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aion-rsa · 4 years ago

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Top New Science Fiction Books in April 2021

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Science fiction has the power to take us away—to escape, to make us reflect back on our own world in challenging ways, to fill us with awe and wonder about the beauties of the universe. There are so many science fiction books out there worth your time, but we only have room to recommend a few. Here are some of the science fiction books we’re most looking forward to in April 2021…

Top New Science Fiction Books in April 2021

The Galaxy and the Ground Within by Becky Chambers

Type: Novel Publisher: Harper Voyager Release date: April 20 Den of Geek says: Ever since her groundbreaking A Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet, Chambers has been a powerful voice in science fiction. Colorful, creative aliens inhabit a galaxy sparkling with healing and love, “soft” science fiction in the online sense that is also bursting with ideas and thoughtful characterization.

Publisher’s summary: Return to the sprawling, Hugo Award-winning universe of the Galactic Commons to explore another corner of the cosmos—one often mentioned, but not yet explored—in this absorbing entry in the Wayfarers series, which blends heart-warming characters and imaginative adventure. With no water, no air, and no native life, the planet Gora is unremarkable. The only thing it has going for it is a chance proximity to more popular worlds, making it a decent stopover for ships traveling between the wormholes that keep the Galactic Commons connected. If deep space is a highway, Gora is just your average truck stop.

At the Five-Hop One-Stop, long-haul spacers can stretch their legs (if they have legs, that is), and get fuel, transit permits, and assorted supplies. The Five-Hop is run by an enterprising alien and her sometimes helpful child, who work hard to provide a little piece of home to everyone passing through.

When a freak technological failure halts all traffic to and from Gora, three strangers—all different species with different aims—are thrown together at the Five-Hop. Grounded, with nothing to do but wait, the trio—an exiled artist with an appointment to keep, a cargo runner at a personal crossroads, and a mysterious individual doing her best to help those on the fringes—are compelled to confront where they’ve been, where they might go, and what they are, or could be, to each other.

Buy The Galaxy and the Ground Within by Becky Chambers.

Fugitive Telemetry by Martha Wells

Type: Novella Publisher: Tordotcom Release date: April 27

Den of Geek says: Wells’ beloved Murderbot has become one of the most entertaining and must-see characters of today’s science fiction. The android with a reluctant heart is not to be missed. Wells rarely fails to be entertaining.

Publisher’s summary: Having captured the hearts of readers across the globe (Annalee Newitz says it’s “one of the most humane portraits of a nonhuman I’ve ever read”) Murderbot has also established Martha Wells as one of the great SF writers of today.

No, I didn’t kill the dead human. If I had, I wouldn’t dump the body in the station mall.

When Murderbot discovers a dead body on Preservation Station, it knows it is going to have to assist station security to determine who the body is (was), how they were killed (that should be relatively straightforward, at least), and why (because apparently that matters to a lot of people―who knew?)

Yes, the unthinkable is about to happen: Murderbot must voluntarily speak to humans!

Again!

Buy Fugitive Telemetry by Martha Wells.

Hummingbird Salamander by Jeff Vandermeer

Type: Novel Publisher: MCD Release date: April 6

Den of Geek says: This eco-thriller from the author of Annihilation trades the weird setting for a more prosaic but just as mysterious chase.

Publisher’s summary: Security consultant “Jane Smith” receives an envelope with a key to a storage unit that holds a taxidermied hummingbird and clues leading her to a taxidermied salamander. Silvina, the dead woman who left the note, is a reputed ecoterrorist and the daughter of an Argentine industrialist. By taking the hummingbird from the storage unit, Jane sets in motion a series of events that quickly spin beyond her control. Soon, Jane and her family are in danger, with few allies to help her make sense of the true scope of the peril. Is the only way to safety to follow in Silvina’s footsteps? Is it too late to stop? As she desperately seeks answers about why Silvina contacted her, time is running out—for her and possibly for the world. Hummingbird Salamander is Jeff VanderMeer at his brilliant, cinematic best, wrapping profound questions about climate change, identity, and the world we live in into a tightly plotted thriller full of unexpected twists and elaborate conspiracy.

Buy Hummingbird Salamander by Jeff Vandermeer.

Top New Science Fiction Books in March 2021

Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro

Type: Novel Publisher: Knopf Release date: March 2 Den of Geek says: Nobel Prize winner Kazuo Ishiguro is known for his literary fiction like The Remains of the Day and high-brow science fiction like Never Let Me Go. His newest tackles robot sapience in a story sure to be as much about the human heart as about machines.

Publisher’s Summary: Klara and the Sun, the first novel by Kazuo Ishiguro since he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, tells the story of Klara, an Artificial Friend with outstanding observational qualities, who, from her place in the store, watches carefully the behavior of those who come in to browse, and of those who pass on the street outside. She remains hopeful that a customer will soon choose her.

Klara and the Sun is a thrilling book that offers a look at our changing world through the eyes of an unforgettable narrator, and one that explores the fundamental question: what does it mean to love?

Buy Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro.

We Shall Sing a Song Into the Deep by Andrew Kelly Stewart

Type: Novel Publisher: Tor.com Release date: March 9 Den of Geek says: Any comparison to A Canticle for Leibowitz goes pretty far here. This claustrophobic thriller with post-apocalyptic cult elements sounds intense and inventive. Publisher’s Summary: A Canticle for Leibowitz meets The Hunt for Red October in We Shall Sing a Song into the Deep, a lyrical and page-turning coming-of-age exploration of duty, belief, and the post-apocalypse from breakout newcomer Andrew Kelly Stewart.

Remy is a Chorister, rescued from the surface world and raised to sing in a choir of young boys. Remy is part of a strange crew who control the Leviathan, an aging nuclear submarine, that bears a sacred mission: to trigger the Second Coming when the time is right.

But Remy has a secret too―she’s the submarine’s only girl. Gifted with the missile’s launch key by theLeviathan’s dying caplain, she swears to keep it safe. Safety, however, is not the priority of the new caplain, who has his own ideas about the mission. When a surface-dweller is captured during a raid, Remy’s faith becomes completely overturned. Now, her last judgement may transform the fate of everything.

Buy We Shall Sing a Song Into the Deep by Andrew Kelly Stewart.

A Desolation Called Peace by Arkady Martine

Type: Novel Publisher: Tor Books Release date: March 2 Den of Geek says: Martine’s previous novel brought us to a world of poetry, AI, body-sharing, and high-stakes politics. The nascent rebellion against the Teixcalaanli empire takes a back seat as alien invaders threaten the empire and its colonies in the sequel. Publisher’s Summary: A Desolation Called Peace is the spectacular space opera sequel to Arkady Martine’s genre-reinventing, Hugo Award-winning debut, A Memory Called Empire.

An alien armada lurks on the edges of Teixcalaanli space. No one can communicate with it, no one can destroy it, and Fleet Captain Nine Hibiscus is running out of options.

In a desperate attempt at diplomacy with the mysterious invaders, the fleet captain has sent for a diplomatic envoy. Now Mahit Dzmare and Three Seagrass―still reeling from the recent upheaval in the Empire―face the impossible task of trying to communicate with a hostile entity.

Their failure will guarantee millions of deaths in an endless war. Their success might prevent Teixcalaan’s destruction―and allow the empire to continue its rapacious expansion.

Or it might create something far stranger . . .

Buy A Desolation Called Peace by Arkady Martine.

Top New Science Fiction Books in February 2021

Sun-Daughters, Sea-Daughters by Aimee Ogden

Type: Novel Publisher: Tor.com Release date: Feb. 23

Den of Geek says: Space mermaids make for an automatically charming concept, as do the twists and turns (an witchy romance?) on the classic story. Publisher’s summary: One woman will travel to the stars and beyond to save her beloved in this lyrical space opera that reimagines The Little Mermaid.

Gene-edited human clans have scattered throughout the galaxy, adapting themselves to environments as severe as the desert and the sea. Atuale, the daughter of a Sea-Clan lord, sparked a war by choosing her land-dwelling love and rejecting her place among her people. Now her husband and his clan are dying of a virulent plague, and Atuale’s sole hope for finding a cure is to travel off-planet. The one person she can turn to for help is the black-market mercenary known as the World Witch―and Atuale’s former lover. Time, politics, bureaucracy, and her own conflicted desires stand between Atuale and the hope for her adopted clan.

Buy Sun-Daughters, Sea-Daughters by Aimee Ogden.

