New Yorker: The Woman Who Reimagined the Dystopian Novel https://www.newyorker.com/books/second-read/the-woman-who-reimagined-the-dystopian-novel #NewYorker #Books/SecondRead #BookReview #Dystopias #Fiction #Novels

Ich hätte es auch lieber gehabt, dass #cyberpunk #dystopias Science Fiction geblieben wären, aber wie es aussieht, bekommen wir genau die düstere Zukunft, die wir befürchtet haben. Nur leider nicht so cool wie im Kino.

#Dystopias #HungerGames #PluralViews

https://youtu.be/xCQ3ZdnptUM

"X Corp" is like a #parody name for an #evil #corporation from a bad #movie

Its like elon looked at #cyberpunk #dystopias and said "yeah lets do that"

Wired: The Creator of ‘Silo’ Says Same-Day AI Movies Are Coming Soon https://www.wired.com/story/silo-apple-tv-plus-hugh-howey-interview/ #Tech #wired #TechNews #IT #Technology via @morganeogerbc #sciencefiction #Culture/Books #Culture/TV #Publishing #Dystopias #Culture #appletv #Sci-fi #Books

The Creator of ‘Silo’ Says Same-Day AI Movies Are Coming Soon - Author and tech thinker Hugh Howey spoke with WIRED about his new Apple TV+ show, artific... - https://www.wired.com/story/silo-apple-tv-plus-hugh-howey-interview/ #culture/books #culture/tv #dystopias #culture

New Yorker: Catherine Lacey’s Provocative Novel in Disguise https://www.newyorker.com/books/under-review/catherine-laceys-provocative-novel-in-disguise #NewYorker #Books/UnderReview #Disguises #Dystopias #Novels

Latest bog book is Mick Farren's C.O.R.P.S.E. from 1986.

It's a re-read after many years, and I'm glad I'm sitting where I am because elements of the wordbuilding are closer to where we are now than is entirely comfortable.

#books #reading #Bookstodon #Dystopias

#Dystopias #Biometrics #Surveillance #Crypto #Cryptocurrencies #AI #Worldcoin: Called Worldcoin, its three-part mission — to create a global ID, a global currency and an app that enables payment, purchases and transfers using its own token, along with other digital assets and traditional currencies — is as ambitious as it is technically complicated, but the opportunity is also vast.

In broad strokes, here’s how the outfit, still in beta and based in San Francisco and Berlin, works: To use the service, users must download its app, then have their iris scanned using a silver, melon-sized orb that houses a custom optical system. Once the scan is complete, the individual is added to a database of verified humans, and Worldcoin creates a unique cryptographic “hash” or equation that’s tied to that real person. The scan isn’t saved, but the hash can be used in the future to prove the person’s identity anonymously through the app, which includes a private key that links to a shareable public key. Because the system is designed to verify that a person is actually a unique individual, if the person wants to accept a payment or fund a specific project, the app generates a “zero-knowledge proof” — or mathematical equation — that allows the individual to provide only the necessary amount of information to a third party. Some day, the technology might even help people to vote on how AI should be governed. (A piece in the outlet IEEE Spectrum better spells out the specifics of Worldcoin’s tech.)"

https://techcrunch.com/2023/03/07/worldcoin-cofounded-by-sam-altman-is-betting-the-next-big-thing-in-ai-is-proving-you-are-human/

@meansofescape

Can you imagine the outcry if they'd set this series in the contemporary West? Politicians would be blustering, cops would be whining...

... I love that SF and Fantasy are so dismissed that they can become de facto samizdat even in plain sight.

And another reason why we need more #Utopian future visions. #Dystopias are very convenient for capitalism, removing even our dreams of a better future.

I've never been able to read or watch apocalyptic dramas. They make me want to prepare for the worst. I stopped years ago.

The pandemic has raised this to a new level.

Which I didn't realize until I tried to watch "The Last of Us."

I'm stubborn.
Still watching.
But...

#TheLastOfUs #movies #dystopias

New Yorker: “M3GAN,” Reviewed: A Clever, Hollow A.I. Spin on “Frankenstein” https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-front-row/m3gan-reviewed-a-clever-hollow-ai-spin-on-frankenstein #NewYorker #ArtificialIntelligence #Culture/TheFrontRow #ScienceFiction #MovieReview #Dystopias #Horror #Films

New Yorker: “M3GAN,” Reviewed: A Clever, Hollow A.I. Spin on “Frankenstein” https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-front-row/m3gan-reviewed-a-clever-hollow-ai-spin-on-frankenstein #NewYorker #ArtificialIntelligence #Culture/TheFrontRow #ScienceFiction #MovieReview #Dystopias #Horror #Films

@evan

WOAAHHH! THAT IS FUCKING AWESOME!!
oh myyyy!!!

:pensive_party_blob: :ablobblewobble: :ablobcatrainbow:

And thank you. I was shy dressing up at first but got into it properly. I love it now!

Would you like to read my essay on #StarTrek and the need for utopic visions? 🤤

OF COURSE YOU WOULD:

https://bzangygroink.co.uk/archives/2016/09/08/happy-50th-birthday-star-trek/

#SociologyOfStarTrek #MediaStudies #Sociology #Utopias #Dystopias

All #political #ideologies lead to #dystopias of their own making when #extremists are allowed to take power:
Left —> Communism
Right —> Fascism
Liberal —> Anarchism
Conservative —> Theocracy
Only in a working #democracy can the forces be balanced. The trick is making all the people feel heard, have a little opportunity to push the wheel of society in the direction they like, and for those that see the system from above to shuffle those people in the best place before they make their push. 🤔

All #political #ideologies lead to #dystopias of their own making when #extremists are allowed to take power:

Left —> Communism
Right —> Fascism
Liberal —> Anarchism
Conservative —> Theocracy

Only in a working #democracy can the forces be balanced. The trick is making all the people feel heard, have a little opportunity to push the wheel of society in the direction they like, and for those that see the system from above to shuffle those people in the right place before allowing them to push.

The truth is that #Americandemocracy is essentially broken beyond fixing and is unable to withstand a #right-wing #populist movement determined to destroy it. It will take multiple miracles to avoid getting one or more of the “bad” endings in this Choose Your Own Adventure of #dystopias. The best realistic case resembles a #JimCrow America from the 1920s, complete with a #GildedAge, #massmigration, #violentmilitias running amok, and #no-go zones for #minorities.

https://newrepublic.com/article/167100/republican-party-turning-america-into-hungary

Finalising my #edit of my #WIP The Bones Beneath, which involves weaving light between the layers of darkness that the story is built on.

Was reminded of Irish Poet John O'Donohue, who said (paraphrasing) that if people could spy a sliver of beauty out of the corner of their eyes, they could withstand great suffering.
Weaving that sliver through the book has taught me that humanity is resilient. We can find joy in the darkest places. Even in #dystopias.

I'm just getting into this issue of The New Statesman ("State of Emergency") in which Margaret Atwood discusses #hope in the context of #dystopias. (Also Solnit, Weiwei, Ghosh, others)

She mentions a project she designed for a platform called "Disco" – anybody familiar with it? Have something to say about it?

https://www.newstatesman.com/culture/2022/10/margaret-atwood-dystopias

Having just read the introduction of "The Handmaid's Tale", one paragraph really stuck out to me. "Having been born in 1939 and come to consciousness during World War II, I knew that established orders could vanish overnight. Change could also be as fast as lighting. It can't happen here could not be depended on: anything could happen anywhere, given the circumstances." #books #quotes #fiction #dystopias #novels