MirrorField

MirrorField

  • Commented on The ends of education
    Greg Tingey @353: A king is above the law - NOPE - Charles I. Oh? So Thomas Harrison, John Okey, John Carew and bunch of others were hanged, drawn and quartered without a cause? Corpses of Oliver Cromwell and John...
  • Commented on Trapped in the wrong trouser-leg of time
    @172: Silver can also be money. Pork belly futures are not: They're intrinsically dependent on their issuer's ability to deliver in future (look up "counterparty risk"). Tulip bulbs are perishable, art and gemstones are not divisible and not interchangeable.Also, any...
  • Commented on Trapped in the wrong trouser-leg of time
    I came late to my understanding of what money is. It's IOUs issued by governments, that's all. A lot of (maybe all) libertarians don't comprehend this concept even though it's printed on banknotes in one form or another -- "I...
  • Commented on Radio silence
    More importantly the son/daughter/family learns from parents the "institutional knowledge" that is not taught in any school nor even committed to paper aside abbreviated and censored memoirs. He'll have grown up in environment where dad/mom/whatever probably "talks shop" in the...
  • Commented on The World of Tomorrow
    TECHNOLOGY Well, Internet fracturing is IMHO something that unfree countries will hit their heads against and get a headache for their troubles. For one, even the Great Firewall of China leaks like a sieve. Second, the more you suppress the...
  • Commented on Rejection Letter
    Of course, the "oh shit" moment if this was an SF novel would be when they work out that it's high-grade 239Pu that didn't come out of any known reprocessing plant. (Been there, played that card implicitly in "Empire Games".)...
  • Commented on 2117 revisited
    Fifty years of pushing Islam toward fanatical Wahibism, with nasty effects in a couple dozen countries. Once they run out of oil, the blowback begins. Which country/business/post-oil revolutionary movement gets them is immaterial. They're going down. Kiss Riyadh goodbye. I'd...
  • Commented on 2117 revisited
    Speculation, part 2: So, let's speculate further on distant world of 2117. Internal Combustion Engine will be limited to museum cars. Real cars will be either electric or fuel cell. If we get real lucky with miniaturizing polywell fusion, we'll...
  • Commented on 2117 revisited
    EU structural reform is necessary and will happen, especially if Brexit happens, but you're describing the politics of the early-21st century right wing here, not any plausible vision of the 22nd century. And comparing Angela Merkel to Hitler is frankly...
  • Commented on 2117 revisited
    Projection for 2117... Let's speculate recklessly. On technological front, which will have significant impact on societal structure: Fusion Power: I do think at least some sort of fusion power will be available. If we're unfortunate, it will be in form...
  • Commented on Towards a taxonomy of cliches in Space Opera
    Hm. Couple notes: Money. If you know a good way to mediate exchange without money, I'm sure Nobel Prize committee will be very interested. Money can take many forms, but the cliches you mentioned (bits of metal, pieces of paper...
  • Commented on The Future Is Not American
    Possibly not. Let's imagine a future of (admittedly lightly space-operatic) independent space exploration with following: Cheapass space drive. Maybe even reactionless, maybe just extremely efficient "torch". Equally cheapass nuclear reactor. Works for couple decades before you have to refurbish and...
  • Commented on The Future Is Not American
    Much of the education can be handled virtually, not everything. One would think that virtual education would be enough for "Virtual grades, including VR training. Should handle himself well enough to not kill himself and everyone else at backup auxiliary...
  • Commented on The Biggest Little SF Publisher you never heard of pulls on the jackboots
    You can shorten this idea as follows: "All Hugo candidates must be pre-approved by WorldCon administrators." In short, "welcome to the Iran-style Election" where the 'Council of Guardians' pre-approves any election candidates....
  • Commented on Gods and genre
    Thor is a megabucks tentpole movie franchise for Marvel/Disney. People who spend hundreds of millions on a movie do not push the borders of normality, they focus group and screen test. When Disney subsidiaries are genderbending, it's pretty clear that...
  • Commented on Commercial announcement
    USSR developed despite it's ideology, which hampered things during it's entire existence. The Built-up infrastructure was always ramshackle and inefficient. The USSR economy after Stalin was a long slide of stagnation. Russia, on the other hand, has made quite a...
  • Commented on Commercial announcement
    Well, modernization starts with more or less stable (or steadily stabilizing with no visible bumps ahead) political structure, legal system and property rights. Note that these don't need to be democratic, they just need to be predictable, not too onerous...
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