Torn Branches: A Science Fiction Review

What do you write when you hate a beloved classic? Not just hate, but fail to finish. I recently read the first book in the Warhammer 40,000 series The Horus Heresy – Horus Rising  by Dan Abnett. This is my first foray into Warhammer 40,000, and also the first book from Dan Abnet that I have read. Talking to friends who are fans of Abnett, I would often hear adjectives such as ‘gritty’ and ‘raw’ associated with his writing style. Two-thirds through Horus Rising and I think ‘boring’, ‘clichéd’, and ‘immature’ are more accurate. To be fair to Abnett, I think the issue is with the source material more than the writing quality. Horus Rising is set 10,000 years prior to the events of the popular game and follows the exploits of the emperor’s favoured son and Astarte – Horus. The empire itself is inter-galactic and attempts to unite the scattered populations of humanity under a single banner. To enforce the emperors will are the Astarte’s – a genetically engineered ‘perfect’ soldie

In an unexpected turn of events, New Zealand is on track to becoming a key player in the space industry with  Rocket Lab announcing that the proposed launch site has been official opened.  In March this year, Rocketlab announced that the Rutherford engine qualified for flight. Since starting work for a small tech company in New Zealand, I'm constantly amazed at what our little country is capable of, and the good work going on behind the scenes by seriously clever people. 

An interesting piece from Scientific American on the influx of money from silicon valley rich-listers into life extending technology . Examples include Larry Page, Larry Ellison, and Peter Thiel, who have donated nearly half a billion in various research ventures for extending life indefinitely. Douglascerettah, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons The article responds to the investment into life extending technology with three points: "First, the second law of thermodynamics is paramount in the universe, so entropy will get us in the long run, if not the short..." "Second, extrapolating trend lines far into the future is problematic. Accelerating change may not continue at those rates nor apply to all technologies..." "Third, according to a 2007 review paper in the journal Clinical Interventions in Aging entitled “The Aging Process and Potential Interventions to Extend Life Expectancy,” there is no single cause of aging and more than 300 theories for why c

In my latest run, I was in a unique situation with my mental state being hijacked by an NPC and turned against my fireteam. I knew that my fireteam would easily outgun me in a combat scenario, so I utilised deception to fool them into dropping their guard. It worked only briefly before the fireteam saw through the ruse. The concept was novel, and I’m glad the GM allowed the tactic. Our GM uses a three-step process to decide the success of social tests. The first and most important element is having a convincing in-story argument. It’s not good enough to tell a simple and transparent lie. You need a con that is believable given the context. In my example above, my character turning rogue opened up plenty of opportunities. The next step is the roll based on your skill, and finally the opposed roll. I liken the steps to a play, and your argument is the script. A good script can go a long way, think Hamlet vs Dora the Explorer. But even a good script is ruined by poor delivery, and

I've been reading a bit about the concept of transhumanism lately as it is often used as a plot device in many of the sci fi novels, movies, and games I play. If you're interested, like me, I suggest taking a look at Nick Bostrom's description of the subject here . I particularly like this summary quote: "Transhumanists view human nature as a work-in-progress, a half-baked beginning that we can learn to remold in desirable ways. Current humanity need not be the endpoint of evolution. Transhumanists hope that by responsible use of science, technology, and other rational means we shall eventually manage to become posthuman, beings with vastly greater capacities than present human beings have". Nick Bostrom is also famous for his simulation theory hypothesis which states that at least one of the following statements is very likely to be true: The fraction of human-level civilisations that reach a posthuman stage is very close to zero; The fraction of posthu

Episode 8 Major Kusanagi is called to a hospital by a friend who has suspicions about the origin of a young girls donor heart. The heart was taken without the parents permission from a young boy undergoing a prosthetic heart operation  Police had been called in to investigate but the investigating officer fell ill suddenly. Aramaki is also suspicious and is concerned that the Yakuza may be involved.  Kusanagi and Togusa decide to interview the police officer in hospital, but upon arrival finds young men fleeing the scene. A chase ensues and it is revealed that the young men are med students, using their knowledge of the hospital system to trade in black market organs.   Kusanagi has taken a keener interest in this case than normal, and decide to scare the young men senseless by making them think she is a Yakuza agent sent to kill them for stepping in their market.   What I liked This was a fairly straight forward episode meant only to provide a little mor

We had a fascinating game last Friday. After being pinned down in the room of death by multiple turrets, we managed to escape down a corridor and find ourselves in a staff room. Inside there were six armed enemies, who we downed fairly easily. Starting to feel confident again, Slave/Susan and Asif hacked a spindle and used it to retrieve the unconscious bullet-riddled body of Hobo. While the retrieval was in progress Duncan decided to exact a little revenge by torturing one of the downed but still alive enemies we had just dispatched. This is where things got interesting. Duncan, having grown up off-earth, has never seen a spider n his life. You can imagine his surprise when two human-sized spider arms emerge from a passageway. Stricken with fear (failed the Willpower roll), a woman emerged from the passage with six large spider arms. She gently embraced Duncan’s head. Immediately, Duncan realised the ‘truth’. The spider queen was his mistress and must be protected at

The Deus Ex Machina series from Eidos is now onto its third iteration. Mankind divided kicks off one year after the events of Human Revolution . The world of Deus Ex Machina is one in which humanity is on the cusp of wide-spread change, chiefly brought about by the development of human/cybernetic augmentation. The events of Human Revolution saw a major flaw in the technology when a terrorist was able to infect all augmented people with a computer virus that sent them into an enraged violent mental state. The impact of this attack can not be overstated. Millions were slaughtered as family members, colleagues, friends, and strangers butchered each other ruthlessly before the effects of the virus could be reversed. It is the aftershock of this event that sets the scene for Mankind Divided . Public opinion is now heavily against the 'Augs', who are blamed for the attack. All over the world, new laws are being introduced to combat the Aug threat. The game is set in Prague, o

‘What’s happening?’ Duncan shrieked. A warm yellow stain spread down his left leg. Another barrage from the high calibre machine gun turrets whinnied. Unable to hear anything but the high pitched ringing in his ears Duncan surveyed what appeared to be the remains of Hobo. ‘He might still be okay, he has to be okay’ Duncan said to himself. Hobo was lying on his stomach, his back looked like it had been put through a meat grinder then quickly fried. This mission was supposed to be a cakewalk. After getting offside with the law in the last mission, the Fireteam decided it was time to lose the heat with a journey off-world. Before leaving, we had heard of a lab out in the middle of nowhere that solid intel told us was a cover for illegal narc production. The plan was simple, hijack a regular supply freighter, infiltrate the lab (killing any white-coat types that got in the way), and knock off the stash of drugs. The money would be welcome – maybe then we could buy our own ship instead