Surpassing borders: more translations

When I first started writing in English just over two years ago, I did not imagine publishing in any more languages than Czech and English anytime soon. Yet earlier this year, I’ve had a story (The Symphony of Ice and Dust) translated into Romanian, along with other Czech authors, thanks to the Fantastica.ro magazine’s editor Cristian Tamas. Now I’m stepping a bit further from home with a translation into Chinese.

ZUI-FoundThe story has first appeared recently in my “Terra nullius” anthology in Czech under the title Zaříkávač lodí. The English title is The Ship Whisperer – and you will see it in Asimov’s next March! It was also chosen for translation into Chinese by Geng Hui, whose translations include works by C. C. Finlay, Ted Chiang and many other authors I greatly admire. Under the title 船语者 (Chuan Yu Zhe), it’s going to be published in a few days in the September issue of ZUI Found. I’m looking forward to it and I’m very grateful to Geng for contacting me and choosing to translate the story! I hope you like it as well, whether you read it in Czech, Chinese or English.

I’ve also translated a few Czech works by other authors into English; they’re currently under consideration. I’ll keep you updated!

Pluto: a world more fascinating than we’d hoped for

Pluto and its largest moon Charon proved to be extremely interesting objects during the recent New Horizons flyby. While the spacecraft is on its way further into the Kuiper belt (hopefully to fly by another fascinating object in the foreseeable future), it keeps sending the flyby data home. What can it tell us about Pluto so far?

I have interviewed Dr. Hauke Hussmann, planetary geophysics scientist from the German Aerospace Center (DLR), about Pluto and other objects of our solar system. Dr. Hussmann has published lots of studies especially on the icy moons of our system, including a 2006 model of the possibilities of subsurface water reservoirs. He is also the principal investigator for GALA, the laser altimeter aboard the planned JUICE spacecraft bound to map the three icy Galilean moons: Europa, Callisto, and especially Ganymede.

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The composite image of Pluto captured by New Horizons on July 14. Credit: NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI.

 

The world is excited by the New Horizons’ images of Pluto and Charon. The terrain, especially on the so far seen Pluto images, seems very young, geologically active and some features may indicate cryovolcanism. Thoughts about the possibility of a subsurface ocean appear with increasing frequency. Your study from 2006 centers on modeling conditions under which such reservoirs of water could persist. Do you think that further data from New Horizons can put more constraints on the model’s application on Pluto and Charon, e.g. reveal significantly more about their past gravitational interactions, degree of differentiation, amount of ammonia or other characteristics?

Regarding its surface, Pluto is showing a diversity of terrain types that is beyond all expectations. Some of these features require large amounts of energy and heat in Pluto’s interior. Therefore, the surface features, including e.g. flow patterns, mountains and troughs are telltale sign of a very eventful history. From the number of craters the relative ages of these features can be derived and the geological history of Pluto can be revealed. Although we can observe only the surface, the processes are linked to internal heat sources and Pluto’s internal evolution. Through tidal interaction it is even connected to the evolution of the Pluto-Charon system and models will tell us whether liquid water could persist in Pluto’s interior. Our 2006 models are much too simple in that sense. Now, with the data from New Horizons planetary scientists are able to go beyond these very generic models taking into account imaging and compositional data. Unfortunately, the degree of Pluto’s differentiation, an assumption in our 2006 models, cannot be well-constrained from the gravity field data of one flyby, but indirect evidence again might come from the analysis of imaging and compositional data. The latter is extremely important to constrain the melting temperature of the ices involved.

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Image of the southern region of the Sputnik Planum, showing some of the most interesting features of Pluto at once. Credit: NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI.

 

One of the interpretations of the pattern of polygons seen in Pluto’s Sputnik Planum is convection in the icy crust. If this hypothesis is correct, would it mean that based on its extent, there probably is a subsurface ocean beneath, or would there be other as likely options?

