Science Fiction: Who Are The Heirs Of Heinlein, Clarke & Asimov?

 (Drivebycuriosity) - I love science fiction and I have been reading it for many years. As a boy I started with the novels by Jules Vernes and discovered later Robert Heinlein , Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, Stanislav Lem, Philip K. Dick and many more. They all based their stories more or less on logic, technology and wove physics, engineering and other sciences into amazing fables. Today I often get disappointed. Most of the so-called sci-fi books and movies tell just fantasy stories about knights, dragons & princesses. The majority of today´s science fiction is pessimistic (dystopian), anti-future and anti-technology. It became increasingly challenging to find hard "science fiction" which is based on logic and has some science in it.

Fortunately there are some exceptions who keep the genre alive. These authors follow the progress in the sciences and build their stories around new developments in artificial intelligence, genetics,  evolution, biotechnology, cloning, astrophysics, quantum mechanics and more. They focus more or less on probability & plausibility.

It isn`t surprising that one of the most promising new science fiction writer lives in China. There are about 1,3 billion people - a huge basis for any talents. The country is swiftly changing and modernizing and investing massively into science and new technologies. Wikipedia counted in 2014 already "2,236 colleges and universities, with over 20 million students enrolled in mainland China" (wikipedia).  So it seems quite natural that a Chinese science fiction novel, "The Three Body Problem" by Cixin Liu , won 2015 the Hugo Award for best novel, the Oscar in the sci-fi world. The book is the start of the trilogy "The Remembrance Of Earth`s Past" (my review ). Liu Cixin wove a huge space opera - a scifi epic on a grand scale comparable to Homer´s Odyssey and  Richard Wagner´s Ring cycle. He plays with the laws of physics and mathematics and translates relativity, astrophysics, string theory, quantum physics and much more science into speculative & fascinating fiction, often apocalyptic and bizarre. 

The "Remembrance" is not an exception, Liu`s novel "Ball Lightning" blends advanced physics & logic with military elements and philosophical speculation about the basis of our world. The Chinese movie “The Wandering Earth”, which is one of the biggest grossing movies in Chinese history, is based on Liu`s same named novella. The film represents the can-do thinking which once characterized American science fiction - the golden age.

Liu`s precise style and his accurate & analytical descriptions of the human behavior, and the fast growing number of Chinese sci-fi authors, raise expectations for many more Chinese contributions to the development of science fiction.  

Hao Jingfang, who received the Hugo award for her novella "Folding Bejing, might belong to them. In her short story  “The New Year Train” people have disappeared who were traveling with a vehicle based on advanced technologies & phenomena like quantum mechanics and black holes (my review ).

But the Americans are still the leaders in the genre. The US are still a mountain of talents thanks to her size & wealth. The Chinese-American author Ted Chiang (born 1967) impresses with slick stories based on sharp logic and analysis which gained him already four Nebula awards, four Hugo awards, the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, and four Locus awards, the crown of science! His novelette "The Story of Your Life" was used for the Hollywood movie "Arrival": A scientist, a female linguist, is communicating with aliens in order to find out what they want from us.  The plot focuses on the science of language & communication. In other stories he deals with entropy, multiverse theory, cosmology, mathematics and more. the second compilation, called "Exhalition" is not quite as strong, but still hovering about the average (my review). The story Anxiety is the Dizziness of Freedom" happens in a near term future where people can communicate with parallel universes and talk with their selves in other timelines thanks to devices run by quantum physics. Chiang used contemporary physics - including quantum mechanic phenomena, probability & many-worlds theory  - to create a fascinating tale about decision making, fate and more. "Exhalation" is set in a bizarre universe inhabited by people who have an extremely different metabolism. Again Chiang used basic laws of physics (I don´t tell which, this is spoiler free blog) and bend them into a kafkaesk tale.
The novella "The Lifecycle of Software Objects"  follows software engineers who develop and sell cute artificial intelligence, virtual pets who are able to learn and to evolve. The story tells how developers and owners interact with these artificial beings and how these relationships influence their lives. The analytical but also emotional plot is a fascinating speculation about AIs and their role in the near future.     

