The Horror Channel on Freeview shows old Star Trek in a kind of never-ending cycle and currently they’re doing The Next Generation so I’m watching it again. In the modern era of gore and terrifying drama it is…well, nice. Klingons are annoying and the episodes set in the Holodeck don’t do anything for me but about half of it is pretty good.
In a coincidental collision of fiction this week I watched the second series episode ‘The Measure of a Man’ where it’s decided that Data is more than a thing. This reminded me of my favourite Heinlein story ‘Jerry was a Man’ and then I received the latest On Spec and read Al Onia’s excellent story ‘Rising Cold’ in which chimpanzees are being frozen in a Cryo lab. They’re human enough to be used for experiments but not so human as to have rights. This sort of thing happens now, sadly.
Android rights may be an important issue in the 21st century. Human rights are already a bone of contention. Some reactionaries like Heinlein thought you couldn’t just vote yourself the right to a nice life, you had to earn it.
Category: SF and Fantasy news
Where are the aliens?
We are often told that with so many stars in the galaxy – not to mention the universe – and so many Earth style planets being discovered it is impossible that there is no life on other worlds. The counter-argument to this is simple: where are they? Why haven’t they been in touch?
I recently read an enlightening article on this very subject in Perihelion SF by a chap called J. Richard Jacobs. In Alien Argument he gives one possible explanation as to why little green men (and women) have not yet appeared. It’s definitely worth a read and Perihelion SF is completely free, though donations are gratefully accepted.
New Earth-type planet – Ross 128b
Scientists have discovered a new planet 11 light years away that is similar to Earth and could well support life. This means that as they view us through their super-scanners we are still in 2006. They may chuckle at inflated share prices but, all in all, we weren’t doing too bad back then.
In 11 years time, they will see Brexit and the election of Donald Trump. Then they’ll assess global warming, U.S. withdrawal from the Paris Agreement and China building coal power stations at a rate of knots. They might see half the world starving while one man pays $450 million for a bit of daubed canvas. They will shake their heads in despair and know that the human race is toast. We won’t get to Mars, never mind them.
