Art + Fiction from author Rick Wayne
In the beginning was the crisis. This is the singular belief that defines the religious history of our species, the insistence that this world, full of suffering -- where the race goes not to the swift nor bread to the hungry -- cannot be all there is, that there must be something more: a just …
Continue reading In the Beginning: a bird’s eye history of religion
Later this year, the Petit Palais in Paris will host an exhibition on one of the most enigmatic and little-known figures in architecture, Jean-Jacques Lequeu (1757-1825), whose fanciful, unorthodox, yet exactingly illustrated designs were just as grandiose as his contemporary (and better known) archrivals Etienne-Louis Boullee (1728-99) and Claude-Nicholas Ledoux (1736-1806). (Boullee's cenotaph to Newton …
Continue reading The X-rated architecture of Jean-Jacques Lequeu (NSFW)
"The Stars My Destination," second in my five-book formal tour of the history of science fiction, is a work of extremes, which makes it hard to say anything balanced about it. What it does well, it does very well. The rest is flat pulp, the equivalent of an off-brand cola. But since Bester doesn't dawdle, …
It has regular contests in which score is kept. It has seasons ending in scheduled championship contests. It has teams, complete with managers (and even owners). It has plays and strategies, many of which fail. It has scandals and career-ending injuries. It has a daily highlight reel. It has major and minor leagues and recruitment …
The question posed to me was whether there’s cause to be optimistic about AI. My answer is that that’s an oversimplification almost to the point of farce. To be clear, I’m not anti-AI. It really does have the potential to make life better for everybody. And anyway, as with genetic modification (of both food and humans), you …
“The Bible tells us that after the kingdom of Solomon was divided and so fell to the Babylonians, the author of the prophetic Book of Daniel was taken captive, along with a number of other Hebrew youths from many notable families — hostages you might say, to insure against future revolt. They were sent to study the …
This is "Splash goat" by Zhelong Xu. It's not pottery. It's computer generated. It was made by a Chinese artist and it beautifully illustrates how easy it will be to fake just about everything. I expect forgery will make a comeback, only rather than forging "lost" works of art, talented artists will be paid by …
