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future

Discussion: Future Trash

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garbage

OK, it’s garbage day here in our little corner of the world. Already, we are running out of places to put all the garbage we generate. We have so much extra packaging – did you see that story of the family who decided to do what they could to live without it, and managed to reduce their garbage output to one glass bottle’s worth in a year? And what about the great plastic garbage patch in the middle of the Pacific? So I’m inspired to ask – what happens to the garbage of the future? Does the whole planet get … Read more

Discussion: Pushing the Boundaries of Queer

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Today’s topic comes from QSFer Evan J. Peterson: I’m more into the psychology of gender and sex than the romance, so I’d like to talk about what’s possible in pushing the boundaries of Queer beyond LGBT. How can magic or technology be used to give same-sex couples (or asexual individuals) biological children? How can we continue to make gender even queerer? Why not shapeshifters of gender rather than species? Genuine love between human and robot? Etc. It’s a fun sandbox to play in – but it can be fraught with pitfalls as well. What do you think?

Discussion: The Future of Music

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Future Music

Every now and then here at QSF, we like to dust off our time machines, pull out our crystal balls, and make a bit of loose leaf tea to see if we can divine future trends. After all, that’s what being a sci fi writer is all about, right? So to follow up on yesterday’s post about spec fic music for Rainbow Con, I’d like to ask you to forecast where music might go in the next 20, 50, or 100 years. Will past trends be recycled? Will something entirely new arise? Will we even recognize what our descendants will … Read more

News: The Sexual Future is Here

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Lovely

These days, everything we own is becoming “smart” – from the smart watch, smart TV, and smart fridge, to the smart fitness tracker and smart glasses – so it should come as no surprise that now smart wearable technology is coming to sex toys too. Meet Lovely, a penis ring now on Indiegogo that does way more than just vibrate – its built-in sensors send data to an accompanying smartphone app in order to track your sexual performance, give you tips on what you could do better next time, and count how many calories you’ve burned. Made from medical-grade silicone, … Read more

Will Handwriting Be Written Off?

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When I was in elementary school, we learned both block writing and cursive. I hated cursive. Some people are able to write in cursive and create beautiful handwriting. Mine always looked scrunched up and messy. I have to say, I haven’t used cursive sense my high school days. Even when I write a letter, well, a birthday card, I use block letters. Nevertheless, I’ve been sad to see a number of articles saying schools are no longer teaching cursive. It has something to do with computers making hand-written communication obsolete, and the fact that people just don’t use it anymore, … Read more

Writing the Future

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One of the most difficult things for me as a sci fi author is figuring out what I think the future will look like. Not just socially – that’s often the fun part, coming up with new social constructs to hang my story on. But also physically. What will the cities look like? What will gadgets look like? How will they work? How ill we eat? Communicate? Have sex? These can be fun things to figure out too, but they can also be writing minefields. Take, for example, computers. 50 years ago, they existed only as huge, room-sized things that … Read more