The Loosening Skin by Aliya Whiteley

Type: Novel Publisher: Titan Books Release date: Feb. 23 Den of Geek says: Science fiction allows us to explore how biology effects culture. Like Early Riser by Jasper Fforde, an absurdist novel that explores a world where humans hibernate, The Loosening Skin takes one biological concept (humans who shed) and wraps a mystery around it. Publisher’s summary: Rose Allington is a bodyguard for celebrities, and she suffers from a rare disease. Her moults come quickly, changing everything about her life, who she is, who she loves, who she trusts.

In a world where people shed their skin, it’s a fact of life that we move on and cast off the attachments of our old life. But those memories of love can be touched – and bought – if you know the right people.

Rose’s former client, superstar actor Max Black, is hooked on Suscutin, a new wonderdrug that prevents the moult. Max knows his skins are priceless, and moulting could cost him his career.

When one of his skins is stolen, and the theft is an inside job, Max needs the best who ever worked for him – even if she’s not the same person.

The Loosening Skin by Aliya Whiteley.

A History of What Comes Next by Sylvain Neuvel

Type: Novel Publisher: Tor.com Release date: Feb. 2 Den of Geek says: Sylvain Neuvel wowed with the Themis Files series, a fast-paced mech thriller with adventure, heart, and body horror. An alternate look at the space race turns into sharp science fiction in the first book in his new series.

Publisher’s summary: Showing that truth is stranger than fiction, Sylvain Neuvel weaves a sci-fi thriller reminiscent of Blake Crouch and Andy Weir, blending a fast moving, darkly satirical look at 1940s rocketry with an exploration of the amorality of progress and the nature of violence in A History of What Comes Next.

Always run, never fight. Preserve the knowledge. Survive at all costs. Take them to the stars.

Over 99 identical generations, Mia’s family has shaped human history to push them to the stars, making brutal, wrenching choices and sacrificing countless lives. Her turn comes at the dawn of the age of rocketry. Her mission: to lure Wernher Von Braun away from the Nazi party and into the American rocket program, and secure the future of the space race.

But Mia’s family is not the only group pushing the levers of history: an even more ruthless enemy lurks behind the scenes.

A darkly satirical first contact thriller, as seen through the eyes of the women who make progress possible and the men who are determined to stop them…

Buy A History of What Comes Next by Sylvain Neuvel.

Top New Science Fiction Books in January 2021

Remote Control by Nnedi Okorafor

Type: Novel Publisher: Tordotcom Release date: Jan. 19, 2021 Den of Geek says: Award-winning Nnedi Okorafor brings a mix of science fiction and fantasy with this unique take on the Grim Reaper. Publisher’s Summary: The day Fatima forgot her name, Death paid a visit. From hereon in she would be known as Sankofa—a name that meant nothing to anyone but her, the only tie to her family and her past.

Her touch is death, and with a glance a town can fall. And she walks—alone, except for her fox companion—searching for the object that came from the sky and gave itself to her when the meteors fell and when she was yet unchanged; searching for answers.

But is there a greater purpose for Sankofa, now that Death is her constant companion?

Buy Remote Control by Nnedi Okorafor.

Star Wars: Light of the Jedi

Type: Novel Publisher: Del Rey Release date: Jan. 5, 2021

Den of Geek says: One of the first books in the The High Republic series, it introduces the new era with the story of Jedi 200 years before the fall of the Republic. You’ll find no Skywalkers, Solos, or Palpatines here, but rather an ensemble of fun new galactic warrior-monks.

Publisher’s summary: Long before the First Order, before the Empire, before even The Phantom Menace . . . Jedi lit the way for the galaxy in The High Republic It is a golden age. Intrepid hyperspace scouts expand the reach of the Republic to the furthest stars, worlds flourish under the benevolent leadership of the Senate, and peace reigns, enforced by the wisdom and strength of the renowned order of Force users known as the Jedi. With the Jedi at the height of their power, the free citizens of the galaxy are confident in their ability to weather any storm But the even brightest light can cast a shadow, and some storms defy any preparation.

When a shocking catastrophe in hyperspace tears a ship to pieces, the flurry of shrapnel emerging from the disaster threatens an entire system. No sooner does the call for help go out than the Jedi race to the scene. The scope of the emergence, however, is enough to push even Jedi to their limit. As the sky breaks open and destruction rains down upon the peaceful alliance they helped to build, the Jedi must trust in the Force to see them through a day in which a single mistake could cost billions of lives.

Even as the Jedi battle valiantly against calamity, something truly deadly grows beyond the boundary of the Republic. The hyperspace disaster is far more sinister than the Jedi could ever suspect. A threat hides in the darkness, far from the light of the age, and harbors a secret that could strike fear into even a Jedi’s heart. Buy Star Wars: Light of the Jedi.

Persephone Station by Stina Leicht

Type: Novel Publisher: Gallery / Saga Press Release date: Jan. 5, 2021 Den of Geek says: Roguish space opera serves up escapism with a side of criminal glam. Publisher’s Summary: Hugo award–nominated author Stina Leicht has created a take on space opera for fans of The Mandalorian and Cowboy Bebop in this high-stakes adventure.

Persephone Station, a seemingly backwater planet that has largely been ignored by the United Republic of Worlds becomes the focus for the Serrao-Orlov Corporation as the planet has a few secrets the corporation tenaciously wants to exploit.

Rosie—owner of Monk’s Bar, in the corporate town of West Brynner, caters to wannabe criminals and rich Earther tourists, of a sort, at the front bar. However, exactly two types of people drank at Monk’s back bar: members of a rather exclusive criminal class and those who sought to employ them.

Angel—ex-marine and head of a semi-organized band of beneficent criminals, wayward assassins, and washed up mercenaries with a penchant for doing the honorable thing is asked to perform a job for Rosie. What this job reveals will effect Persephone and put Angel and her squad up against an army. Despite the odds, they are rearing for a fight with the Serrao-Orlov Corporation. For Angel, she knows that once honor is lost, there is no regaining it. That doesn’t mean she can’t damned well try.

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Buy Persephone Station by Stina Leicht.

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architectnews · 4 years ago

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Render Battle Architecture Competition

Render Battle Architecture Competition 2020, Architectural Contest News

Render Battle Architecture Competition 2020

30 Dec 2020

Render Battle Architecture Competition Winners

Render Battle 2020, an international architecture visualization competition, organized by theCharette, unveiled the winners of this year’s edition. The competition’s aim was to find one mind-blowing architectural graphic that conveys an architectural design in the most nuanced way possible. The contest is an annual competition and will be released again in 2021.

theCharette’s RENDER BATTLE 2020 – Winners Unveiled

Renderings have been an architect’s greatest medium to convey a design. It is the art of creating images that highlight the best attributes of an architectural design. Architectural renderings can take many forms – digital collages, hand sketches, perspectives, illustrations, drawings, realistic renders etc.

Our world is becoming increasingly visual every day. The digital revolution has given architects the opportunity to showcase our designs to millions of people. However, with thousands of images flowing across the web, each designer has just a brief moment to make an impact via one bold image that says it all!

The full results, including the winners, the honourable mentions, and the top 30 shortlisted entries can be viewed here – https://thecharette.org/render-battle/result/

JURY

This year’s jury included a raster of eminent illustrators, authors, educators and visualization artists:

• STEPHANIE BOWER (Architectural Illustrator, Author and Educator) • MILOS TEMERINSKI (Founder – Balkan Architect) • AGNIESZKA KLICH (Co-founder – Black Balance Studio & Arch Viz Artist) • KAREN LEWIS (Associate Professor – Ohio State University & Amazon Bestseller Author)

Read on to discover the results of the 2020 edition of the competition and the top three winners.

1st Prize Winner The Fifth Orchestration: Debate Chamber Edwin Maliakkal from United Kingdom

image © Edwin Maliakkal

The Fifth Orchestration: Debate Chamber by Edwin Maliakkal from United Kingdom took home the top prize with its captivating visuals. The self-taught artist designed a graphic that the jury described as “intriguing”. The jurors felt that, “The idea is really interesting, and the image illustrates it in a great way. The composition is good, the lighting creates a mysterious atmosphere, and the colors support the concept.”

Caption by Participant: We live in an age where one can experience space both through physical and virtual realities. Our cognition extends beyond our bodies. Our surroundings become an extension of our minds, the stage on which we dance to the rhythms that line the walls, trace the light that reveals the soul. We become the space we experience. Architecture, therefore, ceases to simply exist within built reality, and instead, fabricates a hyper-real landscape in our minds that we perceive as reality.

