As the only other near future speculative writer I know, I just had to reblog Chris James’ post about replicators and their links backwards [to Star Trek] and forwards [to 3D printing] in time.
Near future speculative fiction writers [sticks hand up] extrapolate from the /now/ to the future. Sometimes we get it wrong…but the times we get it right, it’s worth celebrating!
Go Chris. 😀
I’m generally loathe to discuss my writing on this blog, unless I have a new title to publicise. The reason for this is that I really want my books to do the talking for me. However, every once in a while something happens that makes me want to shout: “See? That’s what I said would happen!” So, this week I deliver a thoroughly wordy and nerdy post for you, for a change.
On Tuesday, The Guardianpublished a story on how 3-D printing has, for the first time, produced edible food (well, just about). In the Repulse Chronicles, set in the 2060s, there are devices called replicators, which I intended to be the next step on from 3-D printing. There are construction replicators, marine replicators (read the books if you want to know ;)) and replicators that produce water and food. However, there are snags and the food…
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Meeka's Mind 
March 31st, 2023 at 12:23 am
That was a good article. Yes, frustrating, I suppose but also exciting to speculate what will come next. I think staying on top of the trajectory of developing science is a unique aspect of writing speculative near-future science fiction, that other fiction writers don’t have to worry about.
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March 31st, 2023 at 8:47 am
Yes. The internal ‘world building’ never stops. Then again, most of us are fascinated by tech anyway so it’s not that much of a chore. The speed at which tech changes is a bit of an issue though. I know for myself, if I become graphics obsessed for a few months, when I come up for air I’m always astounded by how much has changed in such a short time. I mean, who would have thought ChatGPT/AI would become such an issue so quickly?
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March 31st, 2023 at 10:21 am
You’re right! Technology is rapid fire now. It’s hard to keep up!
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March 31st, 2023 at 10:59 pm
Very much so. I always assumed that AI would be an integral part of the future but…I never imagined it would arrive like chatGPT, or have all the teething problems that we’re starting to see. By contrast, VR seems to have stalled.
Btw, someone mentioned The Jetsons today. Now some of those wacky ideas really could come true. Imagine a Deep Fake app that could make you look a million dollars while you have bed hair and are slopping around in trakkie dacks and ugg boots!
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March 31st, 2023 at 11:47 pm
I think VR is going to pick up again. There’s a commercial on television that shows school kids walking around with wooly mammoths. Can you imagine being able to sit in the Roman forum or dog sled in Antarctica? Education will be transformed. I play a VR exercise game called Supernatural that takes me to dozens of amazing locations around the planet. Sometimes I’m looking around and forget to exercise! Lol.
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April 1st, 2023 at 9:13 am
Oh My God?!? Diana, you astound me! I’ve only ever played around with VR once, at a friend’s house. lol lol lol Now I want one of my own. 😀
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April 2nd, 2023 at 1:29 am
It’s so fun. It’s like playing a game but I’m exercising. I feel like a sword master (lol) and I exercise for about an hour a day now (on the top of the French Alps, on the shores of the Dead Sea, in the rainbow mountains of Peru, on the Great Wall of China, etc, etc, etc. 😀
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April 2nd, 2023 at 7:56 am
lmao – damn you! All places I want to see myself. So what’s this game called????
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April 2nd, 2023 at 8:37 am
It’s called Supernatural and its part of the meta Oculus system. The system is pricey, and the game requires a subscription, but it’s way less than joining a gym. And I use it everyday, so I justify it that way. There are a wide variety of games and adventures.
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April 2nd, 2023 at 8:56 am
Thanks, Diana. I’ve written all that down for future reference. Maybe when the price comes down… 😀
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March 29th, 2023 at 12:51 am
Clicking through. Replicators are intriguing, as is Star Trek’s turning energy into matter.
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March 29th, 2023 at 9:10 am
In a sense, matter /is/ energy so it kind of makes sense to turn the base ingredient – i.e. energy – back into matter. Costly though, methinks!
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March 28th, 2023 at 3:48 pm
I am reading this! I love speculative fiction.
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March 28th, 2023 at 3:51 pm
-grin- Enjoy!
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March 28th, 2023 at 3:44 pm
Thank you, Andrea 🙂 *hugs*
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March 28th, 2023 at 3:51 pm
Welcome. 😀
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March 28th, 2023 at 3:44 pm
Always the same problem: raw materials. Not sure exactly what you’re going to make food out of, but it better be digestible. Proteins are VERY complex molecules.
I am reminded by the Firefly birthday scene, where a luscious chocolate cake is revealed to be ‘the usual protein powder’.
Which makes me laugh, because a frequent dessert for low-carb me is chocolate protein powder, Ghirardelli cocoa, real vanilla, a LOT of real heavy cream, and an artificial sweetener. The usual protein powder… dessert.
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March 28th, 2023 at 3:52 pm
Um…what on earth do you do with all those ingredients????
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March 28th, 2023 at 4:05 pm
Turn it into a semi-solid in my Bullet (sort of like a mixer/blender). Eat with spoon. Forgot to call it a chocolate mousse, which is what it looks and tastes like.
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March 29th, 2023 at 9:16 am
Aaaaah! Gotcha. I am curious though. Wouldn’t just ordinary chocolate/cocoa be just as good? I mean there’d be lots of protein in the cream wouldn’t there?
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March 29th, 2023 at 4:31 pm
Not that much – cream is mostly fat? Or maybe the cheese IS the fat and protein. Far fewer carbs, of course.
My chocolate mousse is a mini-meal – those keep me going. If I eat too much at a time, I have to take another nap.
Every time I get up from sleep, I have to deal with the waking up and getting going again; I’d never do it if I had a choice – nor would Kary: we’re not toddlers.
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March 30th, 2023 at 8:44 am
Well, at least you’ve discovered something that works for you.
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March 30th, 2023 at 4:18 pm
And tastes as good to me – or better than – the ‘real thing’ loaded with sugar.
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March 30th, 2023 at 9:51 pm
lol – I made a chocolate mousse cake today. I won’t tell you how much butter and sugar it contains. 😀
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March 31st, 2023 at 3:04 am
It takes me four miserable days to get sugar out of my system, days on which I’m hungry all the time (I feed myself protein and fat to get over it). NOT worth it – but I can have a small amount without setting off the dogs, so I have learned to enjoy tastes – and not worry about it. A couple of bites…
I’d love to try your cake!
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March 31st, 2023 at 8:45 am
Ugh. I’m sorry to hear that but…sending you a couple of digital bites as a taste tester. 🙂
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March 31st, 2023 at 3:47 pm
Thanks!
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March 28th, 2023 at 2:00 pm
An interesting share, Andrea..I hope you are having a fabulous creative week 🙂
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March 28th, 2023 at 3:53 pm
Thanks, Carol, I am actually. Feels weird but doing these graphics is giving my ideas for stories, or at least one story. lol
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