An Unacknowledged Double Standard
There are many “double standards,” and I’ve written about some of them, many involving gender, such as the fact that the behavior that men – and even some women – describe as tough and strong when...
View ArticleThe Cost of Staying Alive?
In the latest issue of Science, there’s an article about Trikafta (elexacaftor/ivacaftor/ tezacaftor), the first triple combination therapy available to treat patients with the most common cystic...
View ArticleElectoral Racial/Gender Diversity?
Senator Cory Booker has just dropped out of the Democratic Presidential campaign, following the departure of Julian Castro and Camilla Harris. Except for Andrew Yang, the remaining men and women are...
View ArticleThe Latest Hot Writer
The other day I read an interview with yet another hot new [comparatively, at least] writer, in which the writer made a comment about being “frustrated with the way fantasy worlds have this stasis… a...
View ArticleFreedom
For most people in the world, “freedom” is very limited, if not a total illusion, at least if they don’t want to pay an inordinate price. Take “freedom of speech.” Even in the supposedly liberal or...
View ArticlePredicting All of the Future
The other day I came across an old review [August 2012] of my novel Flash, in which the reviewer wrote: “Jonat finds himself on the wrong end of an enormous corporate conspiracy. This is the point...
View ArticleMagic Answers
In our increasingly complex and technological world, politicians, executives, and voters are confronted more and more with problems that have multiple causes and complicated interactions. Most of these...
View ArticleMultiplication Effect
When I submitted my first stories to F&SF magazines in the dark ages before computers, or even word processors, manuscripts had to be typed, double-spaced, and be largely error-free. Back then, I...
View ArticleThe “Truth” Problem
One of the “interesting” aspects of the Trump presidency is the amount of misstatements, false statements, and contradictory statements that issue from the man’s mouth and tweets. One of the more...
View ArticleHail Caesar?
After breaking pretty much every convention, and certainly the expectations of the Founding Fathers, Donald Trump has essentially declared he is Emperor, or at least as much of an emperor as is...
View ArticleUnderstanding…
The more I see in “social media” and in the news media, the more obvious it is to me that, not only do most people really not understand how politics, government, and the legal system work – or fail to...
View ArticleEducational Meltdown?
Why are so many people hooked on screens, whether it’s Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, instant sports streaming, or something else? Instant gratification, of course. Entertainment, news, weather, or even...
View Article1100 Have A Point
Eleven hundred former employees – Republican, Democrat, and unaffiliated – who served at the Department of Justice under both Republican and Democratic presidents have signed a petition demanding that...
View ArticleUnethical Cowardice
On Thursday, the Utah State Legislature sent a letter to President Trump, commending him for his actions, citing reducing in size [drastically] two national monuments, repealing “onerous” federal...
View Article“Liars” in Context
Every human being I’ve ever met has lied, and certainly more than once. Now it might have been a white lie, or a lie to save someone’s feelings. It might have been calling in sick to work when they...
View ArticleFailure to Understand?
MSNBC anchor Chris Matthews equated the victory of Bernie Sanders and his supporters in the Nevada Democratic presidential primary to the Nazi victory over France in 1940. Although Matthews later...
View ArticleNew Story and Shapers of Worlds
For the last two years, the Canadian author and small press publisher Edward Willett has been doing a podcast called The Worldshapers, where he interviews F&FS authors. He recently decided to put...
View ArticlePolarization/Fragmentation
One of the topics I’ve discussed over the last several years is how both the media and the internet have in essence fragmented U.S. society. There’s a news channel for everyone, and if that’s not...
View ArticleSuper Tuesday…
Everyone will have some sort of take on the Democratic Presidential campaign after Super Tuesday… and the apparent political resurrection of Joe Biden from the “political dead.” I’m no exception, but...
View ArticleThe Power of Names
Over the years, fantasy has explored the power of names, and the degree to which knowing someone’s “true name” can give a wizard or witch or someone else the power over that individual. Even if that’s...
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