More SF Stories That Need Sequels

“Breeds There a Man…?” by Isaac Asimov

In the original, extraterrestrials (or whatever) are treating humanity as bacteria that must be contained and have surrounded human minds with “penicillin” that keeps us from thinking in the wrong directions. In particular, they're trying to keep us from devising defenses against nuclear weapons.

In the sequel, SDI was the result of “gain of function” on the part of the extraterrestrials. They eventually see that humanity is now penicillin resistant. They mix up a stronger batch of their older disinfectants: irrationality and authoritarianism.

“Judgment Day” by L. Sprague de Camp

In the original, Wade Ormont, a Mad (positively furious) Scientist plots to destroy the planet in revenge against the rest of the human race.

In the sequel, he went over his calculations the next day and found the error. While trying to distract himself from the failure, he overhears a conversation between AI researchers and realizes that it will be easier to replace the human race than destroy it. Now that he has something to live for, he switches fields to AI, with a few side forays into trying to make sure civilization can survive a nuclear war long enough for an AI takeover.

SF Stories That Need Sequels

“Details” by Poul Anderson

In the original story, human history has been guided by benign humanoid extraterrestrials. At the beginning of the 20th century, a new guy takes over … a credentialed idiot with powerful relatives. He's recalled back to headquarters and kicked upstairs when they hear that Earth has both nationalism and nuclear weapons.

In the sequel, the replacement pulled off a near miracle and kept a nuclear war from breaking out. He was given a medal … and also a court martial. Apparently, assassinations, epidemics, nuclear meltdowns amd taking over the mind of Stanislaw Petrov were not approved methods ….

“The New Prime” by Jack Vance (also published as “The Brain of the Galaxy”)

In the original story, the reader saw a variety of exciting scenes in quick succession, each of which demonstrated a virtue on the part of the protagonist. At the end, it turns out that they were all art of a civil-service test for Galactic Prime. The Old Galactic Prime had written the test and, for some reason, turned out to be the most qualified candidate. He was the most decisive, forceful, quick-thinking, imaginative, and self-controlled candidate. The Council, however, pick someone else. The Galactic Prime is also the Brain of the Galaxy. His personality influenced the personality of everybody else in the galaxy. As a result, we saw totalitarianism (and also college fraternities) on Earth and even worse results elsewhere. They pick another candidate, a paragon of gentleness, kindness, and generosity. The only problem is that their candidate was driven insane by the test.

In the sequel, the New Prime took over in 1963. A regent was appointed in 1980. The regent waddled into headquarters (an explanation for the obesity epidemic) and was able to restore order. The New Prime had apparently recovered by 2001 and resumed control. There were enough problems for the Old Prime to launch an attempted coup in 2016…

Stories, Part II

Ever since The 1619 Project was published, Story 3 has become oddly popular on the Left. They apparently think (if that it the correct word) that slavery was something invented in 1619. On the contrary:

• Enslaving foreigners goes back at least to the Egyptian Empire.
• Kidnapping foreigners to enslave goes back at least to the Assyrian Empire.
• Western Europeans joined the party in the 15th century or earlier.

On July 4th 1776, a group of statesmen (including a few representatives of slavers) signed a paper that said that was wrong.

Do Face Masks Obscure Faces?

Of course not! Those masks are transparent!

We keep hearing about how masks cannot stop viruses because the gaps in the mask are larger than viruses. Since those gaps are also larger than wavelengths of light, the masks also cannot stop light.

A Suggestion on Changing Rhetoric

Instead of talking about freedom of speech or freedom of the press, talk about freedom of seeing and freedom of listening.

The difference between content moderation and censorship is simple: Content moderation is keeping people from seeing or hearing things they do not want to see or hear (false fire alarms, death threats, pointless insults, porn, etc.) and censorship is keeping people from seeing or hearing things they want to see or hear.

That way, a famous XKCD cartoon becomes a defense of content moderation istead of a defense of “cancel culture.”

The program Bleep appears to be a start at taking content moderation out of the hands of the forum and putting it into the hands of the users, where it belongs.

At Last!

Are Close “Stolen” Elections Important?

If an election should have gone 51% for Candidate X and 49% for Candidate Y and instead went 51% for Candidate Y and 49% for Candidate X, that should not be very distressing. The Will of the People wasn't stolen; it was only the Will of 2% of the People that was stolen. It was close to a coin toss in either case.

On the other hand, the fact that momentous decisions can be affected by a coin toss is a sign that something is wrong. That something will not be affected by whining about an election or by getting hysterical when Moe, Larry, and Curly invade the Capitol to overturn it.

A Brief Note on Coronavirus Vaccines

So… They finally approved a vaccine. A vaccine that had been invented in two days last January. A few reactions:

• I had figured the delay was due to investigating the usual blind alleys found in scientific research. I was wrong.
• The anti-vaccine fanatics pretending to be libertarians rolled out their usual complaint that the vaccine approval was a “rush job.”
• To make matter worse, many of the same people are complaining about masks, social distancing, and people staying home. All of those were due to the delay, a delay caused by bureaucrats trying to avoid blame by anti-vaccine people.
• In a libertarian paradise, the vaccines would have been sold openly in March. By April, the fake vaccine sellers would be out of business. By May, the vaccines would be affordable to anybody.
• Of course, the anti-vaccine people would blame Big Pharma for the deaths caused by the frauds. Meanwhile, the standard caution caused 400,000 deaths.
• The Left, of course, would weep about the deaths caused by people being unable to afford vaccines last spring. In Leftworld, a few thousand poor people dying is more horrible than 400,000 people of all social classes dying. The latter is, of course, equitable.
• We must, of course, remember that every person vaccinated protect the surrounding people as well. Slogan: Save the butlers! Let billionaires buy vaccines.
• The fact much of the US has a downturn might possibly mean that much of the spread is due to health professionals (who are at the front of the line).
• When vaccines really do have problems, Big Pharma will admit it. Big Pharma, nuclear energy, and airlines appear to be the three most honest parts of the the Establishment.
• Much of the opposition to vaccines is due to contrarianism in general. “If THEY lied about X, THEY might be lying about coronavirus.” This is accompanied by exhortations to look into the contrarian claims. Well…
  • I looked into the claim that masks block oxygen. They don't.
  • I looked into the claim that US government data shows a normal death rate this year. It doesn't.
  • I looked into the claim that polio death rates plummeted before the polio vaccine. They didn't.
  • I looked into the claim there is a cancer epidemic. There isn't.
  • I looked into the claim that Fukushima poisoned the Earth. It didn't.
  • I looked into the claim that depleted uranium is a weapon of mass destruction. It isn't.