I’ll start off this update with a writing update. The latest story on Armchair Alien, A Whisper of Shadows, was written by yours truly. It’s different from other stories there — there are no vampires or spaceships, but there is some magic. You can read the preamble here or jump right into the story.
Now I’m back to working on book 4 in The Lyra Cycle.
What I’m reading
I recently finished The Three Body Problem by Liu Cixin. I thought I should read it before watching the TV show … I found I didn’t love it as much as others have. It’s has some great big ideas (both great, big and great big) but I like more character driven stories. (If you’ve read my science fiction, you know there’s not a big idea in sight.)
The big idea that seems to get most play is the Dark Forest hypothesis. This hypothesis provides an answer to the Fermi paradox about why we don’t hear echoes of any alien civilizations — the gist of the Dark Forest’s answer is the universe is full of alien civilizations, and the reason we don’t hear from them is because they stay silent to protect themselves from hostile aliens. But that wasn’t the big idea that stood out most to me … and this is where this update gets serious.
Warning: 100% chance of spoilers and swearing ahead.
The big idea that stood out to me was the idea that the way to attack progress, to attack civilization — and to keep the masses controlled — is to attack science. To undermine the belief in science and the scientific method. For me, it really echoed a trend in our society that seems to have accelerated in the the last 5+ years of questioning science and medicine. I’m not saying science is perfect, and certainly bad things have been done in the name of it — and science advances by questioning itself, but that’s not the questioning we’re seeing from certain quarters.
The other thing that stood out was the willingness of one character to basically say “fuck humanity” … I tend to be an optimist, but I tell you, there are days. It’s something I’ve thought about a bit recently as my country skips towards a precipice that will likely lead to rolling back hard-won rights … as well as result in defunding science.
If you’ve read The Three Body Problem, I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Happy Reading!
— CR
Where to find my books
If you’d like to read any of my sci-fi or urban fantasy books, you can find them at your favourite online retailers. Or you can buy them direct from me on the Armchair Alien store (and get special offers and discounts).
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