culture

Does io9 Get It Right About SF and “Competence Porn”?

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Well worth reading.  Rough summary, SF has diverged from “Competence Porn” – the joy of seeing smart and skilled people do smart and skilled things.  I agree with the thesis that this has happened, but not his explanations.  In fact I probably need to analyze this for awhile before I can coherently state my own theories.

However, I think there’s something here.  Maybe it’s just my age, but for me my SF heroes were always, well, competent.  Scientists and adventurers with names like Dick Seaton (oh, E.E. Smith . . .), Danny Dunn, Tom Swift, John Carter.  Even Luke Skywalker, a bit niave, was a fast learner – but then again *I* mostly wanted to be Han Solo or Obi-Wan, so maybe I don’t care.

Something to think over.

Also I am so using the term “Competence Porn.”

(Edit: I put in the wrong link.  Ironic that.)

– Steven Savage

 

The Loss of Cool Futurism: Disunity

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Serdar and I were recently’ discussing the revival/return of Omni magazine. If you’re not familiar with Omni then you’re . . . probably younger than I am.  So stop playing your music so loud and get off my lawn.

Anyway, Omni was one of those publications that had a theme of what I call “cool futurism”, of the amazing stuff we’d see, of soaring cities and great technology and a better world. It was hip and happening and often positive. Cool futurism is the kind of thing you see in Star Trek TOS, in speculations on future architecture, on imagining how we’ll solve disease or poverty – not naive, but, well, “Cool”.

It’s cool to make things better. Cool to imagine awesome things we can make.

It just doesn’t seem to be that popular anymore in America. So I began asking what happened, and you’ll be utterly shocked to hear there’s a blog post about it to follow. Probably several.

First of all, I think Cool Futurism is gone because there’s no sense of unity or potential unity.

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Cooking Freak

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It’s no secret I love cooking. I’m charting my own voyages into making Japanese Curry here. I cook for friends and co-workers. I enjoy it.

Now not everyone has to like cooking, though I suggest you give it a shot to see if you can at least make it an enjoyable task. But I’m starting to feel like someone who likes cooking and enjoys cooking is extremely rare. It’s a little odd, truth be told, and a little unsettling.

For instance, right now I’m trying to date. My cooking seems to inevitably come up when people contact me, making me think it must be a rare trait especially in men. In Silicon Valley. In their 40’s.

OK, it probably is, but still.

It’s also remarkable among people I meet. I know people are busy, but between health concerns, the price of food, the fun of cooking and the fact you can make some kickass meals in a short time, I wonder why more people don’t cook. Hell, I lost 23 pounds almost entirely due to diet changes, you’d think people would want a piece of that. Also my curried split pea soup entirely rules.*

It’s to the point where I feel a little WEIRD cooking like I do. And this is when there’s all sorts of food-related reality show like ‘Hell Cupcakes” or “Diner Mud Wrestling” or whatever. I don’t know, most reality TV without Tim Gunn gives me hives.**

I guess what bugs me is that it shouldn’t seem odd. Cooking is one of those skills that’s good for us, that’s part of our history, that’s part of good health, and that’s fun when taught right (or at least fun when you’re done). I’d like to see it more appreciated and applied. Maybe there’s some kind of “Cooking is Cool” thing we could do for kids, or get Hipsters on board “I cook because it’s not mainstream.”***

Also cooking is how we understand our bodies, our environment, and how we live. To cook and understand is to understand what keeps us going in the first place. To not understand that is risky.

Ironically, I don’t think everyone needs to cook all the time. I think that it would probably be more resource efficient to create more restaurant, store, and delivery services doing same-day-prepared healthy meals. But cooking at least gives you some knowledge of what to look for.

It just feels weird to like it, do it, and have it be regarded as noteworthy.

– Steven Savage

Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach.  He blogs on careers at http://www.musehack.com/, nerd and geek culture at http://www.nerdcaliber.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at https://www.stevensavage.com/.

* Really, it does.
** Tim Gunn just makes me think “Damn I wish I looked that good.”
*** OK maybe not.