Isaac Asimov: The Last Question

 I found a video of this last month on YouTube which I will share with you, however, if you prefer to read it here's a link that I found to this short story. Can't believe it's publicly available. Perhaps this is something worth saving to your hard-drive before it's taken off the internet due to copyright.

Upon finding out the story, I just see it as an instant favorite. Seems to combine A.I., questions about the universe with even a biblical origin story. I've been using A.I. to ponder the fate of the universe - don't worry much about it though it's trillions or more in the future, not imminent.

This is of course a sci-fi story taking place in the future. Who knows what mankind's fate will be after thousands of years let alone millions of years.

Here's the video that discusses The Last Question [VIDEO]

The Overview Effekt: Location of Deep Space 9 and other Sci-Fi stars

 

[VIDEO] I've gotten into space videos lately. For example: terraforming Mars, why is Venus so hot with high atmospheric pressure, or even exoplanets - that is those planets that orbits other stars outside of our own solar system.

However, the worlds that Star Trek visits or even the star where Babylon 5 is located (and yes the universes of Star Trek and Babylon 5 are totally different. Vulcan has their own star - 40 Eridani - which is known to us and of course we don't really know if Vulcan exists. Wolf 359 is a real star, not just the star where Starfleet suffered a massive defeat at the hands of the Borg.

Also Babylon 5 is located by a real star Epsilon Eridana. Also our closest star is Proxima Alpha Centauri and that was the setting for the film Avatar.

It's interesting to know some of these many stars that we see in sci-fi TV programs and movies are in fact real though whether or not they may be home to various fictional alien or humanoid extraterrestrial species is whole other issue.

Dan Mace on his #COVID19 experience

[VIDEO] Usually I avoid posting on Sundays on any of my blogs, however, in this case I will make a exception. Besides, I don't really post a lot anywhere these days.

Dan Mace was mentioned in yesterday's video by big time YouTuber Casey Neistat as Mace himself  - as the 67th case of corona in his native South Africa - stated that he was positive for the coronavirus. Listen to Mace talk about his symptoms as he states that others experienced the loss of his sense of smell & taste. He also noted that this symptom was experience reportedly by others who had been infection with this contagion.

He talks about difficulty breathing, fatigue which are symptoms of this virus. However, its often been noted how these are also symptoms of the flu. He was treated accordingly, however, he was actually tested for the coronavirus and he was positive.

Mace has opted not to monetize this video and wants to educate the public on this. I hope someone see this 10 minute video. Instead of panicking I hope they go to the doctor not only to get tested, but to get treated. If you don't have any major medical conditions, especially the illness will be unpleasant however it will still pass.

Build a real starship Enterprise, how about a real "Starfleet"?

[VIDEO] Recently I watched a YouTube video with regards to the starship Enterprise. In passing the video noted an effort with a link - which was inactive - to a website that provided more information of a project to build a real live USS Enterprise. Then it gives me an idea.

Man I wish I had come up with this idea in time for Star Trek's 50th anniversary in 2016.

Anyway, my idea is for a real life Starfleet. The Enterprise - well all ships named Enterprise on Star Trek - serves an organization known as Starfleet. It is the diplomatic, exploratory, scientific and defense service of the galactic power know as the United Federation of Planets. Starfleet is not considered a military organization, but the service itself is built along military lines with a naval tradition.

Now a real life Starfleet - which wouldn't be a mere fan organization - would basically be a private organization dedicated to scientific & technological research & development in addition to exploration. From what I've casually observed with what's going on in space these days is there is a trend towards privatizing space. Who says government has to do all the work to send people and probes into space?

Perhaps this Starfleet could be the organization that is able to send people to the "red planet". Perhaps they also send people back to the moon. In both cases establish settlements or at the very least actual bases for scientific purposes. Of course this Starfleet could send astronauts around the solar system all the while developing better technologies - such as warp drive - to get our people exploring in shorter periods of time.

Of course to bring this back full circle, what about building the real starship Enterprise? Well the proposal I've heard involves using the design of a Constitution class starship - not clear if it's either the original series version or the movie refit version or even the one redesigned in 2009 - with nuclear reactors to power the ship, an ion engine for propulsion, & a gravity wheel in the saucer section. This proposed ship would get astronauts to the moon in three days - the same amount of time as the Apollo astronauts - and astronauts to Mars in 90 days. Mars in 90 days? OK worth a shot!

