Category: Eric

Thanks to the rise of popular smart phone apps like Tinder, Hinge, and Friendsy, online dating has become more and more common over the last few years. Of course, there is still a stigma associated with these apps, a slight sense of shame in the presumption that one couldn’t just go out and meet someone in the real world. However, in the post-human era, this stigma will dissolve, as online dating will reveal itself as a much more efficient way of finding the ideal mate, through advanced search engines and match-making algorithms. Further still, technology is developing to the point where entire sexual relationships can theoretically be maintained without ever meeting, replaced instead by a combination of customizable bots, remote controlled pleasure giving devices called teledildonics, and virtual sex simulators using Haptic technology. For now, those with a preference for this sort of relationship are stigmatized as being “Internet-Sexual”, but perhaps we are not far off from a point where growing old with a synthetically-built significant other will not be uncommon.

From this painting, i want to use the sense of scale, massive vehicles, relatively small people

One of the more interesting paradoxes I’ve come across is the time paradox. So for example if I go back in time and kill my grandfather before he meets my grandmother what would happen? If my grandfather never existed I would never have been born, so what would cause my grandfather’s death if this were to happen. There are several theories on what would happen should such a scenario occur. One theory is that several universes would be created from this event; one where I killed my grandfather and another where I did not exist. Another theory is the conservation of history. This theory states that events will happen and it will be in credibly difficult to change events. So going back to the original example I would not be able to kill my grandfather and I probably just won’t succeed, therefore history remains constant. The movie Time Machine explores this idea with the main character trying to save his fiancée from dying multiple times before giving up. One other theory that I would like to mention is that everything is predetermined. So think Harry Potter, the third book, where Harry and Hermione go back in time but they end up creating the events that occurred before they went back in time.

There are several movies that describe these events. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Back to the Future, and Time Machine are movies that explore these ideas. In addition a book series called The Dresden Files          also describes this paradox in further detail. From these movies, 10 easily recognizable things/people are Doc, Marty, the DeLorean, the flux capacitor, a steam punk time machine, a dual trail of flame, a flying train, the time turner, Harry, and Hermione.

Plan to mostly focus on ants, with the caterpillar functioning as the firetruck (thing that burns the books). In my story, books = leaves.

Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury, is a book about a dystopia where books are outlawed and people are persecuted for owning them. Society is slowly devolving and some technology is regressing. The story follows Guy, a fireman responsible for burning the books (haha irony) but instead keeps a collection of his own. The book basically outlines his world and his eventual escape from it. (read the rest on SparkN°tes). I chose this story because the persecution and loss of knowledge seen to flow together into something that could be directly translated to insects. Also, the similarity between the hive minded ants and the society made a connection randomly in my mind.

The scenes I have in mind is Guy salvaging a book from a discovered collection, the government chasing after him, and his eventual escape. These may not end up being the 3 scenes.

Ants are hive animals, most species with a queen controlling everything. Within the household, they are considered pests, eating food or destroying the structure (carpenter ants). However, outdoors, they serve as scavengers to help break down decomposing life. There are several species of ants that will form a symbiotic relationship with another insect. Aphids and caterpillars are examples of this. The aphid / caterpillar will provide the ant with nectar or some sort of sugary secretion. In return, the ants will groom them. This allows for the aphids and caterpillars to have guards around them almost all the time. Research as shown that the caterpillars will secrete more of the sugary substance when they feel threatened in order to influence the ants to stick around and protect them. This protection does not extend to the caterpillar’s butterfly stage, where the ants will consider the butterfly fair game.

In terms of physiology, there are generally three classes of ants within a hive. A queen lays eggs and directs the rest of the hive. All workers are female and do most of work; scouting, scavenging, tending to the larva. The males are haploids (only ½ of DNA), and don’t do much beyond reproduce.