Writer of some excellence Bruce Sterling gave a talk at Emerging Technology 2006, and the transcript of it is here. I think he’s coyote-into-the-brick-wall wrong about many of the things he has to say, and he sucks pretty badly at inventing neologisms, but it’s fascinating to watch the arc and spatter of the fountain of ideas he throws off, and there’s light there, aplenty. About his ideas, more, later, maybe, when my brain has time to percolate for a while. Perhaps it’s just that the future he describes isn’t one in which I have a whole hell of a lot of desire to live.
Then again the present is not one I’m all that thrilled with, either.
Anyway, one of the reasons I found it interesting, beyond the thoughtprovoking superball boing! of his ideas, is that if you squint and tilt your head the right way, he’s exploring the opposite end of the teeter-totter from the one I perched on here, recently. That I mentioned Neal Stephenson and William Gibson in that post, and that Bruce completes with them a neat authorial trio in my mind, is just a pleasant serendipity.
Not only that, but he mentions my net.friend Adam Greenfield, and Adam’s new book ‘Everyware’, which I am pleased to recommend highly even though I haven’t actually read it yet (but will, by god, soon).
Join the conversation! 8 Comments
Comments are closed.
You know, when Bruce threw that first slide up there at Etech, with the cover of his new book, a picture of an emply wine bottle, I thought of you, my friend, and the emptybottle of yore.
Bruce does rant with the best of them.
I wonder if there’s video of his presentation anywhere… help me, lazyweb!
he is freaking fascinating to listen to…I heard him this afternoon at South by Southwest, and my brain is still sort of buzzing.
hopefully, there will be audio up here: http://2006.sxsw.com/coverage/podcasts/ in a day or two.
my notes are an incoherent mess, or I’d recommend them. 🙂
Cool bananas — thanks Elaine!
Gag Halfrunt? My Galaxy is due for another read. I’ts about 15 years old already. My old copy actually has the words Don’t Panic printed on the back. In large friendly letters, no less. Got this information while getting info for appropriate tags on my del.icio.us. Gave a new copy to an 18-yr old for Xmas. (not mine,the kid) Got him onto the idea that reading books can be fun too. Understatement. Will leave you to your technical stuff now.
Your wish is my command, oh mighty chicken. Videos of Bruce Sterling at SWSX.
http://www.ourmedia.org/node/187613
and
http://www.nowpublic.com/node/35419
I have not watched them myself, just spotted them on JD Lasica’s site
Freedom’s Just Another Word
I have Adam Greenfield(whose recent book I still haven’t read, because I’ve immersed myself waist-deep again a couple of decades later in Gene Wolfe’s richly rewarding Book of the New Sun)and coffee to thank for kickstarting me into thinking about…
Thanks, Tim!