• The strange capacity of science fiction to foresee the future

    The strange capacity of science fiction to foresee the future

    Although the epidemic is not yet gone, we have become accustomed to its inconveniences. What will be the next disaster? Is there a bubonic plague strain that is resistant to antibiotics? The end of the world as we know it? Is there a mass ejection from the coronary arteries? Will the next disaster be natural, such as a big volcanic eruption similar to Tambora in 1815, which we haven't seen in over two centuries? Will it be a man-made disaster, such as nuclear war or a cyberattack? In our efforts to avert such disasters, can we accidentally slip into a new sort of AI-enabled totalitarianism?
  • Cool props from ‘Star Wars,’ ‘Alien,’ ‘Top Gun’ and more headed to auction

    Cool props from ‘Star Wars,’ ‘Alien,’ ‘Top Gun’ and more headed to auction

    The miniature of the Nostromo spaceship used in “Alien,” one of Tom Cruise’s fighter pilot helmets from “Top Gun” and a Darth Vader costume from the “Star Wars” 1977 promotional tour are among the highlights in an upcoming auction of movie props. The Prop Store’s Aug. 26 and 27 virtual auction — the company’s first …