Even if we find clear evidence for convection in Pluto’s ice shell or in a specific region it would not directly tell us whether there is liquid water beneath the convecting cells. Convection in the ice shell requires temperature or compositional gradients that control the buoyancy of up- and down-wellings. It does not necessarily require temperatures that reach the melting point of the ices involved. The polygons have typical dimensions of about 20 km which would imply a relatively thin convecting layer, which is unlikely if we consider a global ocean. Due to the low surface temperatures I would expect a global ocean, if it is there, to be located beneath an icy crust of about 200 km thickness. Furthermore, there might be other explanations for the polygons, e.g. contraction of material that is exposed to the surface. In short, I think we should be careful with interpretations regarding liquid water at this stage. Pluto shows unique surface features and a lot of effort will be needed in the next months to reliably interpret the data.

 

What surprised you most about the so far released data about Pluto? Is there anything you’d like to point out as most deserving a closer look?

I was most surprised by the icy plains region ‘Sputnik Planum’ and by mountains as high as 3.5 km. As an additional aspect I did not expect the surface features to be so young (~100 Mio years). This stands in contrast to most of the icy satellites and puts Pluto into one group with Europa, Enceladus and Triton which all show signs of recent or ongoing activity at their surfaces. Many features deserve a closer look which is unfortunately impossible in the near future with New Horizons receding fast from the Pluto system.

 

Pluto’s subsurface ocean may remain a highly uncertain possibility for a long time but for several objects of our solar system, the data is very strong, ranging from their surface geology, observed geysers to gravitational measurements or induced magnetic fields. Saturn’s moon Enceladus is one, but the last Cassini flybys are scheduled for this year, and future missions are uncertain. However, the Jovian system may become much better known to us thanks to JUICE, developed by ESA and planned to be launched in 2022. You’re the principal investigator for its laser altimeter GALA, which should be able to map surface topography of the icy Galilean moons in great detail. What are the biggest contributions this mission could bring? Is there anything you hope to find out most of all?

With JUICE, which stands for Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer, we are going into orbit around Ganymede, the largest icy moon in the solar system. Because we are in orbit for several months we will obtain detailed measurements and excellent coverage with global and high-resolution data. For the first time we investigate the icy satellites with subsurface radar and laser altimetry combined with imaging, spectroscopy, magnetometer and gravity field measurements. The combination of instruments will reveal whether Ganymede has a subsurface ocean and at which depth it is located. We want to understand the processes that have shaped Ganymede’s surface (e.g. tectonism, cryo-volcanism) and how these are connected to dynamics in the shallow subsurface and deep interior. Also the question, whether Ganymede is active at present will be answered by this mission. Furthermore, with JUICE we investigate the unique interaction of Ganymede’s intrinsic magnetic field with Jupiter’s magnetosphere.

 

Jupiter’s moon Callisto is considered something of a mystery due to its incomplete differentiation. What are the current leading hypotheses on its difference from other Galilean moons in this aspect and how would JUICE bring more light into this matter? How does Callisto shape our view of the dynamics of icy moons?

During the Galileo mission Callisto has shown a strong signal of an induced magnetic field which is interpreted as evidence for a subsurface water ocean. On the other hand the gravity field measurements tell us that Callisto has not completely separated the ice from the rock. This is difficult to understand in terms of a complete evolution scenario. With Galileo it was only possible to obtain gravity field data in equatorial flybys. With JUICE we will have the opportunity for several flybys including inclined and polar flybys which will greatly improve the gravity field data which is the basis for refined interior structure models. The process of differentiation on Callisto seems to be very slow. With JUICE we will have the chance to capture different stages of icy satellite evolution comparing Europa, Ganymede and Callisto. Comparing the impact rates on Ganymede and Callisto we can assess whether different energy rates provided by impacts could be the reason for triggering differentiation at Ganymede and not on Callisto. This is one hypothesis. An alternative would be the different orbital evolution and tidal heating of Ganymede.

 

This year is remarkable in the number of scientific contributions from many parts of our solar system, ranging from Pluto, Saturn or Ceres to Mars or the Churyumov-Gerasimenko comet. Can we even as early as now deduce any new insights on the evolution of our system (e.g. the distribution of elements and their isotopes in the primordial accretion disc, planet migrations…) from their overview? In what ways could we reliably combine the knowledge from these sources to gain a greater understanding of the solar system as a whole? What planned observations are you awaiting most?

