"Don’t be bored, and don’t be afraid. The future is coming, and we’re going to win."

"I can’t help but approach science and history from the standpoint of language.  Because I’m a writer, sure, but also because that’s where those things truly live.  Science can produce the greatest poetry of the age.  Even headline writing at otherwise sober institutions like phys.org take on mad poetry, just because that’s the way things are now.  Actual headline:  “Multifractals suggest the existence of an unknown physical mechanism on the Sun.”  An UNKNOWN PHYSICAL MECHANISM ON THE SUN.  Just let that sink in.  Because that bit alone is some demented Lovecraftian genius.  

Which may only be topped by THIS actual headline about the NASA NuStar satellite: “NuStar captures possible 'screams' from zombie stars.” This is the real music.  “Cosmology in ghost-free bigravity theory with twin matter fluids: The origin of "dark matter".”  And, a personal favourite:  “Crystals May Be Possible In Time As Well As Space.” Science is beautiful, and mysterious, and a source of constant wonder.  It is our new wilderness landscape, the new forest full of weird animals and spirits sliding in and out of view on the edge of the clearing and the pool.   Now we have, and here’s another headline: “NASA Funds Electricity-Harvesting Robotic Space Eel With Explosive Jet Thrusters and Electroluminescent Skin.” Once, that was all folklore, the stories we told ourselves in order to try and understand the world around us...

Everything tells us that we should be overwhelmed by our accelerating future that’s happening faster than we can prepare for.  But Stewart Brand said “we are as gods and might as well get good at it,” and he said that forty-seven years ago, the year I was born.  And we are monsters, and might as well admit it: we’re pursuit predators who can heal almost any wound, show up just when you think we’ve gone away, and we’ll attempt to have sex with pretty much anything in the universe.  Don’t be afraid of the future.  We will never die, we can do everything we ever want, and we love stories more than anything.  Stories are magic, magic is science, and science is what makes us human.   Don’t be bored, and don’t be afraid. The future is coming, and we’re going to win." - Orbital Operations newsletter, Warren Ellis