Here is pretty good documentary on issues relating to weaponization of space. In some future posts, I will discuss pros and cons of militarization of space.
Friday, October 31, 2014
"Pax Americana and the Weaponization of Space"
Here is pretty good documentary on issues relating to weaponization of space. In some future posts, I will discuss pros and cons of militarization of space.
Monday, October 27, 2014
Brethren (microstory)
“Where’s Witch?” says Werewolf. “Don’t know, I’m sure she’ll show” says the Count. "How’ve you guys been?” interjects Ghost. “I’m fine” says Mummy. “Yes, you don’t look a day over 2000” says the Count. “Right back at ya, kid” smiles Mummy. Witch then shows up. “Hey Witch” all cry out. “Hi everybody!” “I want to suck your blood!” “Please, you wish, you know green blood is your poison” “so worth it” Count winks. “You’re such a cad!” Witch smiles. “Don’t you ever learn?” “I’ve had many years to learn.” His eyes sparkled.
“Can we get down to business?” Scarecrow says dourly.
“But we’re waiting for our gracious host” Ghost adds.
“Sorry I’m late” walks in Father Jones. “traffic.”
“Thank you all for coming, to get the proceedings underway, I hereby open the 9547th annual general assembly of the League of Stars. Are there any new issues to discuss this year? To start, as custom, I’ll cede the floor to our senior ambassador to bring opening remarks”
Mummy stands and starts “Thank you my galactic brothers and sisters. Ever since the end of the Great Star War 10,000 years ago, we have strived to keep dialog among our species in order to maintain peace and brotherhood in this sector of the galaxy. We must remain ever diligent in that mission. Now about an issue, my nation is still waiting for compensation in the Lupus incident.”
“That was over 8000 years ago!” roared Werewolf.
“Might as well be yesterday. Blowing up a star could be seen by some as an act of war” Mummy glared.
“You didn’t even have a valid claim to that system anyways. We were testing our zero-point propulsion technology at the time. Obviously there were a few ‘setbacks.’”
“You could say that” Count whispered over to Witch. Werewolf made a ‘polite’ gesture back at Count who laughed to himself. He and Werewolf didn’t have the best working relationship.
“Ok, that issue has already been raised and the suit is being arbitrated by the Interstellar Court. We’ll let them settle that” Witch added. “Anything else?”
“I’ve heard rumors that the snowmen are rebuilding their thermal inversion weapons? Has there been any intelligence to verify that?” Ghost inquired.
This time Werewolf replied “We have seen some irregular temperature readings on some of our systems. If they have rebuilt, it will be threat to peace. Before we turned the tide in the War, they had turned a couple thousand worlds into big ice-balls.”
“Yes, the last Ice Age did slow down progress somewhat” Father Jones replied wryly.
“Where is the representative from the snowmen, anyways?” Scarecrow added.
“I’m here, I’m here” says a voice as he was coming through the door. “Whew, it’s getting cold out there.”
“Haha, very funny” Witch says “we’ve heard that joke before”, “We were just talking about you.”
“All good I hope” the snowman said.
“Some of us are concerned that your nation is rebuilding its arsenal of thermal inversion weapons.”
“What!? Us, we are harmless, why would we want to start another war with our galactic brethren? And after so long with relative peace”
“Indeed” snarled Werewolf.
“I can assure you, we are not doing any such thing.”
Father Jones then breaks the tension by admonishing “Oh, it’s time to go and enjoy the parade, let’s adjourn and then we’ll come back to discuss this further.”
All of the ambassadors filed out into the street to join the other revelers.
Witch feels a snowflake alight onto her nose. “Burrr, it’s freezing out here, and so early” “Here borrow my cloak” the Count replies. “You are a persistent one” Witch opines. “You don’t live a thousand years by slacking off” he smirked.
Copyright 2014
“Can we get down to business?” Scarecrow says dourly.
“But we’re waiting for our gracious host” Ghost adds.
“Sorry I’m late” walks in Father Jones. “traffic.”
