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That’s some heavy stuff you’re reading Cyrus cat! #scifi #sciencefiction #history #books #cat #cats #catsofmastodon
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Today in Labor History January 2, 1921: Karel Čapek’s science fiction play “R.U.R.” premiered. "R.U.R." stands for “Rossum's Universal Robots.” The play introduced the word “robot” to the English language and to the world of science fiction. He derived the word “Robot” from the Czech word for forced labor by Serfs, a derivation he attributed to his brother, Joseph. The play is an archetype for many of the science fiction stories and films that followed, like Bladerunner, West World and Terminator, and others about robots, replicants and hosts that rebel against humans. However, “R.U.R.,” like Čapek’s 1936 novel “War with the Newts,” is also a satirical critique of totalitarianism, which was already on the rise in Europe at the time he wrote the play.
Čapek was opposed to all forms of totalitarianism, including both communism and fascism. As a young man, he worked as a journalist, in Prague, where he wrote on topics such as nationalism, totalitarianism and consumerism. As a teen, he was expelled from his high school for participating in an unauthorized student club, which he later described as a "very non-murderous anarchist society." In 1938, he had the chance to leave for the UK, but refused to leave Czechoslovakia, where the Nazi Gestapo had named him "public enemy number two." He died later that year from pneumonia.
#workingclass #LaborHistory #karelcapek #sciencefiction #scifi #robot #serf #slavery #totalitarianism #satire #play #playwright #theater #film #bladerunner #rebellion @bookstadon
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I'm starting on a binge watch of Babylon 5, a sci-fi series that ran 5 seasons from 1993 to 1998. I watched it then and so cool to watch it again. #Babylon5 #sciencefiction #scifi #television
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babylon_5
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babylon_5
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Finished my rewatch of #TheExpanse and I remain convinced it's damn near perfect.
There's some strong contenders out there for best recent #SciFi shows — #Foundation probably being my favourite, despite its flaws and departures from the books — but I think it still comes out on top.
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“You don't think much of my chances, do you?"
"Not much," agreed the ex-Minister of Education. "You're a Smyrnian."
"That's no legal bar. I've had a lay education."
"Well, come now. Since when does prejudice follow any law but its own.” —Asimov, Foundation, 1952
"Not much," agreed the ex-Minister of Education. "You're a Smyrnian."
"That's no legal bar. I've had a lay education."
"Well, come now. Since when does prejudice follow any law but its own.” —Asimov, Foundation, 1952
Sadly still relevant today.
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Hober Mallow pays a 50% income tax. The king of Merchant Princes pays way more than Musk.
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@fraser Well humans can't even mine the dang thing (for profit and accidentally for other tangetial actual benefits for humanity) under its current conditions.
If the human civilization survives this century somewhat intact there's a chance that some Elon spawn or ilk will eventually want to claim Venus as theirs...
Luckily brainstorming is cheap:
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Karl Stephan's cover art detail for the 1970 German edition of Men and Machines, ed. Robert Silverberg (1968)
It illustrates Fritz Leiber's "A Bad Day for Sales" (1953)
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George Zebrowski (1945-2024) was born on this day. Bibliography: https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?357
L, Attila Hejja, 1983; R, Bob Eggleton, 1991
#scifi #sciencefiction #books
Cover for The Omega Point Trilogy. Spaceship flying over a barren planet. There's a cratered planet in the distance.
Cover for Stranger Suns. A menacing sphere rases from an artic pit. Various helmeted people look at it from below on skis. Static electricity-like bolts dart from it. A helicopter seems drawn into it.
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A Gunship Corvette 3d model I made.
(Inspiration for this design is the Corvette class ship from the I-War games box art)
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Doctor Who Christmas Special time!
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@blendernation published my behind the scenes article about my jumpship art piece I did earlier this year!
Its a deep dive into spaceship modelling and my procedural planet background shader. Please ask me anything you want to know!
Its a deep dive into spaceship modelling and my procedural planet background shader. Please ask me anything you want to know!
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Can anyone help identifying a novel?
There's a #scifi novel I read long ago, that I had figured must be Anne McCaffrey's 'Decision at Doona' - but now I'm reading that one it's apparent it's not.
It had humans arriving at a planet inhabited by big humanoid cats, like Doona does. But in this one, the female cats live in town & the males live alone in the woods except once a year, when the females go into heat & go out to meet a man, bringing gifts of industry to trade for pelts & such.
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Artist Dean Ellis (1920-2009) was born on this day. Bibliography: https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?25663
L, 1970; R, 1972
#scifi #sciencefiction #art #artist
Cover for White's All Judgement Fled. There's a large spaceship with a small spaceship next to it in the bleak emptiness of space.
Cover for Silverberg's The World Inside. Massive high rises loom over the ocean and land below them.