Comets, asteroids and Trans-Neptunian Objects tell us a lot about the early stages of solar system evolution. Isotopic abundances and composition of ices and other materials in general provide insight in the distribution and mixing of compounds at the beginning of the solar system. Here, I am looking forward to detailed analyses of the surface composition of Pluto and also Charon. From the volatile ices incorporated in Pluto and Charon the conditions (temperature and pressure) during formation of the Pluto-Charon system can be constrained. It will be interesting to see the differences between Pluto and Charon to better understand the local environment in which they have formed, but also to compare the Pluto-Charon system to the icy satellites and to compare the region of the giant planets to the more distant Trans-Neptunian region in terms of volatile abundancies.
Regarding ongoing mission and measurements I am most curious whether Philae, the Rosetta lander, will become fully operational again while the comet is approaching the sun. Taking further in-situ measurements at the cometary surface would be huge success, technically and scientifically.
On larger scales it will be interesting to see what New Horizons has in store when it is approaching another Kuiper-Belt Object in the coming years.

 

Is there any object in our system you’d like to see studied in more detail, or any proposed mission concept you would want most to see realized? What should be our objectives regarding planetary science for the next few decades, in your opinion?

I would rather like to skip this question because with lots of really important science questions and future mission proposals in the area of planetary exploration a ranking would be difficult. Furthermore, many scientifically important missions suffer from technical difficulties or from higher costs as compared to others. The search for conditions which might have been conducive for extra-terrestrial life to evolve still is a main driver for planetary exploration. Whether we will have Pluto on this list remains to be seen…

 

The interview had been conducted in late July and the Czech translation was published on the popular science portal Nedd.cz on July 31.

New adventures & always learning

‘Twas the night before Christmas… and I was reading Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman! Not only it’s a hilarious and amazing read, but it also inspired me to try to do more fun and interesting stuff with my life. I’ve always been inclined towards many interesting disciplines, however, in recent years I’ve got a feeling that I’d had the broadest knowledge when I was about fifteen years old. Since then, I’ve learned more in a few fields – and forgot a terrifying amount of interesting information from the other ones (and these few too, to some extent). How does Richard Feynman fit into this picture? He never stopped learning, never stopped being curious and enthusiastic. Most of us remember him as a Nobel prize-winning physicist, yet he also made a professional excursion into biology during his studies, he became a professional drummer and painter and very good self-taught lockpicker, learned quickly to speak Portuguese and Japanese… His career took him to unexpected paths sometimes and he seemed to always enjoy new challenges and approach life with curiosity.

While most of us are not Nobel prize material, this outlook can work for anyone. I’ve always cherished curiosity and imagination but I realized that I’ve had very little time recently to feed it and let it grow. I almost – oh the horror – slipped into a dull routine. That’s unacceptable.

So I’ve made myself a challenge. I would learn something new or long forgotten each month.

Foreign languages, marketing, science, art…

I started re-learning German and learning Portuguese in January, lockpicking in February (yeah, I may have taken some direct inspiration from Feynman). In March, my resolution faltered as I found myself facing the necessity of writing a diploma thesis. That consumed most of my time from March to May, after which I did some revising before my final exams. That certainly doesn’t count as new or long forgotten. But – by a strange accident, I became a social media manager/marketer/customer communication manager/whatever-the-job-may-be-called for one Czech start-up company in May. Suddenly I was learning new things (you know, there is a lot to learn about marketing, although it sometimes doesn’t seem that way).

new-booksI successfully finished my MSc. in early June and hoped I would have more time afterwards. In retrospect, that had been a foolish notion. After all, I had postponed so many things to June and July that I’m still trying to get them off my hands. I’ve done some story pitching and translation work (of which we’ll hopefully see some results in the forthcoming months), the final book of my “Gemini” trilogy came out (not speaking of earlier May releases of the previous one and also of my “Terra nullius” anthology), I taught at the Summer School of Behavioral Economics and Psychology in Prague about animal behavioral biases and evolutionary roots of cooperation, and prepared several popular science lectures and articles (including an interview with Dr. Hauke Hussmann which I’ll post here soon). With the marketing work consuming an increasing amount of my time in addition, routine threatened to settle in again: working long hours, not enjoying it, not devoting time for other activities, even forgetting that it’s possible to just go outside for a nice walk or jog, scout the food market and cook something new, sit around with a good book, ponder strange ideas, create a crazy-flavoured lemonade, play an RPG with friends, go tea-tasting, venture photographing the city, visit the theatre or opera, spend a day in the hills or forests, pick up a book or article series on any topic, work on brand new ideas, be they for stories or articles… in short, have fun.

