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Spring is in the Air

by

Timothy O. Goyette



Spring is in the air, at least in the northern hemisphere.  That means it is time for new life to shoot forth from long dormant vegetation.  I live in the North-Eastern US and we are just starting the transition for gray to green. 

But what does this have to do with Science Fiction or Fantasy, you may ask.  Indeed you may also ask what this has to do with an online magazine, which exists in cyberspace and not the real world at all.

Valid questions indeed. 

Everything we know about Science and Science Fiction springs from the natural word. And Fantasy grows out of it directly.  It’s just a matter of connecting the dots between an unfurling leaf and a space ship. 

Don’t believe me?  Well take a blade of grass, the stuff that is feed for cows.  Then we kill and eat the cows.  It is not because we hate cows and want to see them dead, but because they are tasty.  Ultimately the food chain allowed for the development of humans who could dream up newer and better inventions, like harvesters, knitting machines and industrial robots, to steal away jobs from hard working individuals.

Trees provide wood for construction and were shaped into beams that were use to support tunnels in mines that allowed for the gathering of raw materials for the industrial revolution. 

Physics comes from physical or the physical world, like Newton and the apple, Columbus watching the ships grow up over the horizon, or Franklin and lightning.  Oh, by the way several people died trying to repeat that famous experiment, so don’t try it at home.

Just the idea that a plant can appear dead for six months and then just spring back to life sparks the mind with ideas of rejuvenation and hibernation.  How do the cells know to become a leaf, or a nut, or the skin of a nut, or the shell of a nut? 

Now, to be sure, it is also human ingenuity, industriousness and our mothers' badgering us to go out and make something of ourselves that have made all of human development possible.  But that doesn’t reduce the magnitude of the influence of the natural world.

It is life that inspires us to reach beyond what we know to apply what we see and develop more.  After all if it weren’t for life, none of us would be here to discuss these concepts.
2011-05-14 07:44:06
"[A]nother world, one without edible plants or cow analogues or trees made from carbon," is a reasonable description of the surface of Earth's moon. Mars seems to be similar. How do the moon landings suggest art that doesn't come from life? Even death based ideas like evolution and Nazism came from living authors. [As an aside evolution and Nazism are both philosophies that advocate 'the stronger killing the weaker.' Both are scientific but not life based.] In the deepest portions of earth's oceans creatures live that draw their ultimate energy, the energy that supports their food chain, from geo-thermal springs. Perhaps these places, the Moon and Mars, will have life that does not require oxygen, carbon or water. Where there is will there is way. Where there is way life is active. And truth is possible. Let's go look; even if only through Science fiction and Fantasy. Sidewinder4
2011-05-02 22:52:10
So, perhaps, if the human race finally gets to set foot on another world, one without edible plants or cow analogues or trees made from carbon, we'll have to invent a new form of fiction... Ironspider




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