The Doc's Bio Lab for Scav Experiments - & other oddities.

[Rman Virgil]

Interesting documentary on water wars: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjOn2THsQZg

Thank you. Looks good.

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All this doom and gloom and talk of sociopaths and psychopathologies is giving a one sided impression of this prognosticating which is misleading.

I'm also looking at futurist designers and solutions that donot involve the problematic and grandiose Hacking the Planet techs.

Stuff like:

~ Designer Jacque Fresco's "Venus Project". http://www.thevenusproject.com/

~ "Transforming the Global Biosphere: Twelve Futuristic Strategies, Revised Edition" by Elliott Maynard. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/097217 ... 4TJDU8UVGX

~ "Design for Ecological Democracy" by Randolph T. Hester. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/026208 ... UPNP2B0MZC

~ "Great Expectations & Kochuu" (2007 DVD) with Oscar Niemeyer, Buckminster Fuller, Le Corbusier, Tadao Ando, Toyo Ito, Jacque Fresco, et al... http://www.amazon.com/Great-Expectation ... I7TUQMS1AV

I've been trying to inject some of the light side as reflected in the work of above futurists, & thier solutions, into the timeline along with the doom and gloom. We know how it turns-out in the canon with the Collapse however Pumpkin gave us an out in the creation of The Project and thier post appocalypse mission. Now it is up to the imagination of future creators, like Goth, to go beyond just creating new battle opportunities with new tech. In other words, fighting for the specifics of a new world, a new civilization, vs. the dark forces that would not allow that new future see the light of day outside the control of thier iron fist.

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I feel I have a better grasp of the Hammond and Reed characters and thier unfolding relationship. I also feel likewise about the female character, the lone radical activist known to the world as "Godiva". I've just come to giving her the name she was born with - Taryn Carvelle.

Now the fourth major character, the spiritual leader and founder of a new global movement, is gonna be a different challenge than the other three. I've set myself some clear parameters for this character's movement: no theism, no dogma, no institutionalized hierarchy. There's something of Buddha and Black Elk and Moshel Meshalims in that but also, very deliberately, in every way, the complete opposite of what Saul of Tarnus did and accomplished before Nero had his head chopped off.

I wanna create a fresh trope here on the order of what Heinlein attempted in his "Stranger In A Strange Land", Herbert in "Dune" and Card in "Speaker For the Dead". A very high bar indeed.

The working name I've come to for this fourth main character, at this juncture anyway, is "Ellam of the Inuit"....

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Alrighty then.... back to Part B of the expanded timeline...
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[Rman Virgil]

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Ever wonder what "The Docs Bio Lab for Scav Experiments" was actually about ?

In a phrase - Synthetic Biology : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synthetic_biology

It's going into the novel but it's not really reflected in the expanded timeline. The GMO, genome patenting, the synaptic link, Transhumanism - these really donot cover the scope of "Synthetic Biology". The ramifications would be rather huge. Not just backstory huge but GP huge: New Faction, major expansion of the tech tree and like wise GPMs, including how battles would play out differently than how they play-out now. So while it very logically has a key place in the expanded timeline forecasting,__ I'm not so sure the logical, but radical, ramifications to GPMs can be embraced. Maybe it should be left out.
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[Rman Virgil]

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Part B of the Expanded Timeline: 2068 - 2107. Bare bones v. 0.02, such I decided in the end for a slew of reasons. Suggest, or do as you will directly, what you think belongs and I'll attend next weekend to a Part B v. 0.03. (For the sake of convenience, I have reposted Part A, v. 0.06 alongside.)

In the interim I'll be absent these proceedings to do other type work, reflect and refresh. Which means I won't be responding to any posts in the interim. Likely not even visit till next weekend. However, I'll remain reachable via email and will respond that way.

Till then, may the journey be worthwhile.
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[Rman Virgil]

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Such a glareing ommission to the Part A timeline that I couldn't wait till Sunday to mention it - Desalinization...

On Sunday I will post a Part A - v. 0.07 that includes it & that will be tied to "Water Wars". Also, depending on how you wanna crunch the modeling numbers in global proliferation, this could could be viewed as one of the less radical forms of Geoengineering (aka, "Hacking the Planet") used synergistically to deal with global warming's rising sea levels. An adjunct to Sea Gates and the Hydrogen Economy as well. More revising.

Crunching the numbers high, yielding significant proliferation Pre-Collapse, and because this tech will survive in numbers Post Collapse, there is an opportunity for a new and elegant GPM and map making design factor. This I may get into Sunday or may save it for another time. Since the memetic pattern of the past clearly indicates it usually takes about 4-5 years for these new type GP introductions to mainstream, there's really no rush. ('Course you have to first value historical continuity to even percieve the pattern.)

On Sunday I'll also post a Part B - v. 0.03 that will include anything suggested here through Saturday.... and a small portion of what I already have for it that would fit with other proposals. If nothing else is proposed, then I'll just proceed to fill it up.

In closing, some RL tid-bits on Desalinization:

It is estimated that some 30% of the world's irrigated areas suffers from salinity problems and remediation is seen to be very costly.

