In “Should Time Travel Be A Moral Imperative?” Bruce Dorminey asks the question of MIT quantum mechanic Seth Lloyd, “If you think you can go back to change something, clearly you would be tempted to do this. The question is would it do any good?” While this is an interesting discussion, it doesn’t really ask the question about moral superiority.
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If a Time Traveler visits the same time but at different parts of his time line…
What does it mean to travel through time and how does that affect relationships? Certainly there have been stories and films that have dealt with this question, but is there a definitive answer?
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What does it mean to be censured at the university level?
In this month’s episode–Feet to the Fire, Dr Sage runs the risk of losing her funding by the head of her department, Provost Cunningham. While the are a variety of issues, one concern is to what extent can one stifle the quest for knowledge and understanding.
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9 Unbelievable Pirate Discoveries
What would you do if you found a mummified hand hidden away in your closet or treasures you’ve never even dreamed of ever finding?
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Pirate Myths – that are true!
Speak like a Flapper! Words from the 1920’s
In researching the next episode of our podcast, we wanted the locals to have the right flavor to their language. The roaring twenties were a period of truly colorful language, and so the people Sage and Savant mean needed to have the appropriate character to set the scene. Prohibition brought in a host of slang words into the English language as people sought ways to talk about their plans without raising interest from the local law enforcement. We pulled some of our favorites from “Flapperspeak: Dictionary of Words from the 1920’s and 1930’s.”
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The Father of American Psychology
William James was an American psychologist of the late nineteenth century. He studied to become a physician, and was the first educator to offer a university course in psychology. His writings illuminate a number aspects about human thought that are still considered true today, and one of the most cited psychologists in the 20th century.
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“Facing the Flag” (1896) predicts a world facing weapons of mass destruction
Facing the Flag, by Jules Verne, is an 1896 patriotic novel and is part of the Voyages Extraordinaires (Extraordinary Voyages) series.
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The Machine Stops
“The Machine Stops” is a science fiction short story by E. M. Forster. After initial publication in The Oxford and Cambridge Review (November 1909), the story was republished in Forster’s The Eternal Moment and Other Stories in 1928. After being voted one of the best novellas up to 1965, it was included that same year in the populist anthology Modern Short Stories. In 1973 it was also included in The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume Two.
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Jules Verne looks into the future with “Paris in the Twentieth Century”
Many of Jules Verne’s novels deal with concepts that have become reality. “Paris in the Twentieth Century” is no exception exploring Paris in August 1960, 97 years in Verne’s future, where society places value only on business and technology. The novel follows a young man who struggles unsuccessfully to live in a technologically advanced, but culturally backwards world. Often referred to as Verne’s “lost novel”, the work paints a grim, dystopian view of a technological future civilization.
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