Stranger in a Strange Land (Penguin Galaxy)

Robert Heinlein, the very famous and prolific science fiction writer, he had basically described water beds so frequently and in such detail that he was considered the intellectual property holder of water bed designs.

He liked to describe stuff in his books apparently.

a pump to control water level, side supports to permit one to float rather than simply lying on a not very soft water filled mattress, right. A thermostatic control temperature safety interfaces to avoid all possibility of electric shock, which was a big sort of urban legend at the time.

a waterproof box to make it leak proof, um, which was another probably legitimate con for a water bed.

Robert Heinlein, the very famous and prolific science fiction writer, he had basically described water beds so frequently and in such detail that he was considered the intellectual property holder of water bed designs.

He liked to describe stuff in his books apparently. I haven't read any of them yet.

And one of the things that he kept, he, that always popped up was these water beds.

a pump to control water level, side supports to permit one to float rather than simply lying on a not very soft water filled mattress, right. A thermostatic control temperature safety interfaces to avoid all possibility of electric shock, which was a big sort of urban legend at the time.

a waterproof box to make it leak proof, um, which was another probably legitimate con for a water bed.

There was you ever get into sci-fi with like L Heinlein Robert Heinlein wrote stranger in a strange land But I remember reading one of his books and like he got a lot of money writing books but he just eventually started dictating books get a guy sit there and he'd be like Once upon a time that come on fucking write this shit and he would talk and he started just talking book I'm like, yeah, that's gotta be the sickest shit in the world. Yeah, that's gone the top 10 stuff of his getting chicks wet Novel to another person and being like I'm tired It's awesome. Yeah, that shit rules. Yeah, I've just gotten to the realm of like Paying people because before you're like, I'm gonna lose my fucking money. I can't pay people anything now I have I have a bro and he doesn't explain to my wife's like what does he do? And I'm like, I pay him every week when I need him. I call him Yeah, sometimes I yell I don't need him for a couple weeks and that's fine Yeah, but when I need him it's worth every fucking penny. Yeah, bro life-changing shit. It's literally pays for himself Yeah, dude, in fact, he doesn't know this but he I make way more money than Yeah, otherwise you have to fire but I give him raises every like three to six months and he feels good too Yeah, you'd be like I can somehow give you more money. So yeah, I have more money. Oh my god, right? That is a nice feeling. Yeah Oh, I turns out my you know, I didn't starve or die so you can have a little more money, right? Thank you so much. Yeah. All right. I hope this doesn't blow up in all of our faces, but yeah, it's working for now

Well that's why I wanted to bring this up because there is a religious impulse that's lurking behind the technological enterprise that's associated let's say with the fantasizing about life and other planets I mean you see this pop up everywhere so for example the I the uh the superman the dc comics character superman is another good example of that and you right because superman has sky parents and he's essentially a technological god who ends up who ends up on earth and you see the same thing replicated with well the marvel universe in many ways with thor and loki I know they're drawing from nor norse mythology obviously there but the idea still lurks there and I'm wondering if it's that subversion like a juvenile it's a juvenile subversion of the religious instinct that drives these fantasies of extra planetary salvation at the hands of aliens or perhaps destruction for that matter so I'm wondering if you if you have any thoughts about whether that might be part of the reason why such concern was regarded for such a long time as as less than serious or even frivolous

the grok that Musk's AI is named after is a remnant of that kind of thinking right because grok was the mode of apprehension used by I think Valentine Smith in stranger in a strange land Robert Heinlein's book and it was basically a sky savior who was humanoid that came from I didn't know that Mars to oh yes that's very see see see well that's why I wanted to bring this up because there is a religious impulse that's lurking behind the technological enterprise that's associated let's say with the fantasizing about life and other planets I mean you see this pop up everywhere so for example the I the uh the superman the dc comics character superman is another good example of that and you right because superman has sky parents and he's essentially a technological god who ends up who ends up on earth and you see the same thing replicated with well the marvel universe in many ways with thor and loki I know they're drawing from nor norse mythology obviously there but the idea still lurks there and I'm wondering if it's that subversion like a juvenile it's a juvenile subversion of the religious instinct that drives these fantasies of extra planetary salvation at the hands of aliens or perhaps destruction for that matter so I'm wondering if you if you have any thoughts about whether that might be part of the reason why such concern was regarded for such a long time as as less than serious or even frivolous

Heinlein does the same thing with 'Stranger in a Strange Land'.

Musk named his AI 'Grock' after Valentine Smith.

I was so excited because Stranger in a Strange Land is an incredible book. It's one of his favorites and we just put it there.

Stranger in a Strange Time is your favorite? Yes, Strange Land.

Where is it? The left, the left, the left. The pretty red one. What is that scifi? It's scifi. Okay, I would believe that for you.

I'm going to own my total anxiety and terror right now, which is I've read your book twice. It's so comprehensive and dense that I was like, yeah, I could go for another...

My dad had a big like classic sci-fi book collection. He liked sci-fi he had a lot of like Heinlein and all the Ayn Rand books and you know just like a collection of books from like when he was in college all yellowed and old and musty smelling.

And when I was a kid I went through phases where I would just like go into the bookcase and grab up some of these books and I don't remember what the book was called but one of them was about fourth dimensional aliens that could go in and out of like our dimension.

Essentially were invisible they could travel around in this other dimension and we couldn't perceive them but then they could come into our dimension and do stuff to us and they were like abducting people and doing things.

A librarian said here try one of these. The kid seemed to like these. And how old were you? On early teens. He handed me a Robert Heinlein book.

A great science fiction author. Great science fiction author, great thinker. First guy I ever read to describe a cell phone or a nuclear power plant or a rolling road or a number of other things. Brilliant imagination, great guy.

And it took me by storm right from the first one. This is an epiphany moment for you. Yeah, I read everything. Everything he's ever written I've read.

I've been interested and have loved science fiction for a really long time, fantasy as well, but science fiction included. And it started with a recommendation from my mom who said that I should read A Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlein.

A librarian said here try one of these. The kid seemed to like these. And how old were you? On early teens. He handed me a Robert Heinlein book.

A great science fiction author. Great science fiction author, great thinker. First guy I ever read to describe a cell phone or a nuclear power plant or a rolling road or a number of other things. Brilliant imagination, great guy.

And it took me by storm right from the first one. This is an epiphany moment for you. Yeah, I read everything. Everything he's ever written I've read.

It's from Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlein.

What I should have said is that the name grok comes from Stranger in a Strange Land Written by Robert Heinlein, but its rebellious persona was inspired by Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Which of course is written by Douglas Adams