“Thank you all for coming, to get the proceedings underway, I hereby open the 9547th annual general assembly of the League of Stars. Are there any new issues to discuss this year? To start, as custom, I’ll cede the floor to our senior ambassador to bring opening remarks”
Mummy stands and starts “Thank you my galactic brothers and sisters. Ever since the end of the Great Star War 10,000 years ago, we have strived to keep dialog among our species in order to maintain peace and brotherhood in this sector of the galaxy. We must remain ever diligent in that mission. Now about an issue, my nation is still waiting for compensation in the Lupus incident.”
“That was over 8000 years ago!” roared Werewolf.
“Might as well be yesterday. Blowing up a star could be seen by some as an act of war” Mummy glared.
“You didn’t even have a valid claim to that system anyways. We were testing our zero-point propulsion technology at the time. Obviously there were a few ‘setbacks.’”
“You could say that” Count whispered over to Witch. Werewolf made a ‘polite’ gesture back at Count who laughed to himself. He and Werewolf didn’t have the best working relationship.
“Ok, that issue has already been raised and the suit is being arbitrated by the Interstellar Court. We’ll let them settle that” Witch added. “Anything else?”
“I’ve heard rumors that the snowmen are rebuilding their thermal inversion weapons? Has there been any intelligence to verify that?” Ghost inquired.
This time Werewolf replied “We have seen some irregular temperature readings on some of our systems. If they have rebuilt, it will be threat to peace. Before we turned the tide in the War, they had turned a couple thousand worlds into big ice-balls.”
“Yes, the last Ice Age did slow down progress somewhat” Father Jones replied wryly.
“Where is the representative from the snowmen, anyways?” Scarecrow added.
“I’m here, I’m here” says a voice as he was coming through the door. “Whew, it’s getting cold out there.”
“Haha, very funny” Witch says “we’ve heard that joke before”, “We were just talking about you.”
“All good I hope” the snowman said.
“Some of us are concerned that your nation is rebuilding its arsenal of thermal inversion weapons.”
“What!? Us, we are harmless, why would we want to start another war with our galactic brethren? And after so long with relative peace”
“Indeed” snarled Werewolf.
“I can assure you, we are not doing any such thing.”
Father Jones then breaks the tension by admonishing “Oh, it’s time to go and enjoy the parade, let’s adjourn and then we’ll come back to discuss this further.”
All of the ambassadors filed out into the street to join the other revelers.
Witch feels a snowflake alight onto her nose. “Burrr, it’s freezing out here, and so early” “Here borrow my cloak” the Count replies. “You are a persistent one” Witch opines. “You don’t live a thousand years by slacking off” he smirked.
Copyright 2014
Wednesday, October 15, 2014
Empathy Gap and Strategy
There are many instances in the history of warfare of a seemingly inferior opponent beating a provably superior opponent who had superior numbers or superior technology. Yet somehow, the inferior opponent came out on top due to a several reasons. Among some reasons are more resolve or will to win, willingness to sacrifice, patience to wait out the other guy, etc. One aspect somewhat covered in papers on strategy and psychology/sociology is termed the “empathy gap.”
From Wikipedia page on the subject: “Further conclusion can be made about empathy gap and power: the weaker party often doesn’t realize that being in a weaker party can actually give them more power to strategically think and make decision, leading to better outcomes. The weaker party has no idea what they are capable of doing. They convince themselves that being more powerful is often more advantageous. Whereas the powerful party lacks strategy and leads to a poor outcome."
So translation, the one with superior forces often has the luxury of using brute force methods to get the win whereas the weaker party almost always has to think strategically in order just to survive. Being forced to think strategically often then translates into eventual victory for the seemingly inferior force.