Gregory Benford also mingles fascinating tales with sciences like physics, logic, evolution, biology, chemistry & information technology. The logical, analytical and scientific style of his novels & short stories benefits from his career as astrophysicist on the faculty of the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of California. I love many of his stories, especially "The Worm Turns" (published in the anthology "The New Space Opera", edited by Gardner Dozois & Jonathan Strathan  amazon): A freelance pilot of a space ship tries to catch a wormhole - with the help of her AI. I also love the short story collection "Best of Gregory Benford", edited by the late David Hartford (my review). The anthology covers a spectrum of sub-genres like space opera, first alien contact, time travel, wormholes,  genetic engineering, bio-terrorism, artificial intelligence (AI) and many more. There are a lot of gems, especially the novella "Matters End" (first published 1989), set in a near future India and combines quantum physics with philosophy; "A Desperate Calculus" (1995) a near future thriller set in the tropics about environmentalists; "A Dance to strange Music" (1998) scientists are exploring a strange planet, lots of plausible physics, chemistry & evolution science.

Benford  also wrote many novels, including "In the Ocean of Night" (first printed 1972) based on physics, logic, evolution and information technology. Benford speculates in a plausible way how alien life and their technologies might have advanced in the course of millions of years. The author has been nominated for four Hugo Awards (for two short stories and two novellas) and 12 Nebula Awards (in all categories) and won the Nebula for his novel "Timescape". 

Nancy Kress has also the talent to develop a variety of scientific ideas into amazing stories & novels. Her oeuvre covers an impressive spectrum of sciences translated into speculative but plausible fiction. Some action scenes in her novel trilogy "Probability Moon/Probability Sun/Probability Space" are based on weird quantum mechanic effects. In the short story "Computer Virus" ((in: Year`s Best SF 7, edited by David G. Hartwell amazon) Kress tells a thrilling story how a woman, who is a biologist & scientist, fights against an occupying AI, a military software, using her scientific knowledge. Other stories deal with cosmology, spacetravel, evolution and more.

Paolo Bacigalupi focuses on bioengineering and economics but he also touches other issues. I love his short story "Mika Model" (The Year`s Best Science Fiction - 34th Annual Collection by Gardner Dozois  amazon ). A female sex robot turns herself in. She had murdered her owner, how should the cops deal with that? An interesting reflection on artificial intelligence - maybe the most important technical issues in the coming years.

Elizabeth Bear also covers AI and many other contemporary science & technology issues.  Her short story "Dolly" ("Year`s Best SF 17", edited David G. Hartwell & Kathryn Cramer)  focuses on a female robot, called "Dolly", with an almost human like brain who is used as an extremely expensive high-tech sex toy. This android had apparently killed a man, a billionaire with the habit of abusing fembots. A detective is interrogating "Dolly. Has "she"  deliberately committed murder (to defend herself against the abuser) or is the death just an accident caused by a machine? The tale again touches the question, does an AI have a self-interest and if, what are the consequences? I also enjoyed "In the House of Aryaman, a Lonely Signal Burns" (The Year's Best Science Fiction: 30th Annual Collection", edited by Gardner Dozois) a detective story (a "whodunit")  set in an alternate world near-future India and deals with some weird results of genetic engineering. "Okay, Glory" by Elizabeth Bear. A billionaire is trapped in his secluded high-tech mansion in the mountains because some rogues had hacked the controlling house AI to demand ransom.

Robert Charles Wilson creates alternate worlds based evolution, astrophysics and other sciences. I enjoyed his novels, including "Blind Lake" where scientists, living in a classified place, observe alien life forms using some strange physics, and "Spin" where a bizarre cosmic effect changes life on earth.

The are a lot promising newcomers:  Andy Weir became famous with the movie "The Martian", based in his same-named novel, where a man is stranded on Mars and is forced to use his skills and scientific knowledge (biology, chemistry, physics) to fight for survival. The "Martian" is pro science, pro technology and pro progress - a refreshing contrast to the usual dystopian literature & movies. Weir`s short story "The Egg" deals with reincarnation, multiverse and more (galactanet.com).  His newest novel "Artemis" focuses on moon tourism and the challenge of living in a very special environment.

Adrian Tchaikovsky`also belongs to the rising stars on the scifi horizon and impressed already with his novels “Children of Time” &” Children of Ruin". The author, who has studied studied zoology and psychology, weaves a complex & fascinating plot  based on logic, biology, evolution & technology spiced with a lot of philosophical musings. The reader is - together with the characters of the book -"going on a mind-bending adventure" (my  review ).

