Alternate worlds: in which a deadly disease also makes the infected extremely beautiful

Jane is infected with a disease that will kill her in a matter of weeks. It is incurable, no matter how hard the medical world has tried, and it kills in all cases, shriveling the internal organs into useless husks, and putting all the energy gained from this atrophy into reconstructing the afflicted's outward appearance. …

Alternate Worlds: in which everyone has to live through every second twice

Two seconds forward, one second back. You move the slice of pizza toward  your mouth, and right before you bite it moves back a bit and you've got to do it again. You bite, chew, start to swallow, then have to swallow again. Would your brain adjust to this kind of existence, or would every …

Flying far away

I'm getting on a plane to Singapore this evening, to fly across the sea to see my lady's family. And have some fun exploring too! It will be the third time I've done so, and I think I'm getting pretty good at traveling. Bringing less, and having less stress each time. I hope to keep …

Solaris, by Stanislaw Lem

The end of this novel went in a different direction than I expected. I was drawn into it right away and was excited by the story and the ideas and the potential, but it feels like in the end it left much unexplored. There was a lot of attention focused on the technical details, research, …

Alternate worlds: in which I am a robot who forgot he is a robot

All memories of eating, bleeding, or other non robotic bodily functions have been inserted throughout the day by the memory chip in my positronic brain. Many times throughout the day, I shut down momentarily, freeze in place, and a recollection of drinking coffee or using the toilet is inscribed on my mind. Why? because, we …