Author: Onar Åm

Bill has talked much about how important stories and the cultural commanding heights are. Not only is he right, but people ignore this message at their peril. On YouTube there is a smart guy who calls himself The Fourth Age who is very schooled in philosophy and history and at the same time a comic […]

After some discussion in the comment section of previous articles, I thought it would be useful to succinctly summarize and clarify what I think are the defining characteristics of magic. (In the context of fiction) Magic in philosophy Aristotle was the first major philosopher to conceptualize a non-magical world. He formulated the principle of non-contradiction, […]

In the latest Stratosphere Lounge (episode 258), Bill dismissed warp drive as magic. This included the so-called Alcubierre drive that I discussed in part 1. He dismissed it on the basis of it requiring the energy equivalent of “a galaxy” to operate. In the very same episode he regarded artificial gravity as non-magic, and he […]

In part 1 of this series, I dealth with faster than light travel in a semi-non-magic fashion. I briefly mentioned the possibility of FTL communication using a similar technology, namely a form of warp wave packet. Just like with many communication technologies today, physical limitations are imposed. One of these is the fact that unlike […]

In part 1 I discussed a realistic version of warp technology consistent with General Relativity. In part 2 I discussed the best location (Hyades open cluster), and in this part I will cover alien life in The New Worlds. I have been ruminating on what kind of plot vehicles to use to further the message […]

Chris Taylor gave some valuable feedback on my previous article The New World: Space Travel. He proposed to use the plural version: The Old Worlds and the New Worlds, to allow for multiple star systems, or at least multiple colonies on different planets and moons (Mars, Ganymede etc.). I agree that this is an improvement, […]

In a series of articles I will be commenting on Bill’s game/entertainment concept which I will refer to as “The New World.” This was the name that the Americas were referred to in the centuries after its discovery. Europe was referred to as “The Old World.” In this space saga, it makes sense to refer […]