Rich Larson has been on my radar for years for his highly original stories. He delivered in "Meat and Salt and Sparks" delivered a peculiar detective story where the investigator is a chimpanzee who`s brain has been technologically upgraded. Someone had committed a murder following a remote control, who gave the command? (my review )

 Annalee Newitz`s novel "Autonomous" describes a plausible world in the early 21st century, shaped by biotech, artificial intelligence (AI) & the Internet of things.  Newitz spiced her story with a lot of knowledge & science as you can expect from good sci-fi and blends it with wild action. I enjoyed the funny robots - which remind me of Stanislaw Lem`s robot fairy tales - and the hilarious  erotics & romance scenes. 

Some short stories are also very promising. In "Agents of Evolution" by Elizabeth Hosang an intelligent software program, which works as an autonomous search agent on the Internet, got the order to find another intelligent program, a military logistics agent, which got lost on the World Wide Web. The story is told in first person by the AI, who painstakingly explains all the barriers it had to cross. A fascinating glance into how an AI might think and shows what hard science fiction can deliver these days (my review ).

The story "Acadie" by Dave Hutchinson bends quantum physics, relativity theory, genetics and other sciences into a hilarious space-opera. The tale if full of funny ideas, a kind of weird space-punk about evolution & the role of AI and reminds me of Philip K. Dick`s best pieces (my review).

In "Fractals" by G.S. Jennsen a female captain of a space ship on a deep space exploration has to respond to a bizarre cosmic signal. A fine piece of hard scientific scifi & space opera with a surprising twist spiced with quantum & astrophysics ( review). 

In "Entanglement" by Joseph Robert Lewis a woman is exploring the atmosphere of Jupiter by being mentally connected (entangled) with a drone which leads to a bizarre encounter. Evolution & quantum physics! (review )
 

In "The old fighting Goose" by Sean Monaghan the narrator and his partner are struggling to survive in a wrecked space ship while being attacked. Serious military science fiction. Hitchcock in space! ( review)




                                      Not Only Shakespeare


UK is not only home of Shakespeare, the kingdom has also a squad of fine hard science fiction writers. Alistair Reynolds, who has a PhD in physics, started his career as research astronomer for the European Space Research and Technology Centre (part of the European Space Agency). Today he transforms his scientific knowledge into thrilling plots. His anthology "Deep Navigation" gives a good introduction in his work (here my review driveby ). One story is a based on the laws of thermodynamics which leads to dramatic results, other stores are build on quantum physics or describe how some alien spezies adapt to extreme & exotic environments (evolution) or deal with the hypothesis of a multiverse, a hypothetical set of finite and infinite possible universes, including the universe in which we live. 

Ian McDonald focuses on the impact of rapid social and technological change on non-Western societies, especially India (novel "River of Gods"). In the short story "The Fifth Dragon" (The Year's Best Science Fiction: 32rd Annual Collection", edited by Gardner Dozois) we follow a woman who works as an engineer on the moon in the near-future. The author describes precisely the joys and the perils on earth`s planet combined with a love story. Romance meets hard science fiction.

Neil Asher specializes on hive minds, intelligent beings who are organized like bees & wasps. He also writes about artificial intelligence (AIs) & androids.

Ken MacLeod (actually he is Scottish) is famous for his space operas. His slick & sophisticated short story "Earth Hour"  is set in a near term future - and reminds me faintly of the Shogun novel. An assassin has the order to kill an industry tycoon. Both are using cutting-edge technology in a kind of deadly game with many unknown elements. Untypically for science fiction the author includes also elements of economics & politics. (In "The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Ninth Annual Collection, edited by Gardner Dozois").

Paul McAuley also plays with evolution, technological progress and genetics. I like his  adventure story "Transitional Forms" ( "The Year's Best Science Fiction: 31rd Annual Collection", edited by Gardner Dozois).

 There is at least one Australian who writes cutting edge science fiction: Greg Egan. He is also one of the most ambitious and uses a lot of mathematics & logic. I love his short story  "Zero For Conduct" ("The Year's Best Science Fiction: 31rd Annual Collection", edited by Gardner Dozois): A kind of feminist thriller about science and quantum physics set in a hostile cultural and political environment. In "The Slipway" suddenly a strange new group of stars appears in the sky and keeps the scientists puzzling.  The fascinating story contains a lot of cosmology, physics and mathematics even though there are no equation lots of mathematics - pure hard science fiction as its finest ( driveby)


Enjoy!

