So, I just finished reading Neuromancer (http://project.cyberpunk.ru/lib/neuromancer/) and have come to the conclusion that we're more-or-less beginning to live in the world Gibson described in the 80s.
edit: added link
I still have to read that. Though I'm currently making (slow) progress through Spook Country.
First recreational book I've read in years. Wasn't too bad.
I've read everything by Gibson and I think his view of the future is going to be far more close to reality than some of the more optimistic authors.
Scary isn't it?
Just look at Japan.
I figure we'll come pretty close. Except we won't be the ones with the cybernetic implants, like the hand blades Molly had.
Quote from: Dr. James Semaj on May 19, 2011, 02:01:53 AM
I figure we'll come pretty close. Except we won't be the ones with the cybernetic implants, like the hand blades Molly had.
Screw built in melee weapons. I want eyes....and tentacles.....
i've definitely got to put that one on my pile.
what year is it set in?
Gibson's Pattern Recognition is set "20 minutes into the future", kinda. Deals with online communities and a weird ARG. Hit real close.
Snow Crash by Stephenson is much more fun, and the VR world in that novel is pretty much exactly what 2nd Life wanted to be.
Except Stephenson carefully left out the furries and giant, disembodied penises. Which is just as well, really.
I'm pretty sure the addition of giant disembodied penises would have made Snow Crash simply too awesome to exist.
No, the fact that the press is reporting that Al-Qaeda hatched a plan using a tractor covered in spinning swords to attack America means reality is too awesome to exist.
Leonardo Da Vinci, thou are avenged!
(http://funpremium.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/davinciscythedchariots_thumb1.jpg)
Quote from: Bebek Sincap Ratatosk on May 18, 2011, 07:38:01 PM
I've read everything by Gibson and I think his view of the future is going to be far more close to reality than some of the more optimistic authors.
He's a hopeless fucking optimist.
Quote from: Triple Zero on May 19, 2011, 08:40:00 AM
Gibson's Pattern Recognition is set "20 minutes into the future", kinda. Deals with online communities and a weird ARG. Hit real close.
Snow Crash by Stephenson is much more fun, and the VR world in that novel is pretty much exactly what 2nd Life wanted to be.
Reality Interrupt by James Hogan is way better. Try it.
Quote from: Cain on May 19, 2011, 04:29:00 PM
No, the fact that the press is reporting that Al-Qaeda hatched a plan using a tractor covered in spinning swords to attack America means reality is too awesome to exist.
Wait, seriously?
The only google results I'm coming up with are articles saying that Osama said no, he didn't have any sword-covered tractors. Was it Fox who reported it? :lol:
I also haven't read Neuromancer yet. It's available in epub format here: http://www.epubbud.com/book.php?g=ZGC5VF4X
Quote from: Nadezhda on May 20, 2011, 02:48:01 AM
The only google results I'm coming up with are articles saying that Osama said no, he didn't have any sword-covered tractors. Was it Fox who reported it? :lol:
I found this link (http://www.0-60mag.com/news/2011/05/cars-osama-bin-laden-rejected-plans-for-a-tractor-of-death/), that says that Navy Seals found documents in Osama's compound about this "tractor of death", but Osama rejected the idea.
Bin Laden,
ruining the dreams of every nine year old jihadi, one broken heart at a time
The first sentence in Neuromancer is perhaps my favorite opening line in any novel.
"The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel."
----really says it all
Quote from: Cramulus on May 20, 2011, 03:37:10 PM
The first sentence in Neuromancer is perhaps my favorite opening line in any novel.
"The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel."
----really says it all
What sucks is that nowadays that colour is bright blue. You cannot unsee it.
I always wondered about that line. It's an EXTREMELY cool line, no doubt, but what does it mean? Does he mean the sky actually looks like black/white static in that scene? Because this description is of a sky in the real world, right, so it can't really look like static?
Or is a dead channel supposed to be grey black, like a TV switched off?
oh and Roger, thanks for the recommendation, I've made a note of the title and will keep a look out for it.
Quote from: Triple Zero on June 24, 2011, 01:03:29 PM
I always wondered about that line. It's an EXTREMELY cool line, no doubt, but what does it mean? Does he mean the sky actually looks like black/white static in that scene? Because this description is of a sky in the real world, right, so it can't really look like static?
Or is a dead channel supposed to be grey black, like a TV switched off?
oh and Roger, thanks for the recommendation, I've made a note of the title and will keep a look out for it.
He is referring to static, but the idea is that the sky is grey.
To be very clear, I see it as an overcast sky, mottled and irregular; an ominous shifting of shadow and grey. And the light that comes through is harsh-- the clouds are thick enough to block direct sunlight, but allow a thin, sharp, menacing light to bleed through.
Yeah, I figured it was overcast, sort of patchy. Who knows what a TV tuned to a dead channel looks like in the future, but in Gibson's time, it looked gray and chaotic.
It's the first line of the novel, so it's definitely referring to more than just the sky.
Quote from: Cramulus on June 24, 2011, 02:18:39 PMWho knows what a TV tuned to a dead channel looks like in the future
Good point.
Personally I've always imagined it as a plain boring white flat overcast sky, except a littlebit darker. So, like Uncle Wallified said. Simultaneously I'd wonder if it maybe actually was a black/white static sky, and come back to what a damn cool line it is.
