A Writer asked Google

Nathan McGrath

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SCIENCE

In researching for my Sci-Fi and Urban Fantasy novels, I often ask difficult or crazy questions and get profoundly thought provoking or just plain bonkers answers . Like they say, you don't know until you ask. These podcasts give you an insight into the research that went into my current and upcoming novels.

JAN 7

The Interstellar Spies

Super-intelligent aliens could easily disguise their intergalactic spacecraft to mimic natural space phenomena - almost but not quite. Astronomers and scientists have performed theoretical actobatics to normalise the strange behaviour of our recent intergalactic visitors; 1I/'Oumuamua in 2017, followed by 2I/Borisov in 2019 and the highly anomalous 3I/ATLAS in 2025.The detection and subsequent analysis of interstellar objects (ISOs) traversing the inner Solar System has precipitated a quiet crisis within the planetary science community. For centuries, the astronomical paradigm has been predicated on a clear dichotomy: the Solar System is populated by indigenous bodies—asteroids and comets—whose dynamical histories are bound to the Sun, and the interstellar medium is a void, traversed only by gas, dust, and cosmic rays. The arrival of 1I/'Oumuamua in 2017, followed by 2I/Borisov in 2019 and the highly anomalous 3I/ATLAS in 2025, has shattered this isolationist framework.

12 min
10/07/2025

The Rise, Fall and Rise of Omniscient POV

I needed a bit of help writing from an Omniscient POV and asked Google Gemini for some guidance, do's and don'ts. It gave me a comprehensive discussion on narrative perspective, particularly focusing on the third-person omniscient point of view (POV) and the challenges associated with it. Sources explain that omniscient narration, where an all-knowing voice can access any character's thoughts and comment on the story, offers unlimited scope and scale for storytelling, often incorporating elements like foreshadowing or social commentary. A significant concern raised is "head hopping," which occurs when writers jump between limited character perspectives without a proper omniscient guide, leading to a jarring or disorienting experience for the reader. Furthermore, the texts explore how authors manipulate narrative distance to achieve specific effects, such as increasing intimacy with a character or illustrating chaos, and discuss how modern writing often favours closer POVs over the traditionally challenging omniscient technique. Finally, Out two unreal presenters introduce the concept of "gritty" writing, arguing that modern honesty and realism are valid artistic choices that intersect with narrative voice. For Writer's notes: https://softmachine.net/a-writers-guide-to-point-of-view-third-person-limited-vs-omniscient/

16 min
10/07/2025

The Poverty of Experience: How did we come to this?

So you think you're in control of who you are, can really explain the choices you make, the things you're into and the things that just turn you off? I asked Gemini a question about Art, Cultures, identity, and Capitalism: Gemini took on a riff about memes. You may wonder, as I did 'What the hell?" But this is what Wikipedia says: "The term meme was originally introduced by Richard Dawkins in his 1976 book The Selfish Gene to describe the concept of cultural transmission. The term Internet meme was coined by Mike Godwin in 1993 in reference to the way memes proliferated through early online communities, including message boards, Usenet groups, and email. " For sources and text: https://softmachine.net/briefing-on-cultural-theory-key-concepts-and-debates/

15 min
09/22/2025

Time Travel, Fate, Gnosticism and your Grandfather.

What's the connection between Time travel, fate, Gnosticism and your grandfather? In this episode our virtual couple, provide the background character originally created by Nathan McGrath in his upcoming novels "The Mechanics" and "Nudge",Our unreal duo revisit the scientific, philosophical and religious literature to knock up an easy to understand background to one of Nathan's most unique creations. Nathan said of Val, "I came up with her late in writing 'The Mechanics. I wanted a person who worked outside of all the conventional 'heroes with a purpose, story arc, or objective. She has no challenges, no heroes journey. She is totally free of all narrative trappings and plot conventions, yet is absolutely crucial to the story's unfolding' Val is an integral part of the universe itself. Her existence and actions are the very means by which balance is maintained. In this view, the universe is fated to remain in balance, and Val is the inevitable and necessary mechanism to ensure that fate. Her impulsive actions are not random; they are the universe's built-in "immune system" responding to threats. The outcome, balance, is inevitable, and Val's actions are the means to that end. This doesn't contradict her free will, but rather suggests that her will is perfectly aligned with the universe's ultimate destiny.

14 min
09/15/2025

The Dawn of Biological and Artificial Consciousness

In this episode, our AI presenters discuss the multifaceted concept of artificial consciousness and its implications. They explore philosophical arguments regarding whether functionally identical systems can possess conscious experience, using thought experiments like "fading qualia." The texts also examine the debate surrounding sentience in large language models

15 min
09/14/2025

What's Going on? Democracy in Crisis.

In this episode, our AI presenters take a deep dive into the Global crisis in Democracy - All you need to know is here. Summary compiled from the latest reports produced by the most reliable sources. There are several reputable organizations that havedeveloped well-known methods and measures to evaluate levels of democracy, honesty, and transparency in governments. These organizations typically produce annual or regular reports and indices that rank countries and provide detailed analysis. Key Sources include 1. Transparency InternationalFocus: Honesty and transparency, with a primary focus on corruption. Key Metric: The Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI). 2. The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) Focus: The state of democracy. Key Metric: The Democracy Index. 3. Freedom House Focus: Political rights and civil liberties. Key Metric: Freedom in the World report. 4. V-Dem Institute (Varieties of Democracy) Focus: A more granular and multi-dimensional approach to democracy. Key Metric: V-Dem Democracy Indices. OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) Westminster Foundation for Democracy (WFD)

20 min
09/14/2025

The Montauk Project. There are Things Stranger than Area 51.

If you are into or interested in the world of Conspiracy theories and thought the stories around Area 51 were strange, then you clearly haven't heard about the Montauk project and rumours of psychological warfare, mind control, time travel and alien contact.

15 min
09/08/2025

Learning to be You.

"Muscle memory" extends beyond the domain of athletes toencompass the persistent emotional and psychological experiences of all individuals is supported by extensive evidence from neuroscience, psychology, and medicine. In this episode, we explore how the cumulative effect of a lifetime of experiences—both motor and psychological—is physically and neurologically inscribed upon the human body.

17 min

In researching for my Sci-Fi and Urban Fantasy novels, I often ask difficult or crazy questions and get profoundly thought provoking or just plain bonkers answers . Like they say, you don't know until you ask. These podcasts give you an insight into the research that went into my current and upcoming novels.

Creator

Nathan McGrath
Years Active

2025 - 2026
Episodes

23
Rating

Clean
Copyright

© Nathan McGrath
Show Website

A Writer asked Google