Humanist Book Club time! ⛴️

Today for #OnlySky, I reflect on ocean transport as KSR tackled it in The Ministry for the Future. Sadly, ocean freight is both big *and* small in the climate change equation... and there are some tricky Arctic politics that undermine treating an open northern passage as a quick fix to transport needs.

That said, this is a book of ideas, to be used as a conversation starter - and there are a lot of neat ones to be had here!

#ClimateCrisis

https://onlysky.media/mclark/eco-friendly-transportation-the-good-the-bad-and-the-pipe-dreams/

I don't make a habit of dwelling on the death of individuals who did harm, but today for #OnlySky I have a meditation on how we process the death in general of prominent figures who did harm in their lives.

In this case, the "Joe" in question didn't actually represent the "average" US citizen well, but his fame came from a system that rewards people building a legacy on sowing division.

How do we move with greater dignity through the mess they leave behind?

#Humanism
https://onlysky.media/mclark/on-the-death-of-an-average-joe/

Hey Mastodon! Today for #OnlySky, the next instalment of Humanist Book Club. Our discussion of Kim Stanley Robinson's The Ministry for the Future explores the possibility of drilling polar ice to slow global warming.

I also use the opportunity to tackle some confusing media reports around an IPCC report that predicted an "ice-free" Arctic much later than we'll probably get it.

(Science literacy & speculative fiction can go hand in hand. What fun!)

#ClimateCrisis https://onlysky.media/mclark/do-we-have-the-technology-to-ease-our-melting-ice-sheets/

This week was lost to a bit of a personal crisis, but the world was also undergoing many crises of its own.

Today for #OnlySky, I have a holistic news brief, which summarizes what a weird week it's been for the world - between a Fulton County jail booking, India's moon shot, Prigozhin's plane, news out of BRICS about an expanded membership, the Republican debate...

The world's a-changing in some unexpected & uncertain ways. Hold on to your butts!

#News #GlobalHumanism
https://onlysky.media/mclark/sticking-the-landing-indias-moon-shot-prigozhins-plane-xis-absence-and-africas-entrance/

How do we make #protests work for #climatechange reform?
https://onlysky.media/mclark/how-do-we-make-protests-work-for-climate-change-reform/
by @MLClark of #onlysky

All right #Trekkies. 🖖

Sorry for the delay: without power at home, working from the chaos of a mall. 🙃

Nonetheless, today for #OnlySky we dive into a lovely musical of an episode this time on #StrangeNewWorlds. In it, we explore the role of play in our lives, recognize that harmony requires the celebration of difference, and... embrace the collapse of not one but *two* alternate realities within this very silly but also *deeply* #StarTrek improbability field.

#Humanism
https://onlysky.media/mclark/singin-in-the-subspace-rhapsody-music-and-the-quest-for-harmony/

Okay, readers! 📗🎉

Today for #OnlySky, Humanist Book Club Series 2 begins.

This time, we're tackling Kim Stanley Robinson's The Ministry for the Future - but we're doing it a bit differently. No chapter summaries. Instead, we're looking at different approaches to climate change reform addressed in this work of near-future sci-fi.

No need to have read it! But today I explore why fiction can be *so* good for combating the helplessness in our news.

#Books #Humanism #SFF
https://onlysky.media/mclark/how-do-we-talk-about-impending-doom-so-that-people-will-listen/

Evening, Mastodon. 📜

Here's our final segment of The Dawn of Everything, the first outing in my #Humanist Book Club at #OnlySky.

In it, we look at pre-colonial histories in North America, and the *wide* range of human groupings that existed before Europeans showed up.

It is *so* important to remember that political discourse & nuanced state arrangements existed everywhere. In a more robust #history of humanity, we find the tools we need for all our challenges today.

https://onlysky.media/mclark/humanist-book-club-a-different-history-of-end-states-in-human-progress/

Morning all. 🗺️☀️

Today for #OnlySky, something a little different.

In this piece on eco-activist thinking, I look at how resource-management gaming can remind us to hold ideas in tension, and that responsible climate change policy is far more complex than it can sometimes feel from our armchairs.

We need *huge* cultural changes--but how do we move the dial as everyday citizens, when our nations show so little will to act?

#Humanism #Environment #ClimateChange #Gaming
https://onlysky.media/mclark/how-to-be-a-better-armchair-activist/

Morning, Mastodon! And the #Trekkies especially. 🖖

Today for #OnlySky I reflect on a solid episode of #StarTrek #StrangeNewWorlds that does a *lot* of work around a classic Trek trope: the character who's having a subjective experience that others can't easily verify.

This is *such* a humanist concept. Phenomenology doesn't always account for how each of us carries a world within. How we show up for each other when words aren't enough is *everything*.

#Humanism #CoSoTV
https://onlysky.media/mclark/how-whats-lost-in-translation-can-be-found-again-in-empathy/

Morning, folks!

