Longterm members of our community know about myth, but new members might be scratching your heads. Myth is old stories about why the sun rises etc. Science fiction is the extrapolation of scientific FACT. They are NOT the same. Let’s talk. In fact that idea about myths being stories to explain the sun rising (etc)Continue reading “The myth that made Interstellar”
Author Archives: Damien Walter
2026 : the year World War 3 begins
To my Gen-X compatriots, to the Boomers and Millenials, and to Gen-Z who will have to clean up this mess we all made… …can we agree that Star Trek is the future we would all like? A future in which poverty is eradicated, disease is a mere curiosity of the past, humanity has put asideContinue reading “2026 : the year World War 3 begins”
Woke Marxist Social Justice Warrior Space Hippies….With Guns
I don’t remember if the Culture was my first experience of trans charcters, but it must have been close. I read the books at around the same time as The Sandman when I was about fifteen. So it was probably one of those. Trans characters barely existed in UK media of the early 90s. TheContinue reading “Woke Marxist Social Justice Warrior Space Hippies….With Guns”
The Accusations Against Me
I am sometimes accused of “click-bait” Which is entirely false. Every video on the Science Fiction channel does exactly what it says on the tin. “But. DAMO. This picture of God Emperor Elon carrying Joe Rogan carrying infant Donald Trump fighting Skibidi Toilet’s Titan Cameraman is CLEARLY CLICKBAIT!!!” Nope. This video essay will entirely fulfillContinue reading “The Accusations Against Me”
Military Industrial Complex invites nations to “volunteer” as war zones
ARLINGTON, VA—Citing a “distressing lack of economically expendable geographies,” a coalition of top defense contractors issued an urgent plea Tuesday for any nation with a negligible impact on the S&P 500 to “selflessly volunteer” to host a massive, high-tech kinetic conflict. The joint statement, signed by CEOs from Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, and Boeing, noted thatContinue reading “Military Industrial Complex invites nations to “volunteer” as war zones”
The problem is not AI
I keep saying it. The problem is not AI, the problem is AI under Capitalism. 50 years of neoliberalism mean some basic lessons of labour have been forgotten. In volume I of Das Kapital, Marx makes a critique of the Luddites – that the workers who famously smashed the machines were confusing the means ofContinue reading “The problem is not AI”
You don’t understand science fiction
There is a single narrative technique that connects almost every multi-billion dollar science fiction franchise ever made. It is the invisible engine powering the most successful stories of the last century. And yet, if you ask ten working Hollywood screenwriters what it is, nine of them will give you a blank stare—and the tenth willContinue reading “You don’t understand science fiction”
The First Dystopia
We by Yevgeny Zamyatin is a novel written at the beginning of the future. It’s hard to remember today, after Logan’s Run, The Handmaid’s Tale and Hunger Games made “dystopia” an entertainment genre, but when Yevgeny Zamyatin was writing in the early 1920s, it was only beginning to dawn on humanity just how bad the future might be. OrContinue reading “The First Dystopia”
Terminator 2 isn’t only the greatest action movie
Terminator is an Arnold Schwarzenegger movie Arnold’s physique is the star of the film The progressive decay of the Body into the Machine is his co-star With the special effects that animated the Terminator as best supporting actor Or watch on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfbNARASn9Y Imagine if Ron Perlman had passed his audition for Terminator? You can’t.Continue reading “Terminator 2 isn’t only the greatest action movie”
Chani vs Chani
So. Why are the fanboys enraged about Zendaya’s performance as Chani? Sean Young’s Chani in Lynch’s Dune is an archetypal “anima”. Basically, she’s the princess that the young adventurer meets on his Hero’s Journey. Zendaya’s Chani ain’t that at all. Put aside all the complex systems fiction stuff, Frank Herbert’s Dune was a bestseller becauseContinue reading “Chani vs Chani”
HG Wells vs Vladimir Lenin
The year is 1920. The Empires of Europe have spent the last half decade blowing each other up with bombs, guns and heavy artillery. As World War 1 burns itself out, men who survived the fighting begin to wonder if a better world, a world without empires and wars, is possible. These working class menContinue reading “HG Wells vs Vladimir Lenin”
What is the difference between fantasy & myth?
What is the difference between fantasy & myth? A common response to our discussions of PHM as MPF was “all fiction is fantasy”. One commenter angrily insisted that “Shakespeare is fantasy”. Incorrect. Fantasy fulfills a psychological need for power, eros, status. A lot of fiction is fantasy, but far from all. Shakespeare is the oppositeContinue reading “What is the difference between fantasy & myth?”
Damien Walter 