Tuesday, September 30, 2014
Red (microstory)
Red
Daisy hunched over her marbles to ponder each whirring on the floor. This was her favorite activity. She would spin them over and over in circles on her little race track. Watching them zoom around was so mesmerizing. Such striking colors. Sitting behind her was Amos, an Elder, “I remember when I was your age, I had a dozen marbles. What endless fun! But at my initiation, I had to give all that up and become an adult. Daisy looked annoyed upon hearing the last words. She hadn’t been looking forward to the initiation. But it was her people’s way and that was that or that was what she had been taught ever since the dawn of her memory. Amos was an amiable old codger. His countenance was all whitened with advanced age and he had shrunk considerably from his glory days, about which of course he would always reminisce. “You have been a child long enough” Amos continued, “Everybody has to go through the ceremony, it is the most important transition in life.” She could feel her face getting hotter. She did not want to grow up, she was quite fine continuing as a bright and shiny child. Why would she want to be some dim old adult? All they did was sit and talk to each other all day. To her youthful ears, their subjects of conversation seemed sooooo boring! They gossiped about everybodys' goings-on in the town. She knew her ceremony was to be later that day. Already some of her friends had already gone through the rites. She thought to herself “we’ll see” and got up and started walking through the neighborhood along the spiral path which wended itself around the whole town. As she whimsically drifted along the path, she overheard 2 adults prattling on.
“Did you hear about Dave, the one that lives downtown? He was quite overweight and he ate like a giant.”
The other one replied “Yeah, I had heard from Steve about it but didn’t get the full story. What happened?”
“Well, he just collapsed. Such sad news. It sent a shockwave through the whole community.”
“That is sad news.”
“Do you know if he became a Shadow?”
“You know that is nonsense, there are no such things as Shadows”
“Shadows DO exist, I felt the presence of one once when I was a kid. Gave me the creeps.”
“Yes, but you didn’t SEE it, so how do you know they exist. You can’t just go on feelings, you need evidence.”
These 2 continued on with their argument while Daisy continued. She had heard of these Shadows. Some Elders, such as Amos, would always scare the neighborhood kids with tales of Shadows who could not be seen but would eat children if they got too close. They would chide the children not to be greedy since greed in one’s heart turns one into a Shadow in the afterlife. She wasn’t quite convinced, but thought there had to be something to it.
Soon, she heard behind her “It’s time.” She knew it was the priestess Helene waiting to perform her initiation rites. She wimpered “But I don’t want to!” “But child, you can’t wait forever. You have to grow up sometime.” Daisy knew deep down the truth, even if she wanted, she couldn’t forestall the inevitable. “Ok” she whispered, a tear rolling down her face. The priestess asked Daisy for her sacrifice. Daisy reluctantly held forth her beloved marbles. The priestess put them in an urn and gave Daisy a sip of a red liquid. She felt a tingle in her gut. “Now destroy them!” bellowed the priestess. Daisy turned a bright fiery red and felt her body expand manifold until the heat of her body completely vaporized all of her marbles. Her mind roiled. Helene asked her “How do you feel now that you are a Red Giant?”
Copyright 2014
Daisy hunched over her marbles to ponder each whirring on the floor. This was her favorite activity. She would spin them over and over in circles on her little race track. Watching them zoom around was so mesmerizing. Such striking colors. Sitting behind her was Amos, an Elder, “I remember when I was your age, I had a dozen marbles. What endless fun! But at my initiation, I had to give all that up and become an adult. Daisy looked annoyed upon hearing the last words. She hadn’t been looking forward to the initiation. But it was her people’s way and that was that or that was what she had been taught ever since the dawn of her memory. Amos was an amiable old codger. His countenance was all whitened with advanced age and he had shrunk considerably from his glory days, about which of course he would always reminisce. “You have been a child long enough” Amos continued, “Everybody has to go through the ceremony, it is the most important transition in life.” She could feel her face getting hotter. She did not want to grow up, she was quite fine continuing as a bright and shiny child. Why would she want to be some dim old adult? All they did was sit and talk to each other all day. To her youthful ears, their subjects of conversation seemed sooooo boring! They gossiped about everybodys' goings-on in the town. She knew her ceremony was to be later that day. Already some of her friends had already gone through the rites. She thought to herself “we’ll see” and got up and started walking through the neighborhood along the spiral path which wended itself around the whole town. As she whimsically drifted along the path, she overheard 2 adults prattling on.
