Transcripts from Science Fiction Saturday, a regular event in Second Life. Hosted by the group Science Fiction Discussion each Saturday at 2.00 p.m. SL time.

Showing posts with label Carl Sagan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Carl Sagan. Show all posts

Saturday, April 3, 2010

3 April 2010: 'Eight Episodes' by Robert Reed

[13:51] Jago Constantine: hi, kara :) / hey babe!
[13:55] Eddi Haskell: hi!
[13:55] Eddi Haskell: still rezzing
[13:55] Jago Constantine: ok / Hi, Eppie, welcome :)
[13:59] Eddi Haskell: hi eppie
[13:59] Jago Constantine: Welcome Neal! / Hey Paolo!
[14:00] Neal Herriat: hi Jago
[14:00] Paolo Alfa: hello Jago, everyone
[14:00] Neal Herriat: relogging
[14:01] Eddi Haskell: sl has been hard today
[14:01] Eddi Haskell: many people have to relog
[14:02] Jago Constantine: ok so if you have your music streams on you should hear some piano music at the moment / if you can all hear it, I'll start the story :)
[14:02] Neal Herriat: /me nods
[14:03] Jago Constantine: Eddi? / Paolo? / Eppie?
[14:03] Paolo Alfa: yea
[14:03] Eppie Shoreman: I can't hear you.
[14:03] Paolo Alfa: moonlight sonata
[14:04] Neal Herriat: very nice
[14:04] Eppie Shoreman: oh is the music still on? okay
[14:04] Jago Constantine: yes / ok I'll start the playback :) / As usual, we're listening to an episode of the Escape Pod Podcast / it should begin soon :P
[14:05] Eddi Haskell: yes jago?
[14:05] Jago Constantine: Can you hear the music stream?
[14:05] Eddi Haskell: yes
[14:08] Jago Constantine: he's one of my favourite writers too :) / lol / Hi, Pookrucker, we're listening to a story on the music stream
[14:13] Pookrucker Guyot: oh cool im just exploring
[14:13] Neal Herriat: excuse rl
[14:13] Jago Constantine: ok / hey rhiannon! / the story has already begun
[14:15] Rhiannon Dragoone: hi Jago!
[14:16] Rhiannon Dragoone: awww. I was afraid of that
[14:16] Rhiannon Dragoone: and my bandwidth won't support sound
[14:16] Jago Constantine: http://media.rawvoice.com/escapepod/media.libsyn.com/media/escapepod/EP107_EightEpisodes.mp3 / you can download it there / :)
[14:16] Rhiannon Dragoone: i tried to IM you, but ur not on my friends list for some reason
[14:17] Rhiannon Dragoone: ok, i'll download it
[14:17] Jago Constantine: oh sorry I might have cleaned you out without thinking ... I go through my list regularly
[14:18] Rhiannon Dragoone: yeah, and i've not been able to come to your meetings
[14:18] Rhiannon Dragoone: but that should change
[14:18] Rhiannon Dragoone: :)
[14:18] Jago Constantine: cool
[14:19] Rhiannon Dragoone: web browser is not opening; can't be in sl and download it
[14:19] Jago Constantine: aw ok
[14:19] Rhiannon Dragoone: i'll copy and paste the link and listen to it later.
[14:19] Rhiannon Dragoone: thanks
[14:21] Jago Constantine: hi, roxette ... we're listening to a story on the audio channel
[14:21] Rhiannon Dragoone: i'll be here next week
[14:21] Rhiannon Dragoone: enjoy
[14:21] Roxette Zane: hi, what book is this
[14:22] Jago Constantine: its a story called eight episodes, by robert reed
[14:22] Roxette Zane: thank you
[14:23] Jago Constantine: hi, mir... we're listening to a story on the audio channel
[14:24] Mir Nirvana: hi, trying to connect
[14:33] Jago Constantine: cool story :) / is everyone finished?
[14:34] Eddi Haskell: yes i did!
[14:34] Eddi Haskell: i liked it
[14:34] Jago Constantine: There wasn't much of a plot to it ... it was basically a description of the show wasn't it
[14:35] Eddi Haskell: it did not have a deeper meaning?
[14:35] Eddi Haskell: i was looking for a deeper meaning
[14:35] Jago Constantine: well it was about the concepts I think
[14:35] Eddi Haskell: like the ultiate redemption of tory spelling
[14:35] Paolo Alfa: a story within a story
[14:35] Jago Constantine: I like the way that the show was described
[14:35] Eddi Haskell: so all the story was
[14:36] Eddi Haskell: was a description of a show then
[14:36] Jago Constantine: as being slightly awkward ... like the creators weren't totally familiar with human media / yes lol
[14:36] Eddi Haskell: yes
[14:36] Eddi Haskell: now it makes snese
[14:36] Eddi Haskell: sense
[14:37] Jago Constantine: and the last line about wet breathing and songs / was the most telling .... / that it was an alien writing it lol
[14:37] Eddi Haskell: the deeper meaning to me was when they were talking about the alien civilization ejecting trillions of pods
[14:37] Jago Constantine: yeah?
[14:37] Eddi Haskell: i thought that was interesting
[14:37] Eddi Haskell: yeah
[14:37] Eddi Haskell: never quite thought of aliens
[14:38] Eddi Haskell: trying to populate the universe virally
[14:38] Jago Constantine: oh yeah
[14:38] Eddi Haskell: but im reading too much into it it is just an interesting thought
