That's why I'd rather have a Nebula than a Hugo. Anybody can vote for the Hugos, only SF&F members can vote for Nebulas and their membership is closed to everyone but professional authors. It does cost a whole lot less than Worldcon and anyone can go, just not vote.
I read that decades ago, but can't for the life of me remember any of it. But it was a Heinlein story and he was pretty right wing... his Jerry Was a Man was downright racist, and a humorous story about an intelligent whirlwind I can't remember the name of was pretty Trumpian.
Looking at the shortlist it looks like I'll be voting "none of the above" in most categories. Right wing takeover? I don't see it and haven't since Heinlein died in 1988. I do see a lot of right wing and left wing stuff on the list.
I don't want either right or left wing politics in my science fiction.
That said, I did write one story with a hint of politics and religion, basically with the message "you can't eat gold." Left or right? I don't know but I doubt it's right wing.
I nominated my own Mars, Ho! but it didn't make the shortlist. I nominated C.C. Finlay, Editor in Chief of F&SF as best editor. He's not on the list, either but damn it, he should be. His magazine has the best SF IMO and he even occasionally sends personalized rejection letters. No other magazine does that, at least that I've seen (granted, there are quite a few I don't submit to).
Oddly, four of five in the "semipro" list are counted as professional markets by the SFWA (the folks behind the Nebulas).
The Guardien calls the Hugos "biggest prize in science fiction and fantasy", but I disagree. Fans vote for the Hugos, science fiction and fantasy professional writers ("professional" being defined as selling three 1000 word or longer stories for a nickle a word or more, or a novel (at least 40k words) that earns $3000 from self-publishing profits, an advance, or royalties) vote for the Nebulas. If they were movie awards, the Hugos would be the Sundance Film Festival's Audience Award and the Nebula would be the Oscar.
If the government gave everyone "Payless" level shoes for free, the market for shoes from Walmart would be nonexistent and the market for nicer shoes would also be much smaller
I don't think so. If people chose expensive shoes on price, nobody could sell expensive shoes. I discuss this in some of my SF, "we were poor and only had crappy printed-out stuff."
If what you sidi were valid, Microsoft would have gone out of business years ago because of Linux, which is not only free but superior to Windows.
You would want literacy and numeracy to be unafodrable to many if not most? My parents both worked, we weren't poor, but there's no way they could afford to send me to private school.
You are championing illiteracy. Isn't there enough ignorance in this country??
I attended first grade in 1958. All the schools I attended had well stocked libraries, musical facilities, art materials, gymnasiums and sports equipment. High school had labs. We had shop classes with tools. We had videotapes in 1963.
Just because there were no computers doesn't mean there was no technology.
The public school system has no monopoly, whose lies have you been listening to, fool?. Private schools exist, but are unaffordable to most, with the exception of religious schools. Home schooling also competes with public schools. They simply can't compete despite the terrible job public schools do.
You're told lies. Republicans worship the ancient Greek god Plutus. Everything the Republicans say is contrary to what Jesus said.
The conservatives 2000 years ago executed him for being a progressive.
Taxes? Jesus said pay 'em. The poor? Republicans hate them. I doubt you'll find many Republicans in heaven, even those who think they're Christian. "The love of money is the root of all evil."
But if we find solid evidence that one exists and that they meddle in our reality, then I think we have a moral imperative to break the wall and force their hand.
What do you do when programs you write act like that? You debug them. How much damage do you think a computer program in a closed, un-networked computer could do to the real world? How, pray tell, can your simulation escape the computer and enter the real world?
In any case, spending ~ four of eight hours a day not being productive due to a computer makes me think you should stay away from anything more technical than pencil and paper
It took four hours to download and another hour for "preparing to upgrade Windows" to finish, and I was given a choice - upgrade now, or schedule for later? I scheduled it for nine last night, since I wanted to use the computer for, you know, computing.
At nine I told it to go ahead. I probably went to bed around ten, and the computer screen was still black with a "working..." graphic.
This morning it said it was ready. It rebooted, and took a full half hour to reach the desktop, which was simply butt-ugly and primitive looking. The kids doing the designing at Microsoft really suck at what they do.
