S3.05 Iron Maiden

The Basics of Bitcoins and Blockchains: An Introduction to Cryptocurrencies and the Technology that Powers Them

by Antony Lewis

Learn the history and basics of cryptocurrency and blockchains: There’s a lot of information on cryptocurrency and blockchains out there. But, for the uninitiated, most of this information can be indecipherable. The Basics of Bitcoins and Blockchains aims to provide an accessible guide to this new currency and the revolutionary technology that powers it.

Termination Shock

by Neal Stephenson

Ranging from the Texas heartland to the Dutch royal palace in the Hague, from the snow-capped peaks of the Himalayas to the sunbaked Chihuahuan Desert, Termination Shock brings together a disparate group of characters from different cultures and continents who grapple with the real-life repercussions of global warming. Ultimately, it asks the question: Might the cure be worse than the disease?

Neal Stephenson on the Future of the Metaverse

When Neal Stephenson coined “the metaverse” three decades ago, his book Snow Crash was found on the shelves of “science fiction”. While the book remains in that category, many of its concepts are now found in reality… Fast forward to 2022, where numerous companies are now building toward their version of the metaverse, including Neal himself, working on his latest venture Lamina1, drawing on his experience as a builder at MagicLeap, Blue Origin, and more. While the present metaverses don’t perfectly mimic that from Stephenson’s early imagination, we get the unique opportunity to discuss the various design decisions that he’s making, but also the intersection between the metaverse and gaming, the involvement that AR/VR might play, the evolving role of IP, how artificial intelligence fits in, what he’s building and why, and where he gets all of his ideas from.

Chromaspace: Conscript

by Megan Alnico

Military Field Agent Jacob Zackery had never planned on joining the Union Space Force. After being pressed into service, there was only one way out, complete three missions for Admiral York. But when Jacob is abandoned on a dead planet to starve to death slowly, he must make a deal with an illegal AI to get back to Homeworld and to Helen, the woman he loves. Along the way, he befriends a mechanical savant, a young woman fleeing a planetary invasion, and a doctor with questionable loyalties, all while struggling to regain the life torn from him.

Rai stones

The typical rai stone is carved out of crystalline limestone and is shaped as a disk with a hole in the center. The smallest may be 3.5 centimetres (1.4 in) in diameter. The largest extant stone is located on Rumung island, near the Riy village; it is 3.6 metres (12 ft) in diameter and 50 centimetres (20 in) thick, and weighs 4,000 kilograms (8,800 lb).

photo by Eric Guinther CC BY SA

Jeff Bezos’ Yacht

The yacht did eventually make an exit, but not by the dismantling of the De Hef Bridge in Rotterdam.

Photo credit: Fred Romero from Paris, France, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons