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Nice animation by edboas · 2000-10-16 18:31 · Score: 3 · on 'Superluminal' Laser Questioned

Even though the peak of the light pulse travels faster than c, no information actually travels faster than c. This animation nicely demonstrates the difference: http://www.netspace.net. au/ ~gregegan/APPLETS/20/20.html

Do we need a "Diaspora"? by SuperG · 2000-10-16 05:13 · Score: 1 · on 20 Ways The World Could End

I know someone is going to mention "why did the dinosaurs die out? Because they didn't have a space program", but reading this article reminded me of some science fiction that explored this idea.

Greg Egan's book, "Diaspora", is set in the future, where a vast amount of people have "downloaded" themselves, and are now software agents. They discover that there is an incoming Gamma Ray burst occurring, and mount a diaspora, to flee the incoming tragedy.

As an aside, the gamma ray burst _is_ caused by two colliding celestial bodies (suns? can't remember), which are falling together faster than they should - this suggests underlying physics theorems which allow our intrepid heroes to escape to a different universe.

Of course I'm not proposing that (at least, not yet!), but currently we do we have the resources to go "We've got 5 years to get off this planet!!", and do it? How about 10? 20?

Anyway, check out Greg Egan's work. He is an Aussie, from Perth, and has written other books which should especially appeal to slashdot readers, including "Permutation City", and "Distress".

Cheers,
SuperG

Do we need a "Diaspora"? by SuperG · 2000-10-16 05:13 · Score: 1 · on 20 Ways The World Could End

I know someone is going to mention "why did the dinosaurs die out? Because they didn't have a space program", but reading this article reminded me of some science fiction that explored this idea.

Greg Egan's book, "Diaspora", is set in the future, where a vast amount of people have "downloaded" themselves, and are now software agents. They discover that there is an incoming Gamma Ray burst occurring, and mount a diaspora, to flee the incoming tragedy.

As an aside, the gamma ray burst _is_ caused by two colliding celestial bodies (suns? can't remember), which are falling together faster than they should - this suggests underlying physics theorems which allow our intrepid heroes to escape to a different universe.

Of course I'm not proposing that (at least, not yet!), but currently we do we have the resources to go "We've got 5 years to get off this planet!!", and do it? How about 10? 20?

Anyway, check out Greg Egan's work. He is an Aussie, from Perth, and has written other books which should especially appeal to slashdot readers, including "Permutation City", and "Distress".

Cheers,
SuperG

Umm, what new breed? by flatpack · 2000-09-21 21:32 · Score: 3 · on Revelation Space

Alastair Reynolds is one of the breed of science fiction writers who is also a professional scientist.

This is hardly a "new breed", try for instance, Stephen Baxter who has a PhD in mathematics and whose Xeelee sequence contains some of the most epic ideas in all of SF (neutron stars as weapons? engineered singularities a billion light years wide?). Or check out Greg Egan's homepage, which has some of his fiction and a load of Java applets which he has programmed.

Seriously, there are a lot of tecnically accomplished science-fiction writers out there today who really do know what they're talking about. The two above are IMHO the best, but they're far from the only ones...

Funky Java applet doing an accurate black hole... by lpontiac · 2000-09-19 11:19 · Score: 1 · on Creating a Black Hole With OpenGL

Greg Egan has a Java applet simulating what happens to light around a black hole on his homepage. It's meant as a bit of a companion to his short story The Planck Dive , which is available in his short story collection Luminous, the Feb98 issue of Asimov's Science Fiction, and no doubt a few other places as well.

I'm trying not to rant too much about someone's work that I enjoy, but if i can make one recommendation.. everyone should go read Egan's Diaspora.

Funky Java applet doing an accurate black hole... by lpontiac · 2000-09-19 11:19 · Score: 1 · on Creating a Black Hole With OpenGL

Greg Egan has a Java applet simulating what happens to light around a black hole on his homepage. It's meant as a bit of a companion to his short story The Planck Dive , which is available in his short story collection Luminous, the Feb98 issue of Asimov's Science Fiction, and no doubt a few other places as well.

I'm trying not to rant too much about someone's work that I enjoy, but if i can make one recommendation.. everyone should go read Egan's Diaspora.

