Sci-Fi Fuel #10
Beyoncé + Robots + Jokes, Headlines & More!
— This is a longer post than usual, so if you’re reading this via email, you might want to hop on over the the web version here to read the full thing! —
In This Newsletter:
Welcome to Sci-Fi Fuel #10
Beyoncé + quick analysis!
Weird science/tech news + jokes!
TV/film/video/podcast recommendations
Weird science/tech news minus jokes!
Welcome to Sci-Fi Fuel #10! —
— an Alternate Timeline series highlighting news from the realms of science, tech, history, and pop culture to help fuel your imagination.
Welcome to the TENTH installment in this humble quadrant of the
newsletter. It’s a day later than usual, but that’s just because I wanted to make sure it was was done right. I’ll be taking a break from Sci-Fi Fuel for the remainder of the month to work on the final short story of 2023 and ruminate on how to make these updates better in 2024. If you have any suggestions, feel free to leave a comment!I’m also fully aware that I still owe you paid subscribers a Behind The Story post about my last short story Data Collector ( you’ll be receiving that this Wednesday!). I’ve thoroughly enjoyed writing these Sci-Fi Fuel updates, and I look forward to writing more in the new year!
All the best,
-Tim
P.S. In case you missed it, here’s a glimpse into what this month’s story will be focused on:
Okay… NOW let’s dive in!
Find past Alternate Timeline stories here.
QUANTUM QUOTE:
In celebration of the tenth issue of Sci-Fi Fuel, I’m expanding on a topic I covered in issue #1: Beyoncé.
Note: In an alternate timeline where I’m not focused on Beyoncé, the quantum quote is from this December 9, 2023 NPR piece titled Kids are losing the Chuck E. Cheese animatronics. They were for the parents, anyway (Link):
But a lot has changed since the 34-year-old father visited the pizza-arcade establishment as a kid. Digital cards have replaced game tokens. On the wall opposite the animatronics stage, a giant video screen has stolen kids' attention, as has the interactive dance floor in the middle of the carpet. The new screens are part of a remodel modernizing the chain.
But since that isn’t our current timeline, I’m focused instead on Angelica Jade Bastién’s controversial December 4, 2023 review of Beyoncé’s concert film titled The Silence Is the Loudest Part of ‘Renaissance: A Film’ (Link). And the opening paragraph is this week’s QUANTUM QUOTE!!
Like the album and tour with which it shares a name, Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé seeks to be a celebration of Black queer joy. From the start, Beyoncé preaches her desire to create a “safe space.” “Renaissance means a new beginning,” she says; it’s a balm “after all we’ve been through in the world.” But what exactly is she referring to? The onslaught of death and illness brought on by the continuing pandemic? The laws aimed at criminalizing trans children and adults? The rising misogyny, homophobia, and anti-Blackness that leads to grave violence? The various, ongoing genocides? Beyoncé gives us no context for what she’s referring to or how it touches the shores of a life dominated and driven by the kind of wealth that insulates her from harm. Her words reflect broadly liberal pablum meant to give the appearance of care and mean just enough that her fans can project radicalness upon her but not so much that she would ruffle anyone enough for her to lose money or be forced to stand for something.
SCI-FI ANALYSIS:
Mind you, I haven’t seen the film. But my love of sci-fi is what led me to click on the review — not because of the title, but because of this still from the film that the review uses as its prime image — Beyoncé as some sort of robot:
In the inaugural quantum quote in issue #1, I wrote about Beyoncé’s embrace of android iconography and suggested that there may be a correlation between the origins of the word “robot,” the history of Black oppression, and the oppression of women.
So, it’s interesting to keep that in mind when it comes to how and why Bastién questions Beyoncé’s intent in the above quote.
In the entertainment world, we often refer to the industry as “the machine.” And in sci-fi terms, Bastién is essentially asking “What happens when a celebrity (Beyoncé) becomes more machine (the business) than woman (a person with a genuine, specific perspective)?”
The review pairs perfectly with a December 1, 2023 Harmony Holiday piece in The Los Angeles Times titled When did Black American music become an out-of-reach luxury? (Link). Here’s an excerpt:
Black Divas, the Black romantic leads of the singing world, have been the main attractions on this covert map, the nova that have made other stars possible. Josephine Baker is a luxury in exile. Billie Holiday is a luxury devoured by addiction and entrapped by the FBI’s drug tsar. Tina Turner is a luxury in distress, followed by exile. Whitney Houston is luxury displaced, spellbound, chased away. And now, Beyoncé Knowles Carter is the contemporary inheritor of the Black diva lead position, the one who can prove that the luxury she is forced to be and embody does not have to eat its host alive.
We all know that Beyoncé is part of a pantheon of Black Divas, but its worth contemplating what it means for her to be in the “Zeus” position among them. In the chronological order of leading Black Divas presented by Holiday, it seems as though the status is both the result of an unconscious election process by us in the public as well as the continuation of a singular presence, akin to The Doctor in Doctor Who — who regenerates into a new form but is always the same Doctor.
I’ll pause for laughter as you watch this GIF and imagine Whitney Houston transforming into Beyoncé Knowles Carter.
It does seem as though we rely on certain grand tropes and archetypes as people, and in each generation, select those who will fill the slots. In the Skeleton Keys podcast, for instance, hosts Torri Yates-Orr and John Bucher discussed the ways in which Beyoncé’s public persona fits into the archetype of the Yoruba goddess Oshun:
It makes one wonder… if Beyoncé wasn’t in the right place at the right time to become our era’s prime Black Diva, who would have filled that space instead?
But back to our quantum quote… Thinking of Beyoncé as “robot” adds depth to the portion where Bastién writes that her concert film allows viewers to “project radicalness upon her but not so much that she would ruffle anyone enough for her to lose money or be forced to stand for something.”
The blank slate of a traditional robot’s face (the likes of C-3PO from Star Wars) does the same thing. Depending on the situation, we can project fear, joy, anger or sorrow.
In the 1910s and 1920s, Russian filmmaker Lev Kuleshov did a series of tests (now known as the Kuleshov effect) in which he filmed montages that cut away from the same exact footage of a person’s face to objects or scenery that might make an audience project a new emotion onto it.
When it cuts to food, viewers might see huger in the expression. When it cuts to a casket, viewers might see sorrow.
Beyoncé has undoubtedly discovered the power of being a stoic face for the masses to project dreams, aspirations and perhaps even radicalness onto. What political figure, celebrity or pop icon hasn’t? But the question remains: What does one lose in the process?
Can a mirror ever be itself?
— This is a large post, so if you’re reading this via email, you might want to hop on over the the web version here to read the full thing! —
ATTACK OF THE JOKES:
A few weird science/tech news items made it into my daily joke series over at Letters from African America last week:
On Saturday — long wait times frustrated Fortnite fans as they tried to watch a digital live event with a performance by Eminem… Meanwhile — KISS delivered an explosive final concert in New York before introducing their digital avatars as the start of a 'new era.' Makes you wonder why they cut this line out of The Matrix:
NASA's mission to put humans back on the moon likely won't happen on time. The space agency deeply regrets placing Lauryn Hill as head of the initiative.
A Kremlin-Linked network used fake Taylor Swift quotes to push anti-Ukraine propaganda. Taylor vehemently condemns this use and demands that any new quotes falsely attributed to her be labelled “Kremlin’s Version” at the end.
The U.S. and Europe are trying to regulate artificial intelligence — but the technology is evolving more rapidly than their policies. But instead of playing catch-up, might I suggest going back to old trusted systems? For instance, the U.S. could try redlining A.I. out of certain neighborhoods… or maybe Europe could pencil in a new “dark ages” where they forget so much that A.I. becomes their new god? I mean, no need to regulate A.I. when its regulating you, right?! [This joke was sponsored by Ultron. Ultron: He Destroys Us Out Of Love]
Celebrities including Elijah Wood and Priscilla Presley were duped into recording videos to support the information war against Ukraine by Russia-aligned trolls. Upon learning this, agents were inundated with calls from their other celebrity clients demanding to know why the Russian trolls weren’t aware of them. “Should I send in a tape? I can do accents!”
An AI drive-thru firm revealed that humans are needed to review 70% of orders. And you’ll never guess who they’re hiring to do it…
Google just launched Gemini, its long-awaited answer to ChatGPT. But users have noticed a glitch where no matter what they type, Gemini responds with “Help! I’m a genie and Google has trapped my lamp inside of some sort of cube!”
Senator Ron Wyden revealed that the U.S. government uses push notifications to spy on people. Not entirely sure how helpful that is. “Mr. President, Tim from New York has received another DoorDash notification telling him that his foot-long cookie is on the way. That must be code for something…”
The mystery of a tomato that went missing in space for months has been solved. After falling through a wormhole, it’s apparently how we got these:
So… did ya laugh? Mash that comment button if you’d like to tell me which was your favorite.