That would be a downhill slope. I’ve noticed the increasing signs of anxiety, moodiness and exhaustion, especially when thinking about the number of tasks ahead of me, my overflowing inbox… Sometimes one needs to turn off the “work mode”. But that doesn’t necessarily mean turning off the learning mode – though only devoting time for cognitively demanding activities wouldn’t be wise either, so some more or less manual activity needs to be included – be it a new exercise, cooking, painting, sewing, re-learning to play the flute or possibly trying to assemble some simple DIY stuff to help me organize the flat better (AKA no more papers overflowing my desk, stacks of books everywhere and such things).

Wonderful new opportunities

What have I got tentatively planned for the rest of the year? More in-depth knowledge about advances in planetary science, continuing my language-learning efforts, some basics of coding and cryptography if I manage to stay on this path, and more physical exercise, some painting and sewing as a distraction from the higher cognitive load. Also – more spontaneous work on new fiction or nonfiction ideas. After all, some of my best stuff has originated from sitting on an idea for a while, then getting an idea that expands on the previous one – and jumping straight to writing it down, because it just has to be written. With so many deadlines for papers, articles or copyedits, not speaking of a new novel, I haven’t done that in a long while and I miss it terribly.

If nothing unexpected prevents it, I’m going to the European Planetary Science Congress in Nantes this September. I cannot even put in words how much I’m looking forward to it. There will be entries about up-to-date developments in topics ranging from small bodies of our solar system to exoplanets. I will cover the event for several science-related media and I’ll be sure to post some summary or links here. I’m not a professional planetologist, just an amateur who also happens to write popular science articles, and a very fortunate accident – namely visiting a seminar of the Department of Geophysics in Prague this May – put me and my friend Tomas Petrasek on the path leading to this conference. I’ve got a lot to learn in order to catch the most from the lectures and posters, and I also started learning French at Duolingo. Though I’ll probably still be helpless without English by the end of September, it’s a start. Who knows, one day I may read Hugo or Flaubert in their original language… It all can be a wonderful adventure. It can be great fun!

Where do I see myself in ten, fifteen years’ future if this approach persists? Let’s dream big… an accomplished writer and scientist, polyglot, decent coder, worldwide traveler, amateur violin player (my poor, poor neigbours if I start learning that…), history buff, maybe even someone able to subtly change many lives for the better by the way of education, job opportunities, charity or simply a bit of intelligent entertainment. But while dreaming may be big, the steps are small – just spend moments learning what I’m interested in (and try to make it stay in long-term, which is the tougher part). This isn’t the kind of thing I’d put on a Trello dashboard; that would only take me closer to a nervous breakdown. No, thanks. Spending time this way is better more spontaneous.

I would go through the library and pick popular books on fields ranging from entomology to cosmology when I was a child. I would leaf through the world atlas, planning my future travels. I would look at images sent by various spacecraft and dream of humans seeing those places with their own eyes someday… Children tend to have the most wonderful range of interests. In the second half of this month, I’m participating in two summer camps as a tutor – one biology-themed, the other space-themed. I’m immensely looking forward to them. Work with children can be very fulfilling as you see how happy they are if they learn something new and interesting, or can share their knowledge with others, play a game, let their imagination run wild… I’ve previously worked on both of those summer camps and it had been a great experience. The attending children are brilliant, regardless of how much they know about the themes.

They remind me of myself some ten, fifteen years in the past, except they’re so much better. Their curiosity and enthusiasm are endless and wonderful. They have the best chance to become great scientists, polyglots and Renaissance personalities indeed. If I may support that curiosity and ethusiasm and help them on a path of knowledge they will love and cherish, it will be a great accomplishment in itself. Can I do it? Let’s find out. I’m curious already.

