RIP: Kurt Vonnegut

Kurt Vonnegut, one of the great American authors of the last century passed away yesterday and this morning the internet is filled with tributes. His works have never been part of a CAT course, although his ideas would easily fit in the mold of Culture, Art, and Technolgy. His 1963 novel, Cat's Cradle, explores science, regilion, and technology and climaxs with a spectacular man-made natural diaster involving ice-nine. While a substance like ice-nine is thermodynamicly impossible, the idea that man can create something beyond his own control is a valid one. Global Warming may not the result of a single substance, but it is certianly a process that may be rapidly moving beyond man's control.