More at the link. Perhaps MS employees are the ones who should not be messing with technology?
Er, moderators, this is a Microsoft shill, a copy/paste I've seen several times before. A well done troll, but a troll nonetheless. I never had a problem with KDE's bloat (it runs better than W7 on this machine) but they made the Microsoftian mistake of changing the whole damned interface for no reason whatever... and I absolutely HATE having the task bar at the top with no way to move it. Damn it, my task bar has been at the bottom of the screen since 1996 that's where I want the damned thing.
It also seems to be missing a few things earlier versions had, but it may be that they simply and stupidly moved them (again, like Microsoft).
Hi, mister anonymous MS shill. We first had Novell's email client at work, then they went all Microsoft and IMO Outlook is the VERY WORST email client out there. No, wait, Outlook Express was worse, does MS still make that awful client?
I far prefer Thuderbird, and I don't doubt that there are better ones. But I had to use Outlook for almost a decade, and am now thankfully retired and no longer have to put up with that nonsense.
My God, the moderation in the MS thread was so bad I thought MS bribed/., but the moderations in this thread are just as stupid. A guy who's not even logged in gets modded up to a 4 for saying Tyson, who holds a PhD in astrophysics isn't a scientist??
Glad you liked it, I hated it. It was on this notebook for less time than it took to install it, I might have played with it for 45 minutes before rolling it back in disgust. What is it you like about W10 that W7 lacks? All I noticed was it was butt-ugly and slow as molasses, and installing it removed the MS Office that came with W7 (rolling it back restored Office).
Well, "clickbait" is a new word and I don't think its definition has been completely nailed down yet. The definition Google gives fits HuffPo and NYT, but wikipedia's doesn't. Wikipedia confirms my own definition. Wikipedia:"Clickbait is a pejorative term describing web content that is aimed at generating online advertising revenue, especially at the expense of quality or accuracy, relying on sensationalist headlines or eye-catching thumbnail pictures to attract click-throughs and to encourage forwarding of the material over online social networks. Clickbait headlines typically aim to exploit the "curiosity gap", providing just enough information to make the reader curious, but not enough to satisfy their curiosity without clicking through to the linked content.[1][2][3]"
FB's clickbait, the most annoying kind, has "fifteen of the ugliest animals you've ever seen" (actually that title is fictional, afaik there is no such page) with each picture and a single sentence or two, and you have to click through to the rest.
It's so much of an annoyance I've completely stopped clicking links on FB unless I recognize the URL as one that isn't clickbait.
But the entire universe doesn't need to be simulated, only that part of it that you, yourself experience. IOW, the moon doesn't exist unless you're looking at it.
Oddly, when I was a teenager working at a drive-in theater there was a philosophy major I worked with who postulated exactly that. He turned his back to me and said "you don't exist." So I proved him wrong by throwing a box of popcorn at his head.
I find it fascinating that there are those who insist that God can't possibly exist because there's no proof of him that they've been exposed to, yet believe that life MUST be somewhere other than Earth despite having no idea whatever what it took for life to start here, except that you need liquid water, and even though God can't possibly exist because there's no proof, we might be living in the Matrix.
But if we're in the Matrix, then God does indeed exist; He must. Whoever or whatever designed, built, and programmed the computer running the simulation is God. Prove we're in the Matrix and you've proven God's existence.
Slashdot Mirror
That's why I'd rather have a Nebula than a Hugo. Anybody can vote for the Hugos, only SF&F members can vote for Nebulas and their membership is closed to everyone but professional authors. It does cost a whole lot less than Worldcon and anyone can go, just not vote.
I read that decades ago, but can't for the life of me remember any of it. But it was a Heinlein story and he was pretty right wing... his Jerry Was a Man was downright racist, and a humorous story about an intelligent whirlwind I can't remember the name of was pretty Trumpian.
Looking at the shortlist it looks like I'll be voting "none of the above" in most categories. Right wing takeover? I don't see it and haven't since Heinlein died in 1988. I do see a lot of right wing and left wing stuff on the list.
