"some places may still have -RAM, but that was never a serous contender"
RAM is serious but not in the consumer market. Talk to IT at a hospital or other stability obsessed business and if there is small scale digitial storage you'll find DVD-RAM.
"Neal Stephenson is a lot of fun to read, but greatest living writer? I think even Neal (no, not Cowboy) would take issue with that statement."
I'd rank him the sixth or tenth best cyberpunk writer. Never had understood the crazed hooplah. If you want to go with steampunk none of the cyberpunks are in contention: Tim Powers is the master with Anubis Gates the devesatiting The Stress of Her Regard.
Strictly within SF Gene Wolfe, Thomas Disch, David Avramson, Richard McKenna, Benford, Malzberg, Silverberg, Sturgeon and others have written circles around him. Not only on "lit" values but in "hard" SF too. Half those listed still live; I could replace those dead easily enough. (I enjoy his work! don't get me wrong. I've bought all the books and will buy more.) Stephenson is a better fiction writer than, say, Asimov. Faint praise in my book.
Leave the SF ghetto (my den) and the Slashdot crowd looks ever more ridiculous. So much for computer science as the new liberal arts degree, eh?
"Probably their most "famous" product was the very early touchscreen system in Super Stop and Shop where you could enter a product name and get a map to where it was in the store"
I remember this! When Super Stop & Shop came to my town, we stayed up all night playing nuclear chess & bridge so we could be the first costumers. No reason other than being teens and able to waste the time. We even made a Welcome Stop & Shop banner. Car carrying us blew an axel so we left it in the new parking lot with the banner on it. Using the new fangly touchscreen search for Pez I learned the store carried none. This annoyed me and I've since claimed Stop & Shop is "a lie, a sham, and the devil's work". Sensible? Not at all. Fun? You bet! [The touch screens were awfully cool, even useful. If you didn't need Pez.]
Ack. Should'a previewed indeed. Phone rang and I clicked submit.:( Appologies to the person poster quoted without quotes.
Should have been:
"The singularity, in this context, is an event that will change our society beyond recognition, and probably almost overnight." More bluntly, it will make it a non-human society. SF has long history presenting that and some fictional solutions are dizzyingly gripping as both intellectual problem and successful fiction. The real problem is a bit different though not new: how does one create stories for and about beings with (functionally) infinite power and malleability? There are narrative cheats--Vinge's A Fire Upon the Deep is clearly a stab at this issue and the fundamental cheat is mainlined Sense of Wonder. More difficult is ramming the situation head on. Thomas Disch sallied forth in a valiant attack on a subset of this problem, describing and understanding a character far, far, far smarter than the writer or reader. Camp Concentration is quite the astonishing book for he mostly succeeded. What if these future whatsit postpeoples CAN do everything but DON'T? Not choosing to live in solipsistic high fantasy or 90's USA creations but in the full blare of possibilities and collectively choose to ignore most of them. I'm not novelist so I can not construct the explanation or write the story. Consider it a challenge.
"The singularity, in this context, is an event that will change our society beyond recognition, and probably almost overnight."
More bluntly, it will make it a non-human society. SF has long history presenting that and some fictional solutions are dizzyingly gripping as both intellectual problem and successful fiction.
The real problem is a bit different though not new: how does one create stories for and about beings with (functionally) infinite power and malleability? There are narrative cheats--Vinge's A Fire Upon the Deep is clearly a stab at this issue and the fundamental cheat is mainlined Sense of Wonder. More difficult is ramming the situation head on. Thomas Disch sallied forth in a valiant attack on a subset of this problem, describing and understanding a character far, far, far smarter than the writer or reader. Camp Concentration is quite the astonishing book for he mostly succeeded.
What if these future whatsit postpeoples CAN do everything but DON'T? Not choosing to live in solipsistic high fantasy or 90's USA creations but in the full blare of possibilities and collectively choose to ignore most of them. I'm not novelist so I can not construct the explanation or write the story. Consider it a challenge.
What that event could be, or even if we will ever see it, is of course subject to speculation, but it is not outside the realm of the possible and it may even be close (i.e. somewhere in the 21st century). Now, the very nature of the singularity makes it impossible to predict how our society will look like afterwards. For this reason SF cannot continue to extrapolate from current society to build a believable future society - it is blinded.
As for what the singularity could be, there are plenty of options. Development of a working nano assembler might do it (manufacturing capabilities would instantly become meaningless, since we would be able to produce enough of _everything_ for _everyone_. Don't tell me that won't change things...). Development of an AI would probably also do it, since it could itself develop better, faster versions - faster than we could ever hope to keep up with. Or there is contact with an alien race. Perhaps even something as mundane as the FTL drive or anti-gravity... Anyway, the singularity is rather fascinating, even though it is itself SF for now;-)
The greatest misunderstanding of SF, often even by those writing it, is that it is a predictive form. It's not. It (or at least should) describe situations with the suppositions leading to scene setting & story.
Ralph 124C4U+ predicted night baseball games amid its junkyard of failed futurism. Who cares?
There can be a visceral thrill for both author and reader in grabbing the Soon Now by the throat and trying not to get bucked off (read Spinrad about Russian Spring, his near future novel predicting the failure of the USSR...published just after the USSR collapsed) but it is hardly central to the genre nor should it be: SF picks up ideas, spins 'em around and pokes 'em and the better writers use that to create narratives that could not otherwise have existed. This is more subtle and more important than prediction.
"I say instead of pushing for licensing and clones, push to have the latest games released simultaneously for Mac and Windows. [...] They just want to make sure they can play all the games out there."
Bingo. Microsoft actively works with (at least the larger) developers. Jobs has a blind spot when it comes to games and it has badly hurt the company. I may not be thrilled with Windows XP but I'm certainly not moving to Mac (or Linux!) to play a dozen year old games. Computer games sell hardware and can sell an OS. Friends bought Amigas to play Dungeon Master and later bought Macs for Marathon; I installed OS/2 for Galactic Civilizations.
Would setting aside the resources to actively cultivate Mac gaming single handedly double its marketshare? Of course not...then again, that ipod thingamaJob seems to be moving machines...
"I know there are people who agree [junklight.com] with [lessig.org] me [ilaw.com.au], but I have no idea how to get the idea out to the public, where the real changes can happen."
Um. Well, writing your state and national representatives. Write, then email, then call. All three are counted up seperately. This is most effective when it concerns specific pending legislation. Do the research and use its full name.
Is this the last step? Of course not. But it is surely the first one. Rarely will it help them find their testicles, but it has happened. You better believe they've got staffers tracking the pro/con positions of their voting districts.
Contact your local alt-media. Free weeklies and the like. Might get a bee up the butt of one of their reporters--that gets the issue raised locally.
"The board game had no combat whatsoever"
Wish I'd been playing you. I'll take the easy victories any day! It is accurate to say combat was not the focus of the game but going 100% peace will get you stomped by anyone with half a brain. (Waging a full blown war is also a sure way to lose.) The key use of combat is grabbing cities for one turn to break up sets of trade cards or stall someone on the AST.
There was a computer version of the Avalon Hill boardgame. [1996, DOS, might be a Mac version] It's not terrible either. Trade is slightly changed and the AI is not going to seriously hinder a competent human but it's still fun to blow through a round every now and again.
Surprising how little Wasteland has come up in this discussion. After all, Fallout was essentially an unofficial sequel/remake. Heck, there are loads of in-jokes like the BB rifle referencing the earlier game. If Fallout 3 takes forever (it will) and sucks (it may)there's still this gem to play. Assuming you can handle a 1986 DOS game.
Vegas is glowing, the energy weapons are charging, and you've just learned the Toaster Repair skill. Welcome to Wasteland.
