Free Republic

Doctor Michael Rectenwald’s most recent book is the dystopian sci-fi novel “Thought Criminal” which I read as part of the Unsafe Space book club. “Thought Criminal” is his first science fiction novel, but it is far from his first book. He’s the author of eleven books including “Google Archipelago: The Digital Gulag and the Simulation of Freedom” and “Beyond Woke”. And I had the pleasure of interviewing him.

A snip (forgive the numbers at the end of lines): 1 . Don't write to your congresscritter 1 2. Govern yourself 3 3. Love the ones you're with 3 4. Don't vote; it only encourages them 4 5. Do write letters to newspapers and magazines 5 6. Write poetry 6 7. Question authority 7 8. Kill your TV 8 9. Get rid of your dependencies 9 10. Be ready to profit from others' dependencies 10 11. Just say NO 11 12. Know the difference between mala in se and mala prohibita 12 13. Use pre-paid phone cards for privacy 13...

“President Carter studied it before meeting Menachem Begin and Anwar Sadat at Camp David. President Reagan spoke of it in public. President Bush has discussed it with a leading clergyman. ABC’s ‘Nightline’ has shot a story about it and is awaiting a broadcast date. The New York Times reports brisk sales of books on the topic. The subject is Armageddon and whether current events in the Middle East are the beginning of the end of the world as forecast in biblical prophecies.” Sound familiar? This is the opening paragraph to “Time for Armageddon?” written by Cal Thomas in 1991 at...

Imagine a future in which terrorists seize an embassy and police can send in a remote-controlled insect outfitted with a microscopic video camera that reveals where the gunmen are hiding and what kind of weapons they hold. Or a time when adventure travelers fly to the moon to spend a week at a space colony under the glittering lunar skies--in the way they now visit Antarctica or the North Slope of Alaska. Or a U.S. constitutional convention where delegates draft a new governing document that allows the rest of the world a say in American decision-making. Sound far-fetched? Over 1,000...

BOSTON (AP) - For years, futurists have dreamed of machines that can read minds, then act on instructions as they are thought. Now, human trials are set to begin on a brain-computer interface involving implants. Cyberkinetics Inc. of Foxboro, Mass., has received Food and Drug Administration approval to begin a clinical trial in which four-square-millimeter chips will be placed beneath the skulls of paralyzed patients. If successful, the chips could allow patients to command a computer to act - merely by thinking about the instructions they wish to send. It's a small, early step in a mission to improve the...

<p>Watts Wacker of FirstMatter agrees that the world is at a historical turning point.</p> <p>Coalition forces are pounding Iraqi targets as war protesters fill the streets of cities across the world - including many in the United States. The stock market is flat. The homeland is insecure. Who knows what the future holds? Actually, no one. But there are hardheaded oracles - called futurists - who get paid to study the past and present in order to look beyond the horizon. Nationally known prognosticators don't necessarily agree on what's ahead, but several say America and the world are at a major turning point.</p>