What do science fiction and speculative fiction (SF/SF) have to tell us about the future? I’ve been pondering that question a lot lately, when I’m not distracted by (a) reading a lot of that kind of fiction and (b) the chaotic (pandemic, war, weather/climate change/etc.) state of the world. I…

Like much of the northern hemisphere, my region has been smothering in a heat wave for the past few days. Here’s the my report: Air conditioning use and water consumption? Definitely up. Productive energy and restful sleep? Way, way down. Noel Coward famously observed that only “mad dogs and Englishmen…

Are we all emulating Nero, fiddling while our homes burn? We need a new phase to describe “extreme weather” — because what used to be records are now the norm. Among the “extreme weather events” across the northern hemisphere that have been reported in the North American news: ·A heat…

In which the author reflects on the state of the world and determines that resorting to mind-altering substances may be in order In the New York Times today, there’s a full page article about the pandemic’s “true toll on mental health”, increasing the rise in prescriptions for drugs to treat…

A recent return to airline travel reminds me why I hate it For three years, I haven’t set foot onto an airplane or into an airport. And then, in the last month, I traveled by air four times. Perhaps it was the gap between exposures that left me seeing air…

A story in which an example of vicarious traumatization is shared One of my favorite Medium writers, Carol Burt, recently wrote very eloquently about her experience as a police chief whose duties included finding bodies. …

Spoiler alert: it’s the profit motive. My home town has the dubious distinction of being one of the most expensive cities in the world. Today’s daily newspaper provides a stunning illustration of the problem and its source. It’s a big enough issue that it warranted a large headline on the…

Sanctions stopped more than just the oligarchs … for a while Tardigrades, cockroaches, ants … it seems to be generally agreed that these “lesser” life forms will be thriving and busily doing their thing long after humans are a distant memory. Well, I have one other nominee for that long-surviving…

There is more than one kind of occupying force, and more than one kind of genocide. The world is looking on in horror at the war in Ukraine, the scorched earth policy of Putin and his cronies and the incredible human suffering that has resulted from this occupation of a…