Today for #OnlySky, a deep dive building from recent US news. Yes, there's a lot of anxiety about the fate of US justice and democracy - but how much of it is coming from media-led discourse that fails to offer voters a better civic conversation?

https://onlysky.media/mclark/the-struggle-for-us-democracy/

Afternoon, Mastodon!

Today for #OnlySky, I talk international politics. 🌍

Specifically: NATO, the EU, & what three case studies in membership bids tell us about the delicate struggle to rise above nation-state conflicts in pursuit of a better peace on the global stage.

Join me in thinking about Finland, Sweden, & Ukraine in light of what they teach us about the delicate *and necessary* role of international civic spaces for us all.

#Humanism #Politics #Europe #Ukraine
https://onlysky.media/mclark/so-this-is-nato-sweden-finland-and-ukraines-year-in-bids/

Okay, #Trekkies! 🖖

Today for #OnlySky, I look at how the latest episode of #StrangeNewWorlds corrects for missteps from TOS's "The Cage" and its surrounding production culture.

"Among the Lotus Eaters" offers a generous look at the role of memory in identity formation, considers uses and abuses of forgetting, and reaffirms the role of "cerebral" storytelling in #StarTrek writ large.

(Some wobbly plot choices here, but come for the #Humanism and stay for Ortegas!) #SFF
https://onlysky.media/mclark/memory-forgetting-and-choosing-our-better-selves-among-the-lotus-eaters/

Oof. One of these days I'll have a nice one for you, I promise.

But today for #OnlySky, I have a news brief that ties together some of what I've been reporting on all year: the consistently grim findings of our international bodies when it comes to climate change readiness.

We need to do more--but *will* we? Can this latest heat wave finally, finally, finally be enough?

#ClimateCrisis

https://onlysky.media/mclark/broken-heat-records-and-the-promise-of-more/

Okay Mastodon. 🕊️

A tough one today for #OnlySky, but I promise you won't have read anything like this about Jenin from mainstream outlets.

That's because the latest IDF raid has been added to a long line of clickbait articles about a grave & complicated humanitarian crisis. (It's like everyone's eager for a Third Intifada. Grotesque.)

In this explainer, we sit with why Jenin is the site of so much violence - and ask how to bring hope to fellow humans again.

#Humanism
https://onlysky.media/mclark/the-ethical-quagmire-of-jenin-for-all-of-us/

Okay #Trekkie Mastodon. 🖖 It's #SNW time!

Today for #OnlySky, we talk about Strange New Worlds' time travel episode, which takes place more or less now in Canuckistan 🍁, and raises the classic Would You Kill Baby Hitler question around La'an's past.

Does it work? Does *any* time travel episode in #StarTrek? What does this #SFF trope actually do - and does the romance help or hinder?

Come for the morality play! Stay for the poutine & Carol Kane!

#TV #ScienceFiction
https://onlysky.media/mclark/tomorrow-and-tomorrow-and-tomorrow-how-time-travel-creeps-into-trek-today/

Morning, Mastodon! ⚖️

What's more Canadian than spending part of Canada Day on one of our four major sports - following and commenting on US news! 🙃

Today for #OnlySky, I offer an explainer of key elements from four #SCOTUS cases last week. There's been a lot of misinformation from rightfully panicked places these past few days. It's important to understand what actually transpired.

Stay vigilant, and stay informed. That's how we make room for change. #Law #Humanism https://onlysky.media/mclark/along-party-lines-scotus-decisions-and-us-schisms/

Morning, Mastodon.

Today for #OnlySky, I have a news brief on a difficult but important topic:

The role of diffusion models (AI) in worsening prevention and recovery efforts around the distribution of child sex abuse images.

Are we finally ready to think maturely about the tech future we've built? What would it take for us to address child abuse with the gravity it deserves?

#Humanism #AI #technology #technews
https://onlysky.media/mclark/ai-driven-internet-worsens-child-sex-abuse-image-market/

Today's review of #StrangeNewWorlds for #OnlySky is a little tougher than my last.

It had to be, because although the SNW team had a huge challenge when setting out to tackle Trek canon around justice and genetic modification, they took some narrative shortcuts that unfortunately undermined the biggest humanist issues this trial of an episode broached.

But! We can learn from setback, too. (If we didn't, we wouldn't be human, would we?) #StarTrek #SFF 🖖
https://onlysky.media/mclark/ad-astra-per-aspera-how-we-escape-from-hardship-into-wonder/

Morning, Mastodon. 🕊️

Bit of a meditative piece for #OnlySky today, building on some truly inane news all week.

Today's absurd performances of power by the rich and well-platformed would almost be laughable, if they didn't also reflect such a serious crisis of cultural authority.

How do we pursue greater agency and critical thinking in a world so epistemically divided?

#Humanism #GlobalHumanism
https://onlysky.media/mclark/is-there-any-rock-bottom-to-our-crisis-of-authority/