Monday's Food for Thought

There was an April fools' joke going around that scientists had discovered a moon orbiting Mercury and they were going to shoot it at an angle that would bring it to Earth.

WHAT IF this was a real proposition? How would you feel about it? Personally I'd be furious that scientists were playing with things they shouldn't. Problem is, there may just be a time in the future where something like this may actually come about. Scientists decide to do something stupid that the population doesn't want. Rumours would flood social media on the effects - good and bad - of the decision.

So we'll go with the Mercury moon. Scientists are going to blast it off its orbit and it's going to reach Earth. They list a variety of reasons why it's a great idea - it will allow them to study moon and learn more about space. The alarmists will start talking about the impact causing the end of the world. Realists will question just what potential disasters this choice will bring. People will rally. Some will just sit back and watch the chaos.

Where are you on the scale? Would you rush about preparing for the end? Would you get out and rally? Would you tell everyone who'd listen to calm down because the scientists know what they're doing?

The problem is relying on people with power not to do anything stupid. Of course, that's usually the most interesting part to add into your story. Think about how the people with power in your book add to the story world, and see if you can get them to do something really, really stupid.

Just a little something for your Monday mind to munch on.

Monday's Food for Thought

So you know those horror stories with evil mist?

Yeah, well, there are fresh-from-the-oven rumours going around that there is a mercury laden fog.

According to Science Now, monomethyl mercury can reduce memory, attention, language and motor skills, impair peripheral vision, and lead to muscle and coordination weakness.

These posts are always about going big, so let's go big.

WHAT IF a more concentrated version of the fog spread across the planet? It eventually affects all humans (or most humans, at least) and of course the food chain. What kind of world would that be? Where could you hide? How could scientists fix the problem? What kind of random genetic traits might pop up?

Imagine living inland, in one of the few untouched towns left. Or maybe humans retreated to higher altitudes, to live on mountains or even in airships. There would have to be people in protective gear going back every now and then for supplies, and some kind of refinery plant would definitely be needed to get the mercury out of the food and water. Imagine there's a fog watch - an alarm goes out when a fog draws near and you have to airproof your area to keep safe. Imagine what the people still in the fog would look like/live like.

Pretty crazy, huh? But possible, always possible. That's the point of being a writer, isn't it? To imagine the possibilities...

Just a little something for your Monday mind to munch on.

Monday's Food for Thought

Ever had the same dream as someone else on the same night? I have.

Think about it. Think about it. Think how crazy it is, that the same images and actions can be performed in the subconscious of two completely different individuals.

When I was a kid I had a nightmare that a snowman was chasing me through the construction site of a massive hut in an unknown village. My friend, who was sleeping over at the time, was in the dream, as was my dog. I woke abruptly and sat up in my bed to find my friend sitting up too, staring back at me.

Turns out, our dreams had been exactly the same except for one detail - I was in the lead during the chase in my dream, while she was in the lead in hers.

We hadn't watched any movies about snowmen or huts or anything the previous day. There was nothing I could link the dream to. And yet, we'd both seen the same thing in our minds.

How?

Someone told me once that the consciousness stretches out of the body during sleep, and if you're in tune with someone nearby, the two can mesh and cause the same dream. Load of rubbish? Possibly. But...

WHAT IF it was real? What if part of your mind really did hover over your body during sleep? What if there were laboratories to monitor such movement? What if that part of you could detatch from your body? Could you roam about at night, meshing with other people's conscious? Or enter into different realms of existence?

If you needed a way to throw a character into another world, this is an interesting way to do it.

Just a little something for your Monday mind to munch on.

Monday's Food for Thought

A musing on whether geomagnetic storms are making us sick went up recently. Interesting concept, but let's go bigger.

WHAT IF we really were connected to geomagnetic storms? The article states that we're affected thanks to some lingering biological traits (detecting magnetic fields) that mostly disappeared as we evolved. What if there were people out there that were not only affected, but changed by the storms?

Now we're talking.

What kind of abilities could be unlocked? Scientists claim we only use a certain percentage of our brain. I honestly believe there are some things we'd be able to do if we used more of our brain's potential. Ever had déjà vu? Imagine if that was magnified to the point of skipping ahead and actually being able to tell the future.

Hello, new reason for superheroes (that doesn't involve radiation).

Just a little something for your Monday mind to munch on.

Monday's Food For Thought

After stumbling across this post on robotic surgeries, I figured it's only natural that soon surgery will be a completely mechanical procedure with humans behind-the-scenes rather than in the room. Doctors could operate on patients anywhere in the country... or the world.

While this can be an interesting little tidbit to add to a futuristic story, it might turn into something much less trivial.

WHAT IF every surgery was done robotically? What kind of amazing things could people do to their bodies via elective surgery? How will lasers and easy recovery fit into it? What could go wrong? What would a surgeon's life be like if he or she was working purely behind the scenes?

Just a little something for your Monday mind to munch on

Monday's Food for Thought

Yes, it's Tuesday, but here we go with yesterday's post:

Today it was announced that scientists have discovered an "immortal animal". Considering ageing has to do with the degradation of genes, I'm willing to go so far as to believe there will one day be a way to "become ageless" once scientists crack the gene code.

Now some of you may disagree, but as writers/readers, let's suspend our disbelief for a moment and discuss this. (NOTE: I'll use immortality and eternal youth interchangeably, but I'm talking here about stopping the ageing process, not the inability to die.)

WHAT IF scientists found a way to stop the genes from ageing? If, once a certain age, humans were injected with something that made them immortal? Or perhaps with the altered genes it would only have to happen for one generation before it was passed on to children.

In either case, we're looking at some massive problems. What kind of system would governments set up to control something like this? Would they only allow immortality to the people who could afford it? The elite? A mixture of types of people to keep the human race varied and growing? Would everyone eventually have access to this immortality?

And if they did, the new problem is where to put them all. If it's a scientific race between space colonies and immortality, at the moment immortality is winning by a long shot. Countries would be bursting at the seams with people before there was a chance to set up a habitat on another planet.

The day scientists announce a way to stop the ageing process is getting closer. Imagine if you're still alive when this happens. What day to day problems would you face? What kind of work would be available for an ever-growing immortal race? Would euthanasia and suicide be acceptable? Would you get bored after living for hundreds of years?

It's a scary thought, isn't it?

Just a little something for your Monday (or Tuesday) mind to munch on.

Monday's Food for Thought

I was watching a documentary on underwater mysteries, and while it's been done before, there's still so much about the depths of the ocean that humans are oblivious to.

Take a look at the dumbo octopus, that uses ear-like fins to float.

Or the Vampire Squid, so named because the spines on its tentacles look like Dracula's cloak. There's so much to research, and even more to dream up.

WHAT IF... we went exploring? What if there was a way to go down there, to live among the sea creatures? Use your imagination, and don't be afraid to get it wrong. The best adventures/explorations (in my opinion) come from times when much of science and the world was still unknown. Jules Verne and H. G. Wells - yes, they got it wrong, but that doesn't mean their stories aren't amazing. There was so much more to write about and imagine before science got in the way!

Go out, dream big, and come to me when you're done, because I'd love to read it!

Just a little something for your Monday mind to munch on.

Monday's Food for Thought

There was something on the news last week about a power station playing with people's digital clocks, such as microwave times fast forwarding an hour. Suffice to say there were a lot of confused people that day.

After a quick google search I discovered a link to the MAIL ONLINE website that described a similar incident in Sicily last year. Mount Etna's short eruption was said to be the reason behind people's clocks running fifteen minutes fast. Pretty weird, huh? Not something scientists think to predict.

One day the world will run on digital clocks. One day our timekeeping will be reliant on satellites and flashing numbers. So what if the clocks stopped working, like if a solar flare wiped out radio waves or something happened that scientists didn't consider until it was too late? What would life be without exact time?

WHAT IF we had to use another way to tell time? We still need to go to meetings and see movies and arrange flights. What kind of technology could take over from our usual time-telling? Special sun dials? Planet alignments watches? Moon trackers? Or instruments that measure the Earth's rotation?

Again, it's not something to base a whole story on, but those little details can make your "other" world that extra bit special.

Monday's Food for Thought

Did you know there's a possible correlation between La Niña and influenza, and it has nothing to do with the cold weather making you sneeze?

According to this article, La Niña affects a bird's migratory patterns, and birds are the considered incubators of the human 'flu.

The website says:

...the La Niña pattern alters the migration, stopover time, fitness and interspecies mixing of migratory birds. These conditions could ... favor the kind of gene swapping that creates novel variations of the influenza virus.

Don't you love how nature and weather and humans are so interrelated? There are hundreds of thousands of other ways we're connected to and changed by our environment, which are in turn connected to and changed by other parts of their environment.

So...

WHAT IF...

Well, goodness, the possibilities are endless. I love it when a story links a simple thing (the butterfly flapping its wings) to a major thing (the tsunami). Mere coincidence doesn't work - you'll need to set it up at the beginning, but my, when it works, it works.

