Category: Smart Things

SF Authors Say Smart Things: John Shirley on ego

There’s a misunderstanding that the right-hand-path in spirituality, to use a short hand term, is about abasing or losing yourself or demolishing yourself. Not true at all. It’s simply about being in right relationship to the divine source of consciousness, and the Bodhisatvas who try to mitigate, and eventually end, the world’s suffering. But it’s not self annihilation. It’s more… Read more →

Watts on Earth Hour

Some of my cynical thoughts on “Earth Hour” tonight are echoed, and then turned up to 11 by Canadian hard SF author, Peter Watts. Hundreds, maybe thousands of Torontonians will celebrate the event by climbing into their SUVs and driving out to Downsview Park, there to light candles in the darkness. The Eaton’s Center up at Yonge and Dundas is… Read more →

QOTD

“The threat to men of great dignity, privilege and pretense is not from the radicals they revile; it is from accepting their own myth. Exposure to reality remains the nemesis of the great — a little understood thing.” —John Kenneth Galbraith Read more →

SF Authors Say Smart Things: Peter Watts

Most people acquire their beliefs through osmosis and observation, not investigation. We’d rather observe than derive. Raised in a society awash in certain ubiquitous beliefs, you tend to accept those beliefs without thinking. I think most people come to their faith in the same way they come to believe that not wearing a tie is “unprofessional office behaviour” Another in… Read more →

SF Writers Say Smart Things: Stross On Religion

Here’s the rub: reincarnation is a load of rubbish. There’s a slight problem of there being a striking lack of supporting evidence for it. Yeah, that’s my favourite bit of Stross’ recent essay about how the media, and society in general, seems to abdicate responsibility for critical analysis in the face of religion. Here’s another bit: The knee-jerk instinct to… Read more →

A Weekend Miscellany

(You may not think it’s the weekend, but since I have Friday and Monday off, and my late night meeting with Australians is done, I am now into my weekend.) OK, let’s talk unexpected interpretations in cover tunes. Sarah Nixey covers Human League‘s Black Hit Of Space [via jwz]. Petra Haden covers Journey‘s Don’t Stop Believin’ [via Scalzi]. Ophelia Blitz… Read more →

SF Authors (and editors) saying more smart things…

We’ll grab a couple of them today: Will Shetterly talking about Mormon underwear: Here’s one way to tell a faith from a racket: If it makes you think you’re better than everyone else, it’s a racket, not a faith. I kind of love that. It’s the answer to all the “One True Religion” and “Chose People of X” things that… Read more →

SF Authors say smart things: Scalzi on the Judiciary

SF author John Scalzi is doing “reader request week” over at his popular blog Whatever, an annual event where he posts in response to reader requests (duh!). Today’s post is on the question of “activist” judges, and Scalzi’s response is great. I’ve noticed that my political opinions and Scalzi’s have some overlap but they certainly aren’t congruent; this piece is… Read more →

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 Canada
This work by Chris McLaren is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 Canada.