I just watched this TED talk by a man who makes up words to describe obscure emotional feelings such as the hunger for disaster, or the fear of achieving your goals... He describes words at one point as 'keys into people's minds.' That's very apt. Language in essence is a form of mind control. I …
Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood: greed kills
I really enjoyed this novel. Yes, it's kind of a tired and overdone subject, but it was executed very well, with a lot of new elements. In the very near future, the world is dominated by corporations, who's privileged employees and their families live in compounds isolated from the 'plebelands' where the regular poor folks …
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How to set the tone
Look at that tree. It's a pretty normal tree, right? I tried to pick a very neutral picture of a tree--one that could be anywhere, with anything going on around it outside the frame. Anything could be happening to the person observing it. How would you choose to describe this tree? That choice should …
Create without conditions
Imagine a cellist playing one of Bach's solo suites. Does he consider his audience? (Did Bach, for that matter?) Does he play the suite differently to audiences of different incomes and educations and social backgrounds? No, the work selects its audience. -- Verlyn Klinkenborg One could argue the above quote by noting that pop bands …
Fixing humanity
Oryx and Crake is getting more interesting by the chapter. The cause of this apocalypse, seems to be some combination of human greed (the usual) and genetic engineering. But not, engineering of a virus (boring) or monster (less boring but still lame) but of new and improved humans. What would happen if we tried to …
Jonas David 