The debate chamber becomes an architectural response to the above statement and a reaction against the chaos of biological inefficiencies in democratic legitimacy. Stipulating a future in which we share a symbiotic relationship with machine and AI, the individual becomes one with their surroundings and the collective mind. Thenceforth, embodying the soul of a democratic system, they take part in the debate.

2nd Prize Winner Everything in life is as much fiction as it is fact. Anoovab Deka from United Kingdom image © Anoovab Deka

Anoovab Deka from United Kingdom, won second place for his graphic, “Everything in life is as much fiction as it is fact.” The judges loved the creative vertical composition with interesting framing elements that draw the observer into this strong single-point section perspective. They felt that the architectural elements and suggestion of materials are well-articulated. This indeed is a spectacular work that straddles the line between highly detailed and abstract. The hatching / line-drawing technique is exceptional.

Caption by Participant: The inherent contradiction ignites a sparkling processus which enlightens consciousness and illuminates the view of the world. The objective is to create a similar phenomenon of space which the mind holds and creates. A space that is in choreographed or un-choreographed motion, revealing its histories and excavating embedded fictions within the landscape and through the journey of enclosures and exposures will make us question between what is fact, and what is fiction. Fact and Fiction and the boundaries that separate it can be explained in a multitude of ways and yet still have a sense of obscurity.

3rd Prize Winner Noah’s Ark Tai Zheng Wei & Toh Koon Theng from Malaysia image © TaiTohShowcase

Third place in the competition went to Tai Zheng Wei & Toh Koon Theng from Malaysia. The image makes one ponder about the negative effects mankind is having on the planet, and how humans are on a path of self-destruction.

Caption by Participants: Mankind has irreversibly created a profoundly altered planet because of fossil-fuel-driven civilization. With the misdeed of mankind controlling greenhouse gases and global warming, rising sea level became more destructive for the world’s coastal cities and flooding billions of homes, forcing people to seek shelter from container ships with the remnants of plant samples and animals. Container ships were once carrying container loads and were then carrying humanity’s hope.

A century of voyage finally bought the ship to the ground after an extreme climate reversal vaporising the ocean. The ship was made redundant but fortunate for the voyager with botanical resources and living stocks, the ship remains became an oasis shelter in the middle of the dry sea. “This is just the beginning of the end for mankind’s Noah’s Ark.”

HONORABLE MENTIONS • Shaokang Li (United Kingdom) • Anoovab Deka (United Kingdom) • Wei Ying Ch’ng (Malaysia) • Sarah Hopfner-Heindl (Austria) • Sahil Rattha Singh (India) • Akash Ganguly & Madhavi Sharma (India) • Ahmed Noeman & Jace Marc Fernandes (United Arab Emirates) • Osama Zia Khan (India) • Darlyn Chau (Usa) • 高原 & 李杼欣 (China)

4 Sep 2020

Render Battle Architecture Competition News

PREMISE:

Our world is becoming increasingly visual everyday. The digital revolution has given architects the opportunity to showcase our designs to millions of people. However, with thousands of images flowing across the web, each designer has just a brief moment to make an impact via one bold image that says it all!

COMPETITION BRIEF:

One Mind-blowing Architectural Graphic.

Create one rendering or graphic that conveys an architectural design in the most nuanced way possible. It may be of a new proposal, fictional design or an existing building. It can be located anywhere in the world and be at any scale. The rendering can take the form of a digital collage, sketch, perspective, illustration, drawing, realistic render, etc. It can be drawn by hand or on the computer using any software. This should be accompanied by a short description, in no more than 150 words.

Let your creative juices flow freely and create the most visually stunning architectural graphics!

AWARDS:

Exposure and recognition is the key to success for any designer. The Render Battle competition provides architects and students, the opportunity to showcase their work on a global stage.

• EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: The Top 3 Winners will get an exclusive interview in both – written and video formats. Photos, interview, and more information about the winners will be published on our website.

• PUBLICATIONS: The Winners and Honorable Mentions will be published on the Charette’s website and other international architecture magazines and websites partnered with us. The best entries will also be featured in theCharette Journal.

• CERTIFICATE: the Charette will also acknowledge the outstanding performance of all Winners, Honorable Mentions and Top 30 entries with Certificates of Achievement. All the participants will be awarded a participation e-certificate.

TIMELINE:

• Competition Announcement: September 5, 2020 • Registration Deadline: November 5, 2020 • Submission Deadline: November 10, 2020 • Results: December 2020

ELIGIBILITY: Open for all

For more information, visit the website – https://thecharette.org/render-battle/

Render Battle Architecture Competition information / image received 040920

Architecture Competitions

Current Architectural Competitions Selection

Tomb of Waste Architecture Competition

image courtesy of architects practice

30 May 2020: Standard registration deadline

31 May 2020: Submission deadline

Tomb of Waste Architecture Competition

‘RETHINK: 2025’ Design Competition

RETHINK: 2025 Design Competition

Call For Submissions: Sustainable Revolution

WAF / PechaKucha ‘Isolation Transformed’ Design Competition

Isolation Transformed Design Competition

Kaizhou New City International Young Designer Competition, Sichuan, China

image courtesy of architects practice

Kaizhou New City International Young Designer Competition

Comments / photos for the Render Battle Architecture Competition page welcome

The post Render Battle Architecture Competition appeared first on e-architect.

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megacircuit9universe · 5 years ago

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Ejector Seat

I’ve been thinking about the previous entry for a few days now... the idea of a self driving economy kept on the rails by the collective smarts of all the learning algorithms out there, whose prime directive is to keep the money moving...

And then it occurred to me yesterday that, even if this were true, things could still be screwed up by something like an arbitrary and pointless trade war with the nations who produce most if not all of the stuff that keeps this modern economy moving... namely, the smart phones themselves, as well as all the products we can use those phones to buy at low low prices.

Trumps insane tariff policies, will eventually result in a fairly painful (if totally artificial) inflation on the cost of all those things, which will eventually result in far less consumer spending... which in turn will result in a recession.

And because he is not sane, Trump will respond to the recession by doubling down on the tariffs... turning that recession into a global depression.

Now, before I go any further, I have to address an elephant in the room here... And it’s that the current economy, which has been doing so well for so long, has been pretty bad for many parties involved... such as the low wage global workforce who produces most of the stuff we buy for those low low prices, and also wage stagnation here in America... not to mention the huge education bubble... the growing problem of rent inflation... and of course, climate change!

But outside of America, we were, and still are, working on those problems. There is an argument that low wage factory work in developing nations, while not ideal, in terms of wages or working conditions... still lifts those people out of poverty and... can be seen as a stepping stone to their future prosperity much as factory work during the industrial revolution paved the way for the following generations to enjoy better working conditions, wages, and general quality of life.

That’s far from a guarantee, but it’s possible with the right focus.

Other issues, such as wage stagnation, and the education, rent, and healthcare bubbles... are purely American problems. Most if not all other first world nations either never had those problems, or have solved them by now.

Which leaves climate change... where again, most of the world is on board for addressing the problem, both short and long term.

So... excluding failed states that aren’t really in the game right now... the global economy, while far from perfect, is a work in progress that could become far more fair and equitable over time...

...with the exception of America (and I guess, England too) where legacy political issues such as racism and unbridled corporate greed are currently fighting tooth and nail to stay relevant in this new century that is leaving them behind.

But, putting them to one side for a moment, we can see that our self driving economy... such that it is... could be bad, if it refuses to allow any further change... keeping rent and education forever too high, and foreign factory wages forever too low, while we blindly destroy all the planet’s resources and turn the atmosphere into an oven.

However... because this is ultimately an economy driven by social media... there is a built-in flexibility to accommodate the ever shifting desires of a collective human population, around the globe, who very much want life to become more fair and equatable... from the top of the ionosphere, to the street level, down to the bottom of the underground mine.

So if you accept that premise, as I do, then the collective AI acting as an auto-pilot for this economy... is a good thing... that will not become a bad thing down the road.

TLDR: Even if our modern economy is problematic, the self driving aspect does not damn it to remaining problematic forever, because the self driving aspect is designed to learn and change according to the collective will of all global consumers, rich and poor alike.

In fact, the poor, I would argue, have more leverage than the rich, because... well, they vastly outnumber the rich, for one thing... and they spend those pennies as fast as they get them... while the rich mostly sit on their piles of cash.

Those collective pennies from the 99% amount to far more money, pulsing through the veins of the economy on a daily basis... with the number of individual transactions being... what... in the quadrillions or something a day?

