Luc Reid on Neuroscience Fiction

Luc Reid has an interesting article in the latest issue of Clarkesworld Magazine - "Future Brains: Neuroscience Fiction versus Neuroscience Fiction".

Science fiction has had brains on the brain at least since Dr. Frankenstein installed one in his monster. Over the years science fiction has depicted technologies like mind control (in Star Trek, for example), instant learning (The Matrix), telepathy (Robert Heinlein's Time for the Stars), and transferring memories and skills (The Dollhouse). While some of these technologies may eventually prove to be possible, others are extremely unlikely to ever work based on what we now know about the brain — because our own minds are much stranger territory than we ever used to imagine they were.

Go check it out if you are interested in the real science behind copying memories, mind control, and telepathy.

Image: National Cancer Institute Visuals Online: Color slide of a single image of a human brain using a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machine. Shows a bright blue color where brain cancer metastasizes in the occipital lobe.
Tags:science fiction, biology

I like a little Science in My Fiction

The fine folks at Crossed Genres have started a new blog: Science In My Fiction.

Science in My Fiction is a new blog we’re launching to get science fiction and fantasy writers and fans thinking ahead of science again. Playful bloggers will take a look at recent scientific developments and extrapolate potential futures from them.

The focus on extrapolating possible futures from current science gives it a bit of a different spin from most science-in-SF type blogs.


In the spirit of full disclosure, I'll be a contributor. I'm looking forward to it!

The first post is by Kay Holt: "Extrapolative Fiction for Sapient Earthlings"

Researchers’ recent suggestion that dolphins be recognized as non-human persons is a prime example of a scientific idea ripe for storytellers’ extrapolation. Dolphins have brains very like ours and they apparently think much like we do. They also have complex societies and recognize themselves in mirrors. Sure, they lack opposable thumbs, but that hasn’t kept them from inventing tools and quickly teaching each other new skills.

Go check it out!

Tags:science fiction, biology

Lou Anders on Future Genetic Engineering

Lou Anders has posted a clip from an interview he did with John Blyer last fall:




That's a very science fictional view of our biotech future.

Tags:science fiction, genetic engineering