Recently, I was prompted to consider the issue of what kind of sexual, marital, and familial landscape we’re heading towards by comparisons on Twitter between the political effects of mass singleness, childlessness, and virginity in South Korea as a prelude to what will be the … Continue readingNo Solace for the Single?
“What?” you might ask: “Third Rome? Viking Tsars? Russian Turan?” I’m talking, of course, about what happens in the Russian sphere of influence in my alternate timeline, the history all of my science-fiction and space opera stories, from the 20th century to over a thousand … Continue readingThird Rome, Viking Tsars, Russian Turan, and Beyond
Leaving aside questions of interplanetary or interstellar demography, or demography in an alternate history, topics I’ve blogged about before, there are also interesting aspects to real-life demography. Demography may not be destiny but it does shape the future; what kind of demographic future is in … Continue readingStop Worrying and Love the Birth Dearth?
I haven’t even finished my latest novel yet, though I am writing at a brisk clip, and already my mind turns to my next story. For some reason I find the prospect of setting a story in the far future of my space opera setting … Continue readingTaking my Space Opera into the Far Future
When speculating about alien intelligence, much is made of the fact that we see a cosmos primeval rather than a cosmos being eaten away by artifice. What if, instead of proving there are no advanced spacefaring civilizations out there, it proves that some of our … Continue readingInfinite Scattering: The Future of Spacefaring Civilization?
Space habitats and colonization are one of the topics I blog the most about, because I find it quite interesting. Why confine your civilization to a planet when there’s a whole universe out there filled with resources that you can turn into custom-made habitats fit … Continue readingOur Future in Space Habitats: More Thoughts
What would be the implications of an ageless, or biologically immortal, human or alien race? Or even a race that lived much longer than humans? Worldbuilding immortals is certainly a fascinating exercise. Eternal youth has always fascinated, enticed, and mesmerized people; the Epic of Gilgamesh, … Continue readingWorldbuilding Immortals in Science Fiction
It looks like I’ve had science fiction and space opera on my mind lately, and I haven’t stopped since the last post, so I thought I’d share with you my thoughts on a science fiction world I’ve been building for myself. That is somewhat different … Continue readingWorldbuilding a Space Opera Setting of My Own
The concept of a city that is so large it engulfs an entire planet is one of the most common tropes of science fiction, especially space opera. After all, population growth and urbanization throughout history, particularly in the last two centuries, have driven cities to … Continue readingEcumenopolis: Thoughts on Worldbuilding City-Planets
After the solar system is colonized, settled, and developed, interstellar colonization is the next step in mankind’s journey through the final frontier. The distances between planets within our own solar system are easily surmountable once enough space infrastructure is built out to allow the mass … Continue readingWorldbuilding Near-Future Interstellar Demography