3 SF novels of the not-too-distant future

A vacation for me is physical activity combined with extended opportunities to sit and read, guilt-free, books of my choice. The recent bike trip was perfect. (I found myself reading a good deal on the small but easy to carry screen of my iPhone.)

If my books this summer have had a theme, it's been science fiction of the near future, one of my favorite genres. Carrying current trends to their logical ends is great fun. I've even tried my hand at this when writing professionally. See Miles's Library.

Here are three quite different, but all recommendable novels that stretched my thinking.

Rainbows End by veteran sci-fi author Vernor Vinge is basically a Rip VanWinkle story set in 2025. Poet (and world class ass) Robert Gu is revived from a Alzheimer's coma after 20 years to find a population continuously connected to data, networks and each other through wearable computing devices. Contact lenses, clothing and gestures have replaced monitors, computers and keyboards - except among old-timers who cannot adjust to the change. Augmented reality allows for playing World of Warcraft type games in physical settings, books are not being just scanned but shredded, and jobs revolve around information creation.

There is a hackneyed, rather confusing plot regarding an international conspiracy to create a mega-virus, but the very credible world Vinge creates is the real reason to read this book. If you have teachers who can't adopt to technology, gaming and social networking now, they would be in really deep doo-doo in this not-too-distant world.

Comedian Albert Brooks's 2030: The Read Story of What Happens to America might better be called social fiction than science fiction. While there are self-piloting cars and planes in this future, the only real scientific change has been in medicine: a cure for cancer. This leads to a dramatic population rise in the geriatric set who suck resources from an America that is already more financially bankrupt than that of today. The first Jewish president has his hands full with an increasingly violent younger generation that feels hopeless, a catastrophic earthquake that levels Los Angles leading to its sale to China, a growing divide between the uber-rich and the rest of us, and his own crush on one of his financial advisors. Don't look for great writing. inventive science or nail-biting suspense, but just an interesting, rather credible multi-POV tale of today - but just a little more so.

As I was reading this, I watched 60 and 70 year-old bicyclists zip past me on 40-60 mile rides all last week. It seems that a certain population devotes its retirement to physical fitness. Maybe it won't take a cure for cancer to make Brooks's dystopia reality. One elderly biker had a heart attack and died on last week's ride. In my mind, it was a great way to go as opposed to draining financial resources laying in a hospice with a tube up one's nose - and other places. I think my family knows I will die happy if I kick the bucket with my hiking boots or biking shoes.

Daniel H. Wison channels a little I, Robot and a little World War Z in the fast-moving and fast-reading Robopcalypse. Set only a few? years in the future (the US is still in Afghanistan), a scientist creates a self-aware program called Archos that uses the artificial intelligence and networking built into everyday devices to wipe out humans - and pretty much succeeds. The stories of half-a-dozen individuals and families that play major parts in the war against Archos are told episodically in this suspenseful story written, I believe, for the big screen.

When Asimov wrote I, Robot in the 40s, each device stood on its own and if his Three Laws of Robotics were somehow compromised, only one robot had to be dealt with. With every device - cell phones, automobiles, elevators, military drones, and even children's toys networked, a single amoral program can now create a world-wide genocide.

I am feeling a little guilty now for buying my grandsons Roboraptors and iPods.

Oh, if the light on your Roomba starts glowing red, run like hell.

Your suggestions for novels of the not-too-distant future?

BFTP: The pig with a wooden leg

A weekend Blue Skunk "feature" will be a revision of an old post. I'm calling this BFTP: Blast from the Past. Original post February 10, 2009. See also the post, The Pig and the Horse.

A fable, if you will:

A manure spreader salesmen was driving past a farmyard here in southern Minnesota when he spotted a pig with a wooden leg. His curiosity aroused, he pulled in the driveway and over to where Ole was repairing the corn crib.

"Say, Ole," says the salesman, "that's an interesting pig you got there. How'd he get the wooden leg?"

"Oh, yah," says Ole, "that's some pig. Once when the old barn caught fire, that pig rushed into the flames and let all the animals out of their pens so they could run to safety.

"Anudder time when the river flooded, our whole family was on the roof of the house and about to be swept away when that pig swam to the neighbor's house and swam back towing a fishing boat to rescue us.

" And just last summer when a tornado was coming right at the farm, that pig rounded up all the kids and got them into the storm cellar. The house was a goner, but the kids were OK."

The salesman was amazed. "Wow, that is quite the pig, Ole," says he. "So then, during which adventure was it he lost the leg?"

"Oh, he didn't lose the leg," replied Ole. "It's just that you don't eat a pig that good all at one time."

I've been soliciting volunteers to help with different tasks in our state's school library and technology organization. Little things like serving on committees for the upcoming state conference, writing short articles for the newsletter, and taking part in legislative activities.

What percentage of our 600 member "volunteer" organization steps forward? I'd say we have fewer than 50 people who ever take more than a completely passive role. 8%. And of that 50, maybe 20 who are dedicated. 3%.

Why is this? Why can some people with the same 24 hours in a day, same commitments to family and work, same need for leisure still work on volunteer basis while others simply refuse to participate. I am not condemning anyone since I am absolutely certain everyone has a great reason for doing what they do. And god bless every volunteer effort no matter how seemingly small.

Is it something we current active members are doing? Are we too set in our ways? Too clubby? Too poor at communicating the organization's needs?

Here's my fear. I am afraid like the pig with the wooden leg that we may be eating our best people alive. That at some point they will simply say "I've done my bit, served my debt to society the organization, and I am retiring as a volunteer." And the organization loses a wealth of information and experience and talent.

What is your perspective on this? Does the same active vs. inactive ratio apply in the volunteer organizations to which you belong? And what can we do about it?

The pig and the horse

This was sent as an e-mail to the IASL listserv by Gerald Browner. Makes, I think, a nice compaion piece to The Pig with a Wooden Leg. Reprinted here with permission.

The Pig And The Horse

There was a farmer who collected horses;  he only needed one more breed to complete his collection.

One day, he found out that his neighbor had the particular horse breed he needed so he constantly bothered his neighbor until he sold it to him.

A month later, the horse became ill and he called the veterinarian, who said, "Well, your horse has a virus. He must take this medicine for three days. I'll come back on the 3rd day and if he's not better, we'll have to put him down."

Nearby, the pig listened closely to their conversation. The next day, they gave him the medicine and left.
The pig approached the horse and said, "Be strong, my friend. Get up or else they're going to put you to sleep!"

On the second day, they gave him the medicine and left. The pig came back and said, "Come on buddy, get up or else you're going to die! I'll help you get up. Let's go! One, two, three..."

On the third day, they came to give him the medicine and the vet said, "Unfortunately, we're going to have to put him down tomorrow. Otherwise, the virus might spread and infect the other horses."

After they left, the pig approached the horse and said, "Listen pal, it's now or never! Get up, come on! Have courage!  Come on! Get up! Get up! That's it, slowly! Great! Come on, one, two, three... Good, good. Now faster, come on.... Fantastic! Run, run more! Yes! Yay! Yes! You did it, you're a champion!"

The owner came back, saw the horse running in the field and began shouting, "It's a miracle! My horse is cured. This deserves a party. Let's kill the pig!

Points for reflection: This often happens in the workplace. Nobody truly knows which employee actually deserves the merit of success, or who's actually contributing the necessary support to make things happen.