It’s only March and already we’ve seen a computer beat a Go grandmaster and a self-driving car crash into a bus. The world is waking up to the ways in which a combination of “deep learning” artificial intelligence and robotics will take over most jobs. But if we don’t want our robot servants to riseContinue reading “How can we make AI less like the Terminator, and more like the Culture?”
Category Archives: Writing Journal
Buddhism’s intricate relationship to modern psychology
Buddhism is called the “middle way” because it winds between two other paths. On one hand is the material path, which we follow in the belief that collecting enough possessions, wealth and influential friends will keep us safe from suffering. When that fails we turn to the spiritual path, the belief that by behaving inContinue reading “Buddhism’s intricate relationship to modern psychology”
Quality writing is not subjectve
This is a short sequel expanding on the question of why writing workshops fail (but why you still need one). So how do we end up in this situation, with groups of unskilled writers gathered together in workshops kicking the crap out of each others emotions to no useful purpose? Well it’s one of manyContinue reading “Quality writing is not subjectve”
Stan Lee : the greatest storyteller in history?
Creator of a host of enduring superheroes, from Iron Man to the X-Men, his own powers have enabled him to see far into the future. A billionaire industrialist developing technologies that others believed impossible. A team of heroes using science to understand the universe. A secret government agency protecting its citizens from threats that mayContinue reading “Stan Lee : the greatest storyteller in history?”
This is how you make a Fantastic Four reboot great
You cast the characters from Big Bang Theory in the lead roles. There have been three terrible film adaptations of the Fantastic Four, one so awful it was never even released. The two big studio adaptations both suck for the same reasons – they take a fun, very kitsch, self-referential comic like FF4 and takeContinue reading “This is how you make a Fantastic Four reboot great”
Science and superheroes : how close are we to creating real superpowers?
As Marvel’s Deadpool hits screens we ask: with three out of five fictional superheroes owing their powers to science, will we ever have real superpowers? There are, according to the Marvel Super Heroes role-playing game (a source I am choosing to accept as 100% canonical), five general origins for all superheroic powers: Altered Humans (Spiderman,Continue reading “Science and superheroes : how close are we to creating real superpowers?”
The ominous ordinary: horror writers finding scares in the everyday
Some of the very best work in this genre comes from writers who embed their terrors into strikingly everyday settings. Long-lived short fiction magazines are a rarity today. And ones that have had a real impact on the wider landscape of storytelling are even rarer. So issue 50 of Black Static marks a important milestoneContinue reading “The ominous ordinary: horror writers finding scares in the everyday”
How do you balance complexity and simplicity in your writing?
I love this research revealed in The Guardian today from a scientific study that claims to have found fractal patterns in novels like Finnegans Wake. James Joyce’s Finnegans Wake has been described as many things, from a masterpiece to unreadable nonsense. But it is also, according to scientists at the Institute of Nuclear Physics inContinue reading “How do you balance complexity and simplicity in your writing?”
Suicide Squad might yet save DC from itself
Welp…Batman VS Superman looks like it’s going to be one of the worst films in history. But Suicide Squad…actually looks quite good. It’s been a looong time since anyone could say that about a DC comics based movie! I’ve never read the Suicide Squad comics, but based on this trailer I will now check themContinue reading “Suicide Squad might yet save DC from itself”
The intellectual conflict that defined 20th century science
Most of us today recognise the theory of relativity as a foundation of modern science, even if few of us can claim to truly understand it. Even if we can’t conceptualise the truth of a universe in which space and time are famously unified as spacetime, we can enjoy the idea that a human travellingContinue reading “The intellectual conflict that defined 20th century science”
Why is Rey such a great hero?
***SPOILERS AHEAD*** Heroes are an interesting character type. Not every protagonist is a hero, far from it. Most stories are about relatively ordinary people going on journeys and overcoming challenges. But there is no challenge too great for the hero. Need a dragon slain, an innocent rescued, a Death Star explodeyed? The hero is yourContinue reading “Why is Rey such a great hero?”
So. Who are Rey’s parents? ***SPOILER WARNING***
***SPOILER ALERT*** Watch The Force Awakens before reading this. It won’t mean much to you if you haven’t. If you have and you see an option not listed here…put your argument forth in the comments. UPDATE – courtesy of the very talented Dean E S Richard we have solid evidence of a romantic relationship in BenContinue reading “So. Who are Rey’s parents? ***SPOILER WARNING***”
Damien Walter 