Josh's Blog - Comments

Kurt: Where has all the science fiction gone?

nospam@example.com (Kurt) — Tue, 11 Sep 2012 13:48:48 -0400

As Richard Feynman said, there's plenty of room at the bottom. We are getting closer to being able to manipulate matter at the atomic level, arranging molecules or even pieces of molecules at will. People have no concept of just how small machines or materials made like that can be. They're not just "too small to be seen" or "hard to detect", they're far, far smaller than that. But billions of them together can have big macro effects. We are also getting closer to figuring out how DNA works, and mapping our genome in great detail. I would second Greg Bear as a hard SF writer who is always trying to think ahead about things like this.

Space operas are cool and everything, but imagine the changes in Earth-bound society as we become able to manufacture/unleash machines that can track down cancerous cells or arterial plaque within you and snip them apart until they are harmless. Or in a more dystopian vein, similar machines that can be spread by handshakes, that burrow into a politician's brain and snip all the synapses apart one-by-one (leaving aside the question, of course, of how you would tell the difference afterwards). If I were heading up the Secret Service, I wouldn't envy my successors fifty (twenty?) years from now.

I mean... bigger, but smaller... uh... computers... um... SAN DIMAS HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL RULES!

Stanislav Ochotnicky: Where has all the science fiction gone?

nospam@example.com (Stanislav Ochotnicky) — Tue, 11 Sep 2012 03:07:24 -0400

How about William Gibson? Multinational companies more powerful than governments (partially already true I guess), various neural implants and other human-body improvements, AIs and huge amounts of small(ish) everyday things in most of his books. Plus it's a really good read usually, even if you go past the "Neuromancer"

Steven Snow: Where has all the science fiction gone?

nospam@example.com (Steven Snow) — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 17:53:33 -0400

Since we haven't yet reached a Type I civilization level (all planet scale energy available to us - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kardashev_scale) I would say we have some serious work ahead of us to achieve your all encompassing statement that "We do live in the science fiction world of yesterday..." The curve seems to be accelerating though, so your words may be accurate in our life time... maybe.

For some good reading of hard SF try Greg Bear, books like Eon and Eternity come to mind. Heinlein is another good choice, more for the human aspects of space adventure, and man's potential future.

Good question though.

Adam Williamson: Where has all the science fiction gone?

nospam@example.com (Adam Williamson) — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 15:17:07 -0400

I always like to cite Greg Egan as a good example of really 'hard', speculative current sf. Just about anything he wrote will be interesting, and a lot more grounded in 'real science' than a lot of sf.

Keiran "affix" Smith: Linux Will Never Not Always Maybe Get Viruses ... or something

nospam@example.com (Keiran "affix" Smith) — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 23:00:47 -0400

After “Secure Boot” (i.e. restricted boot) is prevalent, and the operating systems are locked down to not allow anyone to sideload any non-OEM software, we could be completely free of trojans and viruses. That might be good for the average level of system security, but it would be a horrible blow to innovation, competition, and the indie/hobbyist developers.

--

The above statement is 100% false. Most common viruses affect the system after boot time. I.E With secure boot it wont make the slightest difference about the number of viruses available.

The article linkes seems to be full of flaws.

The article also goes on to explain how all the different distros are diverse and hard to target.

At the end of the day all distros run the linux kernel, stores most configuration files in /etc and it would be very simple to write cross-distro malware.

That being said however malware in linux will never be as common as windows malware. In my oppinion this is all due to the fact most linux users are more technical than others and use file permissions to control access to their system (i.e no world writable directories). The ones that are not that technical will mostly stick to the distro repos any way.

Stephen Smoogen: Linux Will Never Not Always Maybe Get Viruses ... or something

nospam@example.com (Stephen Smoogen) — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 11:00:52 -0400

Linux will never have viruses.. because people will keep redefining what Linux is to being something can't have viruses. I mean if we go with the GNU line we end up with Linux just being the kernel.. and well a kernel can't have a virus because it needs other stuff to get a virus and that other stuff isn't Linux.

Maury Markowitz: Old computer movies

nospam@example.com (Maury Markowitz) — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 14:50:30 -0500

Uggg. This is a terrible "review". The movie stank on every level, from the horrible "special" effects to the utterly moronic plot, to the terrible acting. Nothing about this movie is good. Nothing.

