carol is resting her leg by sitting more than usual, although presently
she is in the kitchen preparing a dish for lunch or supper. – Amorella
1158 hours. I don’t know why I don’t abbreviate ‘hours’;
it seems that by the time I think about it the word is already typed.
Habit is breakable boy. Look at genetics and
mutations within a species. They are also part of the natural order, and also
allow for an insurance of sort for a species to survive. – Amorella
1203 hours. Variables, the mathematics of survival of any
species.
So it appears. – Amorella
1205 hours. Insurance companies make their fortunes on the
possible misfortunes of others. Asimov’s Hari Seldon comes to mind.
** **
Hari
Seldon is a fictional character in
Isaac Asimov’s Foundation series. In
his capacity as mathematics professor Streeling University on Trantor, Seldon
develops psychohistory, allowing him to predict the future in probabilistic
terms. His prediction of the eventual fall of the Galactic Empire is the reason
behind his nickname "Raven" Seldon.
In the first five books of the Foundation
series, Hari Seldon made only one in-the-flesh appearance, in the first chapter
of the first book (Foundation),
although he did appear other times in pre-recorded messages to reveal a Seldon
Crisis. After writing five books in chronological order, Asimov went back with
two books to better describe the initial process. The two prequels—Prelude to Foundation and Forward the Foundation—describe his life
in considerable detail. ...
Using psychohistory, Seldon
mathematically determines what he calls The
Seldon Plan—a plan to determine the right time and place to set up a new
society, one that would replace the collapsing Galactic Empire by sheer force
of social pressure, but over only a thousand-year time span, rather than the
ten-to-thirty-thousand-year time span that would normally have been required,
and thus reduce the human suffering from living in a time of barbarism. The
Foundation is placed on Terminus, a resource-poor planet entirely populated by
scientists and their families. The planet—or so Seldon claimed—was originally
occupied to create the Encyclopedia
Galactica, a vast
compilation of the knowledge of a dying galactic empire. In reality, Terminus
had a much larger role in his Plan, which larger role he had to conceal from
its inhabitants at first.
Selected and edited from
Wikipedia – Hari Seldon
** **
Asimov is still a mentor in your heart of
hearts, he and Arthur C. Clarke. Add a bit about them here as tribute. –
Amorella
1222
hours. Thank you, Amorella. It is my pleasure. What wonderful insights these
two men had.
** **
Isaac Asimov on his throne of symbols
Isaac
Asimov born Isaak Yudovich Ozimov;
circa January 2, 1920 – April 6, 1992) was an American author and professor of
biochemistry at Boston University, best known for his works of science fiction
and for his popular science books. Asimov was prolific and wrote or edited more
than 500 books and an estimated 90,000 letters and postcards. His books have
been published in 9 of the 10 major categories of the Dewey Decimal
Classification.
Asimov
is widely considered a master of hard science fiction and, along with Robert A.
Heinlein and Arthur C. Clarke, he was considered one of the "Big
Three" science fiction writers during his lifetime. Asimov's most famous
work is the Foundation series; his
other major series are the Galactic
Empire series and the Robot series. The Galactic Empire novels are
explicitly set in earlier history of the same fictional universe as the Foundation
series. Later, beginning with Foundation’s
Edge, he linked this distant future to the Robot and Spacer stories, creating
a unified "future history" for his stories much like those pioneered
by Robert A. Heinlein and previously produced by Cordwainer Smith and Poul Anderson.
He wrote hundreds of short stories, including the social science fiction
“Nightfall”, which in 1964 was voted by the Science Fiction Writers of America
the best short science fiction story of all time. Asimov wrote the Lucky Starr series of Juvenile
science-fiction novels using the pen name Paul French.
Asimov
also wrote mysteries and fantasy, as well as much nonfiction. Most of his
popular science books explain scientific concepts in a historical way, going as
far back as possible to a time when the science in question was at its simplest
stage. He often provides nationalities, birth dates, and death dates for the
scientists he mentions, as well as etymologies and pronunciation guides for
technical terms. Examples include Guide
to Science, the three-volume set Understanding Physics,
and Asimov's Chronology of Science and Discovery, as well as works on
astronomy, mathematics, the Bible, William Shakespeare’s writing and chemistry.
Asimov was a long-time member and
vice president of Mensa International, albeit reluctantly; he described some members
of that organization as "brain-proud and aggressive about their IQs".
He took more joy in being president of the American Humanist Association. The asteroid
5020 Asimov, a crater on the planet Mars, a Brooklyn, New York elementary
school, and a literary award are named in his honor. . . .