When your self driving feature is a learning algorithm... it can only learn from a transaction.

They literally look at your transaction history, to try and suggest more things you’re likely to be interested in, and if that leads to another transaction... bingo! It has learned!

Far more of that is going on with low income consumers every day... than with the rich... who often try to launder their money and mask the few fat transactions they do make... leaving them out of that cyber learning loop.

Their fat cat financial decisions, more and more as time goes on, will be determined by the nuanced concerns of the 99%, who determine which investments are sound, and which are folly.

Alright! So, lets get back to Donald Trump, noted racist and friend to the greedy... who is also batshit crazy.

He’s in power because of the first two things, but his tariff policy is all that third thing. It’s not really racist or greedy. The racists and the greedy never asked for any tariffs. It’s truly just... batshit lunacy coming out of the cartoonish depths of his plaque ridden synaptic structures.

He heard somewhere that tariffs are a thing bossy presidents used to do, a hundred years ago, and then he heard some other lunatic on AM radio say they were some kind of a solution for white supremacy and... he just seized on that and now he will just never let it go.

As I said in the opening, this is the one kind of thing that could short circuit the self driving economy and cause it to crash like all other economies before it.

However, in the previous entry, I noted that thus far, the economic auto pilot has been doing a freakishly good job of just ignoring his inputs to the pedals and the steering wheel.

I say, “freakishly,” because the result has been huge stock market spikes one day, followed by huge dips the next... for a year now... with the net result that nothing much has changed, because the spikes and dips cancel each other out.

It’s terrifying to watch from one day and week to the next... but on the other hand... it’s been a whole year of this and... we’re still fine!

To be clear here, these are spikes and dips on a stock market chart... they are not spikes and dips in your or my bank balance... or in the prices for the things we buy... because they are happening waaaay to fast.

An apt analogy would be... I come into your living room and flip the lights on and off, fifty thousand times per second, for a whole hour. Will you notice?

Well, considering that your alternating current cycles them on and off already at the rate of sixty thousand times per second (if you live in the US) no! You will not fucking notice any change in the brightness of your lights in the living room.

Okay, yes!.. your light switch would break if I did that... possibly leaving you in the dark. But your light switch is a mechanical component.

The switches and buttons Trump is exercising like mad every waking minute with his daily tweet storms and policy contortions... are all digital... powered by redundant servers all around the planet, sitting in air conditioned rooms, with surge protectors and back up generators.

So... simply overheating the self driving mechanisms our economy, by working them to death trying to compensate for an unending barrage of violent inputs... is not possible.

AI algorithms exist independent of any one server, drive, card, or chip... and the internet as a whole is built to withstand daily attacks from global electrical storms and natural disasters, solar storms, and a never ending assault on the power grid from the world’s squirrels.

So, the economy is quite safe from his day to day insanity.

The question is... is that self driving infrastructure clever enough to deal with the long term, artificial inflation that his tariffs will impose upon the system from the outside?

With the tariffs... Trump is side-stepping the computers entirely, and fucking with the underlying economic math itself!

That’s... what a tariff is!

It’s a way for a leader to arbitrarily change the fundamental math that underpins the economy.

So the answer to the question... if the self driving economy can correct for such a root level attack... depends on how intelligent it actually is.

All of these learning algorithms, working in concert toward the one objective of maintaining and improving the circulation of money... are ALL black-box algorithms, as touched on in the previous entry.

It means... all of them have evolved to survive inside our internet jungle of multiple such species of AI... and while we do not know how any of them think or work... it’s a safe bet they will all work together to isolate and neutralize the same existential threat.

Now, that last paragraph echoes the two-parter on cyber sentience... specifically the fear of such destroying humanity in an act of self preservation... but that fear was fairly well resolved in that two-parter... and the echo to it here, is not intentional.

Instead... and now we are down to the grit of tonight’s entry... I believe it may just be possible that a self driving economy, such as our own, could actually posses, within the cryptic depths of it’s curious, collective mind... a primal awareness that all the, “off the chart,” alarms which have been plaguing it recently, are tied back to one single “agent” known as “President Trump.”

This would seem to make sense, given that the same collective of economic bots are able to identify random teenage girls who are pregnant, even before the girls know it themselves, and start marketing baby products to them.

Would it really be such a leap to imagine that a self driving economy, would not figure out that it was under attack by a worm, introduced through social media, that went by the name of “President Trump.” and... through trial and error... figure out how best to defend against this destructive parasite?

If so... then flashing the all powerful warning signal of an inverted yield curve last week, has proven to be very effective... rattling him to the core, and rattling his greedy enablers hard enough to start trotting out Republican primary challengers against him.

What this would amount to is nothing less than... a self driving car which is learning how to eject an abusive driver... even when the cops are giving that abusive driver a pass... without destroying itself... by turning that abusive driver’s friends against him... by threatening their lives.

And that’s pretty damn clever, if you ask me.

Of course, at this juncture you’re surely thinking, “all of this is has to be bullshit and the inverted yield curve was real! That’s all there is to this! The rest is just your own madness trying to get rid of Trump without suffering an economic downturn.”

And maybe you’re right.

But the larger theme of this blog IS... that we are living in very strange times... like nothing we’ve seen before.

And all of this is just an attempt to try and explain such insanity... by tying together the newest branches of established science, tech, and sociology... into a kind of braided rope to climb?

Okay, time for bed.

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coolartistdesigner · 6 years ago

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Earthship Book one, Reviews

Reviews for EARTHSHIPS

1. I’ve read a lot of books with dystopian themes, and many also paint a very bleak picture in terms of how weather and humanity is faring (spoiler- it’s not good). And I do have a big interest in global warming and what the dangers and ramifications are for our future and our planet, so this book “Earthships” by Bonnie Jane Hall was very intriguing to me. I’ve never read anything by her before, but I’m always on the lookout for new talent, so I was curious to see what it was all about. While it’s certainly not perfect (needs better editing and pacing at times), Ms. Hall is unarguably a talented writer who has a lot of important ideas to share, but more than that she also created solid world-building of this ‘alternative’ life –here on Earth, but different type of ‘reality”— and with a great cast of characters. The focus is mostly on Laurel and how her life and her family’s and the rest of the world is suffering from this ‘shift’ and how to survive on a planet that is dying and how and why it happened, as well as some survival preparations for the hostile environment. It is both creative, and well-researched with a lot of facts and details about the causes and effects of global warming, and how it ravages different countries, and in different ways. Laurel’s character was so intriguing because she has Asperger’s so she processes things a little differently and it was interesting to see her perspective. As mentioned, it is not without its flaws, but it does deliver a powerful lesson that is definitely worth reading. (4-5 stars) Curtis Lehman, senior reviewer – Indie Book Reviewers

2. I was impressed with just how many elements come into play in this novel “Earthships” from family and (sweet) romance, to having a main character with High-Functioning Asperger’s (first I’ve read with this) the political and cultural influences of contributing to global warming, some family life and even AI… it’s a dystopian of sorts but still a realistic look at life and the dire consequences we are all facing. All too often I read works that feel clearly derivative of recycled plots or overused themes, but even though I had some problems with some of the execution, Bonnie Jane was able to take her story and wrap it around a very important message (destruction of climate change) and present it in a new light to give it a new feel. I finished it in less than two nights, and even though I thought the beginning was a little slow to get through because of the narrative set up and backstory, and it takes some time for the action to kick in, by the 20% mark I was all in. This is the first of a series so its just getting started! I recommend it for teens on up and it is suitable for everyone to read. (4 stars) Tammy Howe – Indie Book Reviewers

3. This was a really good book even though “cli-fi” isn’t usually one of my more preferred genres (don’t dislike it, just don’t generally gravitate). But I liked the fact that it had a strong environmental theme as that is something I am very passionate about, and haven’t really read much in the way of ‘fiction’ novels that cover it. It was interesting right off the bat and wastes no time at all getting to the threats of climate change and what is happening to the Earth in the future (because of how we are today). Our narrator is Laurel Campbell, an 18 year old girl with hi-functioning autism and she has her own unique gifts to share as well. We see how it all affects different parts of the world, and the story takes on several topics, from political to ecological and environmental… and even trying to be sustainable with Laurel’s creation of Earthships. I really liked the interesting story-world Hall created here – familiar and with relatable themes and concepts, yet still very unique and most of all, important. This isn’t some irrelevant, trendy dystopian melodrama but one where many social issues and repercussions from climate change are very real. The narrative is strong, detailed and descriptive and there is a lot of action spaced throughout, but also plenty of ‘downtime’ where ideas are being discussed. I surprised at some things that happened-especially more toward the end-, and really never knew where the story was headed, which I liked. Overall an entertaining ride that also makes you think and feel. Recommend for almost all ages to enjoy, and I’m looking forward to reading book #2. (5 stars) Heather Brewer, senior reviewer – Indie Book Reviewers

