Speculative Nonfiction

Speculative Hard Science and Science Fiction. And Metal.

Saturday, June 6, 2015

Computers Can Solve Long-standing Problems in Science and Create Theories

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Yes, of course they can, because after all we create theories, and we're computers - but this is less trivial, because this is the fir...
Sunday, May 31, 2015

Spike Jonze's Her Is Not About the Future

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There are a few comments online about Her that are fully on the mark about the content of the movie, yet miss the main goals I think Jonze ...
Thursday, February 19, 2015

Probability of Pre-Intelligent Life Seeding Between Solar Systems

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That probability is increasing. Scholz's Star passed well within the outer edge of the Oort Cloud a mere 70,000 years ago . It's i...
Tuesday, February 10, 2015

Enceladus Ocean is Alkaline NaCl/Na2CO3 Solution

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Similar to alkaline lakes on Earth; well within the pH range of extremophiles. Paper here . Above: geysers at the south pole of Encelad...
Sunday, February 8, 2015

Modeling Gamma Ray Bursts as Causes of Mass Extinctions

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One of the explanations for the apparent rarity of life in the universe is the frightening gamma ray burst - perhaps life is astonishingly r...
Tuesday, February 3, 2015

Evidence for a Methane Source In Enceladus Oceans

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Paper here . Hinges on the trapping of methane as clathrates, similar to subglacial lakes (i.e. Vostok) on Earth.
Friday, November 7, 2014

Carcass, Incarnated Solvent Abuse - Necroticism: Descanting the Insalubrious, 1991

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Saturday, October 25, 2014

The Film Martyrs and Horror of the Irrational

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"Martyrs" is the first horror movie I've seen that I would put within hailing distance of Hellraiser. Here's a review ; I...
Wednesday, October 8, 2014

Interview with Scott Burns

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You know, prolific 90s death metal producer at Morrisound Studios? If you don't know, then you probably won't care about this aweso...
Saturday, October 4, 2014

What If We Assume We're Surrounded by a Galactic Civilization, and We're Missing It?

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Overcoming Bias covers two papers on SETI; importantly, the papers distinguish between the search for artifacts (like Dyson spheres) and the...

Russian Short on Flying War Machines

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Normally I care more about the ideas than how they're rendered, but this is outstanding enough that it made even my blunted retinas happ...
Thursday, September 25, 2014

Review: Progress Toward the Singularity

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This focuses on ways in which GAIs could interact with the material world, rather than GAI itself. In either domain I make no guarantee of ...
Monday, September 22, 2014

Skynet's Ancestors: Are Groups of Humans Also Conscious?

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I just re-watched Terminator 2, which is aging pretty well, not least because it used CGI as opposed to live action latex-and-juice effects ...
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Wednesday, July 23, 2014

Avowed Metalhead Now President of World's Largest Muslim Country

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More here on Joko Widodo, president-elect of Indonesia . Given his shirt, I wonder if he is "chuffed". Indeed, perhaps his f...
Friday, July 18, 2014

Why Video Games Haven't Wiped Out Movies

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Video games generally have a much better ROI than movies ( actual figures here ), to a point where you can't help but wonder why the ent...
Tuesday, July 1, 2014

A Fun Game: Science Fiction Mars, or the Navajo Nation

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One is a picture of Navajo Mountain, Arizona (presumably from Lake Powell; credit mikereyfman.com ) and the other is one of my favorite cove...
Monday, June 30, 2014

File Under F for Fermi Paradox

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"Taiwanese student in heavy water over homemade fusion reactor ". If technology continues to progress, one day we'll look bac...
Tuesday, June 17, 2014

The Boys from Brazil? Or the Boys from Toronto?

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In keeping with making bizarre connections between pop culture and academic topics, I illuminate a creeping dark conspiracy that so far as I...
Friday, June 6, 2014

Heavy Metal Frost on Venus

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False color, real topography rendering of what Venus "frost" might look like (NASA) Besides being the coolest title for a pape...
Tuesday, June 3, 2014

Review: Dave Mustaine and the San Diego Symphony

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There are many reviews out there, and few were kind . The show was sold out for quite a while. Relative to the '99 Metallica symphony ...
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About Me

Michael Caton
I am a physician, writer and trail runner. You can reach me at mdcblogs@gmail.com.
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