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future

Quantum Computer Can See Sixteen Possible Futures

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quantum comouter - live science

When Mile Gu boots up his new computer, he can see the future. At least, 16 possible versions of it — all at the same time. Gu, an assistant professor of physics at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, works in quantum computing. This branch of science uses the weird laws that govern the universe’s smallest particles to help computers calculate more efficiently. Unlike classical computers, which store information as bits (binary digits of either 0 or 1), quantum computers code information into quantum bits, or qubits. These subatomic particles, thanks to the weird laws of quantum mechanics, can exist in … Read more

FOR WRITERS: Future Gender

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FOR WRITERS Today’s writer topic comes from QSFer J. Scott Coatsworth: Over the last few decades, our societal understanding of gender has evolved beyond the binary to encompass transgender, non-binary, gender-queer and gender-fluid folks. In your sci fi works, how have you dealt with the understanding and expression of gender in the future? Writers: This is a writer chat – you are welcome to share your own book/link, as long as it fits the chat, but please do so as part of a discussion about the topic. Join the chat

SPACE: The Crystal Sun

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In a process not unlike human aging, most stars entering the final chapter of their lives tend to shrink, shrivel and slowly turn white. Astronomers call these cold, dense husks of once-mighty stars white dwarfs and, unlike humans, their dotage can last for billions of years. In that time, stars with masses between about a tenth and eight times the mass of our sun burn up the last of their nuclear energy, shed their fiery outer layers and dwindle into ultracompact cores that pack about a sun’s-worth of mass into a planet-size package. While this might sound like an unglamorous … Read more

FOR WRITERS: Evolution in Sci Fi

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FOR WRITERS Today’s writer topic comes from QSFer J. Scott Coatsworth: We tend to think of evolution as something that happened in the past. But evolution is happening all around us, and we are accelerating it by massively changing the world. How will it play out in the next 100, 500, 5000 years? Writers: This is a writer chat – you are welcome to share your own book/link, as long as it fits the chat, but please do so as part of a discussion about the topic. Join the chat

Are Black Holes Portals to the Future? – Live Science

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black hole - pixabay

Black holes are among the most mysterious places in the universe; locations where the very fabric of space and time are warped so badly that not even light can escape from them. According to Einstein’s theory of general relativity, at their center lies a singularity, a place where the mass of many stars is crushed into a volume with exactly zero size. However, two recent physics papers, published on Dec.10 in the journals Physical Review Letters and Physical Review D, respectively, may make scientists reconsider what we think we know about black holes. Black holes might not last forever, and … Read more

FOR WRITERS: Countries of the Future

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future Earth - pixabay

FOR WRITERS Today’s writer topic comes from QSFer J. Scott Coatsworth: Let’s fast-forward 100 years – do we still have mostly the same countries? Who’s allied with who? And which country is the dominant player, or is there one? Go! Writers: This is a writer chat – you are welcome to share your own book/link, as long as it fits the chat, but please do so as part of a discussion about the topic. Join the chat

ANNOUNCEMENT/GIVEAWAY: Re-Life, by J. Scott Coatsworth

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Re-Life

QSFer J. Scott Coatsworth has a new MM sci fi book out: Re-Life. Eric wakes up in a strange new world, in a new body that’s rid of the cancer that killed him. Jozy takes a shine to this newcomer from the past, and goes to great lengths to accommodate him. Still, Eric has questions. How did he get to this strange new city, and why was he Re-Lifed? And what happened to his old world? Get It On Amazon – Just 99¢ Giveaway Enter for a chance to win three of Scott’s most popular 99¢ shorts: a Rafflecopter giveaway … Read more

TECH: How Close Are We to 2001’s AI Future?

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Hal - 2001

“I’m sorry Dave, I’m afraid I can’t do that.” Movie audiences first heard these calmly intoned and ominous words in 1968, spoken by a spaceship’s intelligent computer in the science-fiction masterpiece “2001: A Space Odyssey.” With that one phrase, the computer named HAL 9000 confirmed that it could think for itself, and that it was prepared to terminate the astronauts who were planning to deactivate it. Fifty years after director Stanley Kubrick released his visionary masterpiece of space colonization, how close are humans to the future that he imagined, in which we partner with artificial intelligence (A.I.) that we ultimately … Read more

FOR WRITERS & READERS: I’m Not Ready for the Future

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future - pixabay

FOR WRITERS & READERS Today’s topic comes from QSFer J. Scott Coatsworth: I’ve always loved stories about the future. Flying cars, jet packs, phasers and light sabers and all that. But now we seem to be running willy-nilly into into these things with few safeguards and so much greed, I’m not so sure. We’re getting driverless cars, but they may kill people or be hacked. We’re getting AI, but they might take over the world. So what futuristic tech scares the dickens out of you now that it’s almost here – and why? Join the chat

FOR WRITERS: Stealth Eugenics

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disability

FOR WRITERS Today’s writer topic comes from QSFer Cyd Athens: This topic, which I believe would be a writer discussion, is inspired by something Else Sjunneson-Henry wrote on her Twitter feed. Her core contention: “If you’re writing far future, or even near future SF and you don’t have disabled people in it, then you’re participating in eugenicist thought processes.” There are other ways to frame this too. I’ll try to tackle it from a more positive angle – Should we rethink our future stories, specifically in terms of who we might be leaving out, and what it might signify? See … Read more