ZOOM Recordings
| DATE | SPEAKER | TOPIC | SIZE | DURATION | DOWNLOAD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20 July 2024 | SFFSA | Ian Jamieson Memorial | 748MB | 00:24:35 | Download MP4 |
| 18 May 2024 | Shanil Misra | Becoming a Sci-Fi Author | 325MB | 01:55:42 | Download MP4 |
| 20 April 2024 | Philip Machanick | A Short Histpry of AI | 227MB | 01:02:10 | Download MP4 |
| 16 March 2024 | Cedric Abrahams | Sci-Fi and Fantasy Movies: A Hundred Year Perspective | 188MB | 00:57:03 | Download MP4 |
| 16 September 2023 | Powerpoint Presentation | 305MB | 01:16:31 | Download MP4 | |
| 19 August 2023 | Arthur Goldstuck | AI for All | 334MB | 01:36:26 | Download MP4 |
| 17 June 2023 | Shameez Patel Papathanasiou | There and Back Again: The Evolution of Fantasy Novels | 566MB | 01:21:25 | Download MP4 |
| 20 May 2023 | AL du Pisani | Successful Failure: The Starship Test Launch | 293MB | 01:24:59 | Download MP4 |
| 19 November 2022 | Digby Ricci | Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale | 224MB | 01:01:24 | Download MP4 |
| 15 October 2022 | AL du Pisani | Technology Readiness Level | 87MB | 00:45:34 | Download MKV |
| 20 August 2022 | Chris Engelbrecht | The Songs of the Heavenly Spheres | 221MB | 01:22:55 | Download MKV |
| 16 July 2022 | Cedric Abrahams | IT and Ethics | 115MB | 01:04:03 | Download MP4 |
| 18 June 2022 | Grant Charlton | Meta and the New World | 439MB | 01:08:04 | Download MKV |
| 21 May 2022 | Alistair Mackay | It Doesn't Have To Be This Way | 249MB | 01:05:33 | Download MP4 |
| 16 April 2022 | Nick Heynes | SF and Mental Health | 202MB | 01:02:43 | Download MKV |
| 19 March 2022 | James Smith | Meerkat | 148MB | 01:01:37 | Download MKV |
| 19 February 2022 | Colin Voisin | French French Science Fiction Comics | 321MB | 01:36:27 | Download MKV |
| 20 November 2021 | Gerald Gaylard | Return to Triangulum: An African Alien? | 255MB | 01:04:27 | Download MP4 |
| 16 October 2021 | John Carter | Goldilocks planets, but where is Goldilocks? | 149MB | 00:59:48 | Download MKV |
| 18 September 2021 | Deirdre Byrne & Gerhard Hope | Klara and the Sun | 393MB | 01:15:58 | Download MKV |
| 21 August 2021 | Nick Wood | South African SF against the Backdrop Rise of African SF | 165MB | 01:08:08 | Download MKV |
| 17 July 2021 | Gerhard Hope | History, Genre and Time in Triangulum (2019) by Masande Ntshange | 229MB | 01:22:02 | Download MKV |
| 19 June 2021 | Digby Ricci | The Midwich Cuckoos and Village of the Damned | 128MB | 01:08:46 | Download MKV |
| 15 May 2021 | AL du Pisani | Texas Tank Watchers | 139MB | 01:20:54 | Download MKV |
| 17 April 2021 | Philip Machanick | Fake Science | 228MB | 01:34:07 | Download MP4 |
| 20 February 2021 | Arthur Goldstuck | Instant Messaging: Myths and Realities | 166MB | 01:17:46 | Download MKV |
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20 July 2024 Ian Jamieson Memorial
Our very long-time member and past-chairman Ian Jamieson passed away on July the 11th, 2024. A memorial was held at the Jamieson house to celebrate the life of this extraordinary man. This is a recording of the tributes by Gail, Erin, Digby, Andrew and Cedric. Erin also read out some tributes sent by some who could not make it to the meeting.Top
18 May 2024 Shanil Misra Becoming a Sci-Fi Author
This is an undiluted recording of the talk given by Shanil Misra. The video will be soon edited to remove the pre- and post-talk chat. You may download it now, or wait until a smaller, truncated version is available. Note: The actual talk starts at the 30:48 marker (skip the first 31 minutes!)Top
16 March 2024 Cedric Abrahams Sci-Fi and Fantasy Movies: A Hundred Year Perspective
This is an undiluted recording of the talk given by Philip Machanic. The video will be soon edited to remove the pre- and post-talk chat. You may download it now, or wait until a smaller, truncated version is available. Note: The actual talk starts at the 13:50 marker (skip the first 14 minutes!)Top
16 March 2024 Cedric Abrahams Sci-Fi and Fantasy Movies: A Hundred Year Perspective
Cedric used the database of movies available from IMDB to compare SF/F movies against all movie genres. SF/F movies have had a greater influence on the movie industry than any other genre. He also discusses the influence of SF/F movies on games, and vice versa. Note: The actual talk starts at the 11:00 marker (skip the first 11 minutes!)Top
17 June 2023 Shameez Patel Papathanasiou There and Back Again: The Evolution of Fantasy Novels
