Allan Dyen-Shapiro
Mr. Robot as a Comment on Revolutions and Revolutionaries
With the Emmys this show has garnered, it’s safe to say I’m not alone is judging it the best science fiction television show in recent...
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Allan Dyen-Shapiro
Science Fiction Author
Allan Dyen-Shapiro
Dec 7, 2019
Shiny new tech to save us all! Sort of.
The flashy headline attracted my attention: a new energy source from rivers meeting the oceans. Blue membranes. I liked the name....
Allan Dyen-Shapiro
Nov 2, 2019
"To me, fair friend, you can never be old," said my buddy Bill, but that doesn't apply
I admit it—I like ridiculous titles. The Internet has been atwitter (pun intended) with a hullaballoo that seems to me will be a tempest...
Allan Dyen-Shapiro
Oct 13, 2019
Either a Solution to a Major Cause of Famine or Shoddy Science—I Don’t Know
By 2050, half of the world’s arable land will be salt-stressed due to rising sea levels. Although transgenic tomatoes that are more...
Allan Dyen-Shapiro
Sep 5, 2019
Nuclear Power, Carbon Capture, Fracking: Prophets of Avoidable Doom are Right, for the wrong reasons
Yesterday’s Climate Change Town Hall uncovered rifts between the Democratic Presidential candidates. On the one extreme, Cory Booker...
Allan Dyen-Shapiro
Jul 28, 2019
Jessica versus the Hellcat: moral philosophy from Season 3 of Jessica Jones
I was going to give up on this series after the first couple episodes of its last season. I had loved the first two seasons. The morally...
Allan Dyen-Shapiro
Jun 10, 2019
And Now for Something Controversial
For a long time, I felt that the role for men in the country’s debate over abortion was to shut up and not get involved. It was an issue...
Allan Dyen-Shapiro
May 3, 2019
Caster Semenya and What Her Case Says about the Future of Gender in Sports
As this is a minefield, I will state my expertise from the get-go: at one point in my life, I published scientific papers quantifying the...
Allan Dyen-Shapiro
Mar 9, 2019
So, you’re believing scientists, now? Well, it will cost you.
Up to recently, I had thought the most important role for educators, broadly defined, in this country was debunking climate change...
Allan Dyen-Shapiro
Dec 22, 2018
Psychological underpinnings of the politics defeating the Green New Deal
The US has become a pariah nation in terms of response to global climate change, but it is not because the average person is...
Allan Dyen-Shapiro
Oct 15, 2018
New evidence that the world is in deep shit
Here’s a link to an excellent summary in the Washington Post of a very disturbing PNAS article. I’ve just a few clarifications to add....
Allan Dyen-Shapiro
Sep 29, 2018
The Missing Experiment Necessary Before You Get Out the Protest Signs
I have been pretty consistent on calling bullshit on a particular left-wing rallying cry of Roundup as an environmental issue. The...
Allan Dyen-Shapiro
Aug 14, 2018
Navin Johnson Redux III—Toward a Near-Future SF Treatment of White, Male, Christian Southerners
My blog posts usually lead to a considerable amount of Facebook/Twitter-based discussion, but things have been pretty quiet in response...
Allan Dyen-Shapiro
Aug 2, 2018
Navin Johnson Redux II
In Dan Baum’s book, Gun Guys, he distinguishes the various zones experienced when armed with a loaded weapon. The most interesting to me...
Allan Dyen-Shapiro
Jul 31, 2018
“I remember the days, sittin' on the porch with my family, singin' and dancin'
About a year ago, I was engaged in a discussion of writing “The Other”—a topic of great importance to near-future science fiction—when I...
Allan Dyen-Shapiro
Jun 15, 2018
Teaching Morality to a Diverse Population
The scenes from South Texas have been heartbreaking, children separated from their parents, casualties of a broader struggle over what is...
Allan Dyen-Shapiro
Jun 7, 2018
So, Why Don’t I Despise Jeryn Hogarth?
For this blog post, I have none of the conventional qualifications. I’m discussing a character from the Marvel Universe, and, hey, I...
Allan Dyen-Shapiro
Jun 4, 2018
Number 8 on the Hot 100, Number 1 in Great Britain, and Introducing the Information-Action Ratio
“I put a taqueria on the moon (The information action ratio) It got rave reviews Four stars out of five” These lyrics, from the new...
Allan Dyen-Shapiro
May 4, 2018
Foucault, Flat Earthers, Science, Power and Alternative Facts
The nation of England’s first major conference of those who believe the Earth is flat was hosted this year in Birmingham. In 2018. Not...
Allan Dyen-Shapiro
Mar 25, 2018
To Escape or Not To Escape--Allan talks around the question, playing Hamlet, finding merit in both
The proponents of literature as escapism find passion in their cause: "I deal with heavy issues all day in work/family/the news, so why...
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