Thing is, I can't imagine going from TV static to actual clouds, no matter how irregular the clouds are they can't be "flat" like static is. But then maybe I'm a geek that knows too much about random noise (clouds are 1/f noise having features at both small and larger scales, while TV static is white noise and has a flat spectrum)
QuoteIt's the first line of the novel, so it's definitely referring to more than just the sky.
Apart from the obvious describing a natural thing in a very clean technological way, setting up Gibson's tone for the rest of the novel, any more?
Did I mention it's a kickass line.
For what it's worth, I think an animated adaptation in which the clouds are represented by static in the sky would look very, very cool.
Quote from: Uncle Wallified on June 24, 2011, 07:20:16 PM
For what it's worth, I think an animated adaptation in which the clouds are represented by static in the sky would look very, very cool.
But then you're getting all surreal. Which may or may not be good for a cyberpunk.
Quote from: Triple Zero on June 24, 2011, 06:22:08 PM
Apart from the obvious describing a natural thing in a very clean technological way, setting up Gibson's tone for the rest of the novel, any more?
my interpretation:
the sky being like a dead TV channel
-- could refer to a literal lack of authority in the world.
OR
-- could refer to a world with a lack of moral authority - the characters are hackers, mercenaries, and renegades, their morals are questionable. They live in a world where god is dead.
And I'm rusty on Neuromancer, but doesn't it follow that the heroes in the book are all people who reject the world?
I'm reminded of that character in the bar with shark cartilage in his face. Gibson describes him like, "In a world of affordable beauty, there was something heroic about his ugliness."
Read all of the sprawl before attempting to understand what he meant. Between him and Bruce Sterling, they have created a reality that isn't matched by today's or even tomorrow's technology, but for some reason, it's become a church of its own, much as Heinlein and even elron. Really, I barfed a little in my throat reading this.
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Quote from: Captain Swampass on June 24, 2011, 08:36:58 PM
Quote from: Uncle Wallified on June 24, 2011, 07:20:16 PM
For what it's worth, I think an animated adaptation in which the clouds are represented by static in the sky would look very, very cool.
But then you're getting all surreal. Which may or may not be good for a cyberpunk.
Bah! Genre conventions are for pussies!
Reading this thread means i'm watching Akira tonight.
Quote from: Cryo on June 28, 2011, 05:28:43 AM
Read all of the sprawl before attempting to understand what he meant. Between him and Bruce Sterling, they have created a reality that isn't matched by today's or even tomorrow's technology, but for some reason, it's become a church of its own, much as Heinlein and even elron. Really, I barfed a little in my throat reading this.
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</first troll>
Hey, if you know so well what it means, spill it!
Unless it's bad spoilers cause indeed I haven't read the other two parts of the Sprawl trilogy yet.
BTW doing some image searching for that quote yields a treasure trove of atmospheric industrial urban landscapes. Such as this:
(http://i.imgur.com/zg2zZ.jpg)
Quote from: Triple Zero on July 04, 2011, 02:05:10 PM
Quote from: Cryo on June 28, 2011, 05:28:43 AM
Read all of the sprawl before attempting to understand what he meant. Between him and Bruce Sterling, they have created a reality that isn't matched by today's or even tomorrow's technology, but for some reason, it's become a church of its own, much as Heinlein and even elron. Really, I barfed a little in my throat reading this.
</first post>
</first troll>
Hey, if you know so well what it means, spill it!
Unless it's bad spoilers cause indeed I haven't read the other two parts of the Sprawl trilogy yet.
BTW doing some image searching for that quote yields a treasure trove of atmospheric industrial urban landscapes. Such as this:
(http://i.imgur.com/zg2zZ.jpg)
Link?
Oh, just image searches:
http://www.google.com/search?q=the+sky+television+tuned+to+a+dead+channel&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&hl=nl&tab=wi&biw=1366&bih=629
http://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images;_ylt=A0PDoTC.yRFOoXsAyJCLuLkF?p=the+sky+television+tuned+to+a+dead+channel&ei=utf-8&iscqry=&fr=sfp
http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=the+sky+television+tuned+to+a+dead+channel&f=hp
I've heard Charlie Stross is a pretty good author, and some of the premises of his "20 minutes into the future" cyberpunk seem interesting.
I'm going to investigate further.
In regards to the Snow Crash references earlier, has anyone read Diamond Age? How did it compare?
It's a fairly good overview of how computer languages work.
No, really.
Cyberpunk: Drivel for emo trekkies.
That is all.
Oh, Dok, I'd been meaning to ask....concerning Jerry Pournelle, do I want to start with the War World series?
Quote from: Cain on July 06, 2011, 05:50:34 PM
Oh, Dok, I'd been meaning to ask....concerning Jerry Pournelle, do I want to start with the War World series?
Start with High Justice.
I'll write the list in chronological order when I get home and have the books in front of me.
Cool, thanks. I couldn't find the other thread where you discussed him, so I thought here would be as good a place as any.
Quote from: Da6s on July 05, 2011, 03:15:42 AM
In regards to the Snow Crash references earlier, has anyone read Diamond Age? How did it compare?
Diamond Age was good. Diamond Age was much less mystical than Snow Crash, and went "out there" in terms of what a screwball high-tech anarcho-tribal society might look like.