A Question, of the type I so love to pose. Also more about that cult I’m definitely not starting, and a brief aside regarding so–called generative artificial intelligence (also referred to as “regurgative AI” or “stochastic parrots”), with a plea to read Reflections on Trusting Trust. And I merely tease a dive into the wonderful world of the Oklo Phenomenon.
Author: publius
Fools! I will destroy you all!!
ASFO 2023–02–04
Power outage? Power outrage! And just like that, I’m back to talking about the Regulated Utility Model for applying private enterprise to furnishing public goods, and trying to examine its potential uses in fields as disparate as pharmaceuticals and housing. With a bonus mention of Jimmy McMillan, the guy who says The Rent Is Too Damn’ High! Also Mail Call.
- Archive Recording
- 2023 ASFO Masterpost
- A Step Farther Out Masterpost
- Previous Week
- Following Week
- Patreon campaign (separate from the one for Hear Now the Words!)
Supplementary Show
- 2023–02–07 More from Interstellar Migration and the Human Experience (Finney and Jones, eds) : Introduction to Section II, Demography and Economics : Growth of the Human Tribe ; Comments on Hodges’ “The Division of Labor”, by the editors (with a very different view of “artificial intelligence” from that exhibited by, say, ChatGPT) ; Introduction to Section III, Migrating Societies ; Introduction to Section IV, Speciation ; and a part of the Introduction to Section V, Is Anybody Home? (stopping at the beginning of the section on the “Fermi paradox”).
- 2023–02–10 Probably the last I’ll read out of Interstellar Migration and the Human Experience (but perhaps you’ll be interested enough to seek out the book for yourself). Fermi’s Question, the Epilogue, and the short biographies of authors.
They do not grow old, as we who are left grow old
I acquired what might have been, by that time, the last new, sealed copy of Challenger Memorial tape in the world at the Montreal Worldcon in 2009, and listened to it obsessively for two weeks when I got home.
“Recorded during a memorial presentation at Bayfilk III in San Jose, California, on March 9, 1986, before an audience of 200. The dream is, and must remain, alive.” (Archive recording)
Continue reading “They do not grow old, as we who are left grow old”ASFO 2022–01–28
Graphite leads me to consider the problem of false mental world pictures, with a detour to boggle at the neologism elementeome. I interrogate just what it would mean for The Singularity to come in seven years. And, having considered “population control” from the standpoint of genocide last week, I look at it from the standpoint of eugenics ― which involves a closer examination of that concept. Also there may be just the slightest smidgeon of cult–starting.
- Archive Recording
- 2023 ASFO Masterpost
- A Step Farther Out Masterpost
- Previous Week
- Following Week
- Patreon campaign (separate from the one for Hear Now the Words!) ― this is a new thing that I’m doing, and I hope to get some feedback before I start promoting it widely
ASFO 2022–01–21
In which I announce an Exciting New Initiative, although I’m not yet clear on how to pay for it, and consider non–existent remedies for non–existent maladies, and the question of whether you are really entitled to your own opinion, if you can’t be bothered to inform yourself about the topic. Also… yes, Virginia, reducing the human population of Earth to 2 billion by 2100 would in fact constitute genocide, even if you do it purely by limitation of births. Let’s spend more time on the happier business of the what and how of the Lunar Settlement, shall we?
Supplementary Shows
- 2023–01–24 Probably the last reading from Man and the Moon. In addition to the notes by Richardson, I read the whole of Where to Land on the Moon by Wilkins, and the first part of Man on the Moon ― The Exploration by Whipple and von Braun (from the famous 1952 Man Will Conquer Space Soon series of illustrated articles in Collier’s). The idea behind this has been to get a feel for the way people were thinking when serious work on space travel began.
- 2023–01–27 Interstellar Migration and the Human Experience (Finney and Jones, eds) is the proceedings of a conference held at Los Alamos in 1983. And a very interesting volume it is, too! I read the Table of Contents, Prologue, Introduction to Section I Resources : Human, Technological, and Cosmic, and the concluding summary to Solar System Industrialization : Implications for Interstellar Migrations by David Criswell.
