In his 1962 short story “2BR02B” (pronounced, to be or not to be), Kurt Vonnegut imagines that, in response to overpopulation, the US government might create a “Bureau of Termination,”...

I came out as a truther in 2015 with my 9/11 novel, Locus Amoenus. It wasn’t an easy decision. I anticipated being called “clinically insane,” a “dickwad,” promoting “rank steaming...

I refuse to raise my child to grow up to kill another mother’s child. Julia Ward Howe, founder of Mother’s Day, 1870 Originally conceived as a protest to war,...

The headlines scream: “AI Mind-Reading Has Arrived!” “Neuralink Allows Man to Control Computer with his Thoughts! “Chinese Soldiers’ AI Implants Enhance Abilities and Reaction Times.” Every neural implant, whether...

VN Alexander If you read and believe headlines, it seems scientists are very close to being able to merge human brains with AI. In mid-December 2023, a Nature Electronics article triggered a flurry of...

VN Alexander 2023 was the year that an artificial intelligence (AI) known as ChatGPT-4 spectacularly passed the Turing Test. For a hundred million users, interacting with the Chat bot...

VN Alexander You may recall that, during the thick of it in 2020-2021, Covidians were immune—no, that’s not the right metaphor—they were allergic to facts. They did not respond well even...

VN alexander In Martin Amis’ The Zone of Interest (2014), set in a Nazi death camp, the Commander, Paul Doll, has his wife, Hannah, and two daughters living with him in...

VN Alexander I’ve never wanted to be able to control any of my devices with my thoughts.  I am perfectly happy to use a physical interface that I can...