Showing posts with label science fiction. Show all posts
Showing posts with label science fiction. Show all posts

October 30 - War of the Worlds!

 Posted on October 30, 2021


This is an update of my post published on October 30, 2010:




On this date in 1938, Martians invaded the Earth, frightening thousands of people...

—— Wait! Martians didn't attack us! As a matter of fact, there are no Martians!

What actually happened on October 30, 1938, was the broadcast of an Orson Welles radio show based on H. G. Wells's book The War of the Worlds.



The fictional show was done in a non-fiction style—in the style of news bulletins that seemed to break into another show. There were only three announcements during the 60-minute program that this was just fiction—once each at the beginning and end, and once at the 40-minute mark. This kind of story-presented-as-news had never been done before, and people were used to trusting news flashes and bulletins, so there was understandably some fear and confusion among people who tuned into the show while it was already underway.

In other words, some of the listeners who missed the announcement that this was fiction were unsure—was this really happening?

Remember, back in 1938, there was no Twitter or Facebook. As a matter of fact, there was no internet, only a very few people had television, and many people still did not even have telephones! Some people literally went door to door asking their neighbors what was going on. Some even drove to the spot that the aliens were supposed to have landed—Van Nest Park, Grover's Mill, New Jersey!

Pictured here is that very spot, today marked by a historic plaque:


There was some panic, but the amount of panic was exaggerated by the newspapers of the time. More people got mad than scared, actually—mad at Welles, and mad at CBS, who broadcast the show. Still, War of the Worlds made Orson Welles famous.





By the way, several film versions of H. G. Wells's book have been made, including a somewhat recent version filmed in 2005.

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January 2 - Happy Birthday, Isaac Asimov

 Posted on January 2, 2021



Isaac Asimov is a Russian-born American scientist and writer. And he is one of my heroes!

Asimov was born on this day in 1920, and he became one of the most prolific and respected science-fiction and science-fact writers of all time!


Asimov, who moved to New York City with his family at age three, is particularly known for his robot novels and his Three Laws of Robotics. The movie I, Robot was loosely (VERY loosely) based on some of his stories. Asimov's most famous books, arguably, are the Foundation series.

Since Asimov wrote for kids (some of these under the pen name Paul French) as well as adults, short stories as well as novels, fiction as well as non-fiction, mysteries and fantasy as well as sci-fi, and about Shakespeare and the Bible as well as about chemistry and astronomy—obviously, there's something for everyone among his more than 500 books. According to Wikipedia, Asimov's books have been published in nine of the ten major categories of the Dewey Decimal System!

Here are a few quotes from Asimov:

  • "If knowledge can create problems, it is not through ignorance that we can solve them."

 

  • "Never let your sense of morals get in the way of doing what's right."

 

  • "The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not 'Eureka!' (I found it!) but 'That's funny...'"

 

Celebrate Asimov by reading him!

Most libraries will have several books to choose from by the man. Remember, he wrote and edited more than 500!


These are most of my favorite Asimov books. I arranged the 14 books that make up Asimov's “future history” – a blend of robot novels, empire books, and Foundation novels – not in the order in which Asimov wrote them, but in the chronological order that they supposedly represent. Since he had not originally intended the various books to fit together in one series, until he hatched the plan later in life to write some “blending books” that bridge the various series, there were some contradictions—but it was still fun to read them “in order.”

Asimov's robots are general-purpose humanoid-formed machines. In other words, like so many other science fiction books and movies, the robots look like metal or plastic people. Some of Asimov's robots look EXACTLY like people, with realistic, warm artificial skin and perfect artificial hair.

The two faces are both humanoid robots -
the one on the left is really-REALLY humanlike!

Here is a video and interview of a humanoid robot that is an artist!

Check out this gallery of humanoid-robot photos and art.


Obviously, most robots are NOT general-purpose, and they are NOT humanoid in the slightest. Here is a short article about industrial robots.



Interested in robotics?

Here is a video about building a simple robot. On this NASA website is a tutorial called Robotics 101.



Also on this date:





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February 26 - Happy Birthday, Camille Flammarion

Posted on February 26, 2019

Today is the birthday of French author Victor Hugo (see "Also on this date" below), but it's also the birthday of the now-lesser-known French author Camille Flammarion.

Flammarion, born on this date in 1842, was a bit of a Carl Sagan (1934 - 1996), who is one of my personal heroes. Both Flammarion and Sagan were astronomers as well as writers. Both popularized science, and both dabbled in science fiction. Both were prolific, with Sagan writing hundreds of scientific papers and more than 20 books, and Flammarion writing more than 50 books. 



But Flammarion seems really different from Sagan in at least one way. Flammarion seemed to be a lot less interested in evidence and a lot more prone to believe things without, or even despite, evidence than Sagan was.

It's hard to compare, for sure, because Flammarion lived a seriously long time ago; people-as-a-species knew a lot less, and so even rockstar scientists like Sir Isaac Newton (1643 - 1727) and Charles Darwin (1809 - 1882) were likely to have old-time beliefs that don't stand up to evidence that we now have. For example, Newton spent decades mucking about with alchemy, in part attempting to make gold out of "base metals" and thus looking for the legendary Philosopher's Stone. And, although Darwin was an abolitionist who detested slavery, he referred to Aboriginal people as "savages" and at least once used the phrase "favoured race," so we can see that he had absorbed and held the racist views prevalent in his time: that some races were better than others.

But Flammarion believed things that scientists and even some non-scientists of his own time were scratching their heads over. Here are a few of those questionable beliefs:

  • Martians had tried to communicate with humans on Earth in the past.
  • A seven-tailed comet was heading toward Earth in 1907.
  • Gas from the tail of Halley's Comet would "impregnate" Earth's atmosphere and possibly kill all life on the planet.
  • After death, people pass from planet to planet, improving every time they are reborn.

I want to point out that Flammarion did write science fiction - which is sometimes called "speculative fiction" - and he may have made some of the suggestions above as mere speculation - suggestions of what if? - NOT as truth-claims.

Also, Flammarion tried to use the scientific method to examine a variety of psychic phenomena, and he was able to find evidence-based answers to many psychic claims. He pointed out that mediums often cheat and that automatic writing is explained by the subconscious mind. 

But not only was he fooled by some so-called hauntings and supposed telepaths, he was fooled at a time when others were not. The famous magician Harry Houdini, who lived during Flammarion's lifetime, reviewed a book by Flammarion and was able to point out errors in logic and evidence. (Yep, that's right, the magician seemed to know more about the scientific method than the scientist. Sigh.)

Actually, magicians are often the people who are
able to debunk false claims, because they are
very well acquainted with how to make illusions, how
to trick people into seeing things that just aren't so.

Above, James Randi, who has debunked loads of
modern so-called psychics and also faith healers.



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