There’s a somewhat silly question (ok maybe not so silly for some) that pops up in writer’s interviews. And that’s the question of writer’s block. I’ve not used it in any of our author interviews but as an experiment I’ve put together a mini-Brain Parade on the topic:
Do you get “writer’s block”? And if so […]

We’re lining up a new of futurism Brain Parades this November and we’re kicking it off with a series of Pet predictions.
Putting aside a comprehensive vision of the future, do you have a single “pet prediction” of something that you think might happen over the next decade or two?

The weather was crap today so […]

This is the second parter of a Brain Parade we ran back in September. Just to refresh your memory here’s the question:
Is the Enlightenment ideal on the rocks or is it merely a bit shaken?
The range of responses we’ve had to this one ranging on this one partly because the Enlightenment is also joined at […]

Science has come under fire from some people on religious grounds. Some scientists (eg. Richard Dawkins) have returned fire by criticising religion. Is this productive? Or should scientists avoid talking about the merits of religion?
This is the second parter of a Brain Parade we ran over a month ago. You can read the first installment […]

What ethical dilemmas posed by future technology or social changes would you like to see explored more thoroughly in contemporary Science Fiction?
I’ve got a lot of things I want to say on this one (so its a good thing it’s a two parter). And its especially apt since I just watched the first two […]

Outside of your field, what advances/research excite you the most?
This is a touch one for me to answer. I’m not a scientist so I don’t have “a field” but I’m not going to let a lack of qualifications stop me. To me the most exciting thing going on right now is what is being referred […]

Out of the ethical dilemmas that Science Fiction has explored in the past which ones have been your favourite(s)? Are they still relevant in the same way today?

Today we bring you the first part of another two parter. As before it’s a two parter because it was a question I liked asking…

Out of the ethical dilemmas that Science Fiction has explored in the past which ones have been your favourite(s)? Are they still relevant in the same way today?

We continue reviewing books that are unavailable in stores.

A Brain Parade of reviews of Science Fiction books with a small twist, none of the books review here actually exsists. These books may not have the advantage of exsisting but at least we’ve done you the favour of giving you a sneak peak as to what you’re missing.

We return to our Mankind’s Destiny in Space debate origins by collecting responses to this question:

Do you think its important that human beings venture out into space? What does space as a frontier mean to you?

In today’s Brain Parade I asked a number of science fiction authors (and one fan) a rather ambigous question:
Is there a conspiracy?

I’m a bit too drunk to comment on this one intelligently. But I’m not going to let that stop me. Yes there is a conspiracy but it’s probably something that no one imagines and by the time it comes to light no one will care.

As an experiment we decided to ask a load of the denizens of stumbleupon.com this question: What is the strangest thing you believe to be true? We got an amazing response and some truly fascinating answers. This is first installment of a series of articles so if you don’t see your answer here don’t despair, as I’ll be printing all of them eventually.

I asked a lot of people the following question:
What is the strangest thing that you believe to be true?
I started with a few writers and scientists whose answers are below. But I found myself continually asking people this question. I went on Stumbleupon and asked dozens of people this question. I’ve got all kinds of weird and wonderful answers…

I was going to post a frivolous Brain Parade up tonight but as I’m all grumpy and introspective from my battles with nicotine withdraw I can’t be asked to write anything funny. So today I’m going to give you a bit of controversy by asking whether scientists should criticize religion or if this is counterproductive?

This is the second installment of the Brain Parade we kicked the week off with. You can see the first installment here.

We asked the question: What is the job of contemporary SF? Does it have a job?

Today we cover odd facts that authors dig up when they’re researching stories. Here’s the question I posed to todays commentators:
What’s the oddest thing that you learned while researching a story?
Find out what weird factoids our pick of authors have discovered while researching for their books.

We ask a bunch of our favourite Brainiacs if there are any places that give the impression they were ripped out of the pages of a science fiction or fantasy book.
This is the second part of this brain parade, read the first part here.

We kick the week off with a Brain Parade that got suggested to me by Lou Anders at Pyr.

What is the job of contemporary SF? Does it have a job?
I found it hard to come up with comments for this one, it’s much easier to answer your own questions.
Read the second part of this brain parade here

We ask the question: Much of what has been written about nanotech revolves around fairly advanced/far future scenarios. What however do you thing are going to be some of the impacts and applications over the next few years?

