Holidays and Asimov

Since starting this blog in January, it has been a goal to write once a week. Astute observers will notice that there has been silence from this corner of the internet for the last six weeks. My partner and I took some time off to visit parts of Europe we'd never seen before, travelling through Italy, Portugal and Spain.

We holed up inside for relief when exploring became uncomfortable in the afternoon heat. The heat forcing us inside was fantastic, as it gave me the excuse I needed to sit down and read. One of the few goals I had set for the holiday was to use my laptop as little as possible and do as little work as possible. At times the line between work and life slips and blurs. On good days that is because I enjoy what I do, and on others, due to a fear of inadequacy or failure. This holiday was the first period of extended time off that the two of us had taken since 2019, and I was determined to have a proper break. Don't get me wrong; there were plenty of times I wanted to! I have an idea for a weather app I want to build, and I kept thinking of it all trip. Instead of coding, everything just went into notes, and this was the right decision. We had a wonderful time.

While hiding from the sun indoors or frequenting cute coffee shops, I read a lot of Isaac Asimov. I'd previously read a few short stories of his, but never a collected volume.

They blew me away.

Asimov's Foundation series is incredible, and if you haven't read it, then I beg you to do so. So that I can talk about it with more people, if nothing else! I thoroughly enjoyed the books and felt they still hold up well today. I was consistently mind blown every time I remembered when Asimov wrote these books. I still can't quite comprehend that these stories were created in the 1940s and '50s when so much of the technology I take for granted was nascent or non-existent. The tales and the world-building completely drew me in, from the century-spanning sagas to the slice-of-life short stories, each with a thought-provoking twist or what if.

Asimov's stories show a future of optimism.

A future of science overcoming challenges and the human race exploring and thriving. Not without difficulties, but with human tenacity overcoming these collectively.

Some days it seems there is always a new crisis that we can't tackle for society's collective benefit because capitalism may have to slow down the tiniest bit. Access to health care and climate change are the most glaring examples. However, these books were a breath of fresh air and a reminder to imagine and work toward a better future.

P.S.

The cover image looks a little bit different this time, doesn't it? That's DALL-E at work and using my monthly free credits productively. I'm having a blast playing around with it and seeing what it can create. Expect it to be the focus of a post soon! In the meantime, access has opened up, so give it a try yourself. This prompt was about a robot on holiday in a futuristic city.