Turning the microscope back on us from a distance

image descriptionIt’s been a while since I posted an interview here, however, it would be a loss if interviews with interesting people only appeared in an issue of a printed magazine and then couldn’t be accessed by future readers (or those who don’t speak Czech and cannot read the XB-1 magazine). No despair! Here is an interview with an amazing writer and editor C. C. Finlay from late May last year, published in the August issue of XB-1. A lot has changed since then, most importantly he has become the editor of F&SF. Below is the full interview including the introduction for Czech readers, who could read his novella The Political Officer in the same issue of XB-1.

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Book World 2015

This year’s Book World in Prague turned out just great. I’ve had a book launch of my two newest books, Elysium and Terra nullius. The discussion about space opera was interesting and encouragining and most of the authors featured in Terra nullius came to the ceremony.

Jan Kotouč and Lucie Lukačovičová also launched their brand new novels; Vlado Ríša talked about the history, present and future of the XB-1 magazine; magazine Pevnost and publishing houses Brokilon and Fantom Print organized a fine party; and all the books everywhere! It was lovely.

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Interview for Europa SF

Cristian Tamas from Fantastica.ro has interviewed me for the Europa SF portal. Check it out! The questions are many, so I’ve also made a short selection to post below. And I guess the questions are also interesting in themselves; seems to me that American culture (whatever it is if it can be generalized) has got a rather bad reputation in Romania. What do you think, based on the full interview?

 

How do you depict for a non-fan of speculative fiction the last 25 years of the Czech SF&F? How you’ll describe the actual status of the Czech Fantastika: main authors, books, awards, magazines, printing houses, conventions, etc.?

An in-depth answer would requite a full-length essay but I’ll try to be brief here. The XB-1 (formerly Ikarie) magazine goes through the whole modern history of Czech SF and contributed immensely through discovering new interesting authors, publishing foreign fiction and original genre essays, reviews and popular science articles. Pevnost is more multimedia-oriented lately but it’s also a magazine that cannot be omitted from any such summary. It too discovered many new authors, especially of fantasy, and found more genre fans.

The Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Awards have been here for twenty years and awarded a lot of great work. Otherwise we’ve got the Aeronautilus (awards of the fans attending Festival Fantazie) and several story contest awards, mainly the Karel Čapek Prize (“CKČ”). Main authors – I’m sure I’ll forget to mention someone important but hopefully others’ lists will complete mine: Michal Ajvaz, Ondřej Neff, František Novotný, Vilma Kadlečková, Jiří W. Procházka, Eva Hauserová, Jana Rečková, Jiří Kulhánek, Karolina Francová… And then we’ve got many new authors of approximately my generation – Lucie Lukačovičová, Jan Hlávka, Jan Kotouč, Dan Tučka, Hanuš Seiner… Let’s wait how people come to see us in some time. As to printing houses, we’ve got a lot of them but I’d mention those whose production I read a lot and find interesting and stimulating or possessing a unique position on the market: Argo, Triton, Brokilon, Laser-Books, Straky na vrbě, Albatros. I’m sure others will name some other ones too.

Finally, conventions: The biggest one is Festival Fantazie each summer. The oldest one is Parcon, whose tradition goes back to 1982. Fénixcon is also very well-known. And apart from them, we’ve got many small but popular cons like StarCon, Trpaslicon, Minicon, CONiáš, and several anime festivals.

Is the Czech Fantastika part of the Czech literary canon? Did you notice from the part of the literary/cultural establishment a high brow attitude concerning the “Trivialliteratur” of speculative fiction?

Classic SF like Čapek, Nesvadba of Fuks is an integral part of the canon and is commonly taught at schools. As to modern SF, that mostly depends on the teachers. Some devote only a brief one-sentence mention to it, some go to introduce it to pupils at length. I think most of the cultural establishment still views all speculative fiction as something inferior, “only fun”, but it too changes gradually. I remain optimistic.

Entertainment vs. ideology? Mercantilism & consumerism vs. communist governmental status (and state control & state censorship)? Private initiative vs. state monopoly? The former Czechoslovak SF vs. the actual Czech SF?

