4 ms·

Fascinating stuff, and pretty serendipitous to find it based on a weather hold and a "hmm, that's weird." kind of thing. One of the things a marine biologist sa

Fascinating stuff, and pretty serendipitous to find it based on a weather hold and a "hmm, that's weird." kind of thing. One of the things a marine biologist said to me that struck me was "There are more unexplored areas on this planet than explored, they just happen to be below water."[1] I often wonder if there is some way to harness these things (seeps) given they often spew methane (which could power gas turbines), and have the kinetic energy in the shooting water which a water turbine could harness. If you were seasteading that might make for a good destination point where you could set up your power station on the ocean floor.[2] But another interesting point might be to create some sort of observatory here to take measurements and correlate those with seismic activity of the fault. The next time this fault lets go it is going to do a lot of shaking and tidal waving. Any warning could be really really helpful in saving lives. [1] This in a conversation about "What do research wildlife biologists do given how much we already know about wildlife on this planet." [2] Yes "crazy engineering challenges, yada yada yada" :-)

ceejayoz 4y ago
Peter Watts' (of Blindsight fame) novel Starfish revolves around geothermal harvesting of this rift as you describe. Fun read. https://www.amazon.com/Starfish-Rifters-Trilogy-Peter-Watts/dp/0765315963 https://www.amazon.com/Starfish-Rifters-Trilogy-Peter-Watts/...
- 2mur 4y ago
  Full text from Watts’ site: https://www.rifters.com/real/STARFISH.htm https://www.rifters.com/real/STARFISH.htm
  - rektide 4y ago
    "Rifters" series also has some of the most grimdark-fun & chaotic versions of the "net" that I've ever read. I had an absolute blast with so far the first two books. Watts' mastery of psychology & neurosis & suspense is captured in an incredibly tightly confined dark scary isolated space at the bottom of the ocean. The setting here is just so exceeding. What a series (so far).
    - andrewflnr 4y ago
      GPT has me worried that Watts's net was prescient. We're really looking at a world where people set AIs to write their emails, which are read by AI. That's not the grimdark part of the series though.
      - TaylorAlexander 4y ago
        Well this makes me think of personal assistants. Lots of people have their assistant email someone else's assistant to set up a meeting. If these AIs actually work properly, the scenario may not end up being terribly concerning.
        andrewflnr 4y ago
        Oh, sure, Watts has those, too. The problem is that in that world, the public Internet consists entirely of bots screaming at each other, and is basically unusable for anything else. Now listen to the fears about GPT spam finally rendering Google utterly useless, and tell me you don't feel the foreshocks of that future.
        rektide 4y ago
        Lovely imagery, loved it, & well related. I do think it a little over reduces the imagery/situation, a bit. Watts' late internet has so many factors of just wrecked savage badlands, being endlessly blasted with savage e-storms. Endless bots screaming, oh yes oh yes, but also just everything under active caustic assault, all pieces of information actively being degraded, constant brownout/black outs, storms & turbulence aplenty. It's wild imagery for a hellacious information space. Packets are like little programs sent out into the din, trying to make it through the chaos, but being injured mangled warped & hobbled at every step. Picking up all kinds of riders & viruses or just being assaulted & damaged. It's wonderfully terrible imagery. The second book is Maelstrom, named for this howling shrieking post-internet storm. Book 2, like book 1, has, best I can tell, nothing at all like it in all existence. Amazing grimdark shit.
        4y ago
- aaroninsf 4y ago
  I... would not describe that trilogy as a fun read, though I think you were being sardonic in as much as the premises throughout are apocalyptic and nihilistic. Whenever the CSD and the JdF fault are mentioned, I scan to see if this trilogy is mentioned, and if so, if a content warning is attached. I have many ties thought, I would like to recommend this to people as disaster-porn, but (not unlike Accelerando), I can't, generally, because it is also unremittingly disturbing BDSM torture-porn. I have wondered recently whether with the help of AI tools like Hyperwrite, one could excise that content and leave the other aspects coherent. TLDLR if Watts isn't a hardcore devotee of BDSM, crossing over into fetishization of torture especially of women, you wouldn't know it from these novels. A shame as the stuff about the rift itself is quite good.
  - ceejayoz 4y ago
    I only recall a couple segments in the fourth book of that nature, all skippable. "Fun read" doesn't have to be "happy ending".
  - pfdietz 4y ago
    All of Peter Watts' work is delightful and pleasant. He's well known for this! /s
    - Baeocystin 4y ago
      I just loved how happy and not existential crisisy at all Blindsight and Echopraxia made me feel! Although come to think of it, Portia would be a good name for some near-gen AI model...
  - VintageCool 4y ago
    I agree that the Achilles Desjardins torture porn was disturbing, but I've always interpreted it as an argument against Utilitarianism, and not BSDM porn per se. It's a more vividly disturbing version of The Ones That Walk Away From Omelas. Watts sets up Desjardins as a Utilitarian demon, an evil that we tolerate because his specific evils are less than the overall good he provides the world. In the end it turns out that the overall good he provided the world was a deception, and the man was revealed to have been pure villain for the entirety of books 3 and 4. But yeah, I agree with you that I'd prefer to have not read those scenes. I'll still recommend Starfish, but not its sequels.

