Gibson and hipster consumerism in Zero History Successful as he’s been, William Gibson has always been something of a misfit. Gibson is best known for his first novel and cyberpunk classic Neuromancer. But the extent to which Gibson is a cyberpunk author is debatable. Sometimes it feels like the intersection between Gibson and cyberpunk is incidental. There’s no doubt that Gibson has...
Plutarch was a priest, magistrate, ambassador, and essayist born in Chaeronea in Greece around 46CE (d. 120CE). The Greek states had already been part of the Roman Empire for two centuries by the time of his birth, and it is no surprise that at some point Plutarch became a citizen of Rome, changing his name to Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus. Plutarch (or Lucy, as I’m sure his friends called...
The Seven Beauties of Science Fiction is a book written by Istvan Csicsery-Ronay Jr, a professor of English at DePauw University and published in 2008. I wanted to have a bird’s eye view; I ended up in outer space. (Preface) There’s something inexpressible about SF[1]. This inexpressible something, the author suggests, reflects the role of SF in helping us parse and express the role...
Taking a Fresh Look at Antiochus’ Criterion of Certainty Introduction to Antiochus With Antiochus of Ascalon (c.125-88 BCE), Platonism took a dive back to its roots – or at least, it claimed to do so. Antiochus’ teacher was Philo of Larissa, who was the last of the Academics who were associated with the actual Academy of Plato. Antiochus is considered to be the first major philosopher of...
Hide and Seek is the third episode of the franchisee show Stargate Atlantis[1]. It first aired in July 2004. Spoilers? Yes. Synopsis: An energy-feeding shadow is freed and a shield stone is found. They get rid of the shadow and can’t use the stone any more. Fin. DVD Commentary Instructions: (1) Print off this commentary. (2) Hire a voice actor – someone with a deep voice and who is well...
What is this? It’s an index of sorts, linking to nodes that relate to philosophy in Ancient Greece. See also the first footnote below[1]. It was written for two main reasons: (1) As an index that can be referred to when looking for something to read about Ancient Greek philosophy; (2) as an index that can be referred to when trying to decide what has and hasn’t been written and what...
I recommend reading the first footnote before starting It started with Plato, but it didn’t end there[1]. This fact isn’t often discussed. Plato lived in Athens in Ancient Greece about 2400 years ago. He himself studied informally under Socrates, and Plato, in turn, had his own students and disciples at a school (of sorts) called The Academy.[2] The very first person to succeed as...
History has recorded Anaximander as one of the first of the Ancient Greek philosophers, preceded only by his teacher Thales. Anaximander lived around 2600 years ago, in the large Ionian city of Miletus, which can be found on the West coast of modern day Turkey. Anaximander is famous, together with his teacher Thales and his own student Anaximenes for being the first Greeks to begin a tradition of...
