What if biological cells could be computer processors that form AI inside the human body? Blood Music begins with this question and just keeps on delving. A 1985 scifi classic that holds up. #bodyhorror #hardscifi #cyberpunk #pandemic #apocalypse #AI #biotech #biohacking #reading2025
What if biological cells could be computer processors that form AI inside the human body? Blood Music begins with that question and just keeps on delving. A prescient 1985 classic that holds up.
#bodyhorrror #hardscifi #cyberpunk
#pandemic #apocalypse
#AI #biotech #biohacking #reading2025
Greetings! I've moved instances so now it's time to rewrite an #intro
I love #languages #linguistics and #etymology. I'm hesitant to list what languages I study as my interests tend to shift, but I know a few phrases in some European languages. Speaking is the hardest part of using a language given that darn real-time compilation aspect, so it's safe to say reading is the easiest to get a grasp of. I've really gotten in to #Latin of late thanks to my dealings with learning plant species.
Speaking of which, I'm also really into #NativePlants, #ReWilding and #Permaculture. I've spent over the past 2 years converting my traditional American hellscape of a lawn into a recovering (thriving, even?) ecosystem of native plants. It's not much, but it's work 
Currently I'm tracking over 110 species I've either transplanted or nurtured. How am I tracking that? Well, I'm also into #SoftwareEngineering
For that project, I just built a simple, local CRUD webapp with some mapping functionality for logging where I plant things, how they're doing and some basic info about them. Outside of work I work on a lot of small projects like the one above, but they've all felt so much more interesting than the work I get paid to do. That's how life goes, I suppose. Anyway, brief list of what I've built: DIY 6 Zone Automated Sprinkler system with ball valves (!) controlled by an ESP32 running ESPHome, A local webapp that (among other things) uses diceware to create unique passwords, A Slack bot for friends that admins a game of Cards Against Humanity, I built a web scraper service for a local nonprofit to better collect municipality permit data, I've gone through 3 iterations of installing 5v LED strips on a bike of mine to stay visible, I've probably written countless automations in #HomeAssistant. One thing remains true for most of my projects: I always end up overengineering the solution lol. It's a double-edged sword, but I'm trying to either embrace it or learn when to avoid it, depending on my mood for that day.
Last, let's talk about reading. I love #SciFi, but primarily #HardSciFi. Anything where there's more focus on the technology being used. Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, Greg Egan, Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars Trilogy. Always eager to take some book recommendations.
Anyway, I think that's enough of an intro to satisfy the Mastodon.
`Press any key to continue...`
I spent a lot of time and effort building and fine-tuning ships like this in KSP. Might as well show some of them off.
Reminder: commissions open tomorrow
@mlanger Yes, it has become my #EBook retailer of choice since FeedBooks was sold and lost these features and most of it's catalog 
So, now I have eBooks.com #HardScienceFiction #DRMFree https://www.ebooks.com/en-us/category/fiction/science-fiction/hard-science-fiction/1350/?BisacId=1350&Filter.Term=&Filter.DateMadeActive=All&Filter.Language=0&Filter.FormatType=All&Filter.DrmFree=true bookmarked.
Though, I still have high hopes that Bookshop.org eBooks https://bookshop.org/ebooks might add this filter and increase their eBook inventory enough to become my new bookseller of choice 
Also... https://indieweb.social/@mcrocker/113969681854532714
@jayrockin We need to add some hastags to this. It's a great comic that deserves more reach! #comics #webcomics #scifi #scifiReading #hardscifi
Just wanted to show y'all I'm doing my #human #biology #research before I write things, and since I'm going into #micro / #macro #TF stuff with the #HardScifi of #Modders, I need to know what natural biology is actually capable of in order to build a plausible explanation...
...so I'm finding out how short or tall a human can be without issues.
The height for "Dwarfism" is under 1.5 meters (5 ft), though I don't think that's very short. Simone Biles is well under that. Poking around, I'm seeing people saying 1.25 m (4 ft), so let's say that's a good start.
The record holder for shortest woman is Jyoti Amge, a 31 year old indian actress who is 62.8 cm (2 ft) tall, and the record holder for shortest man was Chandra Dangi, a Nepalese weaver who lived to 75, at 54.6 cm (1 ft 9in) tall. He could walk and survived 75 years, so I assume there was no life-threatening complication, which would mean a human only needs to be about half a meter tall to be "healthy"...
(Continued in thread)
Finished reading M.R. Carey's "Infinity Gate: Book One Of The Pandominion."
https://amzn.to/3XIl3db
Oh, man, I really, really dug this inventive, unique, and gripping #HardSciFi-esque novel. Now to the second half.
