TheBlueNebula

This blog post propounds a seemingly effective rebuttal to Stephen Hawking's aliens-as-conquistadors scenario. But its fundamental point apparently boils down to "Extraterrestrials advanced enough to accomplish space exploration (and overwhelm us with their technological superiority) won't bother because of the lack of a demonstrable ROI."

Along the route to making this point, the author manages to stand up some straw man arguments against such ideas as "we're the only intelligent life in the universe" and "we'd make good subjects for scientific study."

For me, Hawking's scenario delivers a Pascal's Wager-like persuasive payload against which this blogger's dismissiveness is ineffective. Consider Pascal's thought with the concept of intelligent extraterrestrial life in place of divinity:

If I saw no signs of a divinity, I would fix myself in denial. If I saw everywhere the marks of a Creator, I would repose peacefully in faith. But seeing too much to deny Him, and too little to assure me, I am in a pitiful state, and I would wish a hundred times that if a god sustains nature it would reveal Him without ambiguity  Pensees

Would it not be a better wager for us in our "pitiful state" to accept a belief in the potential danger of advanced alien explorers than to assume that we can adequately calculate the economic disincentives to their putting Earth on their list of hostile takeover targets?

Why We'll Never Meet Aliens

I give it thumbs up, a green light, a full popcorn bag . . . whatever. Oblivion is an entertaining and well-put-together movie with a refrigerator-logic story line and a post-apocalypse setting. Visually, it is lovely. Its special effects are top-notch. Its pacing is near-perfect. Best of all: it's not a sequel, a reboot of an over-appreciated franchise, or an extended commercial for a video game.

Cruise offers up a workmanlike performance, which is appropriate considering he plays a futuristic drone-repairman-cum-soldier, Andrea Riseborough is seductive yet eerily unnatural as his nubile companion who, having "taken the red pill," prefers her Reality just as it appears, thank you very much. 

You have likely seen elements of this story in numerous other movies, but not as neatly and appealingly prepared, packaged, and presented. The appreciative viewer just needs to be a little more like Victoria ("I don't want to know . . .") than Jack, troubled by intrusive recollections of a history he does not understand. Who really cares if the recipes have been done elsewhere if  the meal is delicious nevertheless?

Oblivion (2013)

Graham Hancock may be wrong but his heart (and head) are in the right place. TED may be right (about Reality) but they seem to be doing it wrong.

I have been following with interest the controversy surrounding Graham Hancock's TED talk video and the TED officials' decision to remove it from their Youtube channel.

I have long appreciated Hancock's speculative non-fiction. His ideas may well turn out to be incorrect but they do not deserve to be "sequestered" simply because they are incompatible with the TED organization's apparently prevailing preference for a materialist agenda.

Of course, where TED is paying the bills they can do what they will with their properties. But in the much larger public space where they do not exert control they seem to be fomenting a massive Streisand Effect that weakens their reputation and diminishes their credibility.

Graham Hancock's post on Google+ contains numerous links that provide background and commentary on this matter for those interested.

Graham Hancock's G+ post on the TED controversy

I’ve had them say “You can do whatever you want, it’s SciFi, it doesn’t have to make sense.”

Well, that explains a lot about the last couple of decades of science fiction on television.

Slashdot Interviews: J. Michael Straczynski Answers Your Questions

"I am the senator.
You are the citizen.
You need to be quiet."

Although he disputes it, North Carolina state enator Tommy Tucker is reported to have uttered this rejoinder to a challenge from a local newspaper publisher.

There was a time when we thought our society was engaged in preserving a "government of the people, by the people, for the people." Perhaps that is still true, but it is disappointing to be confronted with the possibility that some of these "of the people" people no longer consider themselves just people.

Tommy Tucker . . . Confronts Publisher . . . 

And, in other news, I hereby nominate myself for an award for excellence in the field of award self-nomination. Thank you, thank you.

Our esteemed state legislators do not always give us our due through their efforts as statesmen, but they usually partially remedy that deficit by serving as bad examples deserving public ridicule.

State Rep Honors Himself with Resolution

Site Recommendation

Here is an interesting and valuable blog focused on covering news of retractions in published scientific research. The authors refer to it as "a window into the scientific process." I see it as a buttress supporting transparency and accuracy in the scientific publishing process. 

A lot of things can go wrong when people are doing science. Retractions are not always the result of misconduct or incompetence. Browsing through the posts affords even a casual reader some insight into the difficulties surrounding modern academic research practices.

Retraction Watch

Oz the Great and Powerful is an entertaining and visually captivating "unofficial" prequel to The Wizard of Oz.  Although the scary parts are probably too intense for the very young, most everyone else should find plenty to enjoy in this $215 million Disney spectacle.

Rachel Weisz provides a particularly well-nuanced performance as Evanora, a malevolent and deceitful Wicked Witch. Michelle Williams is guileless and charming as Glinda the Good Witch, a role for which she seems utterly perfect. Mila Kunis is at first winsome, and later ruthlessly implacable, as the grievously betrayed Theodora, Wicked Witch of the West.

James Franco, adept at insincerity, seems a bit off-key in those moments when the plot doesn't call for it. Bruce Campbell is wasted and mostly unrecognizable as an over-costumed Winkie Gate Keeper. 

In the end clever contrivance and showbiz spectacle trump real but strangely artless black magic--an unsurprising subtext affirming entertainment industry sensibilities and bemeaning the threat of true wickedness.  

Oz the Great and Powerful

Ever dedicated to addressing the issues of greatest significance to Kansans, the Senate has passed a bill removing switchblades from the state's list of banned weapons. Jayhawkers have long been disadvantaged by the inability to legally own bladed cutting tools that can be opened with a single free hand  It is truly touching to know that our state legislators have persevered in this important work, despite the hardship of not being able to differentiate deadly blades from women's shoe heels.

"He said committee members also had a hard time defining what a stiletto is because the company that manufactured knives under that name has long since gone out of business and the word stiletto is also used to describe a type of heel on women’s shoes."

When it comes to debating firearms legislation issues, the variety of possible meanings of "gun" must certainly represent an insurmountable obstacle for the definition-challenged solons of the Sunflower State.

Shinola is an obsolete brand, too. Let's hope that future Kansas legislative agenda do not entail adducing the distinction between it and certain animal husbandry by-products. 

Bill legalizing switchblades passes Senate