Asimov
stated, both in his autobiography and in several essays, that he enjoyed the
writings of J. R. R. Tolkien. He paid tribute to The Lord of the Rings in a "Black Widowers" story. (In
his letter to Charlotte and Denis Plimmer, who had previously interviewed him
for Daily Telegraph Magazine, Tolkien said that he enjoyed the science
fiction of Isaac Asimov.
He admired a number of his
contemporaries, in particular fellow science-fiction author and science writer
Arthur C. Clarke, with whom he entered into the lighthearted "Treaty of
Park Avenue," which stipulated that Clarke was free to refer to himself as
the best science fiction writer in the world (Asimov being second-best),
provided he admitted that Asimov was the best science writer in the world
(Clarke being second-best). He freely acknowledged a number of his fellow
writers as superior to himself in talent, saying of Harlan Ellison, "He is
(in my opinion) one of the best writers in the world, far more skilled at the
art than I am. . . .
Asimov
published two volumes of autobiography: In
Memory Yet Green (1979) and In Joy
Still Felt (1980). A third autobiography, I. Asimov: A Memoir, was
published in April 1994. The epilogue was written by his widow Janet Asimov a
decade after his death. It’s Been a Good
Life (2002), edited by Janet, is a condensed version of his three
autobiographies. He also published three volumes of retrospectives of his
writing, Opus 100 (1969), Opus 200 (1979), and Opus 300
(1984)/
In 1987,
the Asimovs co-wrote How to Enjoy Writing: A Book of Aid and Comfort. In
it they offer advice on how to maintain a positive attitude and stay productive
when dealing with discouragement, distractions, rejection, and thick-headed
editors. The book includes many quotations, essays, anecdotes, and husband-wife
dialogues about the ups and downs of being an author.
Asimov and Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry developed a unique relationship
during Star Trek's initial launch in the late 1960s. Asimov wrote a
critical essay on Star Trek's scientific accuracy for TV Guide magazine. Roddenberry retorted
respectfully with a personal letter explaining the limitations of accuracy when
writing a weekly series. Asimov corrected himself with a follow-up essay to TV
Guide claiming despite its inaccuracies, that Star Trek was a fresh
and intellectually challenging science fiction television show. The two
remained friends to the point where Asimov even served as an advisor on a
number of Star Trek projects.
Selected and edited from
Wikipedia
** **
** **
Arthur C. Clarke
Sir
Arthur Charles Clarke, CBE, FRAS (Sri
Lankabhimanya Arthur Charles Clarke) (16 December 1917 – 19 March 2008)
was a British science fiction writer, science writer and futurist, inventor,
undersea explorer, and television series host.
He is
perhaps most famous for being co-writer of the screenplay for the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey, widely considered
to be one of the most influential films of all time. His other science fiction
writings earned him a number of Hugo and Nebula awards, along with a large
readership, making him into one of the towering figures of the field. For many
years he, Robert Heinlein, and Isaac Asimov were known as
the "Big Three" of science fiction.
Clarke
was a lifelong proponent of space travel. In 1934, while still a teenager, he
joined the British Interplanetary Society. In 1945, he proposed a satellite
communication system—an idea that, in 1963, won him the Franklin Institute’s
Stuart Ballantine Medal and other honors. Later he was the chairman of the British Interplanetary Society
from 1946–47 and again in 1951–53.
Clarke
was a science writer, who was both an avid populariser of space travel and a
futurist of uncanny ability, and wrote over a dozen books and many essays
(which appeared in various popular magazines) on these subjects. In 1961 he was
awarded a Kalinga Prize, an award which is given by UNESCO for popularizing
science. These along with his science fiction writings, eventually earned him
the moniker "Prophet of the Space Age".
Clarke
emigrated to Sri Lanka in 1956, largely to pursue his interest in scuba diving.
That year he discovered the underwater ruins of the ancient Koneswaram temple
in Trincomalee.
Clarke
augmented his fame later on in the 1980s, by being the host of several
television shows such as Arthur C.
Clarke’s Mysterious World.
He lived in Sri Lanka until his
death. He was knighted in 1998 and was awarded Sri Lanka's highest civil honour, Sri
Lankabhimanya honour, in 2005. . . .
