[HN Gopher] In search of the new
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       In search of the new
        
       Author : Hooke
       Score  : 32 points
       Date   : 2021-06-01 05:19 UTC (17 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (society.robinsloan.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (society.robinsloan.com)
        
       | mst wrote:
       | Every novel on this list that I _have_ read was excellent.
       | 
       | I think I shall be keeping it handy for future reading matter
       | selection.
        
       | andreyk wrote:
       | Great blog post. Just want to post in favor of this:
       | 
       | "Kim Stanley Robinson's The Ministry for the Future, which I know
       | you know well. Although climate change / the Anthropocene has
       | been widely recognized for more than ten years, I think the
       | combination of, not solutions, but at least ameliorations,
       | presented in the book couldn't have been written more recently. I
       | think it's a remarkable book."
       | 
       | Read this book in a couple months ago, outstanding book.
        
         | amackera wrote:
         | I also read the book. I feel like I'm in the minority that was
         | let down by KSR; the book just failed to find a solid footing
         | and seemed super optimistic.
         | 
         | Much of the book hinges on the development of carbon coin
         | crypto currency that depends on _the top central banks all
         | working together_?
         | 
         | The entire world collectively moves from high speed air traffic
         | to slow airships and rail? Because of miniature ICBMs that
         | almost anybody can afford? Why aren't these mini ICBMs used for
         | evil?
         | 
         | Humans allowing the most valuable arable land to return to
         | wilderness? People following migrating animals on social media?
         | Replacing the world's social media apps with an open source
         | decentralized alternative in a matter of 5 years?
         | 
         | I mean, a lot of this stuff needs to happen for us to reverse
         | human-caused climate change; however, the way they happen in
         | the book left my eyebrows raised. I want a super pessimistic
         | view of humanity (read: realistic) and some new ideas on
         | fundamental changes-- not just patches to the system.
        
       | tekstar wrote:
       | Big fan of Robin, his books, his blog, his Instagram stories
       | while walking around SF.. all great!
        
         | kickscondor wrote:
         | And very down to earth. He recently took time to track down a
         | bug in Fraidycat:
         | 
         | https://github.com/kickscondor/fraidycat/issues/220
        
           | tekstar wrote:
           | That is awesome!
        
       | th0ma5 wrote:
       | I used to be a big fan of Robin's but he does this thing that a
       | lot of these creative technology people do where they pass off
       | exclusive access as somehow creative insight. In fact he even
       | explicitly notes that a recent project he did where he had e-book
       | reader stats was something that he had to keep private where he
       | got it from.
       | 
       | Why? And then why make a project that really wasn't very creative
       | at all, with a data set that is very proprietary, and may not
       | have the full consent of those that participated?
       | 
       | So yeah, he's done some brilliant things I'm sure, and I've seen
       | some even, but this disingenuous use of position is something
       | that's turned me off to a lot of the established people like
       | this.
        
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       (page generated 2021-06-01 23:01 UTC)