~ In 2002 there were about 12,500 desalination plants around the world in 120 countries. They produce some 14 million m3/day of freshwater, which is less than 1% of total world consumption.

~ The most important users of desalinated water are in the Middle East, (mainly Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Bahrain), which uses about 70% of worldwide capacity; and in North Africa (mainly Libya and Algeria), which uses about 6% of worldwide capacity.

~ Among industrialized countries, the United States is one of the most important users of desalinated water (6.5%), specially in California and parts of Florida.

CYA next Sunday...

EDIT: Saw a just broadcast PBS documentary called "The Ghost Army" about how "Performance Art" was used successfully in over 20 WW 2 missions in the later half of the war. Yes, I wrote "Performance Art". Absolutely facinating. More fresh GPM application... this time for new Scav Tacs.

http://www.pbs.org/program/ghost-army/
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[aubergine]

Watch all the way through - should provide plenty of ideas for the timeline: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJcB7yZpbtU

[Rman Virgil]

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That is the best presentation I've seen on the web to date on these subjects and very much worth watching carefully in its entirety. Thanks for the heads up. The timeline can be revised to include some explicit highlights, in both Part A & B and I'll do so by Sunday. I've also passed on the link to my girlfriend who first brought my attention to these subjects some years ago through her work with Dr. Richard Boylan. She's looking forward to checking it out tonight after work.

In my own research what has also stood out is how deeply ambivalent and divided the scientific community is on the subject of geoengineering. Reminds me of the community of physicists in the lead-up to the Manhattan Project. 'Course alongside your Einstein's with profound reservations you have your gung-ho Edward Teller's.

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Long as I'm posting...

Happily engaged writing story. Have created some more supporting cast: a multi-media artist, an investigative reporter-blogger and his young autistic sister.

Am also considering re-casting Reed's root psychological dynamic from the Socio / Pyscho pathologies discussed, to being born with the condition known as "Aspergers Syndrome". There are a number of reasons for this not the least of which is that the pathologies are a commonplace trope but Aspergers is not and thus presents a fresher challenge in its honest portrayal I would take up. It also allows for relational explorations and depictions having equal texture, nuance and complexity but with an inherent, and greater, elegance (for lack of a better word at this moment).

As the illustrated novel's archetectonic takes shape, stories have arisen from the timeline that will not be told in the novel but apart as independent short stories. Those that are 2-4 pages in legnth, I'll post here, by and by, along with updates to the timeline.

In regards the illustrated novel, I will not be posting it piecemeal. For a slew of reasons, that just won't work. It will be seen in its entirety some 1-2 years from now.

However...

Part of my fiction writing process the last 8 years is that when formative story ideas come to me, characters and scenes inparticular, I first attempt to write what are called Mini-Sagas. This is a deceptively simple art form with only one parameter - you tell a story using no more than 50 words. If I can't create a Mini-Saga it tells me I really don't have a good enough grasp of the material to write at greater legnth. I've done some already for this illustrated novel and will continue to throughout the term of its creation. These I can share here to offer a pithy taste of what is to come, while at the same time each can stand on thier on two feet independent of the longer work and pose no down-side to me in the novel's evolution. So these too will be part of the postings here, now and again...

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[aubergine]

elegance -> eloquence?

Aspergers is certainly a refreshing approach; it is often discussed in the collective mind - in fact, it is considered an accepted albeit somewhat undesirable component of the hive. I do not think that Aspergers alone would cause Reed to ultimately nuke the planet though, but do see how it fits his overall character; it's apparent throughout the part of the canon where he loses the military contract, and in his communications with Project and Collective, for example. But I still feel there needs to be a deeper issue at play to fully promote Reeds vengeful actions - just having Aspergers doesn't make one evil; it can make someone seem aloof and they might do bad things, but it doesn't explain - to me at least - why Reed feels the need to initiate The Collapse. There's a common element of Aspergers in that people who have it seem to always want to take part in society, their soul is still that of a human. Reed's soul, towards the end at least, does not strike me as being remotely human - he cares not for 'weak flesh and blood', he doesn't even care for the environment or anything else, at least that's how it seems to me.

I guess the mini sagas are qualifying Einstein's assertion: "If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough."

Saw this in my travels - floating village / school: http://txchnologist.com/post/5171886708 ... s-nigerian

[Goth Zagog-Thou]

Ahhh ... I recognize that scent. It smells of creativity and neurons functioning at 50% or higher for extended periods of time.

Kinda like oxygen. Can't live without it.

[Shadow Wolf TJC]

Hey! I take offense to stigmatizing those that possess Asperger's Syndrome as being inherently evil, not only because I myself have it, but also because the vast majority of those famous people that have it have contributed to society in positive ways. I may be lacking in social skills, and I may not express emotion very often, but I can sense what others are feeling, and I can accomplish great things once I set my mind on something.

