I've been taking online classes to keep my mind sharp and to stave off academic boredom (If I accidentally get a degree in health science along the way, that's just a bonus). I started this journey rashly a short time before the onset of personal AI. The decision to sign up was fueled by impulsivity and a feeling of uncertainty that had set in when I found out I wouldn't be able to continue in-person classes to further my Nursing certification from LPN to RN. I had run out of funding, but a new tuition-free university ( University of the People ) had found me. It had been drawn out of the ether of the internet by my nebulous, data-driven, targeted ads. It presented itself as an escape from ineptitude. It offered me a beautiful opportunity to slake my unquenchable thirst for learning without a hefty price tag. The experience was wonderful until AI reared its head from the dark waters of the internet. Photo by ThisIsEngineering It happened behind me, unassuming an...
It's been almost four years since I read Adrian Tchaikovsky's gem, Children of Time but I feel the need to revisit it. I found it shortly after tackling the sci-fi classic Dune . Unlike Dune there's no desert mystique, no magic dust that enhances your senses, and no Messianic figure; but there is the same gravity of time. Both contain worlds that feel ancient. Each gives me the distinct feel that the universe within each cover has always existed and would continue to exist long after the back cover closes for the last time in hand. A feeling that I credit to each author's intense world building. In Children of Time , the Messianic figure is replaced with a scientist, Dr . Avrana Kern, that fancies herself a creator god with an old testament wrath against humanity's imperfections but in her cryogenic absence, her best laid plans go awry. Her gene editing viruses choose the wrong target and accelerated evolution does the rest. Time...