Pope Francis on virtual relationships and information overload

I'm fascinated by comments Pope Francis made on virtual relationships and the vast amounts of information passing through our lives. These comments haven't received a lot of attention in the media, but they contain a great deal of insight into the experiences of humanity in the 21st century.

Here's what he said:

The pope was asked about young people's attraction to "virtual relationships" and how to help them escape "their world of fantasy" and to experience "real relationships."

The pope said there was a difference between fantasy and online interactions because "sometimes virtual relationships are not imaginary, but are concrete" and real.

However, he said, the best thing is for people to have real, physical interaction and contact with each other.

He said the big risk he sees is with people's ability to gather such a huge amount of information that nothing is done with it and it has no impact on changing lives. He said this process turns young people into a sort of "youth museum."

"A youth museum is very well-informed, but what does he or she do with all that knowledge?" Having a rich fruitful life is not found in "the accumulation of information or just through virtual communication, but in changing the reality of existence. In the end, it means loving," reaching out to people physically, touching the world and moving forward with one's life.

Amazing words, especially coming from the leader of a religious institution which isn't known for being on the cutting edge of technological insights. (And before anyone mentions it, yes, the term "youth museum" is a bit clunky. But that's probably an aspect of the translation of the pope's original words.)

No matter whether you believe in religion or not, or support or disagree with the pope's other views and statements, there's insight in the pope's words about both virtual relationships and how we handle the vast amounts of information pouring through our lives and minds.

I believe how we handle these aspects of modern life will be one of humanity's defining issues over the next few decades. And based on the words of Pope Francis, he likely sees this challenge in a similar way.

Remembering Eugie Foster and her stories

The Nebula Award finalists were announced the other day and, to my excitement, one of the stories on the ballot is Eugie Foster's "When it Ends, He Catches Her."  I love this story, which is both touching and disturbing and a beautiful elegy on life and death.

I wish everyone would read the story. I wish everyone would consider it for the Hugo and Nebula Awards (the story was on my nominating list for both awards).

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to tell Eugie how much I loved this story because she passed away the day after it was published. But as with all authors, a part of her lives on through her stories.

The November 2014 issue of Locus Magazine published my short remembrance of Eugie. Here's the essay in case you missed it.

Remembering Eugie Foster

There's never enough time. There are never enough words. The day before Eugie Foster died, Daily Science Fiction published her amazing new short story "When It Ends, He Catches Her." The story — a lyrical tale about the dance of life and death and loss — touched me like few others have in recent years. I wanted so badly to tell Eugie how much I loved the story. But there's never enough time and, when Eugie passed the next day, there were no more words to share.

But words are still why I loved Eugie's writings so much. She was a friend, yes, but also one of my favorite authors. Her stories ranged from fairy tales to science fiction to horror, from stories which could puzzle even cynical and jaded adults to tales which couldn't help but delight eternally eager children. Eugie embraced the entire range of possibilities contained in the short story form, with her Nebula Award winning novelette "Sinner, Baker, Fabulist, Priest; Red Mask, Black Mask, Gentleman, Beast" ranking as a classic which people will read and wonder about for years to come.

Eugie was a powerful voice for short stories in a time and a culture where short stories are nearly a forgotten genre. As editor of The Fix short fiction review, she highlighted stories which otherwise would have been overlooked by readers. Through her friendships with fellow short story writers she encouraged so many authors to greater heights. I know I personally wouldn't be where I am today as a writer without her kind words and support.

Eugie's husband Matthew asked that instead of sending flowers, people remember her by reading her stories. That is a beautiful request and one which fits so well with Eugie's life and writings. Remember her life. Read her stories. Share her stories with others.

Goodbye, Eugie. You were a wonderful person and author. While it's never easy to say goodbye, I know I will continue to reread your stories — and urge others to read them — for as long as I live.

On rereading Starship Troopers a few decades later

When I was a child one of my favorite science fiction novels was Starship Troopers by Robert Heinlein. I loved the novel back then because it presented an exciting future with spaceships and battles and a philosophy which sounded reasonable to my young mind. I probably read the novel a half-dozen times before moving on to other SF stories and authors.

