http://simonwillison.net/2023-11-11T01:09:55+00:00Simon Willison2023-11-11T01:09:55+00:002023-11-11T01:09:55+00:00https://simonwillison.net/2023/Nov/11/charles-stross/#atom-tag

<blockquote cite="https://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2023/11/dont-create-the-torment-nexus.html"><p>Did you ever wonder why the 21st century feels like we're living in a bad cyberpunk novel from the 1980s?</p> <p>It's because these guys read those cyberpunk novels and mistook a dystopia for a road map. They're rich enough to bend reality to reflect their desires. But we're [sci-fi authors] not futurists, we're entertainers! We like to spin yarns about the Torment Nexus because it's a cool setting for a noir detective story, not because we think Mark Zuckerberg or Andreesen Horowitz should actually pump several billion dollars into creating it.</p></blockquote> <p class="cite">&mdash; <a href="https://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2023/11/dont-create-the-torment-nexus.html">Charles Stross</a></p> <p>Tags: <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/charlie-stross">charlie-stross</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/science-fiction">science-fiction</a></p>

2018-11-03T17:47:16+00:002018-11-03T17:47:16+00:00https://simonwillison.net/2018/Nov/3/charles-stross/#atom-tag

<blockquote cite="https://publishing.tor.com/thelabyrinthindex-charlesstross/9781250196088/"><p>Every bitcoin proof-of-work mined is an incremental addition to a vast distributed summoning ritual powering the demon-soul at the heart of the maze, the computational equivalent of a Buddhist prayer wheel spinning in a Himalayan breeze.</p></blockquote> <p class="cite">&mdash; <a href="https://publishing.tor.com/thelabyrinthindex-charlesstross/9781250196088/">Charles Stross</a></p> <p>Tags: <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/charlie-stross">charlie-stross</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/bitcoin">bitcoin</a></p>

2017-11-09T22:50:19+00:002017-11-09T22:50:19+00:00https://simonwillison.net/2017/Nov/9/stross/#atom-tag

<blockquote cite="https://twitter.com/cstross/status/928669086967586817"><p>[On a startup using machine learning to encourage people to get addicted to apps] This technology is so unethical it needs to be criminalized globally, before it evolves into a Fermi Paradox solution... and I generally DON'T think banning technologies is a good idea. But this is like a neuroscience homebrew dirty nuke.</p></blockquote> <p class="cite">&mdash; <a href="https://twitter.com/cstross/status/928669086967586817">Charlie Stross</a></p> <p>Tags: <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/charlie-stross">charlie-stross</a></p>

2016-09-11T22:23:00+00:002016-09-11T22:23:00+00:00https://simonwillison.net/2016/Sep/11/lovecraftinspired-fiction-and-cookbooks-unrelated/#atom-tag

<p><em>My answer to <a href="http://ask.metafilter.com/300357/Lovecraft-inspired-fiction-and-cookbooks-unrelated#4351289">Lovecraft-inspired fiction and cookbooks (unrelated!)</a> on Ask MetaFilter</em></p> <p>Have you considered the Laundry Files series by Charles Stross? They are novels about a secret UK government department which fights off lovecraftian threats while suffering through the typical burucracry you would expect from the UK government.</p> <p>Tags: <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/ask-metafilter">ask-metafilter</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/books">books</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/charlie-stross">charlie-stross</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/cookbooks">cookbooks</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/fiction">fiction</a></p>

2007-07-08T17:36:47+00:002007-07-08T17:36:47+00:00https://simonwillison.net/2007/Jul/8/charlies/#atom-tag

<p><strong><a href="http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2007/07/unpacking_the_zeitgeist.html">Unpacking the Zeitgeist</a></strong></p> On WoW corpse spamming: “There are thirty years’ worth of future shock condensed into this one news item [...] a harsh warning about the difficulty of accurately portraying plausible futures in literature.” <p>Tags: <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/charlie-stross">charlie-stross</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/futurism">futurism</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/science-fiction">science-fiction</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/worldofwarcraft">worldofwarcraft</a></p>