In Defense of Slurs #banter @TheLoadedPen

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Something for readers of avid science-fiction @MortHerman

The year is 2230 and this protagonist Sam Greenhut's interview
from the book

Future's Edge

by

Mort Herman

 

Janus: “I’m sitting with Sam Greenhut, Chief Scientist of the Wheeler Corporation and head of Global Network operations. Sam thanks for taking time out of your busy schedule.”

Sam: “You’re very welcome Janus. My schedule is not as busy as you might imagine.”

Janus: “That’s hard to believe, but many say you are very accommodating. You do realize, you’re a celebrity. You have a great family legacy. How does that feel?”

Sam: “Yes, everyone tells me that.  The Wheeler Corporation does a good job marketing the name Greenhut, but I have an important job to do.”

Janus: “You are in charge of the most technologically advanced Network in history, yet you shun the spotlight. Some tell me you avoid the technology in your daily life, hardly ever tapping into the resources offered by the Global Network. You even insisted this interview take place face-to-face. That’s highly unorthodox.”

Sam: Janus, “I prefer to interact one-on-one. I just feel more comfortable that way. The neural implant is just a tool and I use it only when it’s necessary.”

Janus: “Would you say you are anti-technology?”

Sam: “Hardly. I marvel at the technology involved. It’s truly groundbreaking, impacting humanity in a ways no one could have imagined. We all know of the benefits. However, I see another side. A side where people have become too dependant on it. Yes, it fills our every want and need, but along the way, we have lost something. I prefer self-reliance. For example, I communicate with the people at this facility using the spoken word, not by sending a neural message. I think people appreciate this. For me it’s all about personal relationships and teamwork.”

Janus: “Is that a page out of your sailing excursions?”

Sam: “Exactly. We conduct team-building exercises on board. Not a bad job sailing with your team.”

Janus: You are credited with creating a backup system for the Global Network. Something done without the blessing of the Wheeler Corporation and the Corporate Federation. Some feel it undermines the faith people have on the Global Network….. Standby please.” Yes. Really? Yes sir. Immediately.

“Thank you all for listening. That concludes our interview with Sam Greenhut.”

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Born and raised in Brooklyn, NY, Mort Herman has a Master’s degrees in Electrical Engineering. Holder of six patents, he worked at several companies including IBM, Texas Instruments, AT&T and Lucent Technologies where his specialty was semiconductor electronics, systems design, and marketing.

Mort lives on the Jersey shore with his mate Mary Ann. When he’s not writing, Mort is an avid sailor, a wood sculptor, and a charter member of the Arts Society of Keyport. In the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, he added his technical, artistic, and project management skills to the design and implementation of three, free form concrete sculptures that replaced destroyed public art in the town of Keyport, NJ.

Future's Edge

Most people do not carry the fate of the world on their shoulders. Sam Greenhut does. 
 By the year 2230, the world is no longer dependent on fossil fuels. All power is harnessed directly from the Earth’s core. 
A clever integration of neural technology and wireless energy gives rise to the Global Network (GNET), revolutionizing society.

Amazon

Diverse industries operate efficiently under the umbrella of a neurally connected world economy, powered by an unlimited geothermal fuel supply controlled not by Presidents, Sheikhs nor Monarchs, but by a Corporate Federation run by seven individuals. 

This is the state of the world when the Corporate Federation charges Sam Greenhut with ensuring GNET’s unquestioned reliability and integrity. 

Sam sees a world whose population is totally dependent on GNET, as if the previously admired trait of self-reliance was weaned from the gene pool. Inevitably, the insatiable demand for energy prompts a reckless decision by Corporate Federation board members to expand the geothermal energy lattices. 

Despite Sam’s protest, the choice to exceed the cautionary “Greenhut Limits” precipitate a string of earthquakes that destroy GNET and plunges the planet into the chaos known as “The Upheaval.”

What happens next fundamentally alters the destiny of the planet and catapults Sam into the center of The Seed – book one in my science fiction trilogy, Future’s Edge.

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Excerpt from Future's Edge

… With the village stabilized and work preparations for the upcoming season proceeding smoothly, it was finally time for Kappi and Elizabeth to depart – a little later than usual, but still in time to be comfortably cradled between winter and spring. They left Tyber in the capable hands of the core group of people who had been with Kappi since the beginning of their enterprise. As agreed, Frank stayed behind to carry out his primary job of caring for the puppies. This was to be Kappi’s and Elizabeth’s alone time.

Their preparations were simple and swift. They chose to take their three favorite dogs led by Jupiter, the oldest, strongest, and most even-keeled of the lot. He had the experience to tame any wild or unsafe actions of the other dogs and could administer discipline when needed. Tassi (Tassiorpok, the guide) was the youngest and she possessed the keenest of senses. When there was uncertainty concerning the weather, a sound, or what path was the safest, Tassi was the one all looked at for guidance. Lastly, there was Angus (Angusuktok, the good hunter). Angus could smell prey for several kilometers and understood by verbal command what animal Kappi and Elizabeth wanted him to seek. This proud team was considered a vital, integral part of their family.

Off they went on their adventure with their dogs carrying food, supplies, clothing, hunting weapons and tools. They were finally able to leave behind the realities of the real world. There was no need to discuss their destination. Each knew instinctively where they would go.

