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Where Science Meets Science Fiction

A sample of my work for Outer Places, Donovan/Green, and more.

Science, Science Fiction, & Technology

Outer Places •

A Stalker's Dream: Startup Scraped Billions of Images From Social Media for Facial Recognition AI

An artificial intelligence start-up that has scraped billions of images from social media websites – in likely violation of the sites' terms of service – for facial recognition use by law enforcement agencies is renewing concerns among privacy advocates who fear that the technology could eventually make stalking a complete stranger as easy as taking a picture. The company, Clearview AI, Inc. , was
Outer Places •

How the Bleak New 'Game of Thrones' Teaser Relates to the Destruction of the Great Sept and the Wall

How the Bleak New 'Game of Thrones' Teaser Relates to the Destruction of the Great Sept and the Wall

As we approach its 8th and final season, we've re-examined our coverage of Game of Thrones over the last four years, partly in search of clues as to how the series will play out when it premieres on April 14th and partly in search – perhaps in vain – of some underlying logic or law aside from Lex Talionis that might guide the show's jarring deaths, horrifying twists of fate, and unexpected resur
Outer Places •

DARPA Seeks to Make AI Robots More Moral and Less Potentially Psychopathic By Teaching Them Manners

DARPA Seeks to Make AI Robots More Moral and Less Potentially Psychopathic By Teaching Them Manners

In the original 1979 Alien, the crew of the Nostromo is effectively sabotaged by its science officer, Ash, a Hyperdyne Systems 120-A/2 android programmed to ensure that Weyland-Yutani obtains a living xenomorph specimen, regardless of the cost to human life in doing so. In doing so, Ash deceives his human colleagues, violates security protocol (disobeying a direct order), and later tries to murde
Outer Places •

Kickstarter Campaign Claims to Have Developed 'Molecular Coffee:' But What Does That Actually Mean?

Kickstarter Campaign Claims to Have Developed 'Molecular Coffee:' But What Does That Actually Mean?

When Carl Sagan said that "if you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe," the observation was less on baked confections than it was on cosmic connectedness: the fact that everything in our universe emerged from something else. To truly make an apple pie – or anything else – from scratch, you'd have to first make each of its components, including those that you
Outer Places •

Interview: Jack Murphy Discusses Nikola Tesla's Death Ray and Mysterious Death

On January 8, 1943, inventor Nikola Tesla was found dead in room 3327 in Manhattan's New Yorker Hotel where he spent the last years of his life. It was soon discovered that his room's safe had been broken into by his nephew Sava Kosanović and was missing a number of documents, plans, and journals.Within days, the Federal Bureau of Investigation seized the remainder of Tesla's papers which had been kept in a number of trunks at a storage facility. Investigators turned them over to the Office of
Outer Places •

How ‘Hollywood Weapons’ Green Beret Host Terry Schappert Would Train The Rebel Alliance in ‘Star Wars'

During a conversation with retired Green Beret Master Sergeant Terry Schappert , you could find yourself talking about anything. He is conversant on topics ranging from film history to literature to the physics of firing a .454 Casull pistol underwater, speaking with an engaging erudition often punctuated with laughter that belies his physical gravitas....