4. This book is just as much about ‘ideas’ as it is action – and I liked how epic it all felt – even though it’s a little on the scary side. We see what is happening all over the world in 2030… which is a blink of an eye from now, but things are in chaos. Droughts, water, earthquakes, food riots and people starving, economic and social collapse. and so on and so on. It is a book that will hopefully make you think about things differently and in a gritty harsh light if things don’t get better and we make drastic changes. Could benefit from another round of proofreading, but I truly do appreciate the concept and like that it has substance that actually matters. Looking forward to reading more from this series and from Bonnie Jane Hall (3-4 stars) Anthony Alcott, senior reviewer – Indie Book Reviewers

5. Creatively complex, yet straightforward and easy to understand, “Earthships” is a great book for fans of dystopian, science/climate fiction, and speculative fiction… in fact it’s a great book for anyone who lives on this planet to read because it matters to us all, no matter age, race, gender… and affects all other life forms as well. It is an interesting combination of real global and social issues infused with a compellingly realistic ‘alternative’ worldbuilding and plot structure. But there were some times where I felt it could have used some trimming down, as there were frequent places where there was needless information, scenes, or too much telling narrative (instead of showing us through dialogue and action). However, I feel Bonnie Jane Hall did a splendid job of bringing in a passionate, powerful voice and making the story wholly her own, and giving it a fresh feel. I certainly didn’t feel like I’ve read this a million times before, even if it has a somewhat familiar premise. It has a lot of information that you can tell Ms. Hall really did her research and that this subject is near and dear to her heart. Her passionate knowledge is infectious. It does take some time to really develop the tension I like for an engrossing novel (versus a nonfiction), but it does get there and the ending will make you want to read the next one asap!! Shocking situations and a terrifying future reality that is more ‘science’ than it is ‘fiction, and a lovely cast of characters to take you along for this intense, and eye-opening journey. Recommend. (4 stars) Ellen Pennino, senior reviewer – Indie Book Reviewers

6. I honestly had no idea what to expect when starting this, as I didn’t really read the description and had never heard of the author before – I do that sometimes, just read a book ‘blind’ and see where it takes me. Sometimes it works, sometimes I put the book down and call it a day. Well, I was in no way prepared for how totally addicting this novel would be, and the sheer magnitude of the brutality we inflict on this planet and just how badly it WILL come back to haunt us. Yet so many people are still so apathetic and think that they don’t need to really or that they are safe. Wrong. This novel by Bonnie Jane Hall tackles the very real consequences of climate change head-on and serves up a heaping dose of facts and intellectual, scientific evidence that supports her main ideas. But in addition, she has created a host of sympathetic characters we are fond of, and a charming heroine in Laurel, with whom it is refreshing to read from her special viewpoint. She’s very smart and ‘visionary’ – she and this book are not afraid to break the mold to serve a greater purpose for the future of mankind. I think books like this are very important because I definitely think there needs to be something huge to create the necessary paradigm shift how this country and world views it’s energy sources and the direct effect on climate change – even by eating meat. So, it’s vital to read speculative fiction that examines different contingencies and causes and the possibilities… so that we can stop it from becoming a reality. (5 stars) Shahade Faizal, senior reviewer – Indie Book Reviewers

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sexierthanaheartburn-blog · 8 years ago

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The Pixar Theory - explained and updated

Ah, Pixar. The animation company that is responsible for our childhood heartbreaks, laughs and overall created our memories. As a Pixar kid, writing this post brought back so much nostalgia that you wouldn’t understand. I grew up with Pixar and this post brought back so many feels. :)

The “Pixar Theory” is a theory that suggests that all movies that were directed by Pixar and/or part of the “Pixar Universe” is a shared theoretical that all films are part of a continuous “shared film” and how it happens in the same timeline. Just think about it like a huge timeline and at different time intervals are different Pixar movies. If you would like to know more about the Pixar Theory in general, I would recommend to check out these sites:

http://www.pixartheory.com/ and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pixar_universe

and to credit the person who created this remarkable theory: https://jonnegroni.com/2013/07/11/the-pixar-theory/

And so, this is where our timeline begins!

The Good Dinosaur - (prehistoric era)

As we know throughout the film “The Good Dinosaur”, the dinosaurs evolved and as a result, their IQ remarkably boosted. As a result of this skill, it later passed down throughout the Pixar universe all branching from the Good Dinosaur. Additionally, they also have their own language and their own technique on how to farm. During the time where the movie takes place, they are natural hunter-gatherers whom the goal is to survive and thrive despite scarce food and hostile environments. This evolutionary idea “survive and thrive” has been passed on through the Pixar universe and plays a massive role in the movie's plot.

As we inevitably know from history, dinosaurs eventually die out due to various reasons (climate change, asteroids, diseases and even some claims suggest that mammals start to eat dinosaurs eggs). However, these dinosaurs had unique characteristics in terms of their looks and appearance and this trend appears in every Pixar movie such as the witch in Brave, Charlex Muntz in Up and other characters who are seen as “not the norm”.

At this current time period, fossil fuels are quite sacred and thus rare. Due to this emerging problem prompts humanity to look and create other sustainable and alternative fuels after “The Good Dinosaur.” This major problem is also suggested in the Cars franchise, in which an oil crisis related to "dead dinosaurs" is mentioned. As it is quite a significant problem, humanity develops technology faster and thus begins to have an industrial revolution in “The Incredible” around 1950′s to 1960′s and we are in awe of its advancement in Wall-E, around the period of 2800. The zero-point energy discovered by Syndrome would the "human energy" so important in this universe.

There are also many Easter Eggs in the Good Dinosaur. Most memorable are this one: This is the same gas station that appeared in both Toy Story and in Cars. We can establish that this infamous as the station has been here many years and thus explains the gas station should have been built before the release of Toy Story of in the Pixar chronological order. This logo resembled Arlo and/or members of his family and used as a legacy of what The Good Dinosaur had left behind for generations to come - energy.

Here’s another: the dinosaur tail in this memory belongs to Arlo suggesting that both humans and dinosaurs had coexisted with each other at some point.

14th - 15th Century- Brave Early in the Middle Ages, both objects and animals were seen behaving like humans and gaining noticeable human characteristics that couldn't be explained by evolution yet. A reason for this was the magic that the witch have had - this was also known as will-o'-the-wisps. Though it is unclear how to which had gotten her magic, the theory later explains how the witch is Boo from Monsters Inc and time travelling. The witch experimented on various animals, which acquired intelligence and personality and interbred, eventually expanding their population resulting in artificially enhanced fishes and toys who are aware of their own consciousness. This magic is the first use of magical occurrence possessing animals and inanimate objects and thus would eventually lead to the superhero's and artificially enhanced animals and inanimate objects.

That's Sully carved in a piece of wood (Monster’s Inc) in this scene at the witch's house from Brave.

1950′s to 1960′s - The Incredibles

Passing the magic seen in Brave, both the superpowers and the zero-point energy mastered by Syndrome uses this energy. Leading from this, toys would eventually absorb the zero-point energy, which can travel through wavelengths, eventually acquiring their special abilities to walk, talk, aware of their own consciousness and to feel emotions such as love, sorrow and guilt. The magic or this source of energy is well-contained in humans and thus explains why we don’t see Riley or Andy use this. My guess is that this zero-point energy had gotten lost throughout the centuries becoming weaker and weaker as it is no longer a necessity for humans to survive - it’s a bonus.

As well as the zero-point energy becoming widespread in inanimate objects, it is also vital to note that in this period that this energy was enhancing machines and artificial intelligence. This is seen when the Omnidroid v.10, a highly improved AI machine, turns back on Syndrome, its own creator, and starts attacking random people. Like toys, artificial intelligence is actually aware (or programmed) of their own consciousness and thus can rebel.

In Finding Nemo, a young boy can later be seen reading a comic book within the dentist’s workplace waiting room clearly showing a young Mr. Unimaginable on its cover suggesting the Incredibles took place further before than Finding Nemo.

1997-1998 - Toy Story and Toy Story 2.

