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A
straightforward, accessible explanation of the realities of human
biological diversity *Human
Diversity Richard Lewontin
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Computer
crime is a complex problem in perverse behaviour compounded by
the incredible complexity of the technology * Fighting
Computer Crime: A New Framework
for Protecting Information Donn B. Parker
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"...we've
been here for only about a million years, we, the first species
that has devised the means for its self-destruction." * Earth
Time David Suzuki
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Who says they don't write
space operas like they used to ?
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The
future just isn't what it used to be * Luminous
Greg Egan |
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Science
fiction is about imagining the present through the lens of a speculative
future *Foundation
(trilogy)
Isaac Asimov
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Rendezvous
with Rama Arthur
C Clarke |
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Science
fiction and its more respectable cousin, science non-fiction,
are the focus of this issue of The Informed Reader
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It's become
something of a cliché to talk about The Year 2000 as a cultural
event. With everything from the supposedly apocalyptic Y2K computer
bug to the expected millennial return of you-know-who jamming
up the media, the concept of 'the future' is a broad ranging cultural
phenomenon that knows few boundaries. One need only look across
the spectrum of the arts to realise that what was once just a
genre restricted to film and print has become the unifying aesthetic
of our time. From music to film, fiction to non-fiction, from
the visual arts to magazine articles to tv advertising, the aesthetics
of science-fiction are everywhere.
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As you sit
and eat your reheated multicultural take-away lunch, read your
email, get the monorail from the parking station to see a movie,
watch images of the Pathfinder mission on the news, have a go
on a computer game or take some money out of the ATM, remember
this: you're living in someone else's utopian sci-fi ideal. It's
true - we don't have teleportation, anti-gravity or faster than
light travel yet - it's just a matter of time.
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Science fiction and
its more respectable cousin, science non-fiction, are the focus
of this issue of The Informed Reader. We take a look at a selection
of writing from some of the most famous science fiction writers.
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Novels such
as The Foundation trilogy by Isaac Asimov, JG Ballard's Crash,
Arthur C. Clarke's 'hard science' classic Rendezvous With Rama,
The Man In The High Castle, the forgotten masterwork of Philip
K. Dick and recent works like Excession by Iain M. Banks, Greg
Egan's Luminous short story collection and the massive, shelf-threatening
Seafort Saga by David Feintuch, give an overview of the now respectable
science fiction genre and the current state of the art.
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Elsewhere, we take
a look at Donn B. Parker's Fighting Computer Crime, the non-fiction
version of cyberpunk's beloved hacker culture, while Looking For
Earths is Alan Boss's account of the culture and science of the
quest for extra-solar planets. Human Diversity by Richard Lewontin
is an overview of the genetic and biological diversity of the
human species - and the vexing questions of race, intelligence
and sex and their connections with status, wealth and power -
much like the issues in Egan's Luminous. David Suzuki's essay
collection Earth Time, is a similarly wide ranging view of the
issues surrounding biodiversity and the responsibility of the
human race in the face of relentless technological innovation
- a direct correlation with JG Ballard's sci-fi.
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The image of a manned
spacecraft is essentially optimistic. Star Trek's Enterprise as
a perfect example. It speaks volumes for a basic human optimism
that not only will we get out there amongst the stars and do our
thing, we'll do it in the style that we have become accustomed
to: comfy armchairs, decent coffee and a monitor screen to let
us know which way we're going. But just as the works of Jane Austen
and E.M. Forster, which were once incisive and biting social commentaries
but have become little more than dress-ups for jobbing thespians,
sci-fi is in actuality nothing more than the present day in fancy
dress. The fact that science and sci-fi dovetail so neatly is
a testament to the fact that, like Austen and Forster, the issues
of the day can speak across the years by addressing the very basic
human desires - morality, mortality and the attempt to confront
the unknowable.
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The Informed Reader
also offers up a selection of the very best in new novels, architectural
studies and philosophical writing. As we like to say: just the
big issues and only the good stuff.
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