Minor Quibble with Kamala Harris: The Opposite of Science Fact is not Science Fiction

Although it's at most a minor quibble with Kamala Harris's superb performance in this past Thursday's Democratic debate - see my assessment of that over here - I thought, as a past President of the Science Fiction Writers of America (1998-2001), that I ought to weigh in on a concern which has made it all the way to The Washington Post.

The concern arises from Harris's point made during the debate that our response to climate change needs to be based on "science fact not science fiction".   Unfortunately, this contrast, likely the product of one of Harris's writers not what she herself may think, shows a woeful misunderstanding and ignorance of science fiction.  Anyone who has read any of Asimov, Heinlein, and Clarke, not to mention Verne and Wells, would know that science fiction does not deny or belittle science.  To the contrary, the essence of science fiction is to use science as a foundation to explore dramatic situations, including global catastrophes, and predictions of the future.

As a science fiction author myself - of novels and short stories - I have had the majority of my short stories (some 17) published in Analog Magazine, aka Analog Science Fiction and Fact Magazine.  Over the years, newer writers have asked me what I would recommend for enhancing their chances of getting published in Analog.  My answer: get your science right, and make sure it plays a decisive part in your story.

The fundamental connection between science fiction and science fact has been recognized by scientists such as Marvin Minsky, who said Asimov's robot stories inspired Minsky's life-long work in AI, and by Nobel Laureate Paul Krugman, who cited Asimov's Foundation series as inspiration for Krugman's work in economics.

And, to get back to Harris's inapt comparison, it's not that hard to find suitable opposites to science - pseudo-science, fantasy, conspiracy theory, all would have worked well in Harris's formulation.

But, as I said, this is a minor quibble, and now that I've gotten it of my system, I can return to thinking about who is the best candidate to beat Trump.  Harris's performance on Thursday makes her a major contender.

Al Gore Wins Nobel Peace Prize: No US Supreme Court Could Stop It

The news just went up on the nobelpeaceprize.org - Al Gore (along with the Intergovermental Panel on Climate Change) has won the Nobel Peace Prize!

No neo-con US Supreme Court was able to get in the way of this.

Whatever the specifics of global warming, Al Gore deserves enormous credit for coaxing the world to think of itself in global terms. He was able to do this, after going through the extraordinary ordeal of winning the popular vote for US President in 2000, and not becoming President.

It is rare that history provides an opportunity to remedy such an error.

I hope Al Gore gives the American people a chance to correct it.

See also Gore's Nomination for Nobe Prize Poetic Justice

Leonardo DiCaprio's 11th Hour

Leonardo DiCaprio's The 11th Hour opens this Friday in New York and Los Angeles, and around the country next week.

It's a movie in the tradition of Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth.

You can see a trailer for it here:



I have to say that I'm not really convinced that the Earth or our species are in the 11th hour, and certainly not at 11:59pm - a minute away from utter destruction or extinction - as one of those experts says in the trailer.

We just don't know enough about the Earth, its history, what's going on right now, to make such apocalyptic pronouncements.

Nonetheless, anything that gets us to think like a global community, to look at reducing the environmental problems that do beset us, to understand whether Katrinas are inevitable or avoidable, to come with ways we can all help - any movie that encourages this is very welcome.

So, while I don't agree that we're there, I look forward to seeing The 11th Hour.

Nine Reasons I Love My Prius

With Live Earth playing across the globe today, I thought I'd share with you 9 reasons why I'm delighted to be driving a Prius (which I've been doing since last August):

1. Obviously, I'm spending less money on gas.

2. But filling up at the gas station is no pleasure even when the price of gas isn't a problem. Who wants to bake in the hot sun and breathe in fumes in the summer? Who wants to shiver in the wicked cold wind and breathe in fumes in the winter? (This may be a special issue for me - every gas station I visit in the winter seems to be on the windiest corner in the world.)

3. It's fun to lord it over Cro-magnons* and other recalcitrants who love to say, hey, you talk the environmentalist talk, do you walk the walk? Well, I drive the drive, baby...

*(In view of the Geico commercials, I'm sensitive to the species-stereotyping that Neanderthals regularly receive, and therefore I'm refraining from using "Neanderthal" as a colorful synonym for "benighted". Also, Neanderthals play a role in my first novel, The Silk Code.)

4.. Birds and other little critters don't flee for their lives at the approach of my car. When the ICE - internal combustible engine - is off, the Prius drives in stealth mode, and it's sweet indeed. I'm hoping one of these days the birds and chipmunks and who knows what else will follow me down the road, and we'll all burst into song, like in a Disney movie.

5. On the Wikipedia page for the Prius, there's section that appears on and off again with a list of famous Prius owners - you know, like Larry David - and I was on it. (Actually, the list was up for a year, and some Cro-magnon removed it in May. You can see it in archive here, if you're interested. Anyone can reinstate it...) (I could, but won't, because I'm too modest ... nah, not really, I just don't believe in editing Wikipedia pages that concern me, unless it's correcting an outright error.) (When the list was up, being on it was sometimes my #1 reason for loving my Prius...)

6. I love listening to podcasts via my Prius' Bluetooth feature. There's something very cool about hearing a voice that you know as you drive with the windows open on a Spring day. (If you want to hear me, by the way, you can dial 415-223-4124 for my Levinson news clips 3-minute TV reviews, 510-248-0382 for 3 minutes of advice to writers, 415-223-4122 for my infamous Light On Light Through podcast.) (It's all free, except of course for the call.)

7. The car unlocks at your mere approach. This feels to me like something straight out of a science fiction story I read back in the 1950s. Maybe by Alfred Bester?

8. Locking the car is cool, too - by pressing any one of the small black buttons located strategically around the outside of the car.

9. The rear window actually is in two parts, and the lower part somehow rarely gets covered with snow, even in big storms. This means you can jump in your car and get going without having to clean it off completely off - especially useful to me when I'm late and in a hurry, which is almost always.

And I'll leave it there. Not every list has to come to ten.

And I actually have more than ten reasons, but I do also want to mention one thing I don't like about my Prius, just to prove how very objective I am about the car:

I don't like the silver color. For some reason, that's been the color of almost every car I've ever owned. Actually, I do know the reason - I'm always wanting to get my car as quickly as possible (see #9 above), and so I accept whatever color the dealer has in stock. And it always seems to be silver.

But, hey, boring color is a small price to pay when you can do something for the environment, and smile down critics who like to say that environmentalists are hypocrites.

****

Like science fiction? Jump into my short story, The Other Car, in which a Prius is a bridge to an alternate reality




Useful links: "My Sweet Prius" and "Prius and the Reunion of Talking and Walking", both at Light On Light Through podcast ... Sweet Prius is near the middle on Light On Light Through player, Talking and Walking, from October, is at the bottom...

See also Lovin' My Prius, Part III