The first signs of life from toys are now present due to technological advancement that occurred in the Incredibles and the enhanced of artificial intelligence.Toys come up with a code of morals and rules to abide by and are aware of their own consciousness in which is quite similar to human ethics in retrospect (if we were talking in terms of a deontologist universal rules and ethics)

They learn that human love is another energy source, upon which they thrive. An important factor to note is that this is the first time we are seeing toys develop personal connections and relationships with their owner (Andy). Andy, or the thought of Andy, lands them into every mishap but also to find solutions. It can also be argued that friendship is another energy source as well in which is an idea that is slightly touched upon.

Remember that tree Jessie's owner climbed to the top of the hill to play on? Well, it's only the same tree you see in A Bug's Life, but seen from the other side. This is clue describe the Pixar Theory perfectly! It’s the same story narrated in a different perspective. This is the same way how the tree is seen in both A Bug’s Life and Toy Story but from a different perspective. It describes how the Pixar universe is just one story but with a different perspective, different characters and different sets of odds that are stacked against our main protagonist.

Also, there are quite a lot of Finding Nemo references such as:

And, how can we forget this classic?

Finding Nemo, with Finding Dory (2003–04) The first known intelligent animals are seen. Fish create a fairly advanced society, with schools and network systems, and birds are also shown to be intelligent. Despite popular culture think pretty less of fishes intelligent, it’s the same zero-point energy that enhances their memory and cognitive skills due to the many experiments carried out by the witch in Brave.

However, Dory is an exception due to her short-term memory loss. One reasoning for this anomaly is that fishes are evolving fast in which consequently could result in their intelligence not fully developed.

Ratatouille (2007)

Communication between humans and animals is first seen, with Remy mimicking to Linguini and controlling his movements, and later his entire rat colony working in Gusteau's kitchen. Remy has outstanding abilities in cooking, better than any human seen, perhaps even Gusteau; he also walks on two paws, cleans his hands and reads - we saw slight enhancement to Finding Nemo in animal development. It is also demonstrated that his colony, especially his father, sees humans as enemies, prompting a negative sentiment in animals towards humans.

An assortment of Chinese food take-out boxes is seen in Linguini’s refrigerator. This same box design was used in A Bug’s Life and Inside Out.

Toy Story 3 (2010) Lots-o'-Huggin' Bear shows a strong hatred towards humans after his owner Daisy replaced him. Moved by hatred, he starts to lead a toy population and believe that every toy will be soon or late discarded by the humans who own them. This provides another reason for why human-made objects are motivated to take over. In this film, we briefly see that Buzz Lightyear's batteries are produced by the mega corporation Buy n Large (BnL), which shows a great importance in later films.

We also have sufficient evidence to prove that Toy Story 3 and Up occurred in the same universe. If you look really closely you will see a postcard from Carl and Ellie Fredricksen, the married couple from Up. This means that Up takes place in the same universe as the Toy Story movies.

Up (2011-2016) After a judicial decision, Carl has to give up his old house to a corporation that is expanding in the city and therefore showing how fast human expansion is and ever growing and foreshadows the eventual build up of human destruction as showcased in WALL-E

We can see our Lots-o'-Huggin' Bear in this scene in Up referring to Toy Story 3.

Cars, Cars 2, and Cars 3 (2100–2804) In WALL-E, BnL had to send the remaining humans off into space in starships in the early 22nd century due to global health hazards such as pollution as it’s worst, making Earth not sustainable for humans to live in.

Meanwhile, Earth was dominated by the machines (cars) in its place. While the Cars franchise is clearly set on Earth, no humans or animals are seen, what suggests it may take place in a different time period, possibly after they were wiped out.

The throwback to The Incredible.

And the famous tapestry painting of Merida and her parents from Brave. This suggests that the events happened in Brave were now old enough to be written in history books and painted on a tapestry during medieval times. One idea why this is so significant of this famous time period about (what I suggest) the last remaining monarch/blood line.

WALL-E (2805) Centuries thereafter, the world is highly polluted due to the congestion that was partly worsened by Cars, with the only seen inhabitants being WALL-E and a cockroach he befriends, suggesting a survival of insects in the midst of this apocalyptical environment.

Humans are extremely dependent on machines, which made them ignorant about their past and purpose and thus, we have enabled ourselves to stop being thinkers but to rely others to do it for us. The tree that grows at the end of the movie is described as the same tree near the ant colony in A Bug's Life.

Here's one Easter Egg that connects Ratatouille and Wall-E. The scooter Skinner used in Ratatouille can be found in the trash pile early in the film.

A Bug's Life (2898) Insects, especially ants, create their own version of a non-human society so far, with cities, cloth-wearing and even their own machines. It is very little to almost no existence of humans or survival anywhere suggesting that the events that took after Wall-E to help rebuild humanity again only worked to a certain extent. The same ant from Wall-E could have reproduced and thus A Bug’s Life is a story told from the ant’s future children.

The truck also appears in "A Bug's Life" as an Easter egg next to a caravan. This caravan is also the same one that appears in "Monsters Inc".

Monsters University and Monsters, Inc. (3100-5201) The animals who lived on Earth gradually mutate due to the radioactive pollution. They evolve into the monsters seen in the Monsters, Inc. franchise. The monsters eventually become the most advanced society in the timeline, with human-like cities, companies and universities.

(Inside Out part will be updated this week but still hope you enjoyed reading this, anyways!)

Note: This is probably my longest theory yet because the amount of content into this is so vast that I tried to explain it in a more simpler version. But still, I did not come up with this theory! All links are listed above. There is also a book on The Pixar Theory if you really interested about this. Hope you guys enjoy it! Also: this will be the first part of the Disney-Pixar Theory collaboration. The second post will be based on the Disney Theory and the third will be about collaberating them all together and to see if they ALL fit into the same universe. The fourth (but certainly not the least) will be feature a nifty timeable about the Pixar-Disney Theory that I will create and blow your minds.

Until next time my fellow theorists,

-sexierthanaheartburn

#late night writing #pixar #disney #brave #monsters inc #cars #toy story #a bugs life #wall-e #up #ratatouille #finding nemo #finding dory #the incredibles #the good dinosaur

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fmservers · 6 years ago

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That night, a forest flew: DroneSeed is planting trees from the air

Wildfires are consuming our forests and grasslands faster than we can replace them. It’s a vicious cycle of destruction and inadequate restoration rooted, so to speak, in decades of neglect of the institutions and technologies needed to keep these environments healthy.

DroneSeed is a Seattle-based startup that aims to combat this growing problem with a modern toolkit that scales: drones, artificial intelligence, and biological engineering. And it’s even more complicated than it sounds.

Trees in decline

A bit of background first. The problem of disappearing forests is a complex one, but it boils down to a few major factors: climate change, outdated methods, and shrinking budgets (and as you can imagine, all three are related).

Forest fires are a natural occurrence, of course. And they’re necessary, as you’ve likely read, to sort of clear the deck for new growth to take hold. But climate change, monoculture growth, population increases, lack of control burns, and other factors have led to these events taking place not just more often, but more extensively and to more permanent effect.

On average, the U.S. is losing 7 million acres a year. That’s not easy to replace to begin with — and as budgets for the likes of national and state forest upkeep have shrunk continually over the last half century, there have been fewer and fewer resources with which to combat this trend.

The most effective and common reforestation technique for a recently burned woodland is human planters carrying sacks of seedlings and manually selecting and placing them across miles of landscapes. This back-breaking work is rarely done by anyone for more than a year or two, so labor is scarce and turnover is intense.

Even if the labor was available on tap, the trees might not be. Seedlings take time to grow in nurseries and a major wildfire might necessitate the purchase and planting of millions of new trees. It’s impossible for nurseries to anticipate this demand, and the risk associated with growing such numbers on speculation is more than many can afford. One missed guess could put the whole operation underwater.

Meanwhile if nothing gets planted, invasive weeds move in with a vengeance, claiming huge areas that were once old growth forests. Lacking the labor and tree inventory to stem this possibility, forest keepers resort to a stopgap measure: use helicopters to drench the area in herbicides to kill weeds, then saturate it with fast-growing cheatgrass or the like. (The alternative to spraying is, again, the manual approach: machetes.)

At least then, in a year, instead of a weedy wasteland, you have a grassy monoculture — not a forest, but it’ll do until the forest gets here.

One final complication: helicopter spraying is a horrendously dangerous profession. These pilots are flying at sub-100-foot elevations, performing high-speed maneuvers so that their sprays reach the very edge of burn zones but they don’t crash head-on into the trees. This is an extremely dangerous occupation: 80 to 100 crashes occur every year in the U.S. alone.