Slashdot Mirror
"some places may still have -RAM, but that was never a serous contender"
RAM is serious but not in the consumer market. Talk to IT at a hospital or other stability obsessed business and if there is small scale digitial storage you'll find DVD-RAM.
"Neal Stephenson is a lot of fun to read, but greatest living writer? I think even Neal (no, not Cowboy) would take issue with that statement." I'd rank him the sixth or tenth best cyberpunk writer. Never had understood the crazed hooplah. If you want to go with steampunk none of the cyberpunks are in contention: Tim Powers is the master with Anubis Gates the devesatiting The Stress of Her Regard. Strictly within SF Gene Wolfe, Thomas Disch, David Avramson, Richard McKenna, Benford, Malzberg, Silverberg, Sturgeon and others have written circles around him. Not only on "lit" values but in "hard" SF too. Half those listed still live; I could replace those dead easily enough. (I enjoy his work! don't get me wrong. I've bought all the books and will buy more.) Stephenson is a better fiction writer than, say, Asimov. Faint praise in my book. Leave the SF ghetto (my den) and the Slashdot crowd looks ever more ridiculous. So much for computer science as the new liberal arts degree, eh?
"Probably their most "famous" product was the very early touchscreen system in Super Stop and Shop where you could enter a product name and get a map to where it was in the store" I remember this! When Super Stop & Shop came to my town, we stayed up all night playing nuclear chess & bridge so we could be the first costumers. No reason other than being teens and able to waste the time. We even made a Welcome Stop & Shop banner. Car carrying us blew an axel so we left it in the new parking lot with the banner on it. Using the new fangly touchscreen search for Pez I learned the store carried none. This annoyed me and I've since claimed Stop & Shop is "a lie, a sham, and the devil's work". Sensible? Not at all. Fun? You bet! [The touch screens were awfully cool, even useful. If you didn't need Pez.]
Ack. Should'a previewed indeed. Phone rang and I clicked submit. :( Appologies to the person poster quoted without quotes.
Should have been:
"The singularity, in this context, is an event that will change our society beyond recognition, and probably almost overnight." More bluntly, it will make it a non-human society. SF has long history presenting that and some fictional solutions are dizzyingly gripping as both intellectual problem and successful fiction. The real problem is a bit different though not new: how does one create stories for and about beings with (functionally) infinite power and malleability? There are narrative cheats--Vinge's A Fire Upon the Deep is clearly a stab at this issue and the fundamental cheat is mainlined Sense of Wonder. More difficult is ramming the situation head on. Thomas Disch sallied forth in a valiant attack on a subset of this problem, describing and understanding a character far, far, far smarter than the writer or reader. Camp Concentration is quite the astonishing book for he mostly succeeded. What if these future whatsit postpeoples CAN do everything but DON'T? Not choosing to live in solipsistic high fantasy or 90's USA creations but in the full blare of possibilities and collectively choose to ignore most of them. I'm not novelist so I can not construct the explanation or write the story. Consider it a challenge.