Shameez spoke about the evolution of fantasy novels. Note: The actual talk starts at the 13:50 marker (skip the first 14 minutes!)Top
20 May 2023 AL du Pisani Successful Failure: The Starship Test Launch
AL spoke about SpaceX's test launch of Starship. This caused a lot of damage. Note: The actual talk starts at the 21:00 marker (skip the first 21 minutes!)Simone posted two links in the chat:
There was an interesting toot on Mastodon. It referred to a topic which stated that "SpaceX's Texas Rocket is Going To Cause A Lot More Damage Than Anyone Thinks".
Here is the linked deep dive itself, rather than just the toot..
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19 November Digbi Ricci The Handmaid's Tale
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15 October 2022 AL du Pisani Technology Readiness Level
AL explained the meaning of TRL (Technology Readiness Level), a type of measurement system developed by the USAF, and adapted by NASA, whixh is used to assess the maturity level of a particular technology. TRL 1 is the lowest and TRL 9 is the highest. It is used by NASA to help it make decisions with respect to their hundreds of programs. AL used this measurement system to examine the state of various technologies competing in the theatre of the energy crisis in South Africa. It is a sobering and concerning survey.Top
20 August 2022 Chris Engelbrecht The Songs of the Sphere
Phew! There is too much content in this talk to summarise properly. An accurate précis would take a few pages to describe. Chris began with a review of the Music of the Spheres, originally proposed by Pythagoreanism, further developed by Kepler, using the data of Brahe. This concept regards proportions in the movements of celestial bodies as a form of music. But is does not stop there. The pulsating of stars extends this theme to the galaxy, and, from there, to the universe.Embedded within the talk were a few fascinating videos. Unfortunately, the Zoom recording suffers a bit from network bandwidth.
Star Size Comparison 2 (revised by the author, morn1415) provides an awe-inspiring progression of star sizes. You can watch it on Youtube.
The talk also referenced Mars et Avril, a vimeo movie (91 minutes) refered to as "Quebec's first true sci-fi film". It is the debut of Martin Villeneuve. In Montreal, in the near future, humanity is about to set foot on Mars. Jacob Obus, a charismatic musician, takes pride in slowing down time by playing instruments inspired by women's bodies, designed by his friend, Arthur. A love triangle develops when Jacob and Arthur both fall in love with Avril, a young photographer.
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16 July 2022 Cedric Abrahams IT and Ethics
Cedric spoke about Ethics in general, with particular emphasis on the way businesses use personal information for directed advertising purposes. He described the regulations in force in SA, Europe and the USA. Some businesses use questionable tactics to pay lip service to privacy concerns.As the Zoom recording was made almost totally while sharing Cedric's screen, there are very few visual effects, other than the slide presentation. The audio is very interesting, and offers suggestions to reduce your vulnerability - or, at least, to be aware of what you are giving away while using "free" applications.
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18 June 2022 Grant Charlton Meta and the New World
Grant gave us a talk on Meta and their proposed Metaverse, and contemplated how close we are with current technology.Author Neal Stephenson coined the term metaverse in his 1992 science-fiction novel Snow Crash, which envisions a virtual reality-based successor to the internet. In the novel, people use digital avatars of themselves to explore the online world, often as a way of escaping a dystopian reality. Grant provided an overview of the current various incarnations of social media, such as Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and the Chinese equivalents. He mentioned the insidious and gradual steps that the metaverse is encroaching on our daily lives, often by providing free information and services, while sneakily gathering and sharing all personal information. Some technology, particularly storage of data, has been replaced by cloud storage. Other advances in science bring the reality nearer, such as the current alibilty to grow human skin on a robotic finger.
