New writings about science, technology

[nortonresearch]

Astronomy

Keeping interest alive in outer space

“Space Chronicles,” Norton Books

In this new essay collection, astrophysicist and Hayden Planetarium
director Neil deGrasse Tyson lays out a series of arguments for NASA’s
continued relevance. The space program drives technology, he says. It
cultivates a sense of national pride. And it might give talented
foreign scientists and researchers a reason to come to the United
States and stay put rather than head back to China or India, both
increasingly interested in space exploration.

Possessing both a keen scientific curiosity as well as an appreciation
of pop culture, deGrasse shows he can titillate the public’s
imagination when it comes to the stars. In other words, he spends a
lot of time writing about aliens. Do they exist? Will they come in
peace? In his essay “Extraterrestrial Life,” he offers an unexpected
nomination for the dumbest fictional extra-solar being: V’ger, from
1979’s “Star Trek: The Motion Picture,” which was really the U.S.-
built space probe Voyager, spruced up with alien technology. “What
irks me is that V’ger acquired total knowledge of the cosmos, yet
remained clueless that its real name was Voyager,” he explains.

Technology

Artful dodgers in the digital era

“The Chilling Story of Genius in a Land of Chronic Unemployment,” Tech
Crunch

Computer technology is prevalent enough that brilliant coders can come
from anywhere, even a third-world slum. But denied other recourse,
they may wind up expending their genius as digital pick-pockets. In a
recent article posted on Tech Crunch, writer Sarah Lacy traces an
inbox-clogging e-mail scam letter back to its source in an Internet
café in Lagos, Nigeria, where teenage boys spend hours upon hours
diligently working to part people from the cash in their PayPal
accounts. She compares them to the bright young coders that crowd
Silicon Valley — smart, innovative and adept with a computer. Only,
they’re driven to crime by lack of opportunity.

Lacy interviews several alleged scammers, one who claims to have spent
the better part of his youth hacking bank systems, and others who ply
more traditional scams, such as posing as virtual girlfriends for
lonely Western men. “We use our brains to get what we want. For us
it’s the only way to live and survive,” one of them tells Lacy. “As
long as technology keeps advancing, there is no way to stop us.”

— Aaron Leitko