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One of the marvelous things about Discworld is that although it is absurd, it is one of those logical abstractions of technology I've seen. For example he descr
by InkCanon 2y ago
One of the marvelous things about Discworld is that although it is absurd, it is one of those logical abstractions of technology I've seen. For example he describes in an incredibly lifelike way the clacks system (basically a kind of internet) and it's many properties - the network effects of internet infrastructure, it's used in commerce, the importance of information, the "hackers" who manipulate it, etc. Discworld is almost really hard scifi sometimes.
- dcminter 2y agoThere were real semaphore systems used for communication. Then he layered a lot of early telegraph stuff on top of that, popped some of his own invention into the mix and finally used the rest to parody internet and mobile phones. It's magnificent really. Speaking of sci fi - have you read Strata and Dark Side? They're pastiches of Asimov and Niven and so on, but he has some really neat ideas in there as well. I particularly like his notion of vacuum tube technology taken to its limits in Strata. If ever I needed proof of the non-existence of a benign all powerful god then the fact that someone who loved writing that kind of intricate and clever sophisticated humour would be so cruelly struck down with Alzheimers would suffice. "A life with footnotes", the biography of him by Rob Wilkins is excellent and very moving.
- bloopernova 2y agoThe Clacks, the Disorganiser, Dwarf-discovered Devices, and L-Space are all wonderful ideas. I'm a huge fan of the City Watch series, with Thud! being my absolute favourite. I envy those reading the series for the first time!
- Scarblac 2y agohttps://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optical_telegraph https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optical_telegraph One of the major recurring themes of r/discworld is that so much of the amazing ideas in Discworld were actually real things.