Covid Pandemic: Sweden - Welcome Back Covid-19

 (Drivebycuriosity). The world is still fighting the Covid-19 Pandemic. Many talk about the Swedish model. Sweden refused to lockdown and is keeping factories, shops, ice cream parlors, hairdressers, gyms, schools & kindergartens open. The Scandinavian country reported in April and May high rates of infections and deaths, much higher than her neighbors which supported the critics of the Swedish experiment, but in summer the infection rates dropped shartly (driveby). 

Then the supporters of the Swedish model of doing nothing celebrated. One idiot, Arne Elofsson, a professor in biometrics at Stockholm University, claimed that “the population has developed a form of immunity: “Strict rules do not work as people seem to break them. Sweden is doing fine" (marketwatch).

But summer has ended and Covid-19 is back. Yesterday the country reported almost 2,000 new daily cases, more than in Spring (chart above worldometers ). It turned out that the drop in summer was just a seasonal effect. The Swedes use the short Scandinavian summer for extensive holidays. From mid June (around June 20) through mid August schools were closed and so were most factories and offices. The Swedes enjoyed the long northerly days in fresh air. "Summer in Sweden means workplaces emptying for weeks on end and a flood of 'out of office' replies from colleagues and clients taking lengthy vacations" ( thelocal). Relatively warm air and many hours of sunshine (meaning UV radiations) may have helped to constrain the virus. 

In August I wrote that "the real test of the Swedish model will come when the holidays end. Temperatures will drop, daily sunshine time will get shorter and the Swedes will go back to schools, factories and offices (driveby). Apparently the test doesn`t go well for the Swedish model and the herd immunity theory.

 

 

Economics: The Real Purpose Of The Antitrust Crusade Against Big Tech

(Drivebycuriosity) - It seems that Washington DC began a crusade against Big Tech. Politicians & bureaucrats claim that Amazon, Google, Facebook & Apple are monopolies. They want to regulate them and maybe split them in part. Recently a bipartisan group of Washington DC lawmakers, the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust, published a 400 page report claiming that Big Tech is abusing their market powers and offering plans how to regulate them (cnbc ). Subcommittee chairman Rep. David Cicilline, a member of the Democratic Party, called the CEOs of the big tech companies  “emperors” who “have the power to pick winners and losers in the economy.” (cei.org )

The monopoly claims are unfounded. Amazon´s success has been animating a legion of copycats who also benefit from the ascent of e-commerce. And many competitors are growing much faster than Amazon (image below).  Amazon is competing against huge retail corporations like Walmart, Target & Best Buy who all are copying Amazon`s success and are expanding their online sales, getting better over the time. Amazon is also competing with other Internet companies like Ebay, Wayfair & Overstock. And Amazon has to compete against are rapidly growing e-commerce platforms like Shopify, where companies can sell their products & services online. Facebook (and their daughter Instagram) and Google also developed platforms where companies can sell their products & services independent from Amazon. Amazon`s cloud business AWS, which is also getting much attention from the trustbusters, is challenged by Microsoft, Google, IBM, Oracle and other companies who also want to have a large piece from the pie. Microsoft`s cloud business won recently a huge contract with the Pentagon and is already growing faster than Amazon`s cloud business AWS. And there is growing competition from foreign companies like China´s Alibaba and Japan´s Rakuten.

Today Amazon accounts for less than 1% of the $25 trillion global retail market and less than 4% of retail in the U.S. More than 80 U.S. retailers have annual revenues of more than $1 billion, including Walmart, whose revenues are more than double those of Amazon. Online sales only account for about 20% of total retail sales.

Subcommittee chairman Rep. David Cicilline and other Democrates claim that Amazon abuses her marketplace, where others can sell, and they say that Amazon treats their third-party-sellers unfairly. Really? Amazon reported that on the latest big shopping event "Prime Day" (October 13 & 14) "third-party sellers—most of which are small and medium-sized businesses—surpassed $3.5 billion in sales on Prime Day—a nearly 60% year-over-year increase, growing even more than Amazon’s retail business". How could their business grow so fast, faster than Amazon`s own online shops, if they are discriminated ?

The other big tech companies aren`t monopolies either.  Apple`s iPhones, iPads & MacBooks and services are competing against similar products & services from Microsoft, Google, Samsung, Huawei and a lot of other technology companies. 