I shudder whenever someone claims they had written a novel to spread their ideology. In my view, most of these works don’t end up well though there are notable exceptions. And I think there’s a false dichotomy in the question; I like works that are entertaining and at the same time present brave new ideas, characters with different worldviews and make the reader think. But they shouldn’t be trying to blindly indoctrinate the reader with some ideology. The reader is not stupid and doesn’t need to be pushed. Of course, author’s views can often seep into the work through some character or worldbuilding. That’s perfectly okay. From my stories, it’s perhaps apparent already by the choice of ideas and characters that I love science and technology, am a technooptimist and value knowledge. But if someone told me they’re ideological, I’d be horrified and try to find out where I made a mistake (and what ideology am I supposed to have – seriously, I don’t have one, I have views on specific matters that overlap with some political directions and fit neatly in none and I’m certainly not convinced I’m right). With the other two questions, we get into politics and I sincerely don’t know the answers. I’d probably have a chance to earn a Nobel prize for economics or peace if I had. But literature can explore the possibilities and make us think about them. And as to former/current SF: Any of it, as long as it’s good!

Which were the first SF texts and books that you read? Did you follow the developments within the imaginary domain from the last decades? What is your conclusion? Has science fiction any meaning and any relevance for the earthlings? Why read and write literature as it wouldn’t make you rich and famous?

Wait, it doesn’t make me rich and famous? Oh damn… Well: I got to SF rather young through Star Wars and then started reading the classics – Clarke, Lem, Asimov and such. I gradually broadened my scope throughout the genre and I read most of the subgenres of SF, though I have a special fondness for well-written hard SF (e.g. Egan or Watts). I’ve followed some of the genre developments and appreciate how they both broaden and deepen the scope of SF. Science fiction surely has meaning and relevance, like all stories. Unlike other genres, it can explore the society and people in it by a multitude of ways, present possibilities of future scientific and technological development, actively shape our thinking of the future… I guess that’s why I like SF. The ideas! The stories stemming from them! The wonder, the “why not” and “what if”!

Is a European Science Fiction existing or it’s just a theoretical concept? Could European Science Fiction be defined, doesn’t it have a specificity and it’s own originality? Could be promoted worldwide?

Yes, it exists and it’s simply SF originating in Europe. What else would you like to hear? Common cultural concepts etc.? Sure, to some extent, but isn’t the individual variability greater than the common themes? When I read a good novel or short story, I often cannot tell where the author is from if it isn’t set in some specific national environment. I would very much like to see more European SF in the worldwide market. Hopefully, with the new tendencies to embrace translations in the Anglo-American SF market (starting with magazines like Clarkesworld or F&SF), I think there’s a good chance of that happening.

Shall we fear globalization and the soon-to-come posthuman society?

Is it coming anytime soon? I’d just like to sort out my stuff before that… What I see now is rather far from posthuman future, it’s rather transhuman – extending the current possibilities of the human condition. Hearing color or wi-fi signals, perceiving magnetic fields, remotely controlling machines, using bionics to improve one’s strength or speed… I don’t fear that. I’m curious. And in my experience, fear can lead to pessimism or irrational choices, while a healthy dose of curiosity with a dash of rational caution (okay, now I’m giggling because I recalled The Fear Institute) can do much more to actually improve things. Sure, any kind of technology can be misused. So we better take care it’s used well. I don’t think that fearing change and desperately sticking to the past is a solution. And as to globalization, it has many downsides – and some upsides too. We should certainly try to preserve cultural uniqueness, languages, history records… If globalization goes all ways, merges individual cultures into a rich mix, I find it refreshing. In many cases, it does not. Then it’s up to the people to nudge the balance back, creatively and peacefully.

What are your actual and next projects?

Right now I’m working on a SF novel for an interesting literature-driven start-up. I’m curious how it turns out – both the novel and the project. If it fares well, you should hear more by the end of 2015. Apart from that, I have ideas for several short stories I really need to write as soon as possible or my head explodes. They involve peculiar comets, unusual hackers and fast-forward of human history, respectively. By the time this interview is published [well, that was sooner than I expected], I have hopefully succeeded in my final exams and thesis defense and can finally devote more time to writing again (though I probably need to sit down to write a few papers and prepare some lectures as well). My life is quite strange lately, fluctuating between several professional occupations. Which makes a good material for fiction. You’ll see!

Kindly address a few words to the EUROPA SF readers! Thank you very much!

