@PaulGrahamRaven@assemblag.es
@PaulGrahamRaven@assemblag.es avatar

PaulGrahamRaven

@PaulGrahamRaven@assemblag.es

Science fiction writer turned tech critic turned STS/critical futures academic turned consulting critical foresight practitioner and worldbuilder-for-hire. Resident in (and aspiring citizen of) Malmö, Sweden.

This profile is from a federated server and may be incomplete. Browse more on the original instance.

jon, to random
@jon@gruene.social avatar

My timeline is full of people - notably @rikefranke & @JoCzechowska - battling with delayed international trains today

The problem is this: if Thalys or DB offer a totally lousy service, WHAT IS THE CONSEQUENCE?

Pretty much none

It’s not that a better operator can step in. There’s no political consequence for either firm (DB is 100% state owned, Eurostar-Thalys >80%). Even if today’s annoyed passengers drive next time, the service will still be full - as capacity is low

PaulGrahamRaven,
@PaulGrahamRaven@assemblag.es avatar

@jon Speaking as a Brit, I can assure you that privately-owned rail service providers are at least as bad at providing a reliable service, if not more so, than state-owned ones.

(Though, in what is surely one of the most piquant ironies on the planet, many of those private providers in England are in fact owned in whole by state providers elsewhere in Europe.)

jhilden, to random
@jhilden@vis.social avatar

Very cool
”River is a visual connection engine
Clear your mind and surf laterally though image space.
May contain NSFW content

Right click any image to open it on Are.na for source, full res, and human-curated connections.”

https://river.maxbittker.com/

PaulGrahamRaven,
@PaulGrahamRaven@assemblag.es avatar

@jhilden Very cool, but holy crap it just ate 1gb of swap in about three minutes of clicking about, so beware if you've got a lot of stuff running already

nordicnews, to random
@nordicnews@mas.to avatar

Sweden's Carl XVI Gustaf celebrates 50 years as king https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/swedens-carl-xvi-gustaf-celebrates-50-years-king-2023-09-15/ (🔒)

PaulGrahamRaven,
@PaulGrahamRaven@assemblag.es avatar

@nordicnews With a(nother) drink, presumably.

Loukas, to random
@Loukas@mastodon.nu avatar

My favourite Eric Cantona story is how he said in an interview that he likes the poet Rimbaud, and Manchester United fans started sending him Rambo memorabilia.

PaulGrahamRaven,
@PaulGrahamRaven@assemblag.es avatar

@Loukas The seagulls really do follow the trawler, don't they?

dougs, to random
@dougs@nd2.uk avatar

Owing to the unique way in which Google is run, after I posted my Google restaurant review on Google Maps, and the Google Maps Review system sent me an email saying "thank you for your review on Google Maps" to my Google Mail email address, the Google Mail anti-spam system classified the thank you from Google Maps as spam, and included the explanation "Why is this message in spam? It is similar to messages that were identified as spam in the past."

Well played, Google. I might post a review.

PaulGrahamRaven,
@PaulGrahamRaven@assemblag.es avatar

@dougs Just to follow this up with a timely extra datapoint: yesterday a client signed me up for a corporate Gmail account under their domain umbrella; this morning I just retrieved the "you have a new G**gle account with [x]" email from the spamtrap of my own Gmail account.

PaulGrahamRaven, to random
@PaulGrahamRaven@assemblag.es avatar

Most economists agree that by the time you're 40, you should:

  • lie dead but dreaming in your house at R'lyeh

  • PH'NGLUI MGLW'NAFH CTHULHU R'LYEH WGAH'NAGL FHTAGN

PaulGrahamRaven, to random
@PaulGrahamRaven@assemblag.es avatar

It's Container Week at my building, and someone appears to have tossed a big-ass gaming rig of uncertain (to me) vintage. Even left the HDD in there, which is sloppy opsec, but whatevs. Guess we'll have to try to boot it with Linux USB stick, see it it's worth fixing up; pretty much guarantee it'll run better games than either of my two laptops.

PaulGrahamRaven,
@PaulGrahamRaven@assemblag.es avatar

Bit of g**gling suggests the mobo may be a decade or more old, but was pretty high-end for the time.

PaulGrahamRaven,
@PaulGrahamRaven@assemblag.es avatar

Powers up, boots straight to USB without any BIOS faffing. Mint Live reports Core i5-4670k processor, AMD Curacao XT / Trinidad graphics. Anyone got any idea how those will stand up to mid-range contemporary rigs?

PaulGrahamRaven,
@PaulGrahamRaven@assemblag.es avatar

@ahmetasabanci Heh - finding a GPU is the trick these days, isn't it? Shouldn't have been so antagonistic to the crypto people.... ;)

Still, that's not bad news at the price. Five years... so No Man's Sky, probably, but Cyberpunk, no chance?

Thanks to you and your brother both!

PaulGrahamRaven,
@PaulGrahamRaven@assemblag.es avatar

@ahmetasabanci OK, interesting. People seem to be flipping 1660s on [Swedish free-ads website] for between 110-180USD equivalent. Not crazy money.

PaulGrahamRaven,
@PaulGrahamRaven@assemblag.es avatar

@ahmetasabanci In fact, some guy just uptown from me is asking 1000sek for one... 🤔

PaulGrahamRaven,
@PaulGrahamRaven@assemblag.es avatar

@ahmetasabanci Update: picking up a 1660 (boxed, with receipt) from a guy downtown in Malmö tomorrow evening, ~100USD equivalent. 😎

Also put a bid down on 2x8GB 2400MHz DDR3 (also used), around 40 Yanqui dollar. And if I drop another 60 on a decent SSD, and that'll be one hell of a cheap system from my p.o.v.!