Washington DC and several Federal States are also attacking Google. They are alleging that the company has monopolies in Internet search and advertising. Yes, Google Search has a very high market share. My wife and I are using Google`s search engines and maps frequently, and this blog runs on Google. But we chose to, we also could use other search engines like Microsoft`s Bing, DuckDuck Go and the Apple Maps. 

Google & Facebook finance themselves by selling ads and so do myriads of other firm like Facebook, New York Times & Yahoo (belonging to Verizon )

(source)

 The trust busters ignore that the power of companies is always constrained by competition. When a corporation has success, her rising profits attract automatically others who want a share from the pie.  The Internet makes it very easy to compare prices and to switch to other shops, news providers & entertainers, sharpening the competition. Customers can choose the company which has the best quality, the best service and/or the lowest prices which gives the consumers a lot power. As a result, customers have more power than the corporations.

What is the real purpose of the crusade? I agree with Patrick Hedger that "nothing stops politicians looking to make names for themselves ( insidesources). Democrat & Republican politicians want to profile themselves. Their crusade gets a lot media attention which might attract potential voters and impress political leaders. The trust busters also want to gain more power and acquire more access to tax payer`s money. The trustbusters seek to expand their budgets and demand more onerous reporting requirements, so they can expand their offices and hire more people which in return gives them more political influence, prestige and higher incomes.

 "All of this is coupled with an oversized federal presence for enforcement, from greater congressional oversight to enhancing the powers of both the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission through expanded budgets, more onerous reporting requirements, and an invigorated use of merger retrospectives" writes Wayne T. Brough (aier.org ).

 Washington`s anti-Big-Tech crusade employs hundreds of high paid lawyers and burns a lot of tax payers money which otherwise could be used for education or health care. The anti-tech crusade creates a lot of highly attractive job opportunities for anti-trust lawyers and university employees which attract many young talents. Instead moving into technology, medical research and other sciences, which would benefit the society, these people are wasting their talents in unproductive skirmishes. As a result the anti-tech crusade will slow down economic growth and harm everybody who does not live from the money of the taxpayers.

Antitrust law is designed to protect the consumers but Washington`s trust busters want to create a bureaucratic world as described by Franz Kafka. The uncertainty of political demands, let alone new regulations imposed through antitrust enforcement threats and action,  amounts to an enormous cost passed directly to American consumers through higher prices and reduced economic dynamism (insidesources). Big Tech are serving the consumers, the society, by spurring price reductions, delivering better quality & innovation. US politicians are making the world a poorer place by fighting the quartet of Google, Amazon, Facebook, and Apple that have helped so many Americans make 2020 a little more bearable" ( twitter)

 

Science Fiction: Sapience By Alexis Lantgen

  (Drivebycuriosity) - Science fiction writers speculate about possibilities. What futures are waiting for us, what would space travelers experience, what kind of intelligent life forms may exist somewhere and so on and on. "Sapience", a collection of short stories by Alexis Lantgen, is a nice example (amazon). 

The little book (10 stories, 152 pages) offers an entertaining mixture of science fiction, horror & fairy tales. Some stories remind of Heinlein ("Chrysalis ), some of Franz Kafka ("You``ll Be So Much Calmer" & "Remade" ) and some of Brothers Grimm`s fairy tales ("Swan"). The stories are entertaining, sometimes hilarious and spiced with violent & drastic scenes - and there is also some erotics. My favorite is "Hulk" about a scientist who is employed to educate an artificial intelligence  (AI) which leads to complications. I also like that some stories are set on Europa. The Jupiter Moon is popular with scifi authors, because it´s covered with a water ocean below a thick ice shield and might hide some basic life.

In the moment of writing the Kindle version costs just $2,99. A bargain.

Books: Elegy For April By Benjamin Black

 (Drivebycuriosity) - April, a woman in her early twenties, is missing. Phoebe, her same aged friend, is worried. She contacts her and April`s friends and also her father, called Quirke, to investigate the case. The book - set in Dublin in the 1950s - is part 3 of a series around Quirke, a pathologist who works in a morgue (amazon). Quirke is a twisted and very curious man who develops interest in cases which are not really his business. When he believes that something is not right he starts a personal investigation, whatever it may cost him. Like in books 1 & 2 Quirke´s daughter Phoebe, a girl with a "funny taste in men", plays an important role and Quirke discovers surprising & disturbing relationships between unlikely persons  (this is a spoiler free blog).