"The singularity, in this context, is an event that will change our society beyond recognition, and probably almost overnight." More bluntly, it will make it a non-human society. SF has long history presenting that and some fictional solutions are dizzyingly gripping as both intellectual problem and successful fiction. The real problem is a bit different though not new: how does one create stories for and about beings with (functionally) infinite power and malleability? There are narrative cheats--Vinge's A Fire Upon the Deep is clearly a stab at this issue and the fundamental cheat is mainlined Sense of Wonder. More difficult is ramming the situation head on. Thomas Disch sallied forth in a valiant attack on a subset of this problem, describing and understanding a character far, far, far smarter than the writer or reader. Camp Concentration is quite the astonishing book for he mostly succeeded. What if these future whatsit postpeoples CAN do everything but DON'T? Not choosing to live in solipsistic high fantasy or 90's USA creations but in the full blare of possibilities and collectively choose to ignore most of them. I'm not novelist so I can not construct the explanation or write the story. Consider it a challenge. What that event could be, or even if we will ever see it, is of course subject to speculation, but it is not outside the realm of the possible and it may even be close (i.e. somewhere in the 21st century). Now, the very nature of the singularity makes it impossible to predict how our society will look like afterwards. For this reason SF cannot continue to extrapolate from current society to build a believable future society - it is blinded. As for what the singularity could be, there are plenty of options. Development of a working nano assembler might do it (manufacturing capabilities would instantly become meaningless, since we would be able to produce enough of _everything_ for _everyone_. Don't tell me that won't change things...). Development of an AI would probably also do it, since it could itself develop better, faster versions - faster than we could ever hope to keep up with. Or there is contact with an alien race. Perhaps even something as mundane as the FTL drive or anti-gravity... Anyway, the singularity is rather fascinating, even though it is itself SF for now ;-)
The greatest misunderstanding of SF, often even by those writing it, is that it is a predictive form. It's not. It (or at least should) describe situations with the suppositions leading to scene setting & story. Ralph 124C4U+ predicted night baseball games amid its junkyard of failed futurism. Who cares? There can be a visceral thrill for both author and reader in grabbing the Soon Now by the throat and trying not to get bucked off (read Spinrad about Russian Spring, his near future novel predicting the failure of the USSR...published just after the USSR collapsed) but it is hardly central to the genre nor should it be: SF picks up ideas, spins 'em around and pokes 'em and the better writers use that to create narratives that could not otherwise have existed. This is more subtle and more important than prediction.
"I say instead of pushing for licensing and clones, push to have the latest games released simultaneously for Mac and Windows. [...] They just want to make sure they can play all the games out there." Bingo. Microsoft actively works with (at least the larger) developers. Jobs has a blind spot when it comes to games and it has badly hurt the company. I may not be thrilled with Windows XP but I'm certainly not moving to Mac (or Linux!) to play a dozen year old games. Computer games sell hardware and can sell an OS. Friends bought Amigas to play Dungeon Master and later bought Macs for Marathon; I installed OS/2 for Galactic Civilizations. Would setting aside the resources to actively cultivate Mac gaming single handedly double its marketshare? Of course not...then again, that ipod thingamaJob seems to be moving machines...
"I know there are people who agree [junklight.com] with [lessig.org] me [ilaw.com.au], but I have no idea how to get the idea out to the public, where the real changes can happen." Um. Well, writing your state and national representatives. Write, then email, then call. All three are counted up seperately. This is most effective when it concerns specific pending legislation. Do the research and use its full name. Is this the last step? Of course not. But it is surely the first one. Rarely will it help them find their testicles, but it has happened. You better believe they've got staffers tracking the pro/con positions of their voting districts. Contact your local alt-media. Free weeklies and the like. Might get a bee up the butt of one of their reporters--that gets the issue raised locally.
"The board game had no combat whatsoever" Wish I'd been playing you. I'll take the easy victories any day! It is accurate to say combat was not the focus of the game but going 100% peace will get you stomped by anyone with half a brain. (Waging a full blown war is also a sure way to lose.) The key use of combat is grabbing cities for one turn to break up sets of trade cards or stall someone on the AST. There was a computer version of the Avalon Hill boardgame. [1996, DOS, might be a Mac version] It's not terrible either. Trade is slightly changed and the AI is not going to seriously hinder a competent human but it's still fun to blow through a round every now and again.
Surprising how little Wasteland has come up in this discussion. After all, Fallout was essentially an unofficial sequel/remake. Heck, there are loads of in-jokes like the BB rifle referencing the earlier game. If Fallout 3 takes forever (it will) and sucks (it may)there's still this gem to play. Assuming you can handle a 1986 DOS game. Vegas is glowing, the energy weapons are charging, and you've just learned the Toaster Repair skill. Welcome to Wasteland.