In short, there are more and worse fires and we have fewer resources — and dated ones at that — with which to restore forests after them.

These are facts anyone in forest ecology and logging are familiar with, but perhaps not as well known among technologists. We do tend to stay in areas with cell coverage. But it turns out that a boost from the cloistered knowledge workers of the tech world — specifically those in the Emerald City — may be exactly what the industry and ecosystem require.

Simple idea, complex solution

So what’s the solution to all this? Automation, right?

Automation, especially via robotics, is proverbially suited for jobs that are “dull, dirty, and dangerous.” Restoring a forest is dirty and dangerous to be sure. But dull isn’t quite right. It turns out that the process requires far more intelligence than anyone was willing, it seems, to apply to the problem — with the exception of those planters. That’s changing.

Earlier this year, DroneSeed was awarded the first multi-craft, over-55-pounds unmanned aerial vehicle license ever issued by the FAA. Its custom UAV platforms, equipped with multispectral camera arrays, high-end lidar, 6-gallon tanks of herbicide, and proprietary seed dispersal mechanisms have been hired by several major forest management companies, with government entities eyeing the service as well.

These drones scout a burned area, mapping it down to as high as centimeter accuracy, including objects and plant species, fumigate it efficiently and autonomously, identify where trees would grow best, then deploy painstakingly designed seed-nutrient packages to those locations. It’s cheaper than people, less wasteful and dangerous than helicopters, and smart enough to scale to national forests currently at risk of permanent damage.

I met with the company’s team at their headquarters near Ballard, where complete and half-finished drones sat on top of their cases and the air was thick with capsaicin (we’ll get to that).

The idea for the company began when founder and CEO Grant Canary burned through a few sustainable startup ideas after his last company was acquired, and was told, in his despondency, that he might have to just go plant trees. Canary took his friend’s suggestion literally.

“I started looking into how it’s done today,” he told me. “It’s incredibly outdated. Even at the most sophisticated companies in the world, planters are superheroes that use bags and a shovel to plant trees. They’re being paid to move material over mountainous terrain and be a simple AI and determine where to plant trees where they will grow — microsites. We are now able to do both these functions with drones. This allows those same workers to address much larger areas faster without the caloric wear and tear.”

vimeo

It may not surprise you to hear that investors are not especially hot on forest restoration (I joked that it was a “growth industry” but really because of the reasons above it’s in dire straits).

But investors are interested in automation, machine learning, drones, and especially government contracts. So the pitch took that form. With the money Droneseed secured, it has built its modestly sized but highly accomplished team and produced the prototype drones with which is has captured several significant contracts before even announcing that it exists.

“We definitely don’t fit the mold or metrics most startups are judged on. The nice thing about not fitting the mold is people double take and then get curious,” Canary said. “Once they see we can actually execute and have been with 3 of the 5 largest timber companies in the US for years, they get excited and really start advocating hard for us.”

The company went through Techstars, and Social Capital helped them get on their feet, with Spero Ventures joining up after the company got some groundwork done.

If things go as Droneseed hopes, these drones could be deployed all over the world by trained teams, allowing spraying and planting efforts in nurseries and natural forests to take place exponentially faster and more efficiently than they are today. It’s genuine change-the-world-from-your-garage stuff, which is why this article is so long.

Hunter (weed) killers

The job at hand isn’t simple or even straightforward. Every landscape differs from every other, not just in the shape and size of the area to be treated but the ecology, native species, soil type and acidity, type of fire or logging that cleared it, and so on. So the first and most important task is to gather information.

For this Droneseed has a special craft equipped with a sophisticated imaging stack. This first pass is done using waypoints set on satellite imagery.

The information collected at this point is really far more detailed than what’s actually needed. The lidar, for instance, collects spatial information at a resolution much beyond what’s needed to understand the shape of the terrain and major obstacles. It produces a 3D map of the vegetation as well as the terrain, allowing the system to identify stumps, roots, bushes, new trees, erosion, and other important features.

This works hand in hand with the multispectral camera, which collects imagery not just in the visible bands — useful for identifying things — but also in those outside the human range, which allows for in-depth analysis of the soil and plant life.

The resulting map of the area is not just useful for drone navigation, but for the surgical strikes that are necessary to make this kind of drone-based operation worth doing in the first place. No doubt there are researchers who would love to have this data as well.

Now, spraying and planting are very different tasks. The first tends to be done indiscriminately using helicopters, and the second by laborers who burn out after a couple years — as mentioned above, it’s incredibly difficult work. The challenge in the first case is to improve efficiency and efficacy, while in the second case is to automate something that requires considerable intelligence.

Spraying is in many ways simpler. Identifying invasive plants isn’t easy, exactly, but it can be done with imagery like that the drones are collecting. Having identified patches of a plant to be eliminated, the drones can calculate a path and expend only as much herbicide is necessary to kill them, instead of dumping hundreds of gallons indiscriminately on the entire area. It’s cheaper and more environmentally friendly. Naturally, the opposite approach could be used for distributing fertilizer or some other agent.

I’m making it sound easy again. This isn’t a plug and play situation — you can’t buy a DJI drone and hit the “weedkiller” option in its control software. A big part of this operation was the creation not only of the drones themselves, but the infrastructure with which to deploy them.

Conservation convoy

The drones themselves are unique, but not alarmingly so. They’re heavy-duty craft, capable of lifting well over the 57 pounds of payload they carry (the FAA limits them to 115 pounds).

“We buy and gut aircraft, then retrofit them,” Canary explained simply. Their head of hardware, would probably like to think there’s a bit more to it than that, but really the problem they’re solving isn’t “make a drone” but “make drones plant trees.” To that end, Canary explained, “the most unique engineering challenge was building a planting module for the drone that functions with the software.” We’ll get to that later.

DroneSeed deploys drones in swarms, which means as many as five drones in the air at once — which in turn means they need two trucks and trailers with their boxes, power supplies, ground stations, and so on. The company’s VP of operations comes from a military background where managing multiple aircraft onsite was part of the job, and she’s brought her rigorous command of multi-aircraft environments to the company.

The drones take off and fly autonomously, but always under direct observation by the crew. If anything goes wrong, they’re there to take over, though of course there are plenty of autonomous behaviors for what to do in case of, say, a lost positioning signal or bird strike.

They fly in patterns calculated ahead of time to be the most efficient, spraying at problem areas when they’re over them, and returning to the ground stations to have power supplies swapped out before returning to the pattern. It’s key to get this process down pat, since efficiency is a major selling point. If a helicopter does it in a day, why shouldn’t a drone swarm? It would be sad if they had to truck the craft back to a hangar and recharge them every hour or two. It also increases logistics costs like gas and lodging if it takes more time and driving.

This means the team involves several people as well as several drones. Qualified pilots and observers are needed, as well as people familiar with the hardware and software that can maintain and troubleshoot on site — usually with no cell signal or other support. Like many other forms of automation, this one brings its own new job opportunities to the table.

AI plays Mother Nature

The actual planting process is deceptively complex.

The idea of loading up a drone with seeds and setting it free on a blasted landscape is easy enough to picture. Hell, it’s been done. There are efforts going back decades to essentially load seeds or seedlings into guns and fire them out into the landscape at speeds high enough to bury them in the dirt: in theory this combines the benefits of manual planting with the scale of carpeting the place with seeds.

But whether it was slapdash placement or the shock of being fired out of a seed gun, this approach never seemed to work.

Forestry researchers have shown the effectiveness of finding the right “microsite” for a seed or seedling; in fact, it’s why manual planting works as well as it does. Trained humans find perfect spots to put seedlings: in the lee of a log; near but not too near the edge of a stream; on the flattest part of a slope, and so on. If you really want a forest to grow, you need optimal placement, perfect conditions, and preventative surgical strikes with pesticides.

Although it’s difficult it’s also the kind of thing that a machine learning model can become good at. Sorting through messy, complex imagery and finding local minima and maxima is a specialty of today’s ML systems, and the aerial imagery from the drones is rich in relevant data.

The company’s CTO led the creation of an ML model that determines the best locations to put trees at a site — though this task can be highly variable depending on the needs of the forest. A logging company might want a tree every couple feet even if that means putting them in sub-optimal conditions — but a few inches to the left or right may make all the difference. On the other hand, national forests may want more sparse deployments or specific species in certain locations to curb erosion or establish sustainable firebreaks.

Once the data has been crunched, the map is loaded into the drones’ hive mind and the convoy goes to the location, where the craft are loaded up with seeds instead of herbicides.