The book is spiced with strange & challenging characters. Again I liked Black`s elaborate style and his descriptions of persons & situations, which create a dark atmosphere, and he isn`t afraid of explicit sexual depictions.

Benjamin Black is the pen name of the Irish writer John Banville. I loved his novels "Kepler" and "Wolf on a String" (here my reviews Kepler & wolf ) and enjoyed "Christine Falls" as well, the start of the Quirke series ( driveby). The second & third novels of this series are not as strong as the first but enjoyable.

Economics: China - Aus Eigener Kraft/On Her Own Strength

 (Drivebycuriosity) - It looks like that China`s economy is back to normal. This night we learned that China´s industrial production grew 6.9% YoY & retail sales advanced 3.3% YoY  ( tradingeconomics). China`s GDP rose 2.7% in the third quarter and 4.9% YoY.

 

( source ).

The US might even have better recovery numbers for retail & GDP but there is a huge difference. America needs huge stimulus programs by the government to recover and pumped some trillions of dollars into her economy while keeping interest rates at zero. China abstained from such measure. China does not have huge stimulus programs and government checks and China´s benchmark interest rates is still 3.85% ( cnbc ). China´s economy recovered on her own strength (aus eigener Kraft).

 China´s fast recovery from the corona crisis is no surprise. Beijing responded early, fast and consequently to the pandemic. Apparently the population has enough discipline for hand washing, mask-wearing & social distancing. As a result China´s numbers of new infections, active cases and deaths fell to almost zero (worldometers ).

The success allowed the reopening of China`s economy and the return to normality. China`s recovery is more sustainable than the US because it is not based on giant stimulus programs. China`s economy might even get stronger when the corona crisis has past. History shows that consumer and businesses are more willing to change behavior during setbacks (twitter). Innovations typically gain traction during tumultuous times: they get cheaper, faster, more convenient, more productive, more creative.  Companies are streamlining operations and are getting more efficient & productive as they always do when they are challenged. China will overtake America sooner than many think!

 

 

 

Books: The Year`s Top Hard Science Fiction Stories Vol. 4

 (Drivebycuriosity) -   I love science fiction. But I get often disappointed. Most of the so-called sci-fi books and movies tell just fantasy stories about wizards, dragons & princesses or post-apocalyptic horror stories. It became increasingly challenging to find real "science fiction", stories & novels which have science in it and are not pure fairy tales. So I am searching for hard science fiction which blends entertainment with sciences like physics, chemistry, biology, evolution and more.

Fortunately I found the anthology series "The Year`s Top Hard Science Fiction Stories" edited by Allan Kaster (amazon).  I just finished reading Vol. 4 which presented 15  stories originally published in the year 2019 (432 pages). Many stories are optimistic and deliver a "we can do it" message. They are pro science, pro technology and pro progress.

 There are 2 gems at least:

"At the Fall" by Alec Nevala-Lee. The story follows Eunice, a smart aquatic creature equipped with an artificial intelligence. Eunice was developed by scientists who want to protect the fauna on the ground of the ocean ground which might be endangered by mining rare metals. "At the Fall" blends lots of chemistry and ocean biology with a gripping story (this is a spoiler free blog).

 "This is Not the Way Home" by Greg Egan. Aisha had won a trip to the moon where she is supposed to stay a week, but complications arrive. The Australian author wrote a thriller based on physics & mechanics with a lot information about possible live on moon.

There are more appealing pieces, including another story by Greg Egan: "The Slipway".  Suddenly a strange new group of stars appears in the sky and keeps the scientists puzzling.  The fascinating story contains a lot of cosmology, physics and mathematics even though there are no equation lots of mathematics - pure hard science fiction as its finest.

There are more stories I enjoyed, including "On the Shore of Ligea" by Carolyn Ives Gilman. Seth is an astrobiologist who lives in Sweden. From there he remote controls a device on Titan, the biggest moon of Saturn, which leads to complication. A perfect blend of science and entertainment. 

"Sacrificial Iron" by Ted Kosmatka.  Doctor Nasmeth and Jason Zaya are the only passengers awake on a space ship on a centuries long journey to some the problem: They don´t like each other.