Like Aubergine said, Asperger's Syndrome, or any mental disorder for that matter (including psychopathy), wouldn't in itself lead to someone wanting to nuke the entire planet. Still, perhaps we could leave Dr. Reed as being just mentally unstable? Sure, it's a vague choice, but it doesn't have the effect of stereotyping anyone that has a certain disorder or syndrome.

As for a motive for wanting to nuke the planet, I have a couple ideas:
- Taking an ideal of transhumanism to extremist territory (much like how the Nazi party took eugenics and social darwinism to extremist levels).
- Extreme concern that mankind is heading towards a path of self-destruction, and feeling that the only way to put a stop to it would be to destroy the very institutions that are responsible for leading mankind down this path (which just so happened to be the political systems that were in power all across the world).

[aubergine]

- Extreme concern that mankind is heading towards a path of self-destruction, and feeling that the only way to put a stop to it would be to destroy the very institutions that are responsible for leading mankind down this path (which just so happened to be the political systems that were in power all across the world).

I'm not sure about that idea - nuking the planet would be somewhat counter productive, as it would basically ensure the thing that it purports to avoid.

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More rising-sea level news:



From: http://www.theatlanticcities.com/neighb ... will/5751/

And this just in from Dail Fail: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/ ... homes.html

Also, epic facebook group with loads of cool tech stuff (mostly related to Resource Based Economy / Venus Project type stuff): https://www.facebook.com/pages/Resource ... 7969292820

[Rman Virgil]

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Just a quick clarification.

If I gave the impression that I'm making a connection between Aspergers per se and evil then let me be clear - I see none nor am I striving to make one.

And your right, aubergine, about Reed's emotional declarations in the canon - how do I get from Aspergers to that ?

I propose that at some point Reed uses himself as a test subject for epigenetic engineering. I had a reason for making Reed's mom a geneticist. She saw the posibility of this outcome. After Reed is born and the condition confirmed, she does focus her research in this area. I'm not gonna judge her intentions as miss-guided or not.

While Reed is at Yale, his mother reveals her years of research and her hopes. Ultimately, it is Reed's decision alone. In the end he decides to remake himself on a genomic level with the aid of his mothers research. For a number of years things seem to work out. But then there are 2 traumatic triggers that set him down the path of the darkside. The first is the kidnapping of his wife when she is pregnant with Jason. The second is the bombing at Caltech where Jason loses his legs.

Thank you for the suggestions and link referals. I'll be checking them out today and tomorrow. Still on track to post the next iterations of the Timeline Parts A & B late Sunday which will give me the opportunity to incorporate as much as I can of the very latest posting inputs.

Yes Goth, we are indeed approaching full steam ahead.

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[Shadow Wolf TJC]

Just a quick clarification.

If I gave the impression that I'm making a connection between Aspergers per se and evil then let me be clear - I see none nor am I striving to make one.

I thought so, though I just wanted to warn against negatively stereotyping groups of people, whether they're Jews, Muslims, blacks, aspies, Communists, athiests, or albinos, as that could hurt someone else's feelings, as they may not even fall within the stereotype.

[Rman Virgil]

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I hear ya SW and appreciate your posting. I too have a senitivity to stereotyping as my ancestors were stereotyped as sub-human demonic beasts to justify several hundred years of continuous rapacity and genocide. And this with a subsequent grand whitewash of events to, of all things, create the illusion of a paragon of civic and enterprising values from the get go, and model of doughty self governance where all are equal in thier human rights, for all the world to envy and emulate without question or scrutiny ....... or you could end up strange fruit on a barren tree or, at least these days, cast out as an unpatriotic pariah.

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Still working on "Part B" of the timeline and will be through tomorrow evening but this is as far as I can go for now on "Part A" so I saw no reason to hold it back for "Part B's" posting.
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[Lord Apocalypse]

Even if we only see Reed trying to do the right thing it does not mean that his electronic creation would not be in some way flawed. Perhaps reed created the AI/virus in his image but it at some point mutated or became disillusioned with its creator/father, perhaps itself even becoming infected with another computer virus (See Person of Interest episodes 13 (Dead Reckoning), 21 (Zero Day), and 22 (God Mode). Or any of the series really.

[Rman Virgil]

Even if we only see Reed trying to do the right thing it does not mean that his electronic creation would not be in some way flawed. Perhaps reed created the AI/virus in his image but it at some point mutated or became disillusioned with its creator/father, perhaps itself even becoming infected with another computer virus (See Person of Interest episodes 13 (Dead Reckoning), 21 (Zero Day), and 22 (God Mode). Or any of the series really.

Great show. A buddy told me about it last summer and since then I have watched every episode from its inception.

2 Grandmasters of Sci Fi explored this theme in compelling fashion. I. Asimov with his 3 laws of robotics corpus of novels and short stories and A. C. Clark with HAL in his "2001 a Space Odyssey". And then there are Harlan Ellison's virtuoso story, "I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream" and Heinlein's novel "The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress". Works going back half a century or better in first seeing the light of publication.

Albeit truth to this angle you raise I believe, even though I see the Pumpkin canon as giving us not a hint that the flesh and blood Reed ever does anything to make good on a creation gone awry.
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