Marginalia

Aug. 1st, 2004 01:02 pm
coalescent: (Default)
[personal profile] coalescent
Yet another definition of SF: Jeff Vandermeer's Strange Fiction list at Amazon contains three books I've read (Lanark, The Master and Margarita and From Hell) and several I want to read (The House of Leaves, The Chess Garden, The Infernal Desire Machines of Doctor Hoffman).

How to interpret user icons Friendster photos.

The argument for GM athletes. I'm sure this article accidentally fell through a time portal from ten years into the future.

Carnivale on DVD in December, maybe?

Stross and Doctorow (mostly Stross) on the singularity and other things. The article is reprinted from Popular Science, and seems to be largely based on interviews carried out at Plokta.con.

A serious physics-related link. A slightly less serious physics-related link.

If you compare this ('The truth is, robots of the potty cinematic future just don’t compute. Isn’t it about time we got over this rampant technophobia?') to this ('From the 1950s to the 1970s, robots carried a heavy weight of themes - humanity, identity, labour, slavery - on uncomplaining metal shoulders. And then they went away. They became, as I recall Paul MacAuley saying on a panel at Trincon 2, dead tech, like food pills and psi powers and tractor beams. They died and went to heaven - into satire and skiffy, in Red Dwarf and Star Wars, and into cyberspace, where their dematerialised descendants haunt our imaginations as the AI.') it's obvious that yes, media SF really is still fifty years behind written SF.

Date: 2004-08-01 06:29 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] colours.livejournal.com
How to interpret user icons Friendster photos.

Hah! But what about kid photos? ;o)

Date: 2004-08-01 09:04 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] coalescent.livejournal.com
What they want you to think: They are sweet and unthreatening.
The truth: They...no, wait. I'm gonna have to take the fifth on this one. :-p

(What about abstract-looking pieces of artwork, then? :)

Concerning GM athletes

Date: 2004-08-01 10:29 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] applez.livejournal.com
As far as chemical enhancements are concerned, I have long felt it would be infinitely more practical to partion the sports and permit a chemical/enhanced league. If those athletes want to compete in that manner and wreck havoc on their long-term health, let them. I rather feel it's a bit inevitable, and at least in a separate league, all those enhanced people would be competing more evenly.

Date: 2004-08-01 12:24 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] colours.livejournal.com
I'm gonna have to take the fifth on this one. :-p
:-P

What about abstract-looking pieces of artwork, then?
What they want you to think: they're clever and artistic
The truth: they're pretentious


Date: 2004-08-01 01:01 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] coalescent.livejournal.com
Damn. I think you got me.

Re: Concerning GM athletes

Date: 2004-08-01 01:02 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] coalescent.livejournal.com
You know, that actually doesn't seem to be a bad idea. Of course, you'd probably still get people trying to get away with dosing themselves in amongst the naturals, but...

Date: 2004-08-01 02:06 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] snowking.livejournal.com
What they want you to think: They are sweet and unthreatening.
The truth: They...no, wait. I'm gonna have to take the fifth on this one. :-p


*makes under the thumb motion*

What they want you to think: They have a childlike innocence and wonder
The truth: They kick and scream when they don't get what they want.

(What about abstract-looking pieces of artwork, then? :)

That's no abstract, that's A MOON.

Re: Concerning GM athletes

Date: 2004-08-01 08:01 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] applez.livejournal.com
Definitely cheating will continue to some degree, but there seems less motivation to cheat when there is an accepted venue for that sort of competition. A suitable punishment too, might be immediate banishment from the Naturals League and automatic enrollment in the Enhanced 'Light Blues' ... which may be a worse proposition for someone who only cheated lightly and is out of their league among even the amateur set of the Enhanced Leagues...

Date: 2004-08-02 02:36 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] coalescent.livejournal.com
*makes under the thumb motion*

:-p

What they want you to think: They have a childlike innocence and wonder
The truth: They kick and scream when they don't get what they want.


Bzzt. Incorrect! But thanks for playing.

That's no abstract, that's A MOON.

Fine. What does having (TH)A MOON say about me, then?

Date: 2004-08-02 02:46 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] snowking.livejournal.com
What they want you to think: Deep, mysterious, in touch with the greater truths of reality.
The truth: Huge huge dork.

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