131–140 of 173 posts
This is part of the plot by Armada by Ernest Client (which was also heavily influenced by Ender's Game)
Also Footfall by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle. It even has a Robert Heinlein cameo.
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I don't know...based on his writing I'm guessing that under special circumstances he might.
Sorry to break it to you but he passed away 4 years ago. :(
It's Bank's wink towards that while you might have an enlightened view of universal peace other parts of the universe would quite like you in pieces.
Essentially the Culture's attitude to violence is that it should be used as a last resort, so named because once resorted to it lasts as an example.
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I've read all of your comments in this thread and you have a huge gap in your factual understanding. You should really just stop commenting as you're spreading outright falsehoods in some cases. Varoufakis didn't have the final say on if Greece left the Euro. It has been quite public that he disagrees with a lot about what unfolded, including the decision to remain given the outcome of negotiations. The idea that peo…
Varoufakis was the mastermind of the approach to extort the Germans as they would back off and approve a debt relief. It was his masterplan and that's why the Syriza party proposed to him to take the leading role in the negotiations from the position of the financing minister. This has repeatedly been confirmed by all parties, both Varoufakis and members of the government. There's a book coming in September from Varo…
Come on...
This is actually part of the plot of the movie (Three Days of the Condor) and book (Six days of the Condor). The protagonist works at a CIA site where they read basically everything released and break down the plots to see if it has any strategic value and/or state secrets. If I had to guess, this still goes on at the state level, but this article is about making this sort of data (minus the state secrets awareness)…
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Someone clueless speaking confidently is always a joy to read.
Well I happen to live in Greece so I witnessed first hand the results of his reign. You probably have no idea how it is to live in a country that has capital controls so let me enlighten you. The first months, until the system was somewhat stabilized, in order to pay for servers and such we had to ask for favors from Greeks who lived abroad. Imagine having half a dozen servers to pay and not knowing if you will manag…
Give me a break, young man, it was a common thing in many places until the 80's.
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Speaking of whom - a friend and I were the other day wondering Just Why On Earth none of his SciFi appears to have been optioned for conversion to other media. I can imagine scope, complexity and presumably huge budget leaving prospective optioners with slightly soiled breeks, but all the same — not even a hope of one of the tales in The State of the Art?
I don't remember all of the stories in State of the Art, but I'm finding it hard to see the ones I do working as a movie for people not already immersed in the Culture universe. I could see Consider Phlebas or Player of Games as a miniseries though.
I think SotA was the third Banks book I read, after The Crow Road and The Wasp Factory, and I don't recall there being any gulf of appreciation from not having being previously immersed in The Culture.
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Just because I am not clear, are you suggesting that the pharmaceutical industry be unregulated? You don't want your pharmacy subjected to regulation? How about professional engineers and physicians?
The pharmaceutical industry has nothing to do with how many pharmacies will be allowed to operate. In Greece, up until recently, the government controlled how many pharmacies will open and where. Pharmacies ought to be owned by pharmacists. If say, a company wanted to open a chain of pharmacies all over the country they couldn't, unless all shareholders were pharmacists. And that's not all of the story, super markets…
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Speaking of whom - a friend and I were the other day wondering Just Why On Earth none of his SciFi appears to have been optioned for conversion to other media. I can imagine scope, complexity and presumably huge budget leaving prospective optioners with slightly soiled breeks, but all the same — not even a hope of one of the tales in The State of the Art?
Same question for a ton of science fiction and fantasy. Some things that could be excellent on the silver screen, or as a television series: • Fritz Leiber's "Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser". I've not seen anything indicating anyone has ever even started development on a movie for this. • Richard and Wendy Pini's "Elfquest". Warner Brothers announced this in 2008, but canned it because they thought it might compete with…
I've jotted down your other suggestions for further reading, thanks!
Reminds of this story from a while ago: the head writer for Call of Duty switched to working at a think tank, given his experience imagining the future of warfare. http://foreignpolicy.com/2014/09/22/call-of-duty-star-video-...
Details are still scant: https://www.wired.com/2007/03/foiled_by_foia_/