The Speculist

About Speculist University

Some have asked about the subtle western motif that underpins much of what we do here at The Speculist. Why does a blog devoted to the future have posses and round-ups?

Good questions.

Beats me.

It might have something to do with the fact that the subdivision I live in was once an enormous ranch. Maybe I’m picking up on a vibe.

Actually, I doubt it. It turns out that there were several ranches. The property where my house sits was part of what was called the Cheese Ranch. A Dutch immigrant and his family raised dairy cattle and made cheese here. I suppose there might have been some round-ups, but I doubt there was much going on here in the way of poker games and saloon girls and heading them off at the pass.

It occurred to me a while back that a better choice for an organizing theme for The Speculist would have been a university. We could fund research, offer degrees, all that stuff. Instead of a posse, we’d have a faculty. Instead of a weekly round-up, we’d have a weekly symposium.

The more I thought about it, the more I liked the idea. So I’ve decided to add Speculist University as a regular feature. The Posse and the Round-up will keep their current form, but everything else we publish will be considered part of the course work towards one of our degree programs. Those may include:

MSPTT
Master of Science in Practical Time Travel

MAWHP
Master of Arts in Writing Predictions

DS
Doctor of Speculism

Speculist University is a fully non-accredited institution. All readers are of The Speculist are eligible to attend. To attend classes, just read the blog entries. There will be an exam every Friday.

We’ll celebrate our first graduating class in May of 2007. Meanwhile, if anyone wants to organize a kegger, let me know.

Posted by Phil at November 7, 2003 06:43 AM | TrackBack