With Tassi in the lead, Kappi provided the verbal commands that guided them toward a special hidden river valley. In the summer months, the river would flow freely, but now it was completely iced over. Tassi understood where Kappi wanted to go, and he let Tassi guide them with little intervention.

Elizabeth and Kappi were struck by the sheer majesty of this place even though they had been there before. Their place, which they called Uyaraut (meaning “precious stone” in the Inuit language), was bounded on three sides by cliffs providing a magnificent vista of the frozen river valley as it stretched for kilometers between the Arctic Ocean on the north end and the cloud-topped mountains to the south. Their camp was about halfway down the steep slope on a relatively flat area with a deep cave at the most easterly point. Uyaraut presented a perfect view of the sunset at this time of year. The setting provided shelter from the strong winds relentlessly funneling across the treeless, snow-encapsulated tundra.

Throughout their stay, Kappi and Elizabeth hardly uttered ten words to each other. In Uyaraut, they let in the solitude, the silence, their heartbeats, their individual breaths and all that surrounded them. It was an empathic event for Kappi and Elizabeth and it bridged the barrier of mental separateness intrinsic to humans. Uyaraut acted as an amplifier…

Maimonides and the Question of Modern Ethics

As told by Moses, Son of Maimon

by

Ilil Arbel

I rarely use my magic arts or inventions, particularly my skill of time travel. I am not sure it is an ethical thing to do, and since I don’t know anyone else who had learned to do so, who can I ask for advice? Once in a while, I feel the need to study the events to come. This is only my third time, and I have jumped about eight hundred years into my future. The year is 2015 of the Christian calendar, and 5775 of the Jewish calendar. I have never jumped so far ahead before. 

But this is not all. They have wars, the horror of which even the great Saladin would not be able to understand. Sadly, the fanatics called ISIS remind me of the wild Almohades who had destroyed my beloved Al-Andalus and exiled or killed my entire community. Like the Almohades, ISIS brutally murders other Muslims, Christians, and Jews, pretending to do so in the name of God. What God would want to see the innocents slaughtered? Many of these wars are fought merely for money and power.

Another ethical question is the insane greed the rich are exhibiting. It is worse, much worse, than the habits of the rich in my time. All the money is concentrated in the hands of the few, while the populace is becoming poorer and poorer. Entire nations are losing their wealth to these groups, who do not seem to care at all for their own countrymen and women. Some of the practices they employ in the name of profit I am unable to understand. They seem to be able to employ people on meagre pay in faraway lands, instead of leaving such work in the hands of loyal employees who had served them well. Entire communities have the bread taken from their mouth, while the rich commit excess the likes of which the world has never seen.
They have learned nothing, nothing at all, about ethics. But as I am preparing to go home, I trust that someday in their own future they will see the light. I could not live without hope. 

I have to admit that as a physician, I am very much impressed with their practice of medicine. I have seen people cured from cancer. Artificial hearts save people from certain death. They can create a natural immunity to future diseases by using certain serums. But despite such wonders, they allow those who cannot pay die from illnesses the physicians could cure. I simply cannot understand that – in my time, a good physician would treat them for free. In my own practice, I set aside a time each week for people who cannot afford to pay.

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Ilil Arbel is the author of a number of fiction and non-fiction books, including biographies, memoirs, novels, and mythology/folklore. She has also written articles, short stories, and Judaic myths.

Arbel has a Ph.D. in the field of mythology and folklore but has also devoted much study to her special interest in Jewish history, biography, legends, and myths. She is currently engaged in writing the biography of Hillel the Elder, the first century B.C. leader and religious scholar.

Dr. Arbel was born in Tel Aviv, Israel. She has lived and studied in Tel Aviv, Paris, and New York and currently resides in Manhattan.

 Moses, Son of Maimon

Born into a distinguished family in medieval Cordoba, Spain, the young Moses Maimonides was quickly recognized by his teachers for his outstanding intellectual abilities and extraordinary versatility. At the age of twelve, when his peaceful world was shattered by war and persecution and his family was forced into exile, his religious and secular studies continued. Despite the years of wandering and the harsh conditions, he also developed into a writer and wrote extensively until the end of his life.
 

Amazon

After years of wandering and relatively short stays in Morocco and Israel, Maimonides and his family settled in Egypt. The Jewish community quickly recognized his genius, and after completing his important book, the Mishneh Torah, he was recognized internationally as the chief religious and legal authority of the entire Jewish world. He produced many books on diverse subjects such as philosophy, law, religion, and medicine that are considered extremely important to this day by Jews, Christians, and Muslims alike. Despite experiencing loss and controversies, Maimonides rose to eminence as both the official head of the Jewish community in Cairo and the private physician to the sultan and his court.

His world was full of contradictions. A man who abhorred excess of any kind, Maimonides nevertheless lived as a member of a glittering society. Cairo of that time was full of art, music, literature, elegant fashions, priceless jewelry, and sophisticated food. He moved among the sultan’s wealthy advisors and the elegant ladies of the royal harem during the day, and among the Jewish scholars in the evening. He was accused of supporting corporal punishment for wives, and at the same time, people gasped at his revolutionary defense of women’s rights.

His fame brought controversy that is still raging—eight hundred years after his death. At certain times his books were banned and even burned at the stake. But no one could ever deny that his work was that of a brilliant innovator and scholar who could reconcile religious traditions with science and philosophy like no one else.