Philip the Bard's Harappan blog: Visiting the Mother

Greetings sacred readers, thanks for being here.

Yesterday we broke the news that early in the new year we will actually get a private audience with the Mother of the Galaxy herself! I am so looking forward to that but life goes on, so until then we’ll get back to life on Kusha.

Winterfest is coming. Back home on Harappa we really had a winter. Nothing like they have on Earth, but in the White Mountains where I lived before The Arrival, we had two long months of snow and cold. Winterfest celebrated the half way point between Autumn and Spring. Here on Kusha, especially around Harappa City, where I live now, we don’t see snow very often. I have seen it fall but not stick on the ground. We certainly don’t get the waist deep dumps that I grew up with.

Even so, we Harappans have brought Winterfest to Kusha with many of our other traditions. Only now Winterfest is more about celebrating the Old Harappan traditions than it is about surviving the Winter. People gather to prepare the old foods and old drinks.

Vintners all over Kusha have been preparing their finest wines and the herb growers have been harvesting their crops. The algae lakes are in full swing. More algae cakes are eaten in the two weeks of Winterfest than all of the rest of the year.

Kids born on Kusha will never know our Homeworld. Many folks dispute what the “Homeworld” means. Didn’t humans evolve on old Earth? That’s the argument anyway, but I’d bet the farm that most Harappans who were born there would never claim Earth as their Homeworld.

Tomorrow we’ll talk more about the coming Winterfest.

Never Mix red wine and Oodo.

Philip Normer

Kushan Year 87

Earth Year 2479

Philip the Bard's Harappan Blog: Our Huge Announcement!

Greetings genuine readers, thanks for being here. I’ve been away from the blog for a few days but I have not been idle. I’ve been working on a project of interest to us all.

Most of you know that the Mother of the Galaxy is not totally well. Despite her young age (I don’t know exactly how old she is but guesses are around one hundred) her body is frail and weakening. The best doctors from all over the galaxy have been consulted and there is nothing for her. She is not expected to survive the winter. Spring will arrive without the Mother of the Galaxy.

I heard one scientist explain that with all the space miles she travelled in her life, more than any other human, her cells just are breaking down. It all just seems a tragic joke that the person who saved the Galaxy from chaos is dying because of her involvement in saving us all. Sadly, we can’t save her.

I can honestly say that I knew her before she became the Mother of the Galaxy. I knew her when she was just Max Gavaskar. My friend Dorian Thain knew her even better. They were quite close. Dorian was something of a mentor for her. She certainly did not need a mentor when it came to science, but he helped her when she wadded into the deep end of the diplomatic pool.

OK, OK, you all know this stuff. But, what have I been teasing for? What is the big news I’ve been promising? Through Dorian I have arranged a meeting with the Mother of the Galaxy herself. Yes! Dorian and I are going to be allowed to visit her personally. I will publish transcripts of our visit here in the blog.

This meeting is to take place shortly after the Winterfest holidays. The Mother has a long list of people waiting to visit with her. In her weakened state she only has the energy for a few short visits each day. We are very fortunate to have this opportunity. If it weren’t for my connection to Dorian we would not be going. 

In the coming weeks I’ll keep you posted on her health and on preparations for our visit with her.

In the mean time . . .

Never Mix red wine and Oodo.

Philip Normer

Kushan Year 87

Earth Year 2479

Notes from the Author: The Future of Population Control

Greetings nobel readers. Thanks for being here. 

Remember to look for Philip the Bard to return with a HUGE announcement this Monday.

Earlier in the week I spent two days railing against politics but I don’t see that as nearly as big a problem as the human population. We have to solve the population problem. I see that as problem one. Terrorism would fade, the environment would heal and societies would calm down if we could roll back the human population to a sustainable number.

The question is how do we do this? China is experimenting with economic restrictions in an attempt to slow the birth rate. Forcing people to restrict their reproduction seems dictatorial.

People tend to get nervous when anyone brings up the notion of population control. Several years ago I was part of a “Men’s Discussion Group” in Oregon. We came to the conclusion that the population issue needs to be at least brought up for discussion. We sent a representative to the Democratic State Convention thinking they would be more receptive than the Republican party. 

Nope. We weren’t even let in the door. They would not even entertain the notion of mentioning it in the convention let alone making it a platform plank.

My hope is that in the near future societal pressure comes to bear on the act of reproduction. We need babies, certainly. We just don’t need so many. I am childless by choice, but over the years I have on many occasions had to defend my choice. I’ve been called “selfish”, “immature” and worse. I don’t condone rudeness but perhaps this kind of peer pressure can be applied to convince people that not everyone needs to have kids.