ceejayoz 4y ago

Peter Watts' (of Blindsight fame) novel Starfish revolves around geothermal harvesting of this rift as you describe. Fun read. https://www.amazon.com/Starfish-Rifters-Trilogy-Peter-Watts/dp/0765315963 https://www.amazon.com/Starfish-Rifters-Trilogy-Peter-Watts/...

2mur 4y ago
Full text from Watts’ site: https://www.rifters.com/real/STARFISH.htm https://www.rifters.com/real/STARFISH.htm
- rektide 4y ago
  "Rifters" series also has some of the most grimdark-fun & chaotic versions of the "net" that I've ever read. I had an absolute blast with so far the first two books. Watts' mastery of psychology & neurosis & suspense is captured in an incredibly tightly confined dark scary isolated space at the bottom of the ocean. The setting here is just so exceeding. What a series (so far).
  - andrewflnr 4y ago
    GPT has me worried that Watts's net was prescient. We're really looking at a world where people set AIs to write their emails, which are read by AI. That's not the grimdark part of the series though.
    - TaylorAlexander 4y ago
      Well this makes me think of personal assistants. Lots of people have their assistant email someone else's assistant to set up a meeting. If these AIs actually work properly, the scenario may not end up being terribly concerning.
      - andrewflnr 4y ago
        Oh, sure, Watts has those, too. The problem is that in that world, the public Internet consists entirely of bots screaming at each other, and is basically unusable for anything else. Now listen to the fears about GPT spam finally rendering Google utterly useless, and tell me you don't feel the foreshocks of that future.
        rektide 4y ago
        Lovely imagery, loved it, & well related. I do think it a little over reduces the imagery/situation, a bit. Watts' late internet has so many factors of just wrecked savage badlands, being endlessly blasted with savage e-storms. Endless bots screaming, oh yes oh yes, but also just everything under active caustic assault, all pieces of information actively being degraded, constant brownout/black outs, storms & turbulence aplenty. It's wild imagery for a hellacious information space. Packets are like little programs sent out into the din, trying to make it through the chaos, but being injured mangled warped & hobbled at every step. Picking up all kinds of riders & viruses or just being assaulted & damaged. It's wonderfully terrible imagery. The second book is Maelstrom, named for this howling shrieking post-internet storm. Book 2, like book 1, has, best I can tell, nothing at all like it in all existence. Amazing grimdark shit.
        4y ago
aaroninsf 4y ago
I... would not describe that trilogy as a fun read, though I think you were being sardonic in as much as the premises throughout are apocalyptic and nihilistic. Whenever the CSD and the JdF fault are mentioned, I scan to see if this trilogy is mentioned, and if so, if a content warning is attached. I have many ties thought, I would like to recommend this to people as disaster-porn, but (not unlike Accelerando), I can't, generally, because it is also unremittingly disturbing BDSM torture-porn. I have wondered recently whether with the help of AI tools like Hyperwrite, one could excise that content and leave the other aspects coherent. TLDLR if Watts isn't a hardcore devotee of BDSM, crossing over into fetishization of torture especially of women, you wouldn't know it from these novels. A shame as the stuff about the rift itself is quite good.
- ceejayoz 4y ago
  I only recall a couple segments in the fourth book of that nature, all skippable. "Fun read" doesn't have to be "happy ending".
- pfdietz 4y ago
  All of Peter Watts' work is delightful and pleasant. He's well known for this! /s
  - Baeocystin 4y ago
    I just loved how happy and not existential crisisy at all Blindsight and Echopraxia made me feel! Although come to think of it, Portia would be a good name for some near-gen AI model...
- VintageCool 4y ago
  I agree that the Achilles Desjardins torture porn was disturbing, but I've always interpreted it as an argument against Utilitarianism, and not BSDM porn per se. It's a more vividly disturbing version of The Ones That Walk Away From Omelas. Watts sets up Desjardins as a Utilitarian demon, an evil that we tolerate because his specific evils are less than the overall good he provides the world. In the end it turns out that the overall good he provided the world was a deception, and the man was revealed to have been pure villain for the entirety of books 3 and 4. But yeah, I agree with you that I'd prefer to have not read those scenes. I'll still recommend Starfish, but not its sequels.