Ian Macdonald ponders a post-Freudian fiction of character in his blog. Some interesting tidbits. “…I’m tired of reading (and writing) Big Bang Buck SF novels, with Huge Plot Conclusions that over-obviously follow Hollywood screenwriting-school three-act-structures. I’m increasingly interested about simply writing about ‘what-is-like-to-be’: what it is like to live in a future world.” That’s definitely the aspect of SF I find most interesting.

Rear Admiral Chris Parry in the United Kingdom has gone public with an apocalyptic vision of the future in which globalization destroys the validity of borders and climate change, overpopulation and selective reproduction bring the instability of failed states into the heretofore isolated environs of the industrialized West. Seems a bit overheated to me, but then I suppose that’s what a blue sky thinker for the military is supposed to do.

Several genes have been discovered in mice that appear to control an embryonic stem cell’s ability to split and avoid specialization. The practical benefit of this kind of research is its potential to allow us to control and direct the specialization of stem cells in humans.

Nothing like a story about modern college life to make you feel old. Drugs were definitely de rigeur when I was at college, but the folks I knew who took them were most certainly not trying to improve their grade point average.

Paul Graham asks and answers the question, “Why do startups condense in America?” To summarize: immigration, wealth, freedom from regulation, good universities, flexible employment laws, flexible attitude toward work and careers, big local marks and venture funding.