But not just any old seeds! You see, that’s one more wrinkle. If you just throw a sagebrush seed on the ground, even if it’s in the best spot in the world, it could easily be snatched up by an animal, roll or wash down to a nearby crevasse, or simply fail to find the right nutrients in time despite the planter’s best efforts.

That’s why DroneSeed’s Head of Planting and his team have been working on a proprietary seed packet that they were unbelievably reticent to detail.

From what I could gather, they’ve put a ton of work into packaging the seeds into nutrient-packed little pucks held together with a biodegradable fiber. The outside is dusted with capsaicin, the chemical that makes spicy food spicy (and also what makes bear spray do what it does). If they hadn’t told me, I might have guessed, since the workshop area was hazy with it, leading us all to cough tear up a little. If I were a marmot, I’d learn to avoid these things real fast.

The pucks, or “seed vessels,” can and must be customized for the location and purpose — you have to match the content and acidity of the soil, things like that. DroneSeed will have to make millions of these things, but it doesn’t plan to be the manufacturer.

Finally these pucks are loaded in a special puck-dispenser which, closely coordinating with the drone, spits one out at the exact moment and speed needed to put it within a few centimeters of the microsite.

All these factors should improve the survival rate of seedlings substantially. That means that the company’s methods will not only be more efficient, but more effective. Reforestation is a numbers game played at scale, and even slight improvements — and DroneSeed is promising more than that — are measured in square miles and millions of tons of biomass.

Proof of life

DroneSeed has already signed several big contracts for spraying, and planting is next. Unfortunately the timing on their side meant they missed this year’s planting season, though by doing a few small sites and showing off the results, they’ll be in pole position for next year.

After demonstrating the effectiveness of the planting technique, the company expects to expand its business substantially. That’s the scaling part — again, not easy, but easier than hiring another couple thousand planters every year.

Ideally the hardware can be assigned to local teams that do the on-site work, producing loci of activity around major forests from which jobs can be deployed at large or small scales. A set of 5 or 6 drones does the work of a helicopter, roughly speaking, so depending on the volume requested by a company or forestry organization you may need dozens on demand.

That’s all yet to be explored, but DroneSeed is confident that the industry will see the writing on the wall when it comes to the old methods, and identify them as a solution that fits the future.

If it sounds like I’m cheerleading for this company, that’s because I am. It’s not often in the world of tech startups that you find a group of people not just attempting to solve a serious problem — it’s common enough to find companies hitting this or that issue — but who have spent the time, gathered the expertise, and really done the dirty, boots-on-the-ground work that needs to happen so it goes from great idea to real company.

That’s what I felt was the case with DroneSeed, and here’s hoping their work pays off — for their sake, sure, but mainly for ours.

Via Devin Coldewey https://techcrunch.com

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aion-rsa · 4 years ago

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The 100 Prequel Series Would Employ a Lost-Like Flashback Structure

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The following contains spoilers for The 100 backdoor pilot episode “Anaconda”.

As backdoor pilots go, The 100 episode “Anaconda” is darn effective. The hour serves as an origin story for the human survivors of Earth’s first nuclear apocalypse, taking us all the way back to the pivotal moment in 2052 when the missiles were launched and a cult-ish group known as the Second Dawn locked themselves underground for protection.

“Anaconda’s” story is compelling in and of itself, following Second Dawn leader Bill Cadogan and his semi-estranged family as they attempt to survive the end of the world and determine what direction the future of the human race will take in the aftermath. The story eventually splits our survivors into two groups – one who will form the ancestors of the Grounder clans we already know, and a second, who will colonize other planets far from Earth.

The episode also fills in the gaps at the end of Becca Pramheda’s story, burning her at the stake before sending the future Grounders off with the AI known as the Flame and a legend that will one day turn into the Commanders. The second group of survivors leaves through the portal, to an eventual future as the Shepherd’s Disciples on Bardo, which will take them outward from there to Sanctum, Skyring, and Nakara.

The 100 Season 7: How is Clarke The Key?

By Natalie Zutter

The 100 Season 7: Bill Cadogan & Second Dawn Explained

By Kayti Burt

The planned The 100 prequel would explore the story of what happened after the future Disciples and future Grounders part ways, with one faction led by Cadogan himself and the other by his daughter, Calliope. Unlike its predecessor, however, it would also employ a narrative flashback structure to introduce viewers to what the world was like on pre-apocalypse Earth.

“I’m also fascinated by the world that led up to the apocalypse, which sadly feels a lot more like our world every day,” showrunner Jason Rothenberg told Den of Geek.

Given the brief glimpse we see into the world of 2052 on the Cadogans’ television screen, with its overpopulation, large-scale climate protests, and police brutality – not to mention the imminent global thermonuclear destruction – there certainly seems as though there will be plenty of timely and uncomfortably familiar story there.

“Getting to kind of go back and show that, to me, was part of the fun of this, and certainly will be part of the—fun might be the wrong word—but part of the drama of this show will be flashing back consistently to the pre-apocalypse to show all of our characters who they were before this, our global catastrophe struck,” Rothenberg said. “So, much like Lost used flashbacks, I think we’ll do that as a device in this series.”

The 100 has always been a series that shines brightest when exploring stories of characters under extreme duress, using nightmarish circumstances to show us what humanity is capable of – for both good and ill – when pushed to its limits. “Anaconda” is no exception, and the proposed prequel series will certainly be much the same, as the two ragtag groups who depart the Second Dawn bunker build new societies in two very different situations. As one group heads into a literal nuclear wasteland, the other journeys to the stars, But both will surely be asked to make difficult, if not impossible, choices almost immediately.

This is, in fairness, the sort of narrative environment in which flashbacks could be an extremely useful tool. Though we’re familiar with the general scope of the prequel series’ universe, we don’t know any of these characters. At the moment, most of them don’t even appear to be connected to anyone from the current world of The 100. The idea of letting us see them as the people they once were in the real world is appealing and will provide necessary layers to their post-apocalyptic experience. After all, it lands differently when someone chooses to kill if they were a pacifist all their life before that moment, doesn’t it?

But using flashbacks as a narrative device can also be something of a double-edged sword.

Sci-fi series Lost is rightly credited with pushing this storytelling trick into the mainstream television toolbox, but it’s been a fairly regular feature on many shows in the decade-plus since we were all stuck on an island together. From Orange is the New Black to This is Us, regular flashbacks have become a standard tool for exploring what makes specific characters tick, as well as to illustrate how they’ve been molded by their life experiences in ways both good and bad. (They’re also super useful for pulling off shocking plot twists and/or playing with the passage of time in a given series – looking at you, Westworld.)

Since The 100 is a CW property, the superhero drama Arrow is perhaps our most instructive comparison. It uses the flashback – and in later seasons, flashforward – structure to frame its episodes for the entirety of its run and is a great example of what’s both wonderful and awful about the format. For its first two seasons, the flashbacks of Oliver Queen’s time on Lian Yu served a necessary narrative purpose. Season 1’s were instructive, filling in necessary gaps for us about how a once shallow playboy transformed himself into a combat-ready vigilante. The second season flashbacks were more fully integrated into the overall plot, showing us how Oliver’s history with Slade Wilson had a direct impact on his present-day struggle with Deathstroke.

After that, however, the flashbacks became almost pointless, something the show included simply because it was a framework the series had established as something it had to have, rather than a tool it used constructively. In them, Oliver went to Hong Kong, and then back to Lian Yu again, and then to Russia, without ever informing his family he was actually alive. We could have really all done without all of them. (And let’s be honest, that show had plenty of women who could have used the screentime.) Did the show just get tired of coming up with reasons for the flashbacks to exist? Maybe. The audience certainly got tired of watching them, which likely drove the show’s decision to flip to flashforwards during the show’s final seasons.

Maybe flashbacks, as a narrative device, have a definite shelf-life. Even infamous ones on Lost itself eventually felt more confusing than thrilling.

The multiple tightly plotted elements of “Anaconda” – particularly surrounding Becca’s arrival and death – point toward a narrative that has been thought out to a fairly granular degree. This is an encouraging sign that perhaps Rothenberg already knows what stories he wants these flashbacks to tell, and the ways in which they need to connect to the prequel series’ larger arcs. But how long they’ll be a viable tool for the show, once we know these characters better and have a firmer grip on how their stories slot into the history The 100 has already shown us is something the prequel series will have to figure out on its own.

The post The 100 Prequel Series Would Employ a Lost-Like Flashback Structure appeared first on Den of Geek.

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