Michael Gogins

The Foundational Questions Institute (FQXi) has now awarded first prize in its annual essay contest to Louis Crane for Stardrives and Spinoza. This is a follow-up to Are Black Hole Starships Possible? by Crane and Shawn Westmoreland, which I have already commented on below.
The theme of this year’s contest is “What is ultimately possible in [...]

When I was 19 I thought and wrote about the future from the standpoint of a would-be “hard” science-fiction writer.
My basic thinking was to explore the long-term consequences of the nuclear balance of terror. I did not believe that the balance was truly stable (events have since proved me correct). I thought there actually would [...]

I’m looking at TuneCore… for a pretty reasonable flat fee, you upload music and it appears on digital music stores, including iTunes and eMusic. As far as I can tell, TuneCore and Amazon.com are planning to implement CD publishing-on-demand following the same model.
For the first time in the history of music publishing and distribution, there [...]

I used to go to Tower Records and Kim’s Video for music, after looking at reviews in Wired or Computer Music Journal. Now, CD stores are no more, or shadows of their former selves, and I skulk around online, occasionally downloading a few MP3s. I don’t hear as much good new music as I used [...]