Allan Dyen-Shapiro
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...
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Allan Dyen-Shapiro
Science Fiction Author
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...
Allan Dyen-Shapiro
- Feb 28, 2018
The Lady Doth Protest Too Much, Or Perhaps Not Enough
Although few believed when she claimed to work for an alien civilization that tasked her with understanding methods of argumentation...
Allan Dyen-Shapiro
- Feb 11, 2018
Looking Back on Garden State with 2018 Eyes
With all the heavy blog posts I do, I think I’m allowed to write something light and fluffy every once in a while, so let me share my...
Allan Dyen-Shapiro
- Jan 2, 2018
On the Everglades Part VII: Breaking News
January 1, 2018, Miami, Florida. CDC officials today are reporting a 1,000-fold increase in deaths caused by encephalitis this year...
Allan Dyen-Shapiro
- Dec 25, 2017
Futurism: Misanalysis of the Recent Tax Bill Exposed
Economics is one area in which Americans don’t need Russians to infiltrate and sow dissent and confusion. We have plenty of dissent and...
Allan Dyen-Shapiro
- Nov 9, 2017
The Science Fictional Middle East Part III/It Just Dawned on Me What Mister Robot is Really About
Last night, on the first televised (rather than webcast) after-show for Mister Robot, the show’s creator, Sam Esmail, obliquely told...
Allan Dyen-Shapiro
- Oct 15, 2017
Where's the Punk in Steampunk?
Early in my attempts to catch up on a lifetime of not reading science fiction, in preparation for writing science fiction, I came across...
Allan Dyen-Shapiro
- Sep 28, 2017
Sciencefictional Economics I: Does capitalist dystopia inexorably progress to societal collapse?
Post-capitalist dystopia has been science fiction’s stock and trade since the 1960s. Whether in the permanently impoverished and violent...
Allan Dyen-Shapiro
- Sep 26, 2017
The Science Fictional Middle East Part II: the uncertain paradigm of Kurdistan
What would you say about a science fiction plot in which the US was providing money and training to a group of former Marxist-Leninists...
Allan Dyen-Shapiro
- Aug 28, 2017
Envisioning a science fictional Middle East
Ever been struck with an idea that won’t leave your head and the gift of time to muse over it? Well, with Hurricane Harvey keeping me...
Allan Dyen-Shapiro
- Jul 23, 2017
Your thriller plot is dumb. ISIS did not almost kill with radioactivity.
Some of us root for the bad guys in the movies. They get to be much more ingenious than the good guys, most of whom are either corrupt or...
Allan Dyen-Shapiro
- Jul 1, 2017
Alternative facts: what we can learn from Holocaust denial
I recently came across a TED talk from historian Deborah Lipstadt, in which she relayed her insights from a study of Holocaust deniers....
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