IS the talk of WWIII Paranoid or plausible? I’m not going to answer this in depth because our commentators mirror much of my own thinking on this one. Personaly I think the whole thing is a paranoid fantasy myself but it’s one that it’s one that is perfectly capable of becoming self fullfiling.

Today we take a crack at an old chestnut: Is it worth maintaining the thin red line between Science Fiction and Fantasy? My two cents is that for adults this question is largely irrelevant. Experienced Science Fiction and/or Fantasy readers know what they want and where to find it.

Meme Therapy asks: On the whole do you think science fiction promotes scientific literacy more than it perpetuates scientific myths (ie. clones are evil). And secondly, does it matter?

Science Fiction often presents a coded commentary on the present. What current work of science fiction do you think delivers the most relevant/poignant message with respect to our present geopolitical situation?

Science Fiction and Fantasy author John C. Wright went to town with our last question. We hope this vision of the future doesn’t come to pass as it would pretty much wreck the planet but at least it’ll get wrecked in an amusing way.

It’s once again time to ask a number of clever people a stupid question….

We apologize for the inconvenience, but the planet Earth is scheduled for alien invasion. Your species’ custom is important to us. Please leave a message at the tone indicating your preferred choice of alien invader and why.

We kick off this week with a series of brain parades on nanotechnology, it’s risks and possible rewards.

Putting aside grey goo style scenarios for a moment, do you think there are other existential risks/safety concerns that we should be worrying about with respect to nanotechnology?

Just in case you thought I’ve turned into a completely silly blogger I’ve got a brainy and serious Brain Parade for you:

We seem to be awash in technological/scientific issues that raise serious ethical questions nowadays. Of these which concern/interest you the most?

Which place would you most like to see destroyed by a science fictional disaster? Please provide gory details.

MT: My pick would be an evil scientist ressurecting tiny dinosaurs and setting them loose in southern alberta where they terrorize the local inhabitants.

Do you think it likely that the first discovery of extraterrestrial life will be made by a rover?

MT: I’m not properly qualified to answer this question but I will anyways: Yes. There at least I kept my uninformed opinion short.

I think the idea of underwater cities is just plain impractical for anything other than highly specialized purposes. We seem to have no trouble doing deep sea research from boats and oceanic drilling from floating oil rigs. But the idea of floating cities or boat towns may not be too far fetched.

That Mars vs. Moon debate isn’t new. I’m partial to the Moon myself, partly out of sheer practicality and partial out of temperment. There’s something very appealing to me about a human presence on the moon.

I already had this Brain Parade in the works when Lou Anders at Bowing to the Future posted The State of Science Fiction, Part II but this could very well be a response to Lou’s musings about how other’s see SF.

Every once in a while we run a Brain Parade on a question that we don’t really have an answer for ourselves. In a way these are my faves because these are often the Brain Parades I learn the most from and it also means that I don’t have to write any commentary of my own because I simply can’t answer the question.

I have to confess to having a crush on utopian visions. I suspect that’s a side effect of a happy childhood and reading too much science fiction growing up. On the flipside however whenever people get the idea in their heads that the world would be perfect if only we did X, Y and Z then they tend to be a bit ruthless in their pursuit of it.

As usual you’ll have to wade through my two cents first: The first step that I see happening are networked grassroot movements gaining an increasing say in the internal politics of political parties. This isn’t going to happen quickly.

Maybe this comes from four years of filling out hazardous waste pick-up labels when I was a grad student, but I’m inclined to think we might be better off working out energy technologies that don’t produce hazardous waste.

Oh, wow. This is an easy one. Easy and ubiquitous access to space, in all its forms. Great spinning Lagrangian colonies filled with bright white curving hallways. Moonbases with gritty miners and frontiersmen. Mars colonists, building the foundation a whole new world.

We’re seeing renewed attacks on evolution, certain branches of scientitic research and conspiracy theories involving climatologists and Global Warming. At the same time supernatural thinking (new age, crystals, ID, deified interpretations of the Gaia hypothesis) are thriving. Should we be concerned by the level of magical thinking in our society? And if so what, if anything can be done about it?

I invited a number of science fiction authors to be mean with a silly question:
Is there a character depicted in a science fiction story who survived to tell the tale who you would have liked to have seen killed. If so, how would you have liked to seen him finished off?