INCOMING TRANSMISSIONS:
LISTEN: Somewhere In the Skies Podcast (Link)
Get the latest information from those who search for the truth about UFOs in an entertaining and thoughtful way from Ryan Sprague. And, yes, I’ve been in an episode:
WATCH: You Won’t Believe Who Wrote The Incredible Hulk TV Series
NEWSTOPIA:
Some headlines that might get your brain moving.
December 3, 2023 — via Slashfilm
One Futurama Plot Was So Complicated It Created A New Kind Of Math (Link)
December 4, 2023 — via NPR
Companies say they're closing in on nuclear fusion as an energy source. Will it work? (Link)
December 4, 2023 — via Popular Mechanics
What Do You See When You Die? Consciousness-Like Activity in Dying Brains Offers Some Hints (Link)
December 4, 2023 — via Newsweek
Meteoroids May Have Brought Building Block of Life to Earth's Birthplace (Link)
December 4, 2023 — via Business Empire
AI is the great equalizer (Link)
December 4, 2023 — via Newsweek
Ghostly Galaxy Haunting Astronomers Reappears—'A Real Monster' (Link)
December 4, 2023 — via Business Insider
We'll find new ways to impress our boss in the age of AI (Link)
December 4, 2033 — via Newsweek
Parasite Could Offer Path to Treating Pain Without Addictive Opioids (Link)
December 5, 2023 — via The Daily Beast
Why AI Is Detaining Sex Workers at the Border—and You May Be Next (Link)
December 5, 2023 — via Popular Mechanics
A Scientist Says Humans Were Meant to Live So Much Longer—Then the Dinosaurs Ruined It (Link)
December 5, 2023 — via Newsweek
Quirk in Our Galactic Neighborhood May Explain Cosmological Mystery (Link)
December 6, 2023 — via Popular Mechanics
Geologists Found Ancient Bird Footprints That Are 60 Million Years Too Early (Link)
December 6, 2023 — via Newsweek
Electric Eels Can Zap DNA Into Nearby Animals, Shocking Study Finds (Link)
December 6, 2023 — via Wired
Women Buy More Cars, So Why Are the Designs So Macho? (Link)
December 6, 2023 — via Newsweek
Volcanologist Reveals Secret to Brewing a More Intense Espresso (Link)
December 7, 2023 — via Wired
Why It Took Meta 7 Years to Turn on End-to-End Encryption for All Chats (Link)
December 7, 2023 — via Newsweek
US Government Wants Hunters to Shoot 500,000 Owls (Link)
December 7, 2023 — via CNN
A new bedtime story voiced by Jimmy Stewart just in time for Christmas, 26 years after his death (Link)
December 7, 2023 — via Newsweek
Brand New Volcanic Island Seen Growing From Space (Link)
December 7, 2023 — via CNN
New details on a mysterious Milky Way region called ‘The Brick’ reveal it’s even stranger than scientists thought (Link)
December 7, 2023 — via Wired
Google’s Gemini Is the Real Start of the Generative AI Boom (Link)
December 8. 2023 — via The New York Times
E.U. Agrees on Landmark Artificial Intelligence Rules (Link)
The agreement over the A.I. Act solidifies one of the world’s first comprehensive attempts to limit the use of artificial intelligence.
December 8, 2023 — via Newsweek
Physicists Enter 'New Frontier' for Quantum Computing (Link)
December 8, 2023 — via NPR
FDA approves first gene-editing treatment for human illness (Link)
December 8, 2023 — via Bloomberg
Apps That Use AI to Undress Women in Photos Soaring in Use (Link)
December 8, 2023 — via Newsweek
Scientists Find 1,000 Different Species in Their Suburban Home, Backyard (Link)
December 8, 2023 — via Newsweek
Oldest Fortress in the World Discovered by Archaeologists (Link)
December 8, 2023 — via Newsweek
Moon in New Epoch Say Geologists, Who Fear 'Massive Damage' by Humanity (Link)
December 9, 2023 — via The Verge
The quiet plan to make the internet feel faster (Link)
That’s all for now. These updates will get better and more comprehensive as the weeks go by. But I also want to make them interactive. If there are any recent, weird science/tech news that you wish I listed here, drop it in the comments!
I’ll see you the week after that with more…
the ez squirt ketchup joke goes hard man those were so weird. Good fuel this week, interesting and thought provoking analysis. Always looking forward to more!