Thursday, June 30, 2016

TED Talk, Nick Bostrom on Existential Risk




Here is an interesting talk given by Nick Bostrom of Oxford on humanity's existential risk of extinction. 

Wednesday, June 22, 2016

Higher! (microstory)


Higher!  

“I’m sorry Dr. Fiain, your funding from the High Ministry has been denied.  They think there is no point to see what is on other side of the æther.” 

“Well, I’ll have to find another way” replied Fiain to the Official. 

Fiain exited the room and walked to an awaiting vehicle.  He undocked and distractedly punched the collective to rise.  He rose a little too quickly and was greeted by a holler “hey, you’re in my air-space jerk!”  He sheepishly slowed the ascent and then redirected his ship toward Bubble 3258, where his abode was.  Upon docking he was met by a young slender figure who said “Sorry it didn’t go too well today at the Ministry.”

Taken aback Fiain said “I’m sorry, who are you?”

“Just call me Captain Veineas,” she replied.

Fiain:  “How do you know me?  How do you know about my project?” 

V:  “Other interests within the Ministry have differing views on your project and have sent me to help you to build a ship.  I am part of the ship-works research division.” 

F:  “Ok, but without resources, we aren’t getting anywhere.”

V:  “Well, a sponsor in Bubble 9 has seen fit to give you anything you need for your project.” 

F:  “Bubble 9?  That’s the head office of the æther-mining authority.  Why do they want to help me?  Well, nevermind, I suppose one can’t be choosy in the matter, so let’s get started.” 

Some time later:

F:  “Did you check to make sure the shell can take the pressure?” 

V:  “Yes, the ship will work as expected.” 

F:  “We don’t know what is on the other side so have to be ready for anything.   Let’s start her up.” 

Captain Veineas pushed the control lever to ‘ascend,’ the craft shuddered slightly and the crew felt a light crush from the acceleration upward. 

V:  “25km…40km…50km…”

F:  “What the!,…the æther is starting to fade!” 

V:  “65km…75km…100km”

F:  “What is that?!”

V:  “It appears to be a large source of light.”   

F:  “But everywhere else is black, uh, wait I see something, there are other tiny dots of light everywhere.   What are we looking at?”

V:  “Not sure.  We are beaming back the feed to scientists in Bubble 9.  They are conferring to propose some hypotheses.  One thinks the source of light might be where all the light comes from to illumine our bubbles.  They know that when we descend, the æther gets darker and hotter to the point we can’t descend further.  A few expeditions tried to go deeper but never returned.  Our feeds similarly just stopped working, probably from the heat.” 

F:  “We can see farther, the horizon looks curved, what does that mean?”

V:  “Bubble 9 thinks it may curve around back to itself”

Fiain:  “Meaning?”

Veineas: “That we live on a spherical plane.” 

Dr. Fiain and Captain Veineas sat looking out the window to the puzzling scene before them.

-------------------

Romanov awoke to his alarm blaring ‘Yeah, baby, she's got it I'm your Venus, I'm your fire at your desire.’  Always with an ironic sense of humor, he programmed his phone to alert him of any new anomalies picked up by probe Venera-D.  His older colleagues got a kick out of his love of U.S. ‘80s music.  ‘It must remind them of the good ol’ days.’ thought Romanov.   He arrived at the Venera-D control mission and started looking at the data feeds.  He couldn't believe his eyes.  On the screen he saw pictures of a strange alien craft rising out of the mists of Venus’ atmosphere.  By his desk, he kept a bottle of wine he had been saving for the right occasion.  “Well, might as well celebrate”, he said to no one in particular.   Some had speculated that early Venus had harbored life but had since been rendered lifeless due to its hellish surface.  He thought to himself, ‘Maybe if the transformation were slow enough, then life might have adapted itself to living not on the surface but to living in the thick atmosphere at more hospitable heights.’  He drifted into further thought humming some cheery 80s tune.