Program Schedule

loscon.shotbyabear.com is currently operating in support of Loscon 48.

for: G. David Nordley

Scheduled as of 2022-11-23 19:52:21

5723. Arthur C. Clarke: Unlocking the "Impossible"
New ideas pass through three periods: 1) It can't be done. 2) It probably can be done, but it's not worth doing. 3) I knew it was a good idea all along! -Arthur C. Clarke. Moderated by John Hertz.
Bradford Lyau, G. David Nordley, John Hertz,
FRI 1:00 pm - 2:15 pm, Pacific Coast 2

5748. Building Aliens for Fun and Profit
What are the characteristics of a fun, or scary, and profitable alien in books, video, or other media? Does plausibility help? From the fish-people of Margaret Cavendish's Blazing World to the alien of, well, Alien, what are some significant historical examples? Moderated by G. David Nordley.
Larry Niven, G. David Nordley, Gregory Benford, Tanya Huff, Tom Piedmont
 FRI 4:00 pm - 5:15 pm, Pacific Coast 2

5758. Will Human Beings Go Extinct?
What could cost human beings (or their descendants) to cease to exist? Isn't getting everyone actually a pretty high bar? No breeding humans left in spite of genetic engineering etc? Even pandemics only get a percentage. And in a few years, even single planet-destroying collisions won't be enough? But could evil robots do it? Moderated by G. David Nordley.
G. David Nordley, Timothy G. Cassidy-Curtis, Ashish Mahabal, Varoujan Gorjian_PhD, Tad Daley
 FRI 5:30 pm - 6:45 pm, Pacific Coast 3

for: G. David Nordley

5788. Launching the Space Program
From Apollo to the Space Shuttle and Beyond. Where are we going with BIG Government space? Should the Government get out of the way and leave everything to Elon Musk, etc. Or do we need more leadership and inspiration with China looming over us? Moderated by Timothy G Cassidy-Curtis.
Chris Butler, G. David Nordley, Timothy G. Cassidy-Curtis
 SAT 11:30 am - 12:45 pm, Pacific Coast 3

5809. From Apollo to the Space Shuttle & beyond
Moderated by Varoujan Gorjian PhD.
Arlene Busby, Chris Butler, G. David Nordley, Varoujan Gorjian_PhD, John Paterson
 SAT 2:30 pm - 3:45 pm, Pacific Coast 5

5828. James Webb Telescope
What it is and what it can do? Could it make any game-changing discoveries? Can we extend its life, like the Hubble scope's life might be extended? What's the next step? Moderated by G. David Nordley.
Alfred Nash, Chris Butler, G. David Nordley, Melora Larson, Varoujan Gorjian_PhD
 SAT 5:30 pm - 6:45 pm, Pacific Coast 3

for: G. David Nordley

5857. 19th Century Science Fiction
From Poe and Shelly through Verne, Swift, and Hale to early Wells and Burroughs, where did it take us? Have we dismissed some of this too casually without careful thought? Is there any trope of the 20th century that was not started in the 19th or earlier? Moderated by Bradford Lyau.
Bradford Lyau, G. David Nordley, Timothy G. Cassidy-Curtis, Wendy Van_Camp
 SUN 11:30 am - 12:45 pm, Pacific Coast 2

5874. Grokking Heinlein
What were the constants of Heinlein's writing? Where did he challenge things that even he might have believed in, because he thought everything needed to be challenged? A free mind is seldom politically correct. And if one doesn't want characters to be stereotypical shouldn't we allow a writer characters who are idiosyncratic and not a typical woman, boy, black, Phlilpino, or Martian? Moderated by Terry Lee Brussel-Rogers.
Bradford Lyau, G. David Nordley, Glen W. Olson, Wendy Van_Camp, Terry Lee Brussel-Rogers
 SUN 2:30 pm - 3:45 pm, Pacific Coast 2

5878. How Close are we to Warp Drive?
What is a "warp drive?" Does it even make sense, given Lorentz invariance? How much mass energy would it take to make some of these concepts and where would it come from? Moderated by Arlene Busby.
G. David Nordley, Timothy G. Cassidy-Curtis, Arlene Busby,
SUN 4:00 pm - 5:15 pm, Pacific Coast 5