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Big Companies and the Military Are Paying Novelists to Write Sci-Fi for Them

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Re: Big Companies and the Military Are Paying Novelists to Write Sci-Fi for Them

#141

Post by savvidis »

elorant wrote: post #67
RodericDay wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I grew up in Peru and knew lots of kids who didn't know anything about their own country outside of their little get-rich-quick schemes, and hated anyone who rocked the boat, even as fierce critics sounded warning bells of challenges ahead. The fact that some aspiring-rich techpreneur reduces his complex gambit like you do here is not at all surprising to me. ___ hn is stopping me from replying downstream so: And yet…

Ad hominem attacks don't work in here dude. This is HN. We either speak with arguments or not at all. Update: I never forbid you for questioning me because I'm Greek. All I said was that as a Greek I know first hand the results of his actions. If you want to argue on that, feel free to do so. As for my background, you don't know it and that's the thing. You're assuming that I'm rich(-ish) and thus drawing a conclusio…

Hey man, "chapeau" for trying to explain how many of us feel. It is interesting to see that many people think they know more than you about greek crisis just because they have read some articles on the news. Also impressed that Gianis' PR worked so well outside Greece. He proved a clever dude for his own sake

Re: Big Companies and the Military Are Paying Novelists to Write Sci-Fi for Them

#142

Post by thinkfurther »

aeorgnoieang wrote: post #109
ZenoArrow wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can use sci-fi novels as a way to normalise actions. Take drone warfare for example. If we actually thought about what that meant, it's pretty terrifying, but we've been conditioned by our media to find it fairly ordinary.

Terrifying is ordinary tho; just look at every other living creature ever.

Terrifying is you seeing your mother being bombed to shreds, not you handwaving it away with some generalized blah. Terrifying is actually you being in a concentration camp, not others being in a concentration camp while you say "oh well, just like anything else". For a story about sci-fi, there's a lot of professed lovers of it who would make someone like Isaac Asimov or Frank Herbert outright puke. You have no imagination, you have no guts, you have no sense of your own responsibility. You're someone great people write about, not for. Take it personal, but divide it up by dozens of people in this thread, all of whom warrant no more words than these.

Re: Big Companies and the Military Are Paying Novelists to Write Sci-Fi for Them

#143

Post by carapace »

detritus wrote: post #138
tzs wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 had problems with Niven — his scope is grand and majestic, but I've often found his narrative a little bit clunky and paint by numbers, if that makes any sense? I've jotted down your other suggestions for further reading, thanks!

Niven was once my favorite Sci-Fi author, but I think I know what you mean.

Have you read "The Book of the New Sun" by Gene Wolfe? It is really really good.

Re: Big Companies and the Military Are Paying Novelists to Write Sci-Fi for Them

#144

Post by astrange »

detritus wrote: post #138
tzs wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 had problems with Niven — his scope is grand and majestic, but I've often found his narrative a little bit clunky and paint by numbers, if that makes any sense? I've jotted down your other suggestions for further reading, thanks!

Niven's short story characters always seemed to be celibate men with no friends who owned a spaceship for some reason, vs. a high school physics problem. (see Neutron Star)

Did have a pretty good run around Ringworld or Integral Trees, which could be good with rewrites, though I think he went on to become such an "I'm so smart" skeptic type he turned into a global warming denialist?

Re: Big Companies and the Military Are Paying Novelists to Write Sci-Fi for Them

#145

Post by narag »

elorant wrote: post #102
Apocryphon wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So you're advocating for your country to undergo the same sort of economic shock therapy that other states before have undergone?

Why, do you think that if we exit the EU things will become instantly better? It will be much, much worse for the foreseeable future. Greece isn't self-sustained. We import pretty much everything, from oil to fertilizers.

Why, do you think that if we exit the EU things will become instantly better?

Actually most economists that I've read from very different camps agree that the main problem in EU is monetary union without political union. Specifically, European nations used to solve that kind of crisis devaluating currencies, now an impossible measure. So taking Greece completely out of the Union was a sensible proposition... among others. It wasn't the decision that was finally taken, but it doesn't seem so weird at all.

If you take some time to think about it, the problems that you mention in other comments like high pensions demand extremely hard measures to be solved. People won't give up what they consider their well-deserved rights so even if you plan to remove red tapes and throttle the public money tap, it would take a long time with strikes and social unrest everywhere. That kind of problems are never solved with fair measures unfortunately. So whatever you think Varoufakis was wrong about, I'm very sure nobody had a right answer for it, including the current path.

Best of luck, anyway.

Re: Big Companies and the Military Are Paying Novelists to Write Sci-Fi for Them

#146

Post by 4bpp »

elorant wrote: post #128
KGIII wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

As of four years ago, Germany at least had the same restriction on operating pharmacies (I was not aware of any legal restriction on their number, but it wouldn't surprise me either).

Re: Big Companies and the Military Are Paying Novelists to Write Sci-Fi for Them

#147

Post by jessaustin »

guelo wrote: post #106
elorant wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Yea but now you're stuck with a lost generation of no growth for the next 20-30 years, and no national pride. Seems like it was worth fighting to avoid having your kids and your kids' kids groveling the Germans forever. The Brits are leaving voluntarily because they have some fucking pride.

Greece didn't have great options at that point. If they had left EU, they could have unilaterally restructured the German loans, but they would have been hung out to dry with respect to the refugees. They don't have an easily closed border. Suddenly the ridiculous Western decision to destabilize Libya and Syria makes a kind of hideous sense...

Re: Big Companies and the Military Are Paying Novelists to Write Sci-Fi for Them

#148

Post by Trundle »

elorant wrote: post #60
RodericDay wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Being directly affected by a situation should absolutely not be a point for being more knowledgeable on it. Emotional appeal is the refuge of the ignorant.

Re: Big Companies and the Military Are Paying Novelists to Write Sci-Fi for Them

#149

Post by jessaustin »

carapace wrote: post #143
detritus wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've had problems with Niven — his scope is grand and majestic, but I've often found his narrative a little bit clunky and paint by numbers, if that makes any sense? I've jotted down your other suggestions for further reading, thanks!

Niven was once my favorite Sci-Fi author, but I think I know what you mean. Have you read "The Book of the New Sun" by Gene Wolfe? It is really really good.

It would be difficult to do Wolfe justice in a film? Maybe something self-contained like Pirate Freedom or The Fifth Head of Cerberus, but everything in the "Solar Cycle" has such bizarre complications and connections to everything else that a movie couldn't avoid making many cruel cuts.

Re: Big Companies and the Military Are Paying Novelists to Write Sci-Fi for Them

#150

Post by sundvor »

noir_lord wrote: post #132
obsurveyor wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry to break it to you but he passed away 4 years ago. :(

Special Circumstances is a reference to the "totally not a military but we happen have found this incredible amount of fire power just lying around" non-military section of the Culture culture. 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…

Ah, RIP Iain Banks - love, love his culture series - beginning with all those brilliantly named AI ships.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_spacecraft_in_the_Cult...

I think I'm up for a re-read of the whole series now. Cheers!

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