Of course using the Constitution class design seems like over kill. I always though a more practical design for today's spacecraft engineers is to use a design similar to the USS Defiant from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine or the NX-01 Enterprise from Star Trek Enterprise. While I recognize conventional wisdom is no need to built a space crusier - hence no Constitution based design - I think a practical design for a real live spacecraft based on a design from Star Trek should start with the compact or submarine based designs of the Defiant & Enterprise.

In my mine Enterprise would be what I wish we could start building for that mission to Mars. I'm not an engineer, however, this design could incorporate that gravity wheel. As far as the nuclear reactors or ion propulsion the real engineers of the world can figure this out.

So here's the NX-01 Enterprise as portrayed in the prequel eponymous Star Trek series in action. [VIDEO]

Meanwhile if it takes a few years to design, plan and build this advanced spaceship, what I will say now is let's get started!

BTW, this has got to be the geekiest post written here!

So now we know to put astronauts into suspended animation?

I became a fan of the film 2001: A Space Odyssey when I was still in high school. One plot point there was that the supercomputer of the spaceship on a mission to Jupiter went crazy - it was supposed to be an artificially intelligent machine - and made an effort to kill all the astronauts.

Two of the astronauts were piloting the ship and three other astronauts was in suspended animation. So this computer was successful in killing one of the non-suspended astronauts and killed the suspended astronauts. The surviving astronaut shut the computer down and continued to Jupiter.

I thought about that film when I saw this article. Placing astronauts in suspended animation was science fiction in 1968 when the film was released and it was science fiction back in the 1990s. While there were actually scientists studying this scenario it looks like we've started to figure out how this could be done.

The body would have to be cooled and has been used as part of medical treatment. In fact I wonder if this is akin to placing someone in a medically induced come. I wish I could answer this but you're not reading the blog of a trained medical doctor.

All the same, at one point in my life I always wanted to be an astronaut. It was excited to go on a modern day "Star Trek" even if the voyage was only to orbit on the shuttle or staying in the solar system going to the moon or to Mars. This article does discuss how we can send people to Mars and suspended animation is one way to do it without having to spend money on lots of food or anything else.

So, it seems again the future is here. Hopefully we're developing much more advanced and faster propulsion to send spacecraft to their destination and back to the earth. Which means hopefully there would be no need for suspended animation.

A Martian Dream: Here's What the Red Planet Would Look Like With Earth-Like Oceans and Life - The Atlantic

A Martian Dream: Here's What the Red Planet Would Look Like With Earth-Like Oceans and Life - The Atlantic

The pic above is how our fourth planet would look like if it was earth like. With some landforms in the northern hemisphere it looks like they would've had a large continent similar to this fabled continent on Earth known as Pangaea. Well not so fabled as well there is a theory or perhaps it's proven that at one point all of Earth's continents were one massive landmass. Continental drift created the continents as we know them today!

In any case I can't wrap my head around Martian geography as well I know very little about it. I know about Utopia Planitia as this is the area where the Enterprise of Star Trek: The Next Generation was constructed. However I can't even begin to point to it on a map!

Well this show what Mars can look like with terraforming. And perhaps this could spur more interest in sending people to the Red Planet. Time can only tell.

Via Instapundit!

Neil Armstrong, 1st man to land on the moon passes away

[VIDEO] Posting that 9 minute video above that showed highlights of the Apollo 11 mission. This was the mission that saw Neil Armstrong who was mission commander land on the Moon on July 20, 1969. Armstrong died today at the age of 82:

Neil Armstrong, the astronaut who became first to walk on the moon as commander of Apollo 11, has died. He was 82 years old.

Armstrong had heart surgery several weeks ago, and a statement from his family said he died following complications resulting from cardiovascular procedures.

"Neil Armstrong was also a reluctant American hero who always believed he was just doing his job," his family said. "He served his Nation proudly, as a navy fighter pilot, test pilot, and astronaut. ... He remained an advocate of aviation and exploration throughout his life and never lost his boyhood wonder of these pursuits."

On July 20, 1969, half a billion people -- a sixth of the world's population at the time -- watched a ghostly black-and-white television image as Armstrong backed down the ladder of the lunar landing ship Eagle, planted his left foot on the moon's surface, and said, "That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind."