DUNE has introduced millions of people to a systematic understanding of the world — Systems thinking is powerful. Since Isaac Newton’s The System of the World, systems thinking has been our most powerful tool to understand…the world. (Systems thinking also has its limitations…topic of a future video essay!) But most people still do not have access to systems thinking. And a huge amount of…

Why does a Disney streaming show about young Stalin make us uncomfortable? — Ever since the Andor Controversy I’ve been chewing over why people were 1) generally comfortable with Andor as anti-fascist 2) generally uncomfortable with Andor as Marxist I was as surprised than anyone to find a Disney streaming show presenting Leninist revolutionary ideology but as I watched Andor season 1 and…

…to blow your mind — The top 10 science fiction novels to Blow Your Mind Open Originally published as a Science Fiction channel video essay

Lem’s story Provocation deserves to be read today — Folks. I have a problem. For some time I have been researching a new video essay on Stanislaw Lem, the Polish writer, author of Solaris, and one of the greats of science fiction. I have a complete interview with Lem expert, and longtime member of our community, Elana Gomel. …

To Blow Your Mind — We all have them especially listeners of the Science Fiction podcast those science fiction books that weren’t just a thing you read but that BLEW YOUR MIND the science fiction that shifted how you saw things that transformed your consciousness in subtle but profound ways this list suggests 10 books that I think might do that for people no doubt the group mind can suggest more and better in the comments

The William Gibson classic is less and less read as a book — Neuromancer is less and less read as a book That’s natural. Times move on. Cyberpunk feels a bit like pulling open an old drawer full of VHS casette tapes and broken mirrorshades. But I think we’re losing something as we lose Neuromancer. The demographics of this community are roughly 45…

Anglia television’s short lived police procedural retains cult status among UK drama aficionados — Anglia television’s short lived police procedural retains cult status among UK drama aficionados. Originally pitched as a vehicle for rising star Robert Powell, the series came close to not happening after the surprise success of Jesus of Nazareth. …

Denis Villeneuve’s movie may be politically much more explosive than intended when it finally releases — Dune 2 has a big problem. Frank Herbert was partly inspired to write Dune by The Seven Pillars of Wisdom by TE Lawrence AKA Lawrence of Arabia. Lawrence, as a remarkably young British officer in the first world war, lead an uprising of of Arab tribes in revolt against the…

However it happened, this corporate entertainment franchise is dead — Was it the corporate entertainment complex, in the engine room, with the hydro spanner? Was it the “woke mob”, in the transporter room, with the phaser pistol? Was it just bad writing, too much CGI and a dated premise? However it happened, and whoever did it, there’s the dead corpse of an entertainment franchise that keeps being dug up and made to perform again and again.