In the years since I've reread the novel every decade or so. Doing so brings back pleasant memories of the first time I read it. But these rereadings also open the novel to understandings and insights I didn't have when I was a child. I still believe that the novel is one of Heinlein's best, and a critical inspiration for much of today's science fiction. Without this novel today's SF literature, movies and video games would likely be unrecognizable.

But that's doesn't mean there's not plenty to critique in the book.

This morning I reread Starship Troopers again and tweeted my reactions. Here are selected comments from me and others.

And make sure you don't miss Anne Leonard's hilarious feminist satire of Starship Troopers, which was inspired by my tweet-critique.

First Reactions to Rereading Starship Troopers

The Intersection of Spanking and Hard SF

More Thoughts on Diversity in Starship Troopers

Women in Starship Troopers

Did Heinlein Hate the Military?

No, Heinlein Isn't a "Hard" SF Writer

Closing Thoughts


By all that's holy in a sci-fictional universe, it's a Nebula Award reaction post!

Don't straw man me. Don't vote for my award picks simply because I liked them

Don't straw man me. Don't use me to rationalize your own actions.

For some reason my picks for the Hugo and Nebula Awards are being held up as the opposing slate against the Sad Puppies campaign of Larry Correia, Brad Torgersen, and Vox Day. Evidently my nominations, in some deranged way, legitimizes the Sad Puppy campaign to stuff the Hugo ballot box.

Please.

I've never organized a campaign to stuff the Hugo Awards ballot. Have I stated the authors and stories I'm voting for? Yes. I've done this for many years. Have I encouraged others to consider the stories I liked and, if they also like them, consider them for a nomination? Yes. Because that's what you do in the marketplace of ideas and beliefs which we call life. It's part of what we call "Having a damn opinion!"

And yes, I've been overly eager about trying to get people to check out the stories I've enjoyed and consider them for the awards. I do this because I love our genre and it's still a kick that I can nominate stories and authors for awards. In my recent post about my award picks, I even used the word "amazing" four separate times, which as an author I find embarrassing. But I used the word so many times because I'm excited about these stories and want others to share in this excitement.

But I've never picked my nominations by race or ethnicity or the author's political views. In fact, I've selected stories written by authors whom I likely disagree with on many issues. For example, in 2012 I selected Brad Torgersen's Analog novelette "Ray of Light" as one of my Hugo, Nebula and Locus Award selections.

I've also called for reforming the Hugo process so logrolling and ballot stuffing are more difficult to accomplish. I've praised rule changes which made it harder to game the Nebula Awards system. And I've also said if Larry Correia and Brad Torgersen want to stuff the Hugo ballot, more power to them.

Wait. What?

Yes, last year I stated that if Worldcon refused to make reasonable improvements to the Hugo Award nomination process, then ballot stuffing will be the inevitable result. While I'm personally disgusted by the Sad Puppy attempt to stuff the ballot, this may be the only way for the Hugos to ever be improved. If Larry, Brad and VD succeed this year, then next year there will no doubt be an opposing ballot stuffing campaign. Followed the next year by yet another from a different political direction. The result will be a vicious cycle which may finally force Worldcon to fix the Hugo process.

Or, more likely, it'll destroy the entire Hugo Awards as we know it. But when people play with fire, burning down the house is usually the end result.

The funny thing is when Vox Day went ballistic on my picks for this year's Hugo and Nebula Awards, he focused on the gender and ethnicities of the authors I nominated. And while Larry, Brad, and VD try to say they're nominating the best stories and authors, their obsessive focus on politics, and their attempt to merge the Hugo Award ballot stuffing with the unrelated issue of GamerGate, gives lie to their focus on the best stories.

But again, more power to them. Break the Hugo Awards if you can. But don't come back crying like a sad puppy when the results of your actions turn out to be not what you expected.

And most of all, don't vote for my award picks simply because I liked them. Read and consider them and make up your own damn minds.