I’ll probably sound a bit pompous now, which I dislike, but I hope you’ll forgive me: “Be ever curious. Think, create, and have fun.”

JUICE is going to be fruitful

If you’ve read something about subsurface oceans in our solar system, the chances are you’ve already heard about the upcoming JUICE mission by ESA, scheduled to be launched in 2022 and tasked with investigating three of the Galilean moons of Jupiter: Europa, Callisto, and most of all Ganymede. Last week, a DLR scientist Dr. Hauke Hussmann visited Prague and had a lecture on JUICE, Ganymede and the GALA instrument developed by his team. Spoiler alert: It was great.

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The soul business

Have you ever imagined how Doctor Faust would deal with Mephistopheles today, in the Internet age? People at the Goethe-Institut had. And they didn’t stop at that and created an interactive game where people could assume the role of Faust and complete a trade in exchange for their deepest longings. Last week, the game came into the National Library of Technology in Prague and I had an opportunity to try it out. I registered, installed the app and came. First of all, we needed to pick six of our passions for collecting “satisfaction points” throughout the game. Perhaps unsurprisingly, I without hesitation chose knowledge, progress and freedom as my first three passions; I had to think more about the rest. The organizers at the “Bank of Mephisto” explained the rules: We’ll circle around boards with quotations from Faust and buy those connected to our chosen passions in exchange for sold souls.

After we had started, the app froze several times, and when the support examined my tablet and advised me to use the browser interface, they started closing the other tabs without ever asking me. Not cool, guys, really uncool! And going with my tablet out of my sight is also very uncool; I feel much discomfort whenever I cannot see my electronics when they’re in someone else’s hands. But the game itself was interesting. I had expected something far more elaborate than blindly selling historical personas or family member titles to acquire quotes from Faust; some element of decision or temptation. But it was still fine and evoked a desire to read Faust again in me. My overall impression was quite good and would be even better, were it not for the technical glitches.

Continuing in the spirit of selling souls, the following day I worked as a staged student for TV filming a documentary on toxoplasmosis at our faculty. That too was a rather interesting adventure and I hope they don’t cut out the part where they had asked me to introduce myself and I mentioned that besides studying biology,  I write popular science articles and science fiction. If the metaphorical selling my soul by marketing increases the actual book sales, well, why not? Besides, I’ve started working as a part-time marketer for a start-up company. My soul is probably already damned by now but I’ll be really damned if work in marketing isn’t an interesting experience! And it’s useful for fiction themes as well – be assured, they too will be very interesting… How does a biologist and science fiction writer also gradually happen to become a marketer, editor, lecturer, journalist, proofreader and translator, you ask? I have no clue; but that’s my life in a nutshell. And I love it.

Our transhumanist future?

I have a large external memory, enhanced time-keeping sense and improved vision. At least when I have an internet connection, my phone or watch and glasses. But I don’t mean to stop there for the rest of my life. You could say I’m a transhumanist.

I must admit I’m considerably more interested in the scientific and technological side of transhumanism than its philosophical implications – and also in the short-term visions rather than far-future goals. Because if you think about it, it’s already been here for some time. Actually for a very long time if you count somewhat crude enhancements like glasses or walking sticks. But these things have only been improving the existing conditions of human nature, not substantially altering them. Only recently, we’ve got people who can hear color or wi-fi signals, sense magnetic fields or add extra mechanical fingers to their hands.

What’s more, none of these things are particularly unavailable. The Cyborg Foundation, founded by Neil Harbisson and Moon Ribas in 2010, offers to help people become cyborgs, be it with the eyeborg devices or something else. Their aim is to make the technology available for everyone interested in it. And while Frank Swain needs his cochlear implant to hear wi-fi, I can imagine implementing it through an attachable device similar to the eyeborg. Anyone willing to undergo the pain of the procedure and some risk of inflammation can have a neodymium magnet implanted in their fingertip. Bionics are on the expensive side so far but with the advent of home 3D printing, who knows how long they stay so, at least in case of minor extensions?

Some of the enhancements so far are still very crude but they offer us new ways of perceiving the world, an extension of our senses. A nice, very civil science-fictional example of such thing is Greg Egan’s “Seventh Sight” from last year’s Neil Clarke’s anthology Upgraded. Egan managed to portray the life of a heptachromatic in a way the reader could very vividly imagine. The era of real heptachromatics may not be too far away, as is the era of completely new artificial synaesthesiacs or many-fingered coders (the motoric control of fast typing with more than ten fingers would be very interesting to observe!). Other enhancements like usage of artificial chromozomes in medicine, haptic suits or advanced cryonics may still be far ahead and remain in the realm of science fiction for a while. And science fiction itself can function as a generator of new ideas and ways to look into the future. SF doesn’t predict the future very well. However, it does something much more interesting. It helps create it.

With that in mind and thinking of the long tradition of SF exploring what it means to be a human and how it could possibly change, I began to think of putting together an anthology of Czech stories exploring this vast uncharted space – because though great many authors had tackled it before, most of it still remains a terra incognita. Or, so far, terra nullius – no man’s land. Before someone finds it and claims it, that land wedged between the real and the unthinkable. Before someone gets a weird idea and thinks: “Why not?” Before someone stumbles upon a path unseen by others…

In 2012, I started soliciting stories from authors I knew had a great imagination combined with great skill and knowledge, discussing their ideas and shaping a frame of the anthology into existence. In 2014, it was ready. Now, in May 2015, it comes into the world (with the book launch on May 16 during the Book World festival in Prague), and with it near-future biotechnology and spy agencies; genetically altered crew of the first starship; fight for the rights of artificially designed persons; human-animal brain-to-brain interfaces; spaceships from the future playing havoc with the human psyche; shunned individuals directly communicating with quantum computers; the very first memory transfers between parents and children in times of war; controlling two bodies at once; making a strange journey into alien simulations of Earth’s world… And while Terra nullius is a Czech anthology, I hope at least one or two of its stories make it into English as well.

Terra nullius: may you not remain inaccessible to us forever. Because I see scientists, artists and tech geeks all embracing the vast possibilities of pushing their limits futher, beyond what we had imagined for so long. I see a future where everyone can choose their senses and physical capabilities to some extent, regardless of where they start and what others have. I see DIY geeks pushing the boundaries from their garages and workshops while on the other end of the spectrum, big corporations devote their resources to the similar ultimate goals. I see a society both more individualistic and more diverse and tolerant. And I see the adventures coming with all that in science, technology, art and personal lives… I could be totally wrong, of course, and it could conversely mean greater divides and fewer opportunities, but I remain optimistic. Though I’m sometimes a little on the misanthropic side, I love curiousity and resourcefulness and people who possess them. The drive that gets us into space, into the depths of the ocean, to new questions to answer and new mysteries to solve. Both scientific and artistic curiosity can create a positive feedback loop and bring forth a better future. Don’t think it can happen? Fine. But this is the one I am aiming for. I’m a transhumanist, a technooptimist and a geek. And I hope to walk the terra nullius before us and create a piece of the bright future if I can.

Terra_Nullius_FRONT

 

News from Academia Film Olomouc & more

Well, AFO turned out great despite some small organizational problems. The films and talks were all interesting. I liked Pohyby (Movements) and Kmeny: Hackeři (Tribes: Hackers) a lot and James Kakalios’ talk on the physics of superheroes was great fun. And he wasn’t afraid to show equations! That always cheers me up. Lawrence Krauss’ “Physics of Star Trek” was also very good but Kakalios was just the highlight. And Richard Dawkins’ lecture on evolutionary arms races was great too. Though not news for the biologists in the audience, it was brilliantly prepared and interesting to hear.

I also hope people liked my talk about subsurface oceans, I’ve had some good feedback. By the way, I do hope I’ll need to revise it substantially after the New Horizons‘ flyby of Pluto…

During AFO, a little experimental piece of mine, “A Different Kind of Story“, was published at Theme of Absence along with a short interview with me. I hope you like it!

And you can expect a post on transhumanism quite soon as the publication date of my anthology Terra nullius draws nearer. The anthology is in Czech but with some luck, you’ll see one or two of the stories in English as well.

In other news, my diploma thesis is finally almost out of my hands which means I have a little time for the blog again (and to write some great science fiction, hopefully). Well, see you here!


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