Funky Java applet doing an accurate black hole... by lpontiac · 2000-09-19 11:19 · Score: 1 · on Creating a Black Hole With OpenGL

Greg Egan has a Java applet simulating what happens to light around a black hole on his homepage. It's meant as a bit of a companion to his short story The Planck Dive , which is available in his short story collection Luminous, the Feb98 issue of Asimov's Science Fiction, and no doubt a few other places as well.

I'm trying not to rant too much about someone's work that I enjoy, but if i can make one recommendation.. everyone should go read Egan's Diaspora.

Re:"Sharing" of information by Zerothis · 2000-08-01 16:46 · Score: 1 · on Freenet Music Venture; Napster-like ROM Swapping

But they do! Yes, I am serious! There's a condition often called 'lazy eye'. Where by one eye cannot focus and/or be controlled as finely as the other. One treatment for this is to cover the 'good eye' with a patch, forcing the 'bad eye' to 'practice'. Now here's the 'videogame treatment' angle; 20 minutes of viewing PONG is worth approximately 8 hours of 'normal' viewing on average. (yes, some videogames have more value in the matter than others) This is scientifically supported but I can also provide personal anecdotal evidence. My niece had a 'lazy eye' and the doctor said the condition was so progressed that it would probably take three years of wearing the eye patch to correct it. But in only 4 months with at least one hour a day of various videogames the doctor pronounced the condition cured. And yes, this 'videogame treatment' was done with the doctors full support.

Videogames to treat ADD/ADHD
Diffamblyopia (lazy eye)
Videogames and Parkinson's Disease
Videogames to treat inflammatory bowel disease and juvenile diabetes
National Institutes of Health and Videogames
Amblyopia (advice from another doctor)
more amblyopia advice
yet another doctor's opinion)
Reduce risk of getting Lyme Disease
Healthy anger management for kids
Avoiding/dealing with Nebulizer side-effects
still more amblyopia advice
Super Nintendo treatment for asthma (Bronkie the Bronchiasaurus)
Super Nintendo treatment for Diabetes (Packy & Marlon)
Super Nintendo anti-smoking (Rex Ronan)

Greg Egan by SciBoy · 2000-06-29 22:47 · Score: 1 · on Calculating God

If you do, check out Greg Egan's "Distress". It deals with the Theory Of Everything and the consequences of it's discovery. Extremely well written and thought provoking. He has a brilliant homepage with loads of downloadable stories and Java applets discribing some of the math and physics in his books in a fun way.

Re:programming authors by mysta · 2000-06-07 07:16 · Score: 3 · on Stephenson On His Novel In Progress

Just did a quick scan of my bookshelf and found:

Greg Egan - Aussie hard sci-fi writer and part time computer programmer. Check out some of his very cool applets at his home page. They often act as alternate, animated covers for his books.
Marvin Minsky - Well, he wrote a book along with Harry Harrison called "The Turing Option". I'm sure Minsky has done some programming in his time. :)

ObSycophant: Cryptonomicon is fantastic! No, really, it is. Read it now! Again!

Re:Let's call it "Stateless" by KetaKid · 2000-05-24 16:20 · Score: 1 · on Researchers Witness Birth Of Volcanic Island

Indeed indeed indeed... Infact I think Egans books are required reading for all nerd types - who else writing today needs to include a glossary of terms (Diaspora) at the back of the book... check his site @ http://www.netspace.net.au/~gregegan/

Finally... a story where this is *not* offtopic... by Anonymous Coward · 2000-05-19 20:38 · Score: 5 · on Oxford Yanks Student Page Over Spoof DeCSS

and I'm asleep at the keyboard. Doh!

Oh well... here it is.
Add your own, and spread this far and wide:

This announcement brought to you by the DeCSS Polar Bear.

Eerie. by Inoshiro · 2000-04-21 14:48 · Score: 2 · on DNA Testing Of Deep Ancestry

This reminds me a lot of Greg Egan's short story "Mitochondrial Eve" .. Basically, a religion springs up around tracing ancestry via the mitochondria.. Eventually, of course, the men trace their ancestry via the Y chromosome. Then there is a lot of large scale fighting between the people, because humans are still nasty to each other .. they've just decided on new borders of right and wrong.