You love kids? Have one. Don’t care for them? Remain childless. You want a big family with kids all over? Um, you might want to reconsider that one. We have to give up the notion that I have heard many times that having a baby makes a woman complete. Being smart, being compassionate being strong, these are what make a woman complete.

Birth rates in the first world are indeed dropping. However the third world is maintaining unsustainable birth rates. Whenever women are educated birth rates drop. Hmmm? Maybe we should be educating more women.

Have a great weekend. Philip the Bard returns Monday with his BIG announcement and later in the week I will post another futurist essay regarding the future of spaceflight.

Earth Year 2013

Never mix red wine with Oodo. 

Notes from the Author: Health in the Future

Before we get into my blog for today on healthcare I’m happy to tell you that Philip the Bard will return this Monday with BIG news regarding Max Gavaskar. . . Stay tuned

Greetings cheerful readers, Thanks for being here. The past few days I’ve been dealing with politics and economic issues. We’re done with that (phew!)

Today we’ll discuss something less contentious . . . religion . . . just kidding! No, actually, I’ll talk about the future of healthcare. I am not talking about the costs but the application.

The average human life span has doubled in the past one hundred and fifty years. Will it double in the next? 

There are a lot of new technologies coming our way in the near future regarding health care. New drugs to hold off aging, new implants to improve on nature, nanotechnology, robotics and more.

These things will all add to the human lifespan. But, is this something we really want to do? Do we really want to live hundreds of years? 

Life is short. Life is precious. Will life continue to be these things if we can live forever? What will this do to the human population? Without some population controls this could be a disaster.

We as a species have a lot of ethical questions to answer in the near future. At the risk of jumping back into political waters, we are going to all have to reconsider our beliefs and open our selves to new ideas and possibilities.

We’ve already had some discussions about the use of stem cells. That is only the very beginning of this discussion.

I envision a period of infatuation with these new medical advances. Then I see a backlash. At some point in the distant future I see people getting back to more natural ways of living.

I can see a time when it is a point of pride to not be dependent on mechanical means for a quality life. We see some of this in the health food people who look down their noses at people who use drugs (either clinically or recreationally). 

For the near future I see very interesting times indeed. Not all of us will be able to afford these new healthcare options but for some of us we’ll be prettier, stronger, faster, smarter and longer lived.

“May you live in interesting times.”

an ancient Chinese curse

Earth Year 2013

Never mix red wine with Oodo. 

Notes from the Author: The future of money.

Greetings marvelous readers. Thanks for being here. Yester day I railed against capitalism. I just can’t see it going on for much longer. Yes the capitalists have tremendous resources to call upon but they seem to lack any empathy at all. They don’t appear to have the capacity to consider (or care) how their actions affect society.

Let me say here for the sake of full disclosure that I am very liberal. Let me further say that I would not want “my side” to have complete control. The genius of the founding fathers of America was to form a government that made it difficult for one “side” to dominate the other.

To my conservative friends out there I say, I don’t agree with many of your concepts or philosophies, but I am open to listening to an honest discussion of the issues, but I further expect you to bring an open mind.

Most people today are upset about the way things are but not so upset to take real action. Unless things change I see the capitalists someday taking one step too far. That has been their history. 

So, when the capitalists take their one step too far what will happen? It is my hope that the American people become galvanized and retake the government by the ballot box. We ignore the propaganda we get from TV and vote for our self interest. We get a government that is neither capitalist nor socialist, but one that understands that there are different answers for different problems. We get a government that understands that compromise is part of governance. The tea party does not get to dictate to all of America like they claim. Occupy does not get to force their will on us all.

Longer term. At some point money will change. So far it works fairly well as a way to insure everyone contributes their fare share to society. However the accumulation of money has become a goal all to is self.

Henry Ford (a proud fascist) understood that he needed to pay his workers enough so that they could afford his cars. We as a country seem to have forgotten this concept. Our wealthy elite in an effort to accumulate even more wealth have started moving many of the good paying jobs that Americans came to depend on to the third world where they can pay workers pennies on the dollar to what they pay American workers. (if there was a liberal media you would hear more about this) This is unsustainable. This is also unconscionable. 

At some point we’ll have to understand that the economy is a world issue and not just an American one. Workers around the world will need to demand the same standard of living. There is no reason for people to live in poverty.

During the last election one party took great issue with the idea they all created their personal wealth on their own with no outside help. They seemed incapable of considering the facts that they would not have been nearly as successful with out the backing of the American people and government. We succeed together or we fail together.

Either we have a new Henry Ford or we have revolution. You decide.