If you have ever seen La Cité des Enfants Perdus (The City of Lost Children), you'll have witnessed a fabulous play of how one tiny teardrop saved a child's life. It is honestly the best event-linked scene I've seen.

Just a little something for your Monday mind to munch on.

Monday's Food For Thought

Okay, so this is kind of a pseudo-science, but if we as humans have learned anything about science and nature, it's that we shouldn't be so quick to laugh at ideas that sound outrageous at the time.

There are claims floating around that ordinary water has memory. I don't know how that's possible or what that means exactly, but just imagine for a moment if scientists started researching into it.

WHAT IF they unlocked it? What if they found a way to not only access the memory inside water, but began storing it there, too?

How would this affect ordinary life? How do you think the governments would use it? What do you think we could learn about the origins of life? How would this change space travel? Time capsules? Cross-cultural communication? Would there be archives of every point in history? What if one point in history was missing? Why might that be the case?

It's not something to revolve an entire story around, necessarily, but it's something to think about if you're writing a distant future or sci fi novel.

Just a little something for your Monday mind to munch on.

Monday's Food for Thought

Anyone who knows my writing knows I love exploring the ideas behind crystals and meteorites, so of course this topic was going to crop up sooner or later.

Until very recently, the idea of a naturally-occurring quasicrystal was thought to be impossible.

However, one was discovered in Russia in the 1970s, thought to be from a meteorite, and now scientists are tentatively guessing it to be 4.5 billion years old - about the age of our solar system. As for how this particular crystal formed, scientists don't know. From the website linked above:

The metallic aluminum present in the rock usually requires a very different set of processes to form, and it has not been found in any other meteorites. In other words, while the isotope ratios indicate an extraterrestrial origin for the rock, its composition marks it as a new type of meteorite, one with uncertain origins.

So.

WHAT IF something else - something intelligent - created this crystal? Who did it? What did they use it for? How did it end up on Earth? Might humans be able to use the crystal the same way the "being" who created it did? How might that change human technology?

(And is anyone else thinking ginzuishou?)

Just a little something for your Monday mind to munch on.

Monday's Food For Thought

A few years ago, scientists built the Large Hadron Collider, which is the world's largest and highest-energy particle collider.

People who knew about physics weren't worried, but a lot of crazy internet rumours ignited a fair amount of panic about the Collider. The main concern (that I could pick out) was that the colliding particles would open worm holes all over the world.

Well. What a spark for a writer's mind!

WHAT IF it actually happened? What if worm holes opened up all over the world? Where would they lead? Would they be big enough for humans to go through, or would things come to Earth? Would the worm holes all end up at the same place, or would they lead to different places? Would it be a way to transport yourself around the planet, or would they go to different worlds entirely? And would these places be alternate worlds or other places in the universe?

Imagine hearing about people vanishing all over the world without a trace. Then imagine going out for your morning coffee one day and stepping through a worm hole. Where would you end up? Would you handle it, or be a nervous mess? Who else would you meet there? Would it be easy to go back the way you came?

In the bigger picture, would scientists a) fix the glitch, b) utilise it for their own gain, c) want to fix the glitch but can't, or d) something else entirely?

Just a little something for your Monday mind to munch on...

Monday's Food for Thought

So this 2012 apocalypse talk isn't just about the whole Mayan countdown thing. There's scientific projection that we (as a planet) are going to be passing through solar flares next year. What will this do? Well, some speculate that it will interfere with our radio waves and electricity. It's happened before, but perhaps this time the fear is that it will occur on a grand scale.

So of course, that got me thinking. WHAT IF the solar flares wiped out all of Earth's electrical... everything? Technology. Computers. Radios. Internet. There are plenty of dystopian books written about things like this... but really. What if it actually happened?

You wouldn't have any idea that the rest of the country was experiencing such difficulties, let alone the rest of the planet. World politicians wouldn't be able to contact each other to find out what was going on. No one would be able to drive very far before petrol ran out.

How would you react to something on such a grand scale? Would you be afraid? Would you mount a horse and gallop across the country to bring news to other people? How do you think the government would react? Would there ever be order?

And if we were never able to recover technology, do you think the world/humanity/individuals would be better off, or die out? Do you like the idea of this new world, like a modern middle ages?

Just a little something for your Monday mind to munch on...

ETA: A very interesting view on dystopian world-building taking trade, distribution of wealth, and feasibility into account can be found here.