"The little Shepherdess" by Gwyneth Jones. Another story about mining on the ocean ground and its influence on deep sea fauna.

"The Ocean between the Leavers" by Ray Nayler. a young woman who works a a gardener in Istanbul, got stung by thorns which does a lot harm to her body. "The Ocean" is strange & surreal - not really science fiction - but I loved the style.

I really enjoyed the book and I learned a lot. I am looking forward to read the next volume of this series. In the moment of writing the Kindle version costs just $5.99 - a bargain.

New York City: Manhattan Restaurants - The Haves And The Have Nots

 (Drivebycuriosity) -  New York City is still fighting the Covid-19 pandemic. Recently restaurants & cafes got the permission to restart their indoor services, but only with 25% of their former capacities. In order to compensate the loss the administration still permits outdoor dining. The city closed some streets - or segments of them - for car traffic and  reserves a lot of space for tables & seats, at least on weekends.

There are now two kinds of restaurants in Manhattan. Those who have enough outdoor space for the services and those who have not, because the streets are too busy or needed for other purposes. Apparently many dives in my Lower East Side neighborhood and in East Village, who sell fast food, are flourishing, because they can make ample use of streets which are closed for car traffic. It seems that some have more out door capacity than indoor and they attract a huge crowd, apparently fueled by the government checks. On the other side many decent middle class restaurants have to struggle and many businesses are closing for good because they cannot cover their rents anymore.

The remaining middle class restaurants responded to their restricted business and they cut their menus - and maybe their staff. I got the impression that the average quality of restaurant food declined in the recent months because the restaurants hire fewer chefs and kitchen staff and purchase less fresh food. Time will tell how New York´s restaurants and their customers will respond to falling temperatures - Winter is coming.

 

 

 

Books: The Glass Kingdom By Lawrence Osborne

 (Drivebycuriosity) - Bangkok is a wonderful place, a mega-city which blends exotic sites with buzzling life & 21st century technology. Lawrence Osborne`s new novel  "The Glass Kingdom" is set in a very sinister but fascinating Bangkok (amazon). Sarah, a young American, a drifter, came to some money. She moves from New York to Bangkok where she rents a flat in a huge apartment complex, called the "Kingdom", to  “make herself invisible for a while, to turn herself into a ghost”. Soon Sarah meets some neighbors and trouble is around the corner (this is a spoiler free blog).

The novel kept me on the edge and I cared much about Sarah, even though she was a bit too naive and trustworthy for my taste, as many characters in Osborne´s novels. The author has the talent for building up the tension and keeping it slowly smoldering. The "Glass Kingdom" reminded of Patricia Highsmith´s psychological thrillers & Joseph Conrad´s exotic adventure stories.

I indulged into descriptions of a tropical metropolis, of the lush vegetation and the monsoon climate. "In the nights of violent weather, you could hear the glass being battered by the rain, the echoes spiraling downward to the lobby". The "Kingdom", it´s residents and neighborhood seem to amalgamate into a threatening being. I also enjoyed Osborn`s slick apercus about "Martini socialists who discreetly paid less taxes than little Sarah", his observations of Siam`s fragile political situation & the delicate role of powerful Chinese dynastic families, "their exquisite taste and spiritual tact".

I loved already Osborne`s similar novel "Hunter in the Dark", set in Cambodia (here my review). This book is even better. A must read for all lovers of good novels.

 

Economics: China - Back To Normal

(Drivebycuriosity) - It looks like that China`s economy is back to normal. This night we learned that China´s exports climbed 9.9% YoY and imports jumped 13.2%. Exports and imports both reached new all-time highs (china/calendar ) .

 

 

 

 

 (source)

The record numbers show that China not only recovered from the Covid-19 crisis, the country also overcame the trade war with the US. China´s fast recovery from the corona crisis is no surprise. Beijing responded early, fast and consequently to the pandemic. Apparently the population has enough discipline for hand washing, mask-wearing & social distancing. As a result China´s numbers of new infections, active cases and deaths fell to almost zero (worldometers ).

The success allows the reopening of China`s economy and the return to normality. China`s economy might even get stronger when the corona crisis has past. History shows that consumer and businesses are more willing to change behavior during setbacks (twitter). Innovations typically gain traction during tumultuous times: they get cheaper, faster, more convenient, more productive, more creative.  Companies are streamlining operations and are getting more efficient & productive as they always do when they are challenged. China will overtake America sooner than many think!