[14:38] Jago Constantine: there's a lot of sci fi with machine probes
[14:38] Eddi Haskell: we tend to think that life forms will visit each other in starships
[14:38] Eddi Haskell: deliberately
[14:38] Eddi Haskell: but why not just eject trillions of genomes
[14:39] Jago Constantine: yes ... well I don't think that so I liked this story
[14:39] Eddi Haskell: in hopes that they will take
[14:39] Eddi Haskell: i always read too much into these things lol
[14:39] Jago Constantine: that is called panspermia / the idea that life can spread from planet to planet / either naturally or artificially
[14:40] Eppie Shoreman: take care every one
[14:40] Jago Constantine: you too eppie!
[14:40] Eddi Haskell: im gonna make an avatar alt today with the name panspermia
[14:40] Jago Constantine: I think an alien probe would probably be so advanced that it could make a show that would seem very well made to us lol
[14:41] Eddi Haskell: yes really involving holography
[14:41] Eddi Haskell: time travel
[14:41] Eddi Haskell: glimpses of cosmic events
[14:41] Jago Constantine: unless the amateurish nature of the show was part of the clues it was giving
[14:41] Eddi Haskell: yes
[14:41] Eddi Haskell: well
[14:41] Eddi Haskell: with any new miedium once it is introduced
[14:41] Eddi Haskell: the intiial failures occur
[14:42] Eddi Haskell: when they mimic the media they are supposed to repleace
[14:42] Eddi Haskell: an alien trying to broadcast in media
[14:42] Eddi Haskell: might see the first broadcasts on televsion
[14:42] Eddi Haskell: the 36 nazi olympics
[14:42] Eddi Haskell: and think that is what the earth is like
[14:42] Jago Constantine: yeah / thats from the novel Contact by Carl Sagan
[14:43] Eddi Haskell: instead of rozeanne barr we have leni riefesnstahl
[14:43] Jago Constantine: the first message from aliens
[14:43] Eddi Haskell: yeah?
[14:43] Jago Constantine: is a picture of hitler
[14:43] Eddi Haskell: oh thats right
[14:43] Jago Constantine: lol
[14:43] Eddi Haskell: they were the first to broadcast!
[14:44] Eddi Haskell: all these short stories hint at more context
[14:44] Eddi Haskell: i wonder how many short stories are written
[14:44] Eddi Haskell: with the thoughts of turning them into novels
[14:45] Eddi Haskell: this one seems like it would make a great novel
[14:45] Jago Constantine: I wonder / maybe some are written as proposals for publishers / someone could make a machinima of this story in second life / hehe
[14:46] Eddi Haskell: if you did it it wuold get 200,000 hits
[14:46] Eddi Haskell: you have a knack
[14:46] Polygnotos Azemus: u r the book lovers?
[14:47] Jago Constantine: yes, hi, polygnotos
[14:47] Eddi Haskell: im the easter bunny
[14:47] Jago Constantine: we just finished listening to a story
[14:47] Polygnotos Azemus: hi nice to be here
[14:47] Jago Constantine: we have the science fiction meeting every saturday at 2pm / second life time
[14:48] Polygnotos Azemus: just sf?
[14:48] Polygnotos Azemus: no Tolstoi? lol
[14:48] Jago Constantine: I am only the sf guy / if you join the bookstacks group / you will get notices about other genres
[14:49] Polygnotos Azemus: ok! i only know a.c Clark
[14:49] Jago Constantine: cool :)
[14:49] Polygnotos Azemus: wow, beautiful place
[14:49] Jago Constantine: its very friendly looking / ok folks ... next week's meeting we will have a discussion about what we've been reading
[14:50] Polygnotos Azemus: it's really a nice interior to talk about books
[14:50] Polygnotos Azemus: i am impressed
[14:50] Polygnotos Azemus: may i sit down?
[14:50] Jago Constantine: it's a nice pub hehe / sure! / we're just winding up the meeting though
[14:50] Polygnotos Azemus: oh...
[14:50] Jago Constantine: I'm in Australia so I am going to have breakfast
[14:51] Polygnotos Azemus: oops australia
[14:51] Polygnotos Azemus: other side of the world
[14:51] Jago Constantine: yes hehe / I think the next event here is poetry tomorrow at 11am second life time
[14:51] Polygnotos Azemus: wow i like poetry
[14:52] Polygnotos Azemus: reiner maria rilke...
[14:52] Jago Constantine: cool!
[14:52] Polygnotos Azemus: german romantic love poetry\
[14:53] Jago Constantine: cya next week Paolo!
[14:53] Paolo Alfa: nice meeting, really good story, thank you for having it
[14:53] Polygnotos Azemus: u got to be a member of this group?
[14:53] Jago Constantine: if you want to learn more about sci fi, come along next saturday at 2pm Polygnotos :) / you don't have to be / but you will get notices if you are
[14:54] Polygnotos Azemus: ok! ty
[14:54] Eddi Haskell: happy easter Oly
[14:54] Eddi Haskell: poly
[14:54] Polygnotos Azemus: ty!
[14:54] Eddi Haskell: is it cool to call you polly?
[14:54] Polygnotos Azemus: bye sorry i am too late
[14:54] Jago Constantine: thats ok! / bye!