Galactanet

> People aren't "gifted" with technology

I used the words "humans having been gifted digital technology" as I am a marxist and I believe that all the technologies and scientific knowledge that we reverse engineer from nature is gifted to us by a higher power. Others talk about the brilliance of human minds, yet since I see us as a part of nature, there's no distinction in that for me. Another reason I say it that way is because unfortunately the 'great man theory/myth' still reigns supreme in the tech industry [1]. I think though that this 'brilliant mind' story that is commonly told in the west seems to have often justified detrimental and destructive human supremacy/domination over the rest of nature (also leading us to the edge of the cliff now with global warming).

Anyways, I think that we all tell ourselves different stories and this is one of mine. This is another story I tell myself because it is ridiculously beautiful to me: http://www.galactanet.com/oneoff/theegg_mod.html or Kurzgesagt version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6fcK_fRYaI

> I was privileged enough to have my mother sacrifice everything(her property, her life, her family and her homeland) to pull me out of a warzone to provide for me so I would be in a position to be able to build these skills.

That sounds incredibly difficult and distressing for her (and possibly for you too). Thank you for sharing this personal story here.

> Just calling the whole thing privilege is such a disservice to all she…

I’ve taken mushrooms quite a few times. Sometimes, it’s just been mild and giggling at colors and nature. Pleasant, but just kind of a fun drug.

With a moderate dose, you tend to be introspective and consider your own life and relationships in different ways. There’s usually a lesson at the end.

With higher doses, it’s sometimes been just extremely confusing and not at all fun, to the extent that I’d forget my own name or what I’ve taken and basically just all memories. It’s very frustrating to be in that state, constantly trying not to fly away but not able to ground yourself. It’s a little disturbing, but not horrific. I think the reason for this is that I am afraid to lose my ego/die and I would actually benefit from a slightly higher dose to blast it away...

With really high doses though, it’s been a truly beautiful, enlightening experience. I still think of it sometimes. It’s very difficult to really explain in words, but it feels like kind of extreme empathy with all life. Buddhists would call it going egoless. I just felt very at peace: we all live, we all die, and it’s all okay. I’m not particularly religious or spiritual at all but that experience really changed me. It feels like life is in all these different forms, and you just happen to be one variation of it, but you could easily be any other living thing, so you just feel love and empathy for all life. And you know it’s finite and you’re not afraid of death. I would still attempt to avoid death, but I was…

Plausibly some kids might still be reading entire novels worth of text online on the regular. Think of all the massive fanfic archives (Including original fics) Lots of fanfic authors have fans of their own, and those have got to be coming from somewhere.

It doesn't need to be in dead tree format. It doesn't need to be famous authors. Just so long as they read!

For long form original see eg:

* The last angel https://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/the-last-angel.244209/

* The wandering inn https://wanderinginn.com/2017/03/03/rw1-00/

* Or eg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Martian_(Weir_novel) which made its way off the net and into print, possibly to the detriment of both. :-P Original location (afaict) (no longer available there) : https://www.galactanet.com/writing.html

The book was great, like many people I discovered it after pointing someone else to http://www.galactanet.com/oneoff/theegg_mod.html

I loved reading The Martian online even in the inherently somewhat annoying written in realtime form; so much I showed up to get a signed copy when it was released.

In general I'm a sucker for hard scifi, but much of the state of the art in that space is often inaccessible to those of my friends that aren't deeply versed in the literature. The Martian is both accessible (at least to an audience which is generally okay with science and technology) and compelling story telling as well.

This is very interesting. In a limited but substantial way, transplanting parts of the photosynthetic cell system could help with a lot of cell-centric metabolic deficiencies in people, from T1 diabetes to hypoxia in general. The delivery method seems to be cumbersome. But perhaps in the next decade we'll have CRISPR vectors that can deliver genetic information for organelles in a cell, and that could also help with rejection.

Slightly related - this study reminds me of an Andy Weir short story Antihypoxiant - http://www.galactanet.com/oneoff/antihypoxiant.html.

Andy Weir's The Egg is another excellent short story:

[1] http://www.galactanet.com/oneoff/theegg_mod.html

If you're looking for more short stories, I highly recommend the following:

• Ted Chiang's Exhalation

• Ted Chiang's Story of Your Life and Others

• Ken Liu's Paper Menagerie

• Borges's Ficciones

• Smullyan's What is the Name of This Book?

• Smullyan's Lady or the Tiger?

• Douglas Adams's God's Debris

Remember to support local booksellers when possible :)

[2] https://bookshop.org