Media: Counterpart - Yes, Intelligent Science Fiction On TV Is Possible

 

(Drivebycuriosity) - Can science fiction on TV be intelligent? "Counterpart" on Starz shows that it is possible to make a scifi TV show for a thinking audience ( imdb). 

In the year 1987 the world (the whole universe) suddenly split into two separate worlds, which were almost identical. For every person on our side exists a similar counterpart, called "shadow", on the other world. Both persons look almost the same, like perfect twins. Since the separation both worlds - and their inhabitants - have been developing differently and the differences have been growing over time. Today the counterparts have not much in common, even though they are based on the same person and their genes - and fingerprints - are identical. The other world, called Prime, had no 9/11 terror, but there happened a deadly flu epidemic in the 1990s which had ruined their economy for years and there are many more differences.

The show follows Howard, called Howard Alpha, a quite gentle office worker, who´s ways cross the paths of his parallel world counterpart Howard Prime, who has a very different personality. Over the run of 2 seasons more and more counterparts will meet each other  (this is a spoiler free blog. You can find synopses here wikipedia ). The plot is set in Berlin - a good choice because the German capital was once split in two cities which belonged to different political systems and developed differently.

Both worlds need to communicate and to trade in order to benefit from each others accomplishments but there exists envy & mistrust. Therefore not only diplomats and traders cross the strictly guarded borders, also spies, assassins and other dubious elements infiltrate the other side which makes a thrilling story of course. Counterpart doesn`t have much action and special effects. There are no cosmic disasters and no lightsaber fights, instead the show "delivers espionage thrills alongside philosophical musings on identity, choice and fate" ( tv). Counterparts, created by Justin Marks, reminds me of John Le Carre, Philip K Dick & Franz Kafka. One commentator calls it spy-fi ( arstechnica).

I enjoyed the show very much - and I cared about the Howards and some other characters - even though the plot was somewhat challenging and sometimes I had problems to identify which counterpart I was observing. J.K. Simmons incarnated both Howards convincingly and I liked other characters/actors as well.

Alternate worlds - and parallel universes - are a popular sub-genre in science fiction but the plot is also inspired by science, which makes good science fiction. Some physicists claim there could be an infinite number of parallel universes, the Many World Theory, and they base their claims on quantum physics and string theory. According to them  "these universes are entirely connected with our own; in fact, they branch far away from our own, and our Universe diverges from others" (wikipedia). The world of atomic particles is bizarre and unpredictably and some particles can indeed jump of of nowhere and disappear in a split of second.

Being an economist I am fascinated by the economic implications of 2 parallels worlds. The number of scientists, artists, physicians and so could double which would vastly expand human knowledge and push advances in sciences, art, medicine, technology and so on. The differences in technology, art and economy could create huge gains for trading, both worlds could benefit from the achievements of the others.

The existence of counterparts - and their encounters - has enormous philosophical & psychological implications and Counterpart is based on parts of them,  including romance, adultery,  murder, terrorism, threesomes and more.

Unfortunately Starz discontinued the show after two seasons and  MRC, the production company, did not find a new buyer. If Jeff Bezos would really love science fiction, as he claims, he would revive "Counterpart" in his Prime universe and foster it with a bigger budget. Fortunately Counterpart is still streamable on Prime with Starz subscription.  

 

Books: F: A Novel By Daniel Kehlmann

(Drivebycuriosity) -  I am a fan of Daniel Kehlmann. I enjoyed his biography "Measuring the World" about the German scientist & explorer Alexander Humboldt (here my  review),  his horror fantasy "You should have left" (driveby  ) and even more his master piece, the historical novel "Tyll" ( driveby ).  This brought my attention to "F: A Novel" his newest book (amazon). Unfortunately "F" didn`t work for me.

"F" stands apparently for family. The book consists of 6 loosely connected chapters which relate more or less to Arthur Friedman and his sons. There is no ongoing plot, the book reads like a sample of notes Kehlmann might have written in the recent years - maybe ideas for short stories, plays and novels. Kehlmann still can write and there are some interesting ideas - including observations about art dealers and their market - but the pieces don´t fit together.

The book is a reminder of the fact that even strong authors don´t guarantee constant quality. I hope Kehlmann will come back to his strengths as a novelist.