I’ve remarked often that the social machinery of the United States, our very identity as Americans, is dependent on carving industrial empires out of the wilderness with a firehose of immigrants from Europe. As soon as the frontier closed and the flow of people from … Continue readingOne Billion Americans, 19th Century Style?
When driving home yesterday evening I had on this cool Youtube video (featuring the delightful song “Night Drive” by Timothy Drury and Corridor) that featured a gorgeous drive through what I’m pretty sure is Dubai. Which got me thinking about those gleaming Coruscant-esque cities blossoming … Continue readingGleaming Cities of the Eclipsed
At LessWrong Virgil Kurkjian has a fascinating post, “Leto among the Machines”, analyzing Frank Herbert’s “Dune” chronicles, specifically its worldbuilding point of the Butlerian Jihad (the elimination of computers from human civilization), from a “rationalist” perspective, especially how the Butlerian Jihad makes perfect sense once … Continue readingNemesis Among the Machines