The
Sentinel
In 1948
he wrote “The Sentinel” for a BBC competition. Though the story was rejected,
it changed the course of Clarke's career. Not only was it the basis for 2001: A Space Odyssey, but "The
Sentinel" also introduced a more cosmic element to Clarke's work. Many of
Clarke's later works feature a technologically advanced but still-prejudiced
mankind being confronted by a superior alien intelligence. In the cases of The City and the Stars (and its original
version, Against the Fall of Night), Childhood’s
End, and the 2001 series, this encounter produces a conceptual
breakthrough that accelerates humanity into the next stage of its evolution. In
Clarke's authorised biography, Neil McAleer writes that: "many readers and
critics still consider [Childhood's End] Arthur C. Clarke's best
novel."
Almost
all of his short stories can be found in the book The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke (2001).
A
collection of early essays was published in The
View of Serendip (1977), which also included one short piece of fiction,
“When the Twerms Came”. Clarke also wrote short stories under the pseudonyms of
E. G. O'Brien and Charles Willis.
The
"Big Three"
For much
of the later 20th century, Clarke, Isaac Asimov and Robert Heinlein were
informally known as the "Big Three" of science fiction writers.
Clarke and Heinlein began writing to each other after The Exploration of
Space was published in 1951, and first met in person the following year.
They remained on cordial terms for many years, including visits in the United
States and Sri Lanka. In 1984, Clarke testified before Congress against the
Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI). Later, at the home of Larry Niven in
California, Heinlein attacked Clarke verbally over his views on United States
foreign and space policy (especially the SDI). Although the two reconciled
formally, they remained distant until Heinlein's death in 1988.
Clarke and Asimov first met in
New York City in 1953, and they traded friendly insults and gibes for decades.
They established a verbal agreement, the "Clarke–Asimov Treaty", that
when asked who was best, the two would say Clarke was the best science fiction
writer and Asimov was the best science writer. In 1972, Clarke put the
"treaty" on paper in his dedication to Report on Planet Three and
Other Speculations.
Selected
and edited from Wikipedia
** **
Mid-afternoon. The above took you a while to
‘clean up’ for the posting. You also gave a donation to Wikipedia again this
last month. – Amorella
1600 hours. I did. I will every year from now on. I use
their service constantly; many times for reminders. I used to teach Foundation
and Childhood’s End as part of my Futures Studies/Science Fiction class at
Indian Hill. It was a rare class for public high school college prep and honors
students in the 1970’s and early 80’s. In those days I was also enrolled in The
Futurist Society and received The Futurist magazine for several years. My
father-in-law also became a member and he taught a similar class at the Sun
City Center in those days, in fact when I was visiting his class during the
Christmas holiday he had invited the daughter (then quite elderly) of Hugo
Gemsback, the founder of the science fiction magazine, Amazing Stories.
She was an interesting woman who still had a sparkle in her eye. I still feel
honored to have met her. Also, I used to read the magazine in my early college
days and before. Dad Hammond and I had a good (closer bonding) time working our
futures studies/science fiction.
1722
hours. Chapter 23 in “A Short History” focuses on material in the Natural
History Museum in London. Life is very diverse, so much so that much of it has
not yet been discovered, named and classified to everyone’s satisfaction. How
does one come to classify anything to everyone’s satisfaction? So far it
appears impossible. Some suggest it might take fifteen thousand years to do so
because of the diversity of life on this planet. The author entertains the
reader with a few poetic words from my personal favorite 18th
century writer, Jonathon Swift:
So,
naturalists observe, a flea
Hath smaller fleas that on him prey;
And
these have smaller still to bite ‘em;
And
so proceed ad infinitum
Swift as usual is quite humorous and
clever and summarizes a lot of taxonomy that would take some 15,000 years or
more to name, classify and put down once first discovered. Such is our world,
our galaxy and our universe.
And what of the spiritual world, boy? Do we
create a taxonomy for that too? – Amorella
1740 hours. Theologically, Angels are classified, so to
speak, as are regions that are dwelling places of spirits. Not all theologians
agree on what many others decree. It’s not up to me, Amorella. It’s not up to
me.
However, in these books and blog I have
decreed and you have agreed that G---D is kept at a respectable distance,
hypothetically. This allows for further classification. You already have
classifications of a sort: Angels and Souls as well as beings such as myself,
Betweeners. – Amorella
1748 hours. I have not thought this in such a context
before.
You both had a snack supper and watched “NCIS LA” and
“Castle” as well as NBC News. Since, you have been working on Grandma Eight as
you re-cleaned Brothers Eight earlier tonight. – Amorella
2139 hours. I have to plot out the families through Chapter
8 to make sure I have the right great-great grandparents and so forth. I need
to make this Grandma cleaner and easier for the reader to continue to follow
the family lines. I need to keep this aspect simple like I did in the redoing
of Chapter 7’s Grandma segment.
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