ASFO 2023–01–14
Lützerath is a name the world would have been just as happy not knowing. And the insistence of the German people (the people of the world, really) at being upset when they get exactly what they have asked for in no uncertain terms continues to bother me. Instead of focusing on the primary role that fossil fuels continue to hold in world energy supply, with no real end in sight, I would much rather concentrate on the characteristics which I envision for the early lunar settlement. We need hope for the future, after all.
Supplementary Shows
- 2023–01–17 More from Man and the Moon : The Circular Maria by Ralph Baldwin, a description of the formation of Mare Imbrium which rewards dramatic reading ; and Observations of a Volcanic Process on the Moon by Nikolai Kozyrev, with a prefatory note longer than the article itself, and my own interpretation of the evidence.
- 2023–01–20 Again from Man and the Moon : two pieces entitled The Other Side of the Moon, one from H Percy Wilkins writing in 1953, and one from Soviet News reporting on the photographs taken by the Luna 3 spacecraft.
ASFO 2023–01–07
Starting off (well, following some technical trouble) with the audio from my contribution to a video–conference event, last month, commemorating the 50th anniversary of Apollo 17, I proceed to try to generate some hope for the future and forward momentum for the year by discussing the lunar settlement as I envision it developing into Luna City. More of that anon. Also I issue a clarion call for the return of the NS Savannah to service with a modern nuclear powerplant, to serve as a traveling exhibition of civil atomic energy, and a pathfinder for future nuclear merchant vessels in a world eager for decarbonized transportation. You too can read the Draft Agreement between the Department of Transportation and Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and e–mail your comment to Senior Technical Advisor Erhard Koehler by the end of January.
Supplementary Shows
- 2023–01–10 More from Man and the Moon : Development of a Lunar Base by GEV Awdry (reprinted from the Journal of the British Interplanetary Society), and the first part of Richardson’s essay Imaginary Voyages to the Moon.
- 2023–01–13 Technical troubles at the start again. Then the completion of the Richardson piece, including a synopsis of the movie Frau im Mond and some reminiscences of the production of Destination Moon ; more of the “blurbs” introducing the various excerpts and articles ; and The Formation of the Craters by Richardson, originally published in The Exploration of Mars.
“A Step Farther Out” 2023 Shows
ASFO airs weekly at 19z00, with occasional bonus shows at 15z00 Tuesdays or Fridays. In this post you will find links to the shows from 2023, along with my attempts to describe each show.
To understand what this show is about, and for the shows from 2021, go here. For 2022 shows, go here.
Expand List of ShowsASFO 2022–12–31
Glorious Future Year 2022 ends as it began, with A Step Farther Out. I could take this opportunity for a “Year In Review”, but asking the question “what use is a cut–price monarchy?” proved to be more fun. Then, having previously discussed the miseries of living in a metro area with a low enough density of development to actually allow for covering a great part of its energy needs from rooftop solar, and irritated by an (on–line) encounter with “solarpunks”, I draw an analogy between energy supply and transportation. Betweentimes, discussion of the problems raised by our dependency on financial markets… and hey, paper straws in paper wrappers!
Supplementary Shows
- 2023–01–03 The first Hear Now the Words! of the New Year is occupied with completing Chapter 6, “Success, Failure, and Politics”, of Rockets : The Future of Travel Beyond the Stratosphere (third printing with additional material, January 1945) by Willy Ley.
- 2023–01–06 Selections from Man and the Moon (1961), mostly the interstitial commentary by astronomer (and frequent Astounding/Analog contributor) RS Richardson, and a more extended piece from him entitled Astronomical Observations from the Moon, as well as a prefatory poem by Adrienne Rich.
ASFO 2022–12–24
Christmas Eve, and I am hard at work in my workshop… no, not at the North Pole! Have you met me? As you might infer from my frequent allusions to tapping off gigawatts of heat from large nuclear power stations, I prefer warm conditions. On the subject of “peace on Earth, goodwill toward men”, I contemplate the opportunities for peace which lie before us.
Supplementary Show
2022–12–30 The remainder of Chapter 5 of Rockets by Willy Ley, and the first part of Chapter 6, “Success, Failure, and Politics”