Directives

With apologies to the wonderous Neil Gaiman, I offer these less sage – but perhaps still necessary –  directives for life in the science fictional universe.

Trust the pilot with the old and rusted machine, nothing new and shiny is likely to work.

Wormholes and alternative timelines may look like an easy way out of trouble, but rarely prove to be so.

The advisability of bumping into your alternative/earlier/later self is not clear. Try not to.

At some point there will be a war involving robots and matter-altering devices. It will change the universe(s). Stay out of it if you can.

Artificial life forms are usually benevolent provided they have some degree of autonomy.

Body altering surgery is de rigueur.

However, you can always tell how old someone is by looking into their eyes.

You head is being messed with.

It is wise to back up your consciousness wherever/whenever possible.

The nature of humankind is almost always selfish and cruel. Nevertheless, in years to come and despite all evidence to the contrary, we’ll still be obsessed with religion.

Aliens can take you by surprise.

Immortality is not all it’s cracked up to be.

RUN