Tomorrow: The future of health care.

Earth Year 2013

Never mix red wine with Oodo. 

Notes from the Author: Thoughts on government.

Greetings fellow readers. Thanks for being here. I’ve been discussing my opinions about the future of humanity. I base my assumptions on my readings of other futurists and other science fiction authors, notably Clark, Herbert and Asimov.

Today I’ll discuss my view on the future of economics and governance but first . . . let me say this to my conservative friends: I am not picking on you. I am not conservative but I do respect my friends who believe in conservative issues. I just see a future where the conservative / liberal argument is fairly moot.

One of the things I enjoy about science fiction is the possibility of exploring different paradigms. We can try a new kind of communism or fascism without actually having to live under them.

We simply can’t go on the way we have been. Capitalism has been the paradigm just over two centuries and it’s mucked up the world pretty bad. Certainly capitalism is not the only culprit here but it is in my opinion the main obstacle to a better life for most humans.

You can argue that capitalism is certainly better than the feudalism that came before. I don’t dispute that. What I dispute is that capitalism is the end all of social construction, but rather a cog in the greater machine.

I hear a lot of capitalists arguing on TV how much better than socialism their system is. However, they seem to be arguing against communism instead, which is not the opposite of capitalism. Most of the pundits on TV ignore the fact that the opposite of communism is fascism. If there was a liberal media would they compare fascism with socialism? If they did socialism would look much better to most people.

The facts of the matter are that capitalism did nothing for the common man until socialism ( labor unions ) forced them to care for their workers.

We as a people need to break the strangle hold capitalists have on our society. Their interest is not to better society but to enrich themselves and their shareholders at the expense of everyone else.

I’m not suggesting we replace capitalism with socialism. What I am suggesting is that we need both systems to more forward and a strong regulatory government to insure fairness.

In general I argue that services (education, police, fire, healthcare, national defense) are better provided by socialism and goods are better provided by capitalism.

Even these simple ideas may soon be out the window if we can bring in a new paradigm.

The American government is more conservative than the American people. This is in part because we have a conservatively controlled media. Our media does not report on issues important to liberals. The media and our government increasingly do not represent the views of the American people.

America can produce prodigious “bread and circus”. We can entertain our people so well that they will for a time ignore the problems facing them. Problems that there is no need for them to face. The idea that America can not provide for our poor and needy is simply absurd. The idea that we can not maintain our infrastructure with our taxing the poor more than we do is just wrong.

The corporate interests that are running the American economy into the ditch are very well funded and entrenched. How do we break their stranglehold on our society? They have shown a propensity to throw temper tantrums and a willingness to take a financial hit to make a point that they didn’t like what the people did. 

Historically, violent revolution has been the only answer to this kind of situation. I am hopeful that American democracy is strong enough to bring about change without having to resort to this. There are movements starting around the country with the hope to affect change for the better.

Tomorrow I’ll discuss more long term issues. We’ll go further into the future.

Earth Year 2013

Never mix red wine with Oodo. 

Notes from the Author: Future Entertainments

Greetings valiant readers. Thanks for being here. Today we continue our futurist essays with my hits on future entertainments.

Entertainment

Last week we discussed how computers and electronic entertainment will change. Technologies will integrate these things into our daily living more so than they do now. We also will not own media as much. We’ll just get things on line.

. . . but what will we watch? What will we listen to?

I’m not even going to try to predict the tastes of coming generations. I have always been on the fringe when it comes to my tasts in entertainment. I have a hard time accepting anything that seems overly popular. So I am not the person to tell you what popular culture will do, today or tomorrow.

I think any author who tries to do this is just trying to boost their own ego. How many times have we heard some new artist described as the “Next Elvis” or the “Next Beatles”? We usually hear these kinds of statements from people who are looking back more than looking forward. I admit that I like to look back when it comes to music, so I won’t try to predict the ebbs and flows of cultural taste.

I will tell you that I believe (and hope) that musicians and other entertainers are given the freedom to explore their medium without the constrictions of the market place.

I seems obvious that Capitalism cannot survive much longer without a major overhaul. Capitalist societies rarely produce much lasting art. Rock and Roll being one exception. However even a cursory examination of the history of Rock and Roll shows that it has been on a downhill slide ever since the “Bean Counters” took over the Biz. 

Assuming we eventually break the yoke of the “Free Market” I see the potential for another Renaissance in the near future. If we don’t break the strangle hold of the Capitalists we’ll see more and more pablum.

Tomorrow we’ll talk about the future of Economics and Governance. 

Earth Year 2013

Never mix red wine with Oodo.