#books #reading #ScienceFiction #SciFi
Started reading M.R. Carey's "Infinity Gate: Book One Of The Pandominion."
https://amzn.to/3XIl3db
I'm nearly 60 pages in but feel I've only just started this epic and deep #HardSciFi story. But I'm also totally in.
#books #reading #ScienceFiction #SciFi
Be sure to watch this now: «The Real Stars and Scale of Sci-fi»
youtu.be/0r2x7G0hwCw
Gives us the right perspective.
#scifi #HardScifi #Astronomy
- YouTube
Be sure to watch this now: «The Real Stars and Scale of Sci-fi»
Gives us the right perspective.
EDIT: Answered now, thank you! Material stronger in tension, so convex stronger than concave.
Say you have a pressurised cylinder in space - like the cab module of a space station. Often you see end caps as convex - bowed outward. Would it not be stronger, to have concave end caps - bowed in? All the pressure is on the inside trying to get out right?
Finished reading the #ScienceFiction #ShortStory / science fact anthology "Tales Of The United States Space Force."
https://amzn.to/3R8icrC
A rather interesting mix of #HardSciFi / #MilitarySciFi / #SciFi #SpaceOpera / and #SpeculativeFiction.
#Books #Reading #HardScienceFiction #ShortStories
Endlich den Sammelband #Eismond von #BrandonQMorris beendet. Das sind langweilige 1200 Seiten einer seltsamen Mischung aus #Hardscifi, Erlebnisaufsatz und Wissenschaftsjournalismus.
Einzig interessant die Erlebnisse der Crew im "Wald der Säulen" am Meeresgrund eines Eismondes: dort treffen unterschiedliche Bewusstseinsformen aufeinander. Aber auch hier läge erzählerisch wesentlich mehr drin.
"Lies als Nächstes was G'scheites", nehme ich mir vor. Das Leben ist kurz.
Oxygen by John B. Olson & Randy Ingermanson
“Olson and Ingermanson blend crisply realistic astronautics with the untidiness of human emotions, creating a thriller about people who must—yet cannot—trust each other if they want to survive.”
More thoughts: https://davidjhiggins.wordpress.com/2024/08/23/oxygen-by-john-b-olson-randy-ingermanson/
Sometimes I think about the idea of #terraforming #Mars in like, a #HardScifi story, and it always strikes me that so many #scifi stories like that have Mars turning into an earth-like planet... And I don't know how realistic that is for a planet that doesn't have a #magnetosphere.
What I would like to see more of is a Mars where the CO2 hasn't been replaced with O2, which would blow off into space, it's just heated above freezing and pressurized above boiling, making habitation safer.
Started reading the #ScienceFiction #ShortStory / science fact anthology "Tales Of The United States Space Force."
https://amzn.to/3R8icrC
After getting through the first 3, I'm excited to dig deeper into this #HardSciFi / #MiliarySciFi / #SpaceOpera collection of #ShortStories.
#Books #Reading #SciFi #HardScienceFiction
Endlich geschafft einer meiner Lieblings "Hard"#SciFi Serien zuende zu gucken: #TheExpanse
Die vorerst finale Season 6 ist wirklich ein fulminanter Abschluss und Höhepunkt der bisherigen Konflikte, gute Balance zwischen glaubwürdiger SciFi-Konzepte und Fraktionen und eher rätselhafte Alien-Storyline.
Hier und da rolle ich bei einzelnen Entscheidungen zwar mit den Augen und die Season ist wirklich kurz, aber alles in allem eine gelungene Serie.
Why I'm not an author, Part LXXVII:
Reading a simple sci-fi space opera, humans against space spiders, mindless fun, and then ...
The protagonist's spaceship has to rendezvous with a space station orbiting Mercury. Fair enough. The narrator talks about how the station has to stay in the planet's shadow. OK, that makes sense. Summer's a bitch that close to good old Sol.
They then go on to say that Mercury is tidally-locked to the Sun. ARGH!
It's not. It's rotation period is ⅔ of it's orbit period (88 days), meaning the planet slowly turns to toast it's whole surface. That's been known since the 1960's. Frown.
Then, more egregiously, states that the station orbits at around 1,000 km from the planet's surface. WTAF?
A geostationary orbit for Mercury (needed to stay in shadow) given it's mass and rotation period, would be 240,420 km from the surface. Angry grimace.
Anyway, #PedantsRule 