I don't want either right or left wing politics in my science fiction.
That said, I did write one story with a hint of politics and religion, basically with the message "you can't eat gold." Left or right? I don't know but I doubt it's right wing.
I nominated my own Mars, Ho! but it didn't make the shortlist. I nominated C.C. Finlay, Editor in Chief of F&SF as best editor. He's not on the list, either but damn it, he should be. His magazine has the best SF IMO and he even occasionally sends personalized rejection letters. No other magazine does that, at least that I've seen (granted, there are quite a few I don't submit to).
Oddly, four of five in the "semipro" list are counted as professional markets by the SFWA (the folks behind the Nebulas).
The Guardien calls the Hugos "biggest prize in science fiction and fantasy", but I disagree. Fans vote for the Hugos, science fiction and fantasy professional writers ("professional" being defined as selling three 1000 word or longer stories for a nickle a word or more, or a novel (at least 40k words) that earns $3000 from self-publishing profits, an advance, or royalties) vote for the Nebulas. If they were movie awards, the Hugos would be the Sundance Film Festival's Audience Award and the Nebula would be the Oscar.
If the government gave everyone "Payless" level shoes for free, the market for shoes from Walmart would be nonexistent and the market for nicer shoes would also be much smaller
I don't think so. If people chose expensive shoes on price, nobody could sell expensive shoes. I discuss this in some of my SF, "we were poor and only had crappy printed-out stuff."
If what you sidi were valid, Microsoft would have gone out of business years ago because of Linux, which is not only free but superior to Windows.
There's always more at play than price.
It is a monopoly, because everybody must pay them
You would want literacy and numeracy to be unafodrable to many if not most? My parents both worked, we weren't poor, but there's no way they could afford to send me to private school.
You are championing illiteracy. Isn't there enough ignorance in this country??
On a nerd site?? Wow. He must be here by accident.
you will be. you *WILL* be.
Not if he doesn't put that crack pipe down!
I attended first grade in 1958. All the schools I attended had well stocked libraries, musical facilities, art materials, gymnasiums and sports equipment. High school had labs. We had shop classes with tools. We had videotapes in 1963.
Just because there were no computers doesn't mean there was no technology.
The public school system has no monopoly, whose lies have you been listening to, fool?. Private schools exist, but are unaffordable to most, with the exception of religious schools. Home schooling also competes with public schools. They simply can't compete despite the terrible job public schools do.
One of the reasons I was glad I retired was that damned ribbon, so dumbass me starts sending SF to magazines, all of whom demand... MS Word.
So I'm stuck with that damned stupid ribbon again.
I'm told he's best friends with the republicans.
You're told lies. Republicans worship the ancient Greek god Plutus. Everything the Republicans say is contrary to what Jesus said.
The conservatives 2000 years ago executed him for being a progressive.
Taxes? Jesus said pay 'em. The poor? Republicans hate them. I doubt you'll find many Republicans in heaven, even those who think they're Christian. "The love of money is the root of all evil."
But if we find solid evidence that one exists and that they meddle in our reality, then I think we have a moral imperative to break the wall and force their hand.
What do you do when programs you write act like that? You debug them. How much damage do you think a computer program in a closed, un-networked computer could do to the real world? How, pray tell, can your simulation escape the computer and enter the real world?
In any case, spending ~ four of eight hours a day not being productive due to a computer makes me think you should stay away from anything more technical than pencil and paper
"My God! It's full of fail!" -David Bowman
It took four hours to download and another hour for "preparing to upgrade Windows" to finish, and I was given a choice - upgrade now, or schedule for later? I scheduled it for nine last night, since I wanted to use the computer for, you know, computing.
At nine I told it to go ahead. I probably went to bed around ten, and the computer screen was still black with a "working..." graphic.
This morning it said it was ready. It rebooted, and took a full half hour to reach the desktop, which was simply butt-ugly and primitive looking. The kids doing the designing at Microsoft really suck at what they do.
More at the link. Perhaps MS employees are the ones who should not be messing with technology?
Frank Herbert wrote Looking for Something? in 1952. It has a simulated reality.
