Inkwell: Authors and Artists

    

(Just to clarify, *I* know the world doesn't end.  I was paraphrasing
paraphrasing, which is always a risky thing to do.)
  

    


Yeah, if you didn't like our disagreements to your opinions on free
software, just wait till you get to hear them at the Borg HQ.  Maybe, if
you're lucky, you'll get to visit Microsoft Research and check out some
of the cool projects underway.
--
Tom Georgoulias
  

    
Mr. Sterling, I'd like your input. A few days ago I read Tomorrow Now,
and deeply enjoyed it- every chapter made me think about new
possibilities! Since then I've been reading your Viridian sites,
articles, well posts, and novel Zeitgeist, all of which I've found to
be cool and timely. Thank you for those. I'm in my first semester of
college, so I don't yet have practical technical expertise, but I do
have a general plan: I want to create highly stimulating learning
environments. I've found that I learn best when I'm on my computer
doing many things simultaneously, and research confirms that an ideal
learning environment is one in which visual, auditory, and kinesthetic
stimuli are coordinated. I know that even very young children who can't
or don't read can rapidly assimilate large amounts of information from
video games, analyze that data, and adapt instinctually. So I'd like
to see interactive, networked web sites that move as quickly as video
games and rapidly teach complex concepts, like physics, in an
instinctually tangible way. They might not even use words, rather
relying on the manipulation of objects to make concepts obvious. A more
speculative idea yet is to use visual, auditory, and kinesthetic
stimuli that change more rapidly than we can consciously perceive, but
communicate practical knowledge (how to drive or speak a language, for
instance) in some subliminal way. Do you think these are realistic
proposals? Do you know of anyone working on similar or complementary
ideas? Also, do you have your own site? I often see links to
brucesterling.com, but it seems to be down. 
  

    
Well Grant, if I were you I'd be checking out
amusement-park design.  Cory Doctorow
could help you.

No there is no Bruce Sterling official worship site.
I'm just into a lot of stuff.

Uh-oh, the plane's boarding.

Check out this Wayport disclaimer.  New
frontiers in wi-fi paranoia.
  

    
        
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Actually, that looks pretty standard.  The First Amendment ends at the other
end of your modem.
  

    

Another way to put that is, "Freedom of the Press belongs to those who own a
printing press."  If you want to exercise your First Amendment right in
cyberspace, you've got to set up your own ISP.
  

    <scribbled by brian Wed 20 Mar 13 18:15>
  

    

Ha, I'll take that case.
  

    
Clap the handcuffs on me, I'm ready to face the music.

Besides, those Wayport guys are based in Austin.
I know where they live.

I have now arrived in WELL-land.  Soon, radio and
bookstore appearances.  Oh the unbounded joy...
  

    
What, no WELLfolk introduced themselves in Seattle?  What a pity. OK, 
I found the info from above someplace, and here's the scoop on the SF
events today:

 12:30 pm
 Reading, Talk, & Signing
 Stacey's Books
 581 Market Street
 San Francisco, CA 94105

On one hand, that's only a few blocks from here.  On the other, tonight 
might be more lively, though for me consumption of gasoline may be 
involved:

 7:30 pm
 Reading, Talk, & Signing
 Cody's Books
 2454 Telegraph Avenue
 Berkeley, CA 94704
  

    
Big whacks of that AUP are aimed at complying with the requirements for
gaining the safe harbors of the DMCA and the CDA.
  

    
Definitely.

Thought I'd mention the Eldred vs Ashcroft decision, which sustained 
copyright extension (and perhaps invited more of the same). Web pages are 
turning black (nods to Cory) in mourning for the public domain. The mouse 
is still in chains.
  

    
He's Mouse Zedong.

History stops dead with the creation of a cartoon mouse
on a tabletop in Kansas City.

Think of a Mickey Mouse boot stamping on a human face forever.

Great promotion for the rollout of "Down and Out in the Magic
Kingdom," Cory.  Man, who sez sci-fi writers can't
predict the future.
  

    
Heh, thanks, Bruce. 40,000+ downloads and counting!
  

    
Wow, at 25.95 a copy, that would be $1,038,000.00! I wonder if you can 
write that off, Cory?
  

    
at bruce's reading today, he said the nicest things about cory and
boingboing.net. all deserved, of course.
  

    <scribbled by jacob Wed 15 Jan 03 23:02>
  

    

He did!  He also signed my antique, falling-apart copy of Involution
Ocean.  ("Are you sure you want me to sign this?  This is one of the rare
unsigned copies.")

Excellent reading & questions, highly recommended, etc etc.  Even the
pet-subject questions got steered to something interesting, not to mention
funny.

Also, as zorca said afterward, I will be hearing the book in that wry voice
when I re-read it.
  

    
E-mail from Tom Georgulias:

Just to throw another log on the fire, the ACLU released a report
stating that a total surveillance society is a realistic possibility
now.  I'm not sure whether to laugh or cry about this, but part of that
report said that the only thing really holding back progress in total
surveillance is incompetence.  This has been a terrible week for digital
rights...

It's also more proof of the importance of staying technologically adept
and pushing yourself to constantly learn new things, which is one of the
reasons I liked "The Student" so much.  It hit home for me.

Cory, increment your count by another +2.  I photocopied my pdf
printouts for a couple of friends who didn't download it.  ;)
--
Tom Georgoulias
  

    
<scuffing toe>

Good on ya, Tom!
  

    
$1,038,051.90
  

    
Back on the plane  later today for a hasty return
to Berkeley-on-the-Colorado.

It's really interesting to see IP issues getting
headlines day after day.   The Mouse by nature needs
to live quietly in the darkness behind the baseboards,
nibbling his IP cheese.  He's gonna have a hard
time being both the cuddly kid-toy icon and the
Brutal Yellow-Fanged Giant Thief Rat That
Liberals and Librarians Hate.

In the authorial "business" model, it's all about
the notoriety.  Authors aren't capitalists, and the
cash would just blow right out the window anyhow.
"Oh look honey!  $1,038,051!  Quick, let's go
to Istanbul!"  It's vastly more important and useful
to achieve some fame and cultural standing.

I wasn't mistaken when I said that "science fiction
needs Cory Doctorow."  This cool stunt Cory pulled
with his so-called "book" is an act of blatant countercultural
daring that is revitalizing our scene. It's not just
some weird gesture -- in the Eldred context this is
a weird gesture that *fucking matters.*  

And it was timed brilliantly.  SF is genuinely
politically relevant again.  It is in a position
to say things that genuinely hurt people's
feelings by spelling out the unspeakable
in terms that cannot be denied.

Oh brother!
  

    
Bruce, that's mighty kind of you. The debate has been one-sided for far too
long, I think.

BTW, the story I workshopped at your place is up on Salon this morning, and
it's got a new title, "Liberation Spectrum."

http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/2003/01/16/liberation_spectrum/index.html
  

    


Years from now, Cory's soul (sold in order to insure the great timing that
launched his novel) will appear on eBay.  It will ultimately sell for
X, where X=((22.95-various discounts*number of discounted books
sold)+(22.95*(total downloads + total full-price copies sold)).