He made it relevant to SF by taking us down memory lane, starting with possibly the only SF song, In the Year 2525 (Exordium & Terminus), a 1969 hit song by the American pop-rock duo of Zager and Evans. He provided a chonological survey of various futures introduced by various SF writers. In the recording, after 26 minutes, Grant starts sharing his screen, so that the Zoom viewer can see what he was taking about.
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21 May 2022 Alistair Mackay It Doesn't Have To Be This Way
Alistair gave us a talk on his book, It Doesn't Have To Be This Way. You can find a synopsis at Goodreads.comTop
16 April 2022 Nick Heynes Speculative Fiction and Mental Health
Nick (our own Meetings Organiser) talks about how Speculative Fiction can have a positive influence on our lives. SF in this context can even refer to "fairy tales", such as those collected by the Brothers Grimm, or the Kalevala, a Finnish national epic compiled from old Finnish ballads, lyrical songs, and incantations that were a part of Finnish oral tradition. Categories of SF include fiction used as a mirror, a key, a compass and as an escape.Top
19 March 2022 James Smith Meerkat
James is an engineer working with radio astronomers on the Meerkat project. He explained how radio astronomers use interferometry to improve the accuracy of radio signals, by comparing the results of multiple satellite dishes. Meerkat measures radio signals in the L-band (frequency range of 850MHz to 1.7 GHz). James explained how these radio signals can be used to generate an optical image, and how data from visible light telescopes can be combined with data from radio telescopes to produce a consolidated image that neither source could do on their own.He also placed Meerkat within the contect of the Square Kilometer Array (SKA) project. He also mentioned NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day, an interesting page that should be bookmarked as a favourite.
Following on from his talk, James has sent a link to an article describing the kinds of science which has benefited from the SKA-precursor instruments in both South Africa and Australia. They are not working together as such; each is making observations separately but, by making use of the strengths of each, you can get access to scientific data that would otherwise be unavailable.
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19 February 2022 Colin VoisinFrench Science Fiction Comics
Colin taught Culture (or as the French call it, Civilization) at Alliance Francaise. Through Jules Verne, France contributed to creating speculative fiction as a genre in the nineteenth century. The francophone influence in the field is still significant. However, it is largely unacknowledged and shamelessly plagiarised. Colin gives us a glimpse on how France still inspires the world.Top
20 November 2021 Gerald Gaylard Return to Triangulum: An African Alien?
On 7 July 2021, Gerhard Hope gave SFFSA a talk that centred on Triangulum, a 2019 SF novel by Masande Ntshanga. Broadly, he used it as example of how contemporary South African SF is tackling issues of history, genre and intersectionality. In this talk, Prof Gerald Gaylard revisits Triangulum as a preview of a paper he is writing for a book on "the internationalisation of SF", edited by Gary Westfahl. Gerald concentrates on one section of Triangulum, the contact with aliens. A contemporary Black African woman receives a warning regarding the fate of the planet. The aliens tell her that only she, and her mother, have been able to hear them. They explain: "Humankind is host to an organism it has termed Evolution. It is benign and acts to preserve sentient life on earth. That is what we know. It is our understanding that it has intervened, but it is unclear, as our kind does not evolve. It is our understanding that the mother was the first to hear us, and she passed this on to the daughter. In those who are receptive, our voice provides them with both gifts and illness, but never comprehension." Gerald asks a number of questions raised by this extract:- Can there be an African alien?
- What are African views on (extraterrestrial) aliens?
- Can there be anything specific to this continent, to our view, that is different from other countries?
- In other words, can we bring anything unique to the depiction of aliens?
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16 October 2021 John Carter Goldilocks planets, but where is Goldilocks?