Yeah, the Herbert who wrote "Dune". The short story linked is in the public domain.
Er, moderators, this is a Microsoft shill, a copy/paste I've seen several times before. A well done troll, but a troll nonetheless. I never had a problem with KDE's bloat (it runs better than W7 on this machine) but they made the Microsoftian mistake of changing the whole damned interface for no reason whatever... and I absolutely HATE having the task bar at the top with no way to move it. Damn it, my task bar has been at the bottom of the screen since 1996 that's where I want the damned thing.
It also seems to be missing a few things earlier versions had, but it may be that they simply and stupidly moved them (again, like Microsoft).
Hi, mister anonymous MS shill. We first had Novell's email client at work, then they went all Microsoft and IMO Outlook is the VERY WORST email client out there. No, wait, Outlook Express was worse, does MS still make that awful client?
I far prefer Thuderbird, and I don't doubt that there are better ones. But I had to use Outlook for almost a decade, and am now thankfully retired and no longer have to put up with that nonsense.
My God, the moderation in the MS thread was so bad I thought MS bribed /., but the moderations in this thread are just as stupid. A guy who's not even logged in gets modded up to a 4 for saying Tyson, who holds a PhD in astrophysics isn't a scientist??
WTF????
Try S/N
You would make a lousy writer, artist, film maker... that's just pure laziness!
Glad you liked it, I hated it. It was on this notebook for less time than it took to install it, I might have played with it for 45 minutes before rolling it back in disgust. What is it you like about W10 that W7 lacks? All I noticed was it was butt-ugly and slow as molasses, and installing it removed the MS Office that came with W7 (rolling it back restored Office).
"My God! It's full of fail!" -David Bowman
Wow. Just wow. I would have thought Windows 8 would have taught them something. Crazy and stupid at the same time.
Look, you Microsoft idiots, I DON'T WANT TO LEARN A NEW INTERFACE UNLESS IT'S A VERY VISIBLE IMPROVEMENT IN PRODUCTIVITY!
And yes, slashdot, I am yelling. Microsoft constantly pisses me off.
Well, "clickbait" is a new word and I don't think its definition has been completely nailed down yet. The definition Google gives fits HuffPo and NYT, but wikipedia's doesn't. Wikipedia confirms my own definition. Wikipedia:"Clickbait is a pejorative term describing web content that is aimed at generating online advertising revenue, especially at the expense of quality or accuracy, relying on sensationalist headlines or eye-catching thumbnail pictures to attract click-throughs and to encourage forwarding of the material over online social networks. Clickbait headlines typically aim to exploit the "curiosity gap", providing just enough information to make the reader curious, but not enough to satisfy their curiosity without clicking through to the linked content.[1][2][3]"
FB's clickbait, the most annoying kind, has "fifteen of the ugliest animals you've ever seen" (actually that title is fictional, afaik there is no such page) with each picture and a single sentence or two, and you have to click through to the rest.
It's so much of an annoyance I've completely stopped clicking links on FB unless I recognize the URL as one that isn't clickbait.
Meanwhile, traffic on my ad-free site has tripled in the last year.
the simulated universe would be granular or "quantum".
Not with an analog computer.
To limit computation
It's a huge assumption based on absolutely no facts whatever that limiting computation would be necessary or even desirable.
But the entire universe doesn't need to be simulated, only that part of it that you, yourself experience. IOW, the moon doesn't exist unless you're looking at it.
Oddly, when I was a teenager working at a drive-in theater there was a philosophy major I worked with who postulated exactly that. He turned his back to me and said "you don't exist." So I proved him wrong by throwing a box of popcorn at his head.
I find it fascinating that there are those who insist that God can't possibly exist because there's no proof of him that they've been exposed to, yet believe that life MUST be somewhere other than Earth despite having no idea whatever what it took for life to start here, except that you need liquid water, and even though God can't possibly exist because there's no proof, we might be living in the Matrix.
But if we're in the Matrix, then God does indeed exist; He must. Whoever or whatever designed, built, and programmed the computer running the simulation is God. Prove we're in the Matrix and you've proven God's existence.
"We apologize for the inconvenience."