Sigh.
---

An amplification and a correction by snicker · 2000-04-08 05:09 · Score: 2 · on Manic Depressive Geeks

Everything I said above, I believe.
But it should not be taken to mean that these diseases do not have physical origins. Depression is a chemical imbalance, yes. Sadly, and rather ineffectively, the current vogue is to medicate. Previously, and as I hinted, it was to lobotomize. I can only hope that the next "fad" treatment will be something more... useful.

Anyone read Greg Egan's short story Reasons to be Cheerful? Hm.

Maybe we should call it "brain error".

*Nick Wolfe
dry eyes now, but still a heavy heart.
and no, I don't want to talk about my mental history, thankyou.

An amplification and a correction by snicker · 2000-04-08 05:09 · Score: 2 · on Manic Depressive Geeks

Everything I said above, I believe.
But it should not be taken to mean that these diseases do not have physical origins. Depression is a chemical imbalance, yes. Sadly, and rather ineffectively, the current vogue is to medicate. Previously, and as I hinted, it was to lobotomize. I can only hope that the next "fad" treatment will be something more... useful.

Anyone read Greg Egan's short story Reasons to be Cheerful? Hm.

Maybe we should call it "brain error".

*Nick Wolfe
dry eyes now, but still a heavy heart.
and no, I don't want to talk about my mental history, thankyou.

Time for Slashdot to take a stand... by Anonymous Coward · 2000-04-05 03:12 · Score: 4 · on MPAA Files Another Injunction Against 2600

The following is a list of all the mirrors from the 2600 site.

Greg Egan's Teranesia by Nuthatch · 2000-02-04 23:04 · Score: 3 · on Quantum Evolution Poses Challenge to Darwinism

Hard SF writer Greg Egan recently wrote a story about a similar idea in his book Teranesia. Check Greg Egan's Home Page for more informatino about the story and this fascinating geek/programmer/author.

Re:somthing similar... by Anonymous Coward · 1999-11-27 13:46 · Score: 0 · on Are BBS-Like Communities Dead?

I have to agree with juzam that hotline has been going down the drain, but I don't think it has much to do with the influx of wintel users. I think that Hotline Software Inc. itself is largely responsible. Every release since version 1.2.3 has been a bloated poorly reverse engineered copy of the original which the company 'stole' from it's creator Adam Hinkley. You can get more info on that situation here.
But I think the hotline community actually has a chance to recover despite Hotline Software's corporate stupidity. A lot of the servers out there are still using the versionn 1.2.3 server and encourageing users to use the 1.2.3 client, or a third party clone(which include a couple of OSS projects, and are available for just about any platform). I'd encourage everyone to go to VivaHX! download a client and check out the hotline community.

Correct URI, sorry by Anonymous Coward · 1999-11-04 19:26 · Score: 0 · on Teranesia

The correct URI is here... rws

Permutation City by Anonymous Coward · 1999-11-04 19:19 · Score: 0 · on Teranesia

Indeed, Axiomatic has many hot stories but Permutation City is the one I was really knocked out after. What are the consequences of forgetting if you're real or virtual? What if cellular automata can simulate people's behaviour or even a whole world? What if this world sits inside a quantum computer, evolöution, and more... Read this, this is really hot stuff, at least as good as your average Stephenson. Here are Greg's pages. You can also find samples of his fictional and scientific writing there.

rws -- Angry about Echelon - why not leave Earth?

Not to mention Greg Egan by acb · 1999-10-04 12:14 · Score: 1 · on Ask Bruce Sterling

I'd say that Greg Egan would be among the best slashdot interview candidates. He's extremely on the ball as far as technology goes (his day job is contract programming), and has some of the most lucid and innovative ideas in speculative fiction.

Neal Stephenson would also be a good choice.

Another option by Anonymous Coward · 1999-09-13 02:10 · Score: 0 · on Prettier Fonts in X?

You might want to just convert the truetype fonts to type 1.

http://quadrant.netspace.net.au/ttf2pt1/

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