But that's not the problem. Anyone can make a bad movie, after all. What's really the problem here is that it so utterly misses the point, entirely, of the original story. As is the case for all to many people, the writers got all excited about the "cyber" and utterly missed the "punk".

Punk music, in its most classic UK form, wraps up three important aspects. First is the reduction of the music itself to a bare minimum - just grind out the licks, three chords at most, and get it over with as quickly as possible. After all, point number two is the about the utter failure of modern society, so why write long songs about it? Number three is the utter disregard for everyone, mostly "the establishment" at a high level, but also the listener, and especially the artist themselves. It's not just the society failed, it's that I want it to fail, because I hate it.

The canonical example of punk in its pure form is "Anarchy in the UK" by the Sex Pistols. Johnny's sneering delivery barely drowns out the terrible mixing and sound quality as he stares through the audience and hollers about how everyone and everything is pointless - the UDA is nothing more than a housing board.

Soooo… Johnny Mnemonic. You see, the original story is punk in every essence. Johnny lives on the fringes of society, a high tech thief, sort of, with low-class customers. The story only exists because one of his customers screws up. So Johnny goes on the lam with a thrill-kill bodyguard and gets help from a bunch of techno-rejects living on sweating plywood held together with poorly mixed epoxy. They win, the end.

That's punk. In every way. From it's minimalist writing to its short timeline to its rejection of all of civilized society.

And then there's the movie. Forget everything these that sucked about it, and focus only on whether or not this movie was punk. Was it short? Simple? Did it exist on the fringe? No, no and no! Oh, there was cyber all right, but zero punk whatsoever.

Before Gibson sci-fi looked like westerns or perfect utopia worlds like in 2001. Then along came Star Wars in 1977 and suddenly sci-fi was gritty and real. And then in 1981 Omni publishes Johnny Mnemonic and any final connection with the past breaks apart.

I remember reading Johnny Mnemonic for the first time as a kid in high school. It, quite literally, made my brain start working in a different way.

So that's why this movie deserves to be spit on, not because it royally stank to heaven, but because it ruined everything without ruining everything.

B: Firefox in a sandbox with Fedora

nospam@example.com (B) — Sun, 21 Aug 2011 02:48:36 -0400

Thanks for the great post, as a fellow paranoid nut I'm happy to browse in sandbox. But I having a problem with xsel, it keep saying

xsel: Can't open display: 1
: Success

Steve: How Long Does a Flash Drive Last?

nospam@example.com (Steve) — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 15:53:54 -0400

It would be nice to see same test for USB 3.0 devices. There are too many on a market and the quality is a main concern.

baidu: If a phone tracks you in the forest, does it makes a noise?

nospam@example.com (baidu) — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 04:48:21 -0400

You've clearly missed most of my points, I'm sorry for that.

I'm not saying any of this stuff is right, I wish it wasn't, but at the same time, it's the reality of what we have to live with.

My browser tracks websites visits with my knowledge and express permission. And if I tell it to forget where I've been (or not remember in the first place), it does. This tracking also helps me while it's enabled -- that's the whole point. It's not something the vendor does behind my back for their own benefit and nobody else's.

I'm not talking about your browser, I'm talking about the Internet as a whole. It doesn't matter what you do on the client side, you're being tracked on the server side. They know who you are, you're fooling yourself if you think they don't.

baidu: Encrypting phone calls

nospam@example.com (baidu) — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 04:38:15 -0400

thanks for your post !! it help me very much

Hannah: Firefox in a sandbox with Fedora

nospam@example.com (Hannah) — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 17:00:15 -0400

Big help, big help. And sueplartvie news of course.

Tambrey: If a phone tracks you in the forest, does it makes a noise?

nospam@example.com (Tambrey) — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 16:44:26 -0400

Articles like this really grease the sahtfs of knowledge.

Olivia: Firefox in a sandbox with Fedora

nospam@example.com (Olivia) — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 16:41:00 -0400

Knowledge wants to be free, just like these artielcs!

dv: How Long Does a Flash Drive Last?

nospam@example.com (dv) — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 07:15:58 -0400

I tried that on my USB-stick which I can't write to anymore after just one write. Doesn't work. But it still can read. Pretty awkward, since there are still embarassing photos on it. Don't know how to make it un-readable even by forensics. I'm a bit paranoid and afraid of killing it with fire.