Love this Barret. So fascinating, well written & researched per usual. If I knew anything about the computer internet I’d hack this blog and delete your self deprecating comments. Keep going.
It’s interesting to note that the geoengineering theme was fully present in Isaac Asimov’s books, in both the Foundation and Robot multi novel epics, from an early point, to the early 50s. He had fully envisioned planets covered by temperature controlled domes, and the mega city planet of Trantor so paved over in every direction, that cats were now found in zoos, as one of the main attractions. In the Robot books, detective Elijah Bailey becomes an unlikely proponent of “naturally” going back to the outside, leaving the domes, and experiencing planting stuff again, even as the lack of a closed in surface makes him uneasy, like all dome dwellers, and he is thought of derisively, as an absurd eccentrist for engaging in the Outside, something normally only for robots ploughing fields and as horrible punishments for exiles (something not different to how Chinese intellectuals were treated in the Tang dynasty, in a pre-technological era). Of course, unlike many technologists today, Asimov was an environmentalist, even though he was a notorious ass slapper. Kind of like how Brave New World was actually a satire of how unironically terrifying American values were even 100 years ago, but Americans have since appropriated the terms “Alpha” and “Beta” from it, unironically, completely missing the point. What would Mr DFW say if he was still with us?
ha! love it Nick. didn't know all that about Asimov. Trantor is David Ulin's term for the appearance of Los Angeles, fun fact. Great term for the limitless horizontal expansion. Writing about geoengineering on here has been frustrating because as you point out, there is so much more to say, so much more to possibly tie in in terms of the science, the policy debates, the side effects known and unknown, the history both in speculative fiction and fringe science, the parallels to mythology, the endless philosophical questions, etc. One can only "Scratch the Surface" here, as it were. You'd def dig the mythology sections in CL. CL. CL!! (really not trying to write about CL here, but something else... slowly getting there).
I hope to uncover the full extent of its terrible secrets one day on the JMT. Been thinking of signing up for a first aid wilderness course. More immediately, I plan to go into the backcountry soon with my partner for a few nights on Mt. Rainier, “one of the most dangerous volcanoes in continental North America.”
Hyperbole? Or fact? What else is going on in WA’s own version of podunk backwater mountain towns? We’ve all seen Twin Peaks.
Love this Barret. So fascinating, well written & researched per usual. If I knew anything about the computer internet I’d hack this blog and delete your self deprecating comments. Keep going.
Thanks so much, Tasha!
CHINA LAKE
China Lake
China. Lake.
It’s interesting to note that the geoengineering theme was fully present in Isaac Asimov’s books, in both the Foundation and Robot multi novel epics, from an early point, to the early 50s. He had fully envisioned planets covered by temperature controlled domes, and the mega city planet of Trantor so paved over in every direction, that cats were now found in zoos, as one of the main attractions. In the Robot books, detective Elijah Bailey becomes an unlikely proponent of “naturally” going back to the outside, leaving the domes, and experiencing planting stuff again, even as the lack of a closed in surface makes him uneasy, like all dome dwellers, and he is thought of derisively, as an absurd eccentrist for engaging in the Outside, something normally only for robots ploughing fields and as horrible punishments for exiles (something not different to how Chinese intellectuals were treated in the Tang dynasty, in a pre-technological era). Of course, unlike many technologists today, Asimov was an environmentalist, even though he was a notorious ass slapper. Kind of like how Brave New World was actually a satire of how unironically terrifying American values were even 100 years ago, but Americans have since appropriated the terms “Alpha” and “Beta” from it, unironically, completely missing the point. What would Mr DFW say if he was still with us?
ha! love it Nick. didn't know all that about Asimov. Trantor is David Ulin's term for the appearance of Los Angeles, fun fact. Great term for the limitless horizontal expansion. Writing about geoengineering on here has been frustrating because as you point out, there is so much more to say, so much more to possibly tie in in terms of the science, the policy debates, the side effects known and unknown, the history both in speculative fiction and fringe science, the parallels to mythology, the endless philosophical questions, etc. One can only "Scratch the Surface" here, as it were. You'd def dig the mythology sections in CL. CL. CL!! (really not trying to write about CL here, but something else... slowly getting there).
I hope to uncover the full extent of its terrible secrets one day on the JMT. Been thinking of signing up for a first aid wilderness course. More immediately, I plan to go into the backcountry soon with my partner for a few nights on Mt. Rainier, “one of the most dangerous volcanoes in continental North America.”
Hyperbole? Or fact? What else is going on in WA’s own version of podunk backwater mountain towns? We’ve all seen Twin Peaks.