inkwell.vue.221 : Bruce Sterling: The Zenith Angle
permalink #51 of 60: Jon Lebkowsky (jonl) Fri 27 Aug 04 19:09
    
It knows no bounds.

Somehow this makes me think about the futures that early sf authors and 
artists were dreaming, and the nostalgia some of us have for those visions 
of the future... for example, the world of _Sky Captain and the World of 
Tomorrow_ (http://www.skycaptain.com/). Speaking of design, those artists 
were cranking out visionary industrial design, design for objects that 
didn't exist and might never exist. See 
http://anubis4_2000.tripod.com/SciFiArt/tomorrow.htm. I suppose there's no 
question that you were influenced by those artists?
  
inkwell.vue.221 : Bruce Sterling: The Zenith Angle
permalink #52 of 60: Bruce Sterling (bruces) Sat 28 Aug 04 00:50
    
We were all influenced by them.  The founders of
the industrial design profession in America
were Broadway stage designers.

I have a lot of respect for Norman Bel Geddes;
people like to look back and mock the campy
aspects of the past's futurism, but, well, that comes
pretty easy.  

One could make a cruel rejoinder:

If you're so smart, why don't you look forward
and mock the campy aspects of the future?
And if you're not up for that job, could
it be that you don't have a future and
you don't deserve one?  You won't
even be around to be mocked.
  
inkwell.vue.221 : Bruce Sterling: The Zenith Angle
permalink #53 of 60: Jon Lebkowsky (jonl) Sat 28 Aug 04 05:46
    
And I guess *none* of us will be around, if we don't wake up. Last night I 
saw Rep. Dana Rohrabacher on Bill Maher's 'Real Time,' and he was arguing 
that global warming is 'bad science.' He believes that it's all politics:

"It is vital that the public understand that what is going on in this
attack against President Bush is about a political agenda; that global
warming is not a scientific imperative. It is a politically-driven theory.

"Those espousing global warming are building on public fear and
apprehension. Young people in particular are being lied to about the
environment and about global warming. Global warming, of course, is one of
the worst falsehoods that they talk about. When I meet with student
groups, it is clear they are being told false things about a lot of areas
of the environment."

http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2001/6/13/190522.shtml

That quote's from back in 2001, and you would think that by now everyone 
has got past denial about global warming, but he was saying pretty much 
the same stuff last night.

Is it time for another Viridian Design contest?
  
inkwell.vue.221 : Bruce Sterling: The Zenith Angle
permalink #54 of 60: Angus MacDonald (angus) Sun 29 Aug 04 13:48
    

        Could be.
        I'd like to say that =The Zenith Angle=, aside from being as
thought-provoking as this discussion demonstrates, is a swell novel:  
wonderful as art and as entertainment. There is a cleverness to the
plotting that's a delight without being pushy, and the characters are the
most believable I've encountered in a book with so much technology.
  
inkwell.vue.221 : Bruce Sterling: The Zenith Angle
permalink #55 of 60: Bruce Sterling (bruces) Tue 31 Aug 04 01:25
    
*Fell off the edge of the digital universe for a couple of days
there, but at least I got a suntan.

*Now I'm in Austria.  It's rainy here and full of electronic art.

*See y'all next time.
  
inkwell.vue.221 : Bruce Sterling: The Zenith Angle
permalink #56 of 60: Berliner (captward) Tue 31 Aug 04 06:03
    
And I'll see *you* in Austria: make sure you hit the opening party,
because the chef who's catering is an old friend. Mmmmm! 
  
inkwell.vue.221 : Bruce Sterling: The Zenith Angle
permalink #57 of 60: Jon Lebkowsky (jonl) Tue 31 Aug 04 11:02
    
Bruce, thanks for braving the wifi wilds over the last couple of weeks. 
This was swell. Drop back by and tell us about Ars Electronica when you 
get a chance.
  
inkwell.vue.221 : Bruce Sterling: The Zenith Angle
permalink #58 of 60: brighter clouds ahead (noebie) Wed 1 Sep 04 10:02
    
"...the thirty or forty other pressing contemporary issues that have
kind of fallen off the edge of the universe, while we're supposed to
worry about Paris Hilton..."

shades of guy debord
  
inkwell.vue.221 : Bruce Sterling: The Zenith Angle
permalink #59 of 60: Thomas Petersen (sushi101) Thu 9 Sep 04 12:09
    
I saw Bruce at ars electronica, what a joy, definately one of the best
speches there, next to Steve Brand from the Long Now foundation.

Luckily the weather picked up it was 5 wonderfull days.
  
inkwell.vue.221 : Bruce Sterling: The Zenith Angle
permalink #60 of 60: Thomas Petersen (sushi101) Thu 9 Sep 04 13:06
    
Stewart Brand that is ofcourse, thanks Earl
  



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