Just because a new technology is developed does not mean we scrap all the old technology. Otherwise you end up with what I call “Star Trek” syndrome - basically using the most advanced technology when a simpler (and cheaper) technology would do (ie - that’s great they invented the force field. I think the old-fashioned “4 walls and a door” might make a more effective brig")
A few years ago there was a lot of talk about the “paperless office”. If anything, the computer has made it possible to generate MORE paper, not less.
Such a list has little meaning unless alternatives are offered…and you can’t irradiate knowledge so in essence you can’t taken any of it back…only improve upon what is.
Mr. Sterling might as well belong to the flat earth society for he lacks vision and can only be critical in retrospect…he should be in politics…
I would agree in one special instance: Christmas carols. I loooooath canned Christmas music.
Anyway, I don’t think nuclear weapons are going anywhere soon. They may be effectively “unusable”, but all the nations that have them benefit from the fact that they could use them. Look at North Korea: the capacity to produce a half-dozen fission bombs turns this tiny backward dictatorship into a strategic power.
I agree with him in a general sense of long-term human life and progress of technology, but why did he single out coal from natural gas and oil and orimulsion and other fossil fuels? I know Bruce Sterling isn’t that Missouri-mule stupid, so he must have been speaking/writing without thinking it over too much.
I think you can assume that from his listing nuclear weapons on the same level as breast implants. The byline does call him “a humorist and science-fiction writer”. There’s no e-mail link to ask him the question directly, but there’s a message board link at the end of the article. No posts yet, though.
Perhaps he was thinking of the greater nonburned material with coal that makes it produce more smoke than oil or gas, at least in the great part of the world with less-stringent pollution controls than we still have in the US.
Don’t get me wrong, I actually like Bruce Sterling a lot - in fact, I own a copy of everything he’s published, including The Hacker Crackdown (yes, I bought it even though it was PD). That’s why I think he didn’t put a lot of thought into it. Although he does not do nearly as much factual research into his books as, say, Neil Stephenson, he seems to be pretty much on the ball.
Maybe I’ll drop him a line. I’ll mention Michael Moorcock referred me.
One good reason some of us have dial up, as opposed to any kind of Broadband connection, is because of price. My wife and I use AOL for example (And if anybody tells us to switch, I’ve talked about it with my wife, and for various reasons relating to the fact that she has a web site on space that is provided for free since she is an AOL member, she doesn’t want to switch) it would cost us $30 more, on top of what we already pay.
And if were forced to go Broadband, we would need to go DSL for the same reason we have satellite TV instead of cable. Our house isn’t set up for cable.
Also, for everybody attacking fax machines, did anybody stop and think about the fact, that somtimes documents need to be transmitted to people who have to sign them? Like faxing documents to a real estate agent when buying a house, or for loan documents, and so on.
Yes, yes, I know that there is such a thing electronic signatures, but as far as I know, this technology isn’t wide spread and only used by a few big firms to conduct business with each other, right?
Clusterbombs will not die , if anything they are going to get more and more smarter as time goes on. Right now they are pretty much limited to anti personal and mine layers. But the brilliant weapons in the piple line ,will include anti armor and much much more.
Bruce Sterling is a noted cyberpunk and science fiction author. He is one of the “big three” in the genre (by most people’s measures), and is also the author of the very acclaimed public domain (meaning, use Google and find it so you can legally download it) work “The Hacker Crackdown”.