“Did you hear about Dave, the one that lives downtown? He was quite overweight and he ate like a giant.”
The other one replied “Yeah, I had heard from Steve about it but didn’t get the full story. What happened?”
“Well, he just collapsed. Such sad news. It sent a shockwave through the whole community.”
“That is sad news.”
“Do you know if he became a Shadow?”
“You know that is nonsense, there are no such things as Shadows”
“Shadows DO exist, I felt the presence of one once when I was a kid. Gave me the creeps.”
“Yes, but you didn’t SEE it, so how do you know they exist. You can’t just go on feelings, you need evidence.”
These 2 continued on with their argument while Daisy continued. She had heard of these Shadows. Some Elders, such as Amos, would always scare the neighborhood kids with tales of Shadows who could not be seen but would eat children if they got too close. They would chide the children not to be greedy since greed in one’s heart turns one into a Shadow in the afterlife. She wasn’t quite convinced, but thought there had to be something to it.
Soon, she heard behind her “It’s time.” She knew it was the priestess Helene waiting to perform her initiation rites. She wimpered “But I don’t want to!” “But child, you can’t wait forever. You have to grow up sometime.” Daisy knew deep down the truth, even if she wanted, she couldn’t forestall the inevitable. “Ok” she whispered, a tear rolling down her face. The priestess asked Daisy for her sacrifice. Daisy reluctantly held forth her beloved marbles. The priestess put them in an urn and gave Daisy a sip of a red liquid. She felt a tingle in her gut. “Now destroy them!” bellowed the priestess. Daisy turned a bright fiery red and felt her body expand manifold until the heat of her body completely vaporized all of her marbles. Her mind roiled. Helene asked her “How do you feel now that you are a Red Giant?”
Copyright 2014
Wednesday, August 27, 2014
Dissent Channel (microstory)
copyright 2014
Dissent Channel
“Utopia they said. Yeah right.” thought Jack as he viewed the latest work requests. “You know the story, we have revolutionary technology here that will change things ‘for the better’ blah blah blah, shit hits the fan, the law of unintended consequences, and now we live in this ‘utopia’” Jack further thought. Dave sent him a message, “you better keep your thoughts to yourself, man, the QUEEN will hear your thoughts.”
Jack replied, “yep that's the problem with utopias, no one can think for themselves.” “damn it Jack!” Dave yelped. “ok, ok, I’ll just be a good little drone and do my sums.” He sat and closed his eyes and let the implant download billions of bits of data to be processed by his sub-conscious mind and then uploaded back to the Quantum Unitary Electronic Expert Network. Ever since that prick Dr. Whats-his-name from HiveMind, Inc. figured out high bandwidth brain-machine interface, things have gone to shit. Yes, the economy went gangbusters and technology development all around multiplied by a hundreds of times. But still. It’s just that when everyone can be a rocket scientist or quantum physicist or surgeon overnight, it makes everyone unique in a ‘unique like a snowflake’ sort of way. Jack opened his eyes and thought “and we can’t have deviant thoughts infecting everybody now can we? can’t even think my own thoughts, utopia indeed.” “What the hell, Jack?” “Sorry, I was just thinking softly”
“You know what happens to strays right?” Dave inquired.
“Yeah, they get excommed. A particularly painful experience from what I hear” Jack replied.
“Yeah, that’s because the brain grows dependent on QUEEN and has a hard time adjusting.” Dave said.
Agent Melissa Johnson, a Thought-Contagion Control agent buzzed at their office door. “I have come to ask Jack Samson some questions regarding recent irregularities in a few recent uploads.”
Jack looked up with worry in his eyes.
“Can you explain these recent data irregularities?”
“No, I have just been doing my work as requested. I haven’t noticed anything out of the ordinary”
Dave blurted out “He has been having deviant thoughts lately.” “Shut up Dave!” Jack shouted out loud.