Loukas, to random
@Loukas@mastodon.nu avatar

A David Bowie science fiction musical by the Muppets called The Rise and Fall of Piggy Stardust send toot.

PaulGrahamRaven,
@PaulGrahamRaven@assemblag.es avatar

@Loukas This is it, man. You've peaked.

(I'm kind of amazed that Jim Henson's mob haven't done this already, tbh; it's the sort of thing that Bowie might happily have signed the paperwork for, particularly during the wilderness years of the late Nineties.)

PaulGrahamRaven,
@PaulGrahamRaven@assemblag.es avatar

@Loukas It was, and I'm very fond of it, though it is more than a little cringey in places. Still endlessly quotable, though.

(How I can always tell I'm going to be friends with someone: they answer a question with "nothing", I then counter-respond by putting a hand on my hip and saying "NOTHING? Nothing, tra-la-la?", and they don't look at me as if I just grew a second head.)

tante, to ai
@tante@tldr.nettime.org avatar

The Future of Life Institute (weird TESCREAL cultists) has directly moved from open letters asking for "development pauses" for "AI" to producing podcasts talking about magical, perfect solutions to challenges.

"What if everyone got a unicorn that pooped chocolate bars?" is a question you can talk about while stoned and have a lovely time but pretending that this is helpful (or realistic) in any way is painfully dumb.

PaulGrahamRaven,
@PaulGrahamRaven@assemblag.es avatar

@tante These fucking guys.

"What if AI could blah-di-blah-di-blah?"

Well, what if it couldn't? We know one certain answer to that one: your fucking grant money would disappear overnight. Now there's a rational utopia I can get behind...

jonty, to random
@jonty@chaos.social avatar

Sealand 1967: We are a sovereign micronation and will defend ourselves with lethal force

Sealand 2023: Buy our exclusive keyrings!

PaulGrahamRaven,
@PaulGrahamRaven@assemblag.es avatar

@jonty Less put out by the concept of micronation merch---every state's gotta fill the coffers somehow, amirite?---and more by the cheapo tackiness of this merch in particular.

jonty, to random
@jonty@chaos.social avatar

I had an appointment cancelled because their car license plates were stolen.

This was new to me, and I was curious how common it is - so I filed an FOI with the DVLA for the number of plates reported stolen each year.

Does anyone know what on earth changed in 2018/2019?

PaulGrahamRaven,
@PaulGrahamRaven@assemblag.es avatar

@jonty ANPR met the ULEZ, would be my bet.

PaulGrahamRaven, to writing
@PaulGrahamRaven@assemblag.es avatar

The Plastic Ocean Pirates ride again

The ToC dropped last week, so I figure I can safely announce that I have a story in Jared Shurin's Big Book of Cyberpunk, the USian edition of which is released on September 24th, with a UK edition to follow some time next year.

"Los Piratas del Mar de Plastico" was commissioned by Chairman Bruce for the 2014 Twelve Tomorrows antho from MIT Press, which was surp

https://www.velcro-city.co.uk/the-plastic-ocean-pirates-ride-again/

PaulGrahamRaven, to random
@PaulGrahamRaven@assemblag.es avatar

So I guess now the ToC has dropped officially I can announce that, to my enduring surprise, one of my stories appears in Jared Shurin's Big Book of Cyberpunk.

https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/700576/the-big-book-of-cyberpunk-by-jared-shurin/

"Los Piratas del Mar de Plastico" was commissioned by @bruces for the 2014 Twelve Tomorrows antho from MIT Press, which was surprise enough, but Gardner Dozois picked it up for his annual Best Of the following year. And now this! File under "unexpected accolades", I guess. :)

PaulGrahamRaven,
@PaulGrahamRaven@assemblag.es avatar

I suppose this also means that I no longer get to hem and haw over whether I write (or at least have written) cyberpunk, even if here I'm bundled in the "post-" subgenre. Eh, I can live with it; to be in the same book as some of those names and stories is worth bearing a categorisation for, wouldn't you say?

PaulGrahamRaven,
@PaulGrahamRaven@assemblag.es avatar

@ahmetasabanci It felt pretty weird, but I actually found out nearly a year ago (because publishing moves sloooooow), so the excitement has settled to a gentle glow of satisfaction by now. :)

PaulGrahamRaven,
@PaulGrahamRaven@assemblag.es avatar

@ahmetasabanci Those are kind words, thank you. :)

PaulGrahamRaven, to random
@PaulGrahamRaven@assemblag.es avatar

I forget who it was that prompted me to sign up for the newsletter known as The Future party, but I guess I should thank whoever it was for giving me a whole list of new things to hate every day.

(I also find it rather telling that Gmail thinks it's spam; after another week or so, I may well concur. The indignities we endure in the name of horizon scanning, eh?)

PaulGrahamRaven,
@PaulGrahamRaven@assemblag.es avatar

@ahmetasabanci Ah, I think you're right, it was Warren, wasn't it?

I think the way I'm reading it now -- literally just scrolling through it in thirty seconds, following no links -- is as deeply as i'll ever want to engage with it. It's a useful way to find out things I would probably otherwise ignore. But the pastiche Massively Online voice of the thing is just awful, as are the shameless ads for bullshit "AI" products that presumably make it a viable business proposition.

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