Prof Carter explains the origin and meaning of the term Goldilocks Zone, that region surrounding a star which is considered essential for life to evolve. But he queries the assumption that life must be similar to our own, drawing upon numerous examples from Science Fiction of alien life forms, both benevolent and malevolent.Top
18 September 2021 Deirdre Byrne & Gerhard Hope Klara and the Sun
Deirdre and Gerhard present opposing views on the novel Klara and the Sun, by Nobel Prize-winning author, Kazuo Ishiguro. Wikipedia has an excellent synopsis for those who have not read the novel. This talk is a debate between Deirdre (who loved it) and Gerhard (who hated it). It takes the form of an interesting self-interview, where Deirdre and Gerhard pose a question, then take turns in presenting their respective answers. While the protagonist (as an unreliable narrator) is a robot, or AF ("Artifical Friend"), Ishiguro himself never actually claims the genre is SF. In fact, expecting a hardcore SF theme might leave the reader severely disappointed. But can a literary novel, set within an SF background, be enjoyed by SF enthusiasts? Download the MVK, listen to the debate, and form your own opinion.Top
21 August 2021 Nick Wood South African SF against the Backdrop Rise of African SF
Nick is a long time SFFSA member and British SF author. One of his short stories, Azania, was published in a fantastic anthology, AfroSF: Science Fiction by African Writers. Check out his website for his bibliography and other interesting items. His talk is a comprehensive survey of African speculative fiction. There are too many references to justify a summary, so download the recording and check them out for yourself. Alternatively, you can download the slide show of his talk (with clickable links) available in PDF (Adobe) or PPT (Powerpoint) format. There is enough material here to occupy the ardent AfroSF enthusiast for months.Click here for a transacript of comments posted during the meeting.
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17 July 2021 Gerhard Hope History, Genre and Time in Triangulum (2019) by Masande Ntshange:
The Future of South African SF
Gerhard's talk centred on Triangulum, a 2019 SF novel by Masande Ntshanga. Broadly, he used it as example of how contemporary South African SF is tackling issues of history, genre and intersectionality.The complete transcript will be printed in a future edition of Probe.
See a review on PEN SA for a synopsis of the novel.
Conrad sent a link to an aborted attempt to make Nkandla a "smart town", as well as a link to Chinese investment in Africa's tech infrastructure.
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19 June 2021 Digby Ricci The Midwich Cuckoos and Village of the Damned
Digby compares the classic John Wyndham novel The Midwich Cuckoos (1957) with the 1960 movie version, Village of the Damned. He defends Wyndham against "bizarre" attacks, such as "the master of middle-class catastrophe" (Christopher Priest), and "[The Day of the Triffids and The Kraken Awakes] were totally devoid of ideas but read smoothly, and thus reached a maximum audience, who enjoyed cosy disasters" (Brian Aldiss, Trillion Year Spree: The History of Science Fiction).The Day of the Triffids (1962) is available on Youtube. It is so loosely based on the novel that I hesitate to mention it. Practically the only commonality is that people are blinded by a meteor shower, and that carnivorous, ambulatory plants called triffids feed on them.
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15 May 2021 AL du Pisani Texas Tank Watchers
AL looks at a news ecosystem covering the activities of Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) at their Boca Chica development location and launch site.He provided a link to background info:
"$200,000 streaming rigs and millions of views: inside the cottage industry popping up around SpaceX" (CNN)
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17 April 2021 Philip Machanick Fake Science
Professor Philip Machanick, a Computer Science academic at Rhodes University, debunks Fake Science. He touches on propaganda, astroturfing, memes, and denials versus skeptism, especially with regard to Big Tech. The bulk of the talk is about "instant experts" in the fields of epidemiology and pharmacology. He analyses popular fallacies that are derived using "bad science". To do this, he describes how the pandemic spreads, explaining scientific concepts in easy-to-understand terms. He explains why small studies are not good by using a coin-tossing thought experiment. The post-talk discussion enthusiastically concentrated on the COVID-19 pandemic and vaccinations in South Africa.Top
20 February 2021 Arthur Goldstuck Instant Messaging: Myths and Realities
Arthur talks about various Instant Messaging apps, including WhatsApp, Messenger, WeChat, QQ Mobile, Telegram, Snapchat and Signal. Under the umbrella the Facebook/WhatsApp controversy, he discusses the privacy war, and how long privacy issues have been abused.Before the presentation, he provided a link (on youtube) to an interview he did on the topic, and a link to a MoneyWeb article (subscribers only):
WhatsApp new privacy policy under the spotlight (Youtube)
Updated policy results in mass exodus of WhatsApp users (MoneyWeb article)
He offered tips to improve your privacy under WhatsApp, by changing certain settings:
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