The Great Geek Manual

Today, if we could somehow visit our ancient ancestors and show them the bounty of modern science and technology, we would be viewed as magicians. With the wizardry of science, we could show them jet planes that can soar in the clouds, rockets that can explore the moon and planets, MRI scanners that can peer inside the living body, and cell phones that can put us in touch with anyone on the planet. If we showed them laptop computers that can send moving images and messages instantly across the continents, they would view this as sorcery.

But this is just the beginning. Science is not static. Science is exploding exponentially all around us. If you count the number of scientific articles being published, you will find that the sheer volume of science doubles every decade or so. Innovation and discovery are changing the entire economic, political, and social landscape, overturning all the old cherished beliefs and prejudices.

- “The Introduction to my Newly Released Book, Physics of the Future!” by Michio Kaku, March 16, 2011.

And once you take on board the idea that mathematics itself can, through its inherent structure, embody any and all aspects of reality—sentient minds, heavy rocks, vigorous kicks, stubbed toes—you’re led to envision that our reality is nothing but math. In this way of thinking, everything you’re aware of—the sensation of holding this book, the thoughts you’re now having, the plans you’re making for dinner—is the experience of mathematics. Reality is how math feels. To be sure, this perspective requires a conceptual leap not everyone will be persuaded to take; personally, it’s a leap I’ve not taken. But for those who do, the worldview sees math as not just ‘out there,’ but as the only thing that’s ‘out there.’

- The Hidden Reality: Parallel Universes and the Deep Laws of the Cosmos by Brian Greene, 2011.

We must also always remember that our minds are dynamically evolving pastiches of information and patterns of information processing. There is no such thing as having one mind, completely formed at birth, and never changing after that. Indeed, an excellent definition of a mind is that which idiosyncratically aggregates, utilizes and exchanges information and information processing patterns.

- “Can We Develop and Test Machine Minds and Uploads Ethically?” by Martine Rothblatt, April 24, 2011.
Originally posted on the Institute for Ethics & Emerging Technologies website.

Art

• Aperture Science Warning Posters
• G.A.G. taunts us with this Plush Portal Turret we can’t have.
• Superheroes And Supervillains In History

Comics

• Interview: GeekDad has an interview with Action Comics artist Pete Woods
• Interview: GeekDad has an interview with Action Comics writer Paul Cornell
• News: Dark Horse Digital Now Open for Business with Free Comics and More
• News: WB Animated To Adapt Frank Miller’s THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS!
• 10 other superheroes who possessed the powers of Thor
• The 25 Most Awesome ‘Action Comics’ Covers of All Time
• Dark Horse Manga Not Dead Yet. Despite layoffs in its manga devision, Dark Horse is still active – they’ll be publishing a new Clamp title this summer.
• Glenn Beck Gonna Lose His Shit: Superman No Longer An American Citizen

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We have turned [our friends] into an indiscriminate mass, a kind of audience or faceless public. We address ourselves not to a circle, but to a cloud. (…) Friendship is devolving, in other words, from a relationship to a feeling.

- William Deresiewicz
Quoted in In the World of Facebook by Charles Petersen, February 25, 2010.

Audio Fiction and Podcasts

• Listen to “All in the Family” by Sheldon Higdon at Cast Macabre.
• Listen to Brave New World by Aldous Huxley at SFFaudio.
• Listen to “The Battle Of Leila The Dog” by Rick Kennett at Dunesteef
• Listen to “Boojum” by Elizabeth Bear at Drabblecast. (Part 2)
• Listen to “Death and what comes Next” by Terry Pratchett at Beam Me Up.
• Listen to “The Ease With Which We Freed The Beast” by Lucius Shepard.
• Listen to “The Ghosts of New York” by Jennifer Pelland at Podcastle.
• Listen to “The God of Rain” by Tim Lebbon at Dark Fiction Magazine.
• Listen to “Grail-Diving in Shangrilla with the World’s Last Mime” by Ken Scholes.
• Listen to “The Mask of Romek” (Part 1) by T.C. Mcqueen at Cthulhu Podcast.
• Listen to “My Love Sick Zombie Boy Band” by Damien G Walter at Dark Fiction.
• Listen to “Origasmi” by Matthew Sanborn Smith at Beware The Hairy Mango.
• Listen to “Sinners, Saints, Dragons, and Haints, in the City Under the Still Waters” by by N.K. Jemisin PodCastle.
• Listen to “The Sound Of Gears” by Ferrett Steinmetz at Pseudopod.
• Listen to “Top Of The Heap” by Nathan Robinson at Pseudopod.
• Listen to “The Starter” by Scott Sigler at the author’s website.
• Listen to “Vic” by Maura Mchugh at Dark Fiction Magazine.
• Listen to “When the Lamp Goes Out” by Julie Hoverson at 19 Nocturne Boulevard.

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If you want to understand life, don’t think about vibrant, throbbing gels and oozes, think about information technology.

- Richard Dawkins

Quoted in “What Defines a Meme?” by James Gleick,
Smithsonian Magazine, May 2011.

Art

• Baxter Stockman of TMNT re-imagined
• Check out this amazing Howl’s Moving Castle Sculpture and Papercraft
• Demonic Totoro of Takayuki Hori
• Geek Art Gallery has posted an extensive gallery of Calvin and Hobbes Fan Art
• To celebrate the release of Portal 2, Cosgeek has posted a gallery of Chell and Companion Cube cosplay with the promise of more to come through the week.
• The Translucent Origami

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