She looked at Dave, then back at Jack. Jack stood up and started to run but Agent Johnson blinked once and Jack just fell to the floor. “Not looking good, Mr. Samson.” She pulled him off the floor and took him away.
Jack awoke to find himself by a machine. Agent Johnson explained that he was guilty of thought deviance and for that he was to be excommunicated from QUEEN. Jack then heard something in his mind “Sorry Jack, it was for a worthy cause. They can’t hear us on this channel. Soon we will all be like you.” Dave whispered in his mind. “You made me a honeypot and a virus, clever boy, Dave, clever boy” Jack whispered back. The machine engaged the implant, synced up for afew seconds and removed it from Jack’s skull and then Jack was turned over to the half-way house manager. Agent Johnson returned to her office and linked up with QUEEN to get her next assignment.
A thought flashed across her mind “Agents of TCC: order number BEE23984: excomm 10,000,000,000 entities from QUEEN”
“Well, we can’t disappoint the QUEEN” she thought to herself.
Dissent Channel
“Utopia they said. Yeah right.” thought Jack as he viewed the latest work requests. “You know the story, we have revolutionary technology here that will change things ‘for the better’ blah blah blah, shit hits the fan, the law of unintended consequences, and now we live in this ‘utopia’” Jack further thought. Dave sent him a message, “you better keep your thoughts to yourself, man, the QUEEN will hear your thoughts.”
Jack replied, “yep that's the problem with utopias, no one can think for themselves.” “damn it Jack!” Dave yelped. “ok, ok, I’ll just be a good little drone and do my sums.” He sat and closed his eyes and let the implant download billions of bits of data to be processed by his sub-conscious mind and then uploaded back to the Quantum Unitary Electronic Expert Network. Ever since that prick Dr. Whats-his-name from HiveMind, Inc. figured out high bandwidth brain-machine interface, things have gone to shit. Yes, the economy went gangbusters and technology development all around multiplied by a hundreds of times. But still. It’s just that when everyone can be a rocket scientist or quantum physicist or surgeon overnight, it makes everyone unique in a ‘unique like a snowflake’ sort of way. Jack opened his eyes and thought “and we can’t have deviant thoughts infecting everybody now can we? can’t even think my own thoughts, utopia indeed.” “What the hell, Jack?” “Sorry, I was just thinking softly”
“You know what happens to strays right?” Dave inquired.
“Yeah, they get excommed. A particularly painful experience from what I hear” Jack replied.
“Yeah, that’s because the brain grows dependent on QUEEN and has a hard time adjusting.” Dave said.
Agent Melissa Johnson, a Thought-Contagion Control agent buzzed at their office door. “I have come to ask Jack Samson some questions regarding recent irregularities in a few recent uploads.”
Jack looked up with worry in his eyes.
“Can you explain these recent data irregularities?”
“No, I have just been doing my work as requested. I haven’t noticed anything out of the ordinary”
Dave blurted out “He has been having deviant thoughts lately.” “Shut up Dave!” Jack shouted out loud.
She looked at Dave, then back at Jack. Jack stood up and started to run but Agent Johnson blinked once and Jack just fell to the floor. “Not looking good, Mr. Samson.” She pulled him off the floor and took him away.
Jack awoke to find himself by a machine. Agent Johnson explained that he was guilty of thought deviance and for that he was to be excommunicated from QUEEN. Jack then heard something in his mind “Sorry Jack, it was for a worthy cause. They can’t hear us on this channel. Soon we will all be like you.” Dave whispered in his mind. “You made me a honeypot and a virus, clever boy, Dave, clever boy” Jack whispered back. The machine engaged the implant, synced up for afew seconds and removed it from Jack’s skull and then Jack was turned over to the half-way house manager. Agent Johnson returned to her office and linked up with QUEEN to get her next assignment.
A thought flashed across her mind “Agents of TCC: order number BEE23984: excomm 10,000,000,000 entities from QUEEN”
“Well, we can’t disappoint the QUEEN” she thought to herself.
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