In light of the recent and tragic bridge collapse in Mississippi, mathematics uber-geek Stephen Wolfram has been doing some thinking about how evolutionary computing could be used to design stronger bridge structures. It looks like strength doesn’t always correlate to regularity of patterns. [BoingBoing]
All posts by Paul Raven
Armed robots roam Iraq
Battlefield robots have been around for a few years now, but only now are fully-armed autonomous machines patrolling danger zones in the Middle East. They apparently have yet to actually open fire on anything (or anyone), but that’s a mere technicality. So, repeat after me: “I, for one, welcome our new …” [SlashDot]
Friday Free Fiction for 3rd August
Here’s your weekly serving of free genre fiction on the web:
Steve Libbey emailed to tell us about The Secret World Chronicle, a podcast novel series he’s been doing with Mercedes Lackey since last year; the whole of the first book is already available, plus some extras to tide us over until the next book starts being rolled out. Steve says, “the series is a sci-fi take on a world where heroic and villainous metahumans live alongside normal people. Needless to say, it is a blast to plot and write.” Sounds interesting. If you listen to it, why not email us a review here at Futurismic?
Nancy Jane Moore dropped us a line to let us know that she is among a batch of writers to have a story published in the latest issue of Farrago’s Wainscot, a free webzine featuring stories which are “quirky ones that might not quite fit other places,” in Nancy’s own words.
The first 63 pages of Joe Abercrombie’s novel The Blade Itself are available at Pyr’s website.
Project Gutenberg has added downloadable versions of an old Harl Vincent space opera, Creatures of Vibration, Project Mastodon by Clifford D Simak and Paul Ernst’s The Radiant Shell.
Via SF Signal: Marion Zimmer Bradley’s The Colours Of Space is available as a free ebook or audiobook.
Darker Matter #5 is live – and it’s apparently the last ever issue, too. Which sucks (though we understand the cause).
Clarkesworld #11 is also out and about.
Stephen Baxter’s classic short story “Raft” has appeared at InfinityPlus, and bestSF.net are hosting the full text of Chris Roberson’s “Companion To Owls”.
And the not-fiction-but-related-reads-of-note:
Locus Online has excerpts from an interview with short story craftsman Paolo Bacigalupi.
Writers, editors and anyone else – if you want something you’ve written or published on the web for free mentioned here, drop me (Paul Raven) an email to the address listed for me on the Staff page, and I’ll include it in next week’s round-up.
Also, I must acknowledge all the other blogs that I have cribbed and compiled this information from – cheers, folks! I’ll be adding you to the blogroll when I get a spare moment.
Your five-year internet fast starts now, courtesy of Elton John
Fear not, folks – Elton John is here to save us from the impending degradation of culture! Because, you see, the reason there’s so much rubbish music and art about these days is because we all spend too much time on the internet. It’s a relief to know he’s worked out why his own contributions to global culture have been so unilaterally appalling over the last decade or so … though I can think of numerous artist and musician acquaintances whose work has been enhanced or expanded for the better by their use of the internet, be it for networking or acquiring new tools or ideas. Clay Shirky agrees, too – destroying limits liberates creativity, as opposed to stifling it. But it also destroys the culture that went before it … which is probably what has Sir Elton so worried.
Space is the place for a resource-rich and peaceful existence
I think I’m largely preaching to the choir when I plug the benefits of space exploration here at Futurismic, but I’m not going to let that stop me. And we’re not alone in our beliefs – the former President of India says that the vast energy resources that space technologies can exploit make the price of admission well worthwhile.
Meanwhile over at Space.com, Al Globus explains how space colonisation is a viable alternative to war (here’s a hint – resources again), and points out that repurposing the military budgets of the world into space habitats would make the necessary budgets look tiny. I agree with him entirely, but I doubt he’ll have much luck convincing the hawkish types who make decisions of that kind. Still, fingers crossed. [Image from NASA]