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I have not read the article yet, but this is what I predict the contents will be, namely "Cory Doctorow Wants You to Know He Has a New Book Coming Out." I pred
by californiadreem 4y ago
I have not read the article yet, but this is what I predict the contents will be, namely "Cory Doctorow Wants You to Know He Has a New Book Coming Out."
I predict it will be an interview where Doctorow's trenchant commentary on how the emerging cyberdystopia can be meaningfully thwarted is by buying yet another novel by him about how a new technology is only being wielded incorrectly and if only the plucky hackers use it in transgressive ways, it will undermine the Institutional foundations of the technological order and not reinforce the status quo.
- bo1024 4y agoIt's been an hour, did you read it yet? I would rate your prediction "mostly false". Interesting comments on Big Tech and politics, blockchain, development of cyberpunk, future of AI, etc.
- californiadreem 4y ago> "In your next novel, “Red Team Blues,” you focus on Martin Hench, a sixty-seven-year-old forensic accountant, who is tasked with recovering a set of stolen signing keys that, with some technical finagling, can permit one to rewrite a blockchain’s distributed ledger, swiping assets from one side to the other, as it were. Do you think blockchain tech is less secure than enthusiasts portray it to be?" Color me shocked.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- culi 4y agoThis is like every article/interview with authors ever. I'm not sure how much you listen to podcasts but most of the time when an author is being interviewed they have a new book coming out. Doing a round of interviews is one of the main ways authors raise awareness about their new books. Digital magazines, podcasts, talk shows, reddit AMAs, etc are all avenues for raising awareness that are actively encouraged by book publishers
- jkestner 4y agoIf Doctorow seems like he’s selling his books harder, it’s only because he writes a LOT. Usually his posts have links to previous posts. He writes more in one space than many writers do, so why wouldn’t he hyperlink to his existing thoughts?
- eli 4y agoIs it not possible that writing books about a subject and giving interviews about that same subject come from a sincerely held concern?
- micromacrofoot 4y agousing your argument to sell something always weakens your argument
- fsflover 4y agoHow about using books to expand your (strong) argument?
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- altcognito 4y agoIsn't this the basis for the operation of a University?
- californiadreem 4y agoDoctorow (and Neil Stephenson and William Gibson to a lesser extent) have been doing this shtick for almost 20 years. They're either naïve to their real purpose--selling impotent dissent--or hacks knowingly selling impotent dissent. Neither reflects well on their sincerity.
- germinalphrase 4y agoIt’s possible that they believe it’s not impotent.
- californiadreem 4y ago"It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it."
- zh3 4y agoPre-judging an article without even reading it doesn't feel like the HN way (it would be interesting to know what percentage of HN readers would comment on an article they haven't read). Personally, I do think he has a point. Agreed, he may make it repeatedly - in somewhat different ways - but none the less, I have sympathy for his point of view. I am sick to the back teeth of having control of my own computer being slowly taken away from me, one finger at a time.
- californiadreem 4y agoI totally sympathize with the viewpoint. My contention is that monetizing that viewpoint acts as a pressure release that personally enriches Cory Doctorow and his publishers at the expense of actual effective action to avert the disaster. This is the same argument that I levy at professional "effective altruists"--if you're profiting by and not subsidizing altuism (i.e. comparable net worth to those you're helping), you're by definition not an altruist, you're a symbiont at best and a parasite at worst. RMS is an impotent (and some would say toxic) emissary for open software and hardware, but at least his principles directly align with his lifestyle. No one is being ferried into nascent manipulative technologies because of their supposedly "revolutionary" potential on his account.
- OrwellianChild 4y agoEarnest question: Is your opinion that writing books and selling them is a bad form of advocacy? Is there a better one that doesn't require independent wealth? I'm pretty familiar with Doctorow's body of work, and he writes freely for magazines, comes on podcasts, speaks at Defcon, and generally lives in service of the ideas that are articulated in his books. Part of advocacy requires messaging the same ideas over and over in different ways, since each person will be converted by a slightly different equation of messaging and delivery. I'm not sure I can agree with the nihilistic cynicism that rejects all text that has profit potential.
- lgreiv 4y agoHaving read a couple of prompts and replies in the past days, I am like 75% sure this response was written by ChatGPT based on its emphasis to stress uncertainty. Then again, HN is the place of public discourse where I would expect expressing such caveats the most from human actors, too. That being said, the assessment sounds solid.
- californiadreem 4y agoI don't know whether I should offended or flattered. If I were to identify as anything, it would be a Pyrrhonist, so what do I know?
- lgreiv 4y agoProbably flattered.
- Spooky23 4y ago“In Cory Doctorow’s new memoir, ‘My Navel’, Cory explains why he is the smartest sentient form on the planet.”