4 ms·

Neal Stephenson on the State of Science Fiction

21 points by robdoherty2 14y ago

MaysonL 14y ago
God, that's cheesy: breaking an interview like that into trivial chunks, released weekly. My respect for technologyreview just plummeted. In addition, the opening question: "Why is most contemporary science fiction so debauched?" was answered long ago by Stephensons lexical neighbor Ted Sturgeon with his law. No further response necessary, though Stephenson politely gives one.
- natep 14y ago
  And what are we supposed to do in order to watch all the exerpts? Follow the entire site? No RSS feed, email subscription, anything? Pass.
kondro 14y ago
Can't sites like this provide a transcript or a summary in addition to the video? This is the Internet… I don't have time to stop and watch dozens of minutes of video for a few hundred words worth of information.
- CodeMage 14y ago
  It's especially ironic considering that they're interviewing a writer.
- natep 14y ago
  Nevermind that videos like this are completely inaccessible to the deaf.
incision 14y ago
I generally love the subjects Stephenson writes about and the specific ideas he explores, but I find his style exhausting. He's just so damn wordy.
- CodeMage 14y ago
  My biggest problem with Stephenson's works is that he doesn't really finish his books, he either just stops abruptly (e.g. "Diamond Age" or "Snow Crash") or winds down gently, but anticlimactically (e.g. "Cryptonomicon" or "Anathem"). I still love his books, because they're full of awesomeness and the ending doesn't make the rest of the book crap (unlike what BioWare did to Mass Effect with the original ME3 ending).
  - bsenftner 14y ago
    My feelings exactly. Great ideas are fun, but can you wrap it up convincingly? Pull that off and you've got greatness...
- laserDinosaur 14y ago
  I was chatting to a friend about this the other day who felt the same way. He will have moments in his books that will come across as such powerful theologies and ideas that you will spend years thinking about it. The problem is for every mind blowing idea he explores, he has 15 chapters of the wordiest words I've ever worded. I'm reading Cryptonomicon and he spent 19 pages - 19 PAGES - describing a guy eating cereal. Combine that with the fact that he will frequently use words that I don't think anybody but him knows (The whole reason I bought a e-reader was so I can use the definition function to understand what the hell he is talking about) and it feels like I'm reading the literary equivalent of Dark Souls. I really love the ideas he writes about, I just wish he didn't have a burning hatred for the reader.
deleted 14y ago
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21 points by robdoherty2 14y ago

God, that's cheesy: breaking an interview like that into trivial chunks, released weekly. My respect for technologyreview just plummeted. In addition, the opening question: "Why is most contemporary science fiction so debauched?" was answered long ago by Stephensons lexical neighbor Ted Sturgeon with his law. No further response necessary, though Stephenson politely gives one.

natep 14y ago
And what are we supposed to do in order to watch all the exerpts? Follow the entire site? No RSS feed, email subscription, anything? Pass.

kondro 14y ago

Can't sites like this provide a transcript or a summary in addition to the video? This is the Internet… I don't have time to stop and watch dozens of minutes of video for a few hundred words worth of information.

CodeMage 14y ago
It's especially ironic considering that they're interviewing a writer.
natep 14y ago
Nevermind that videos like this are completely inaccessible to the deaf.

incision 14y ago

I generally love the subjects Stephenson writes about and the specific ideas he explores, but I find his style exhausting. He's just so damn wordy.

CodeMage 14y ago
My biggest problem with Stephenson's works is that he doesn't really finish his books, he either just stops abruptly (e.g. "Diamond Age" or "Snow Crash") or winds down gently, but anticlimactically (e.g. "Cryptonomicon" or "Anathem"). I still love his books, because they're full of awesomeness and the ending doesn't make the rest of the book crap (unlike what BioWare did to Mass Effect with the original ME3 ending).
- bsenftner 14y ago
  My feelings exactly. Great ideas are fun, but can you wrap it up convincingly? Pull that off and you've got greatness...
laserDinosaur 14y ago
I was chatting to a friend about this the other day who felt the same way. He will have moments in his books that will come across as such powerful theologies and ideas that you will spend years thinking about it. The problem is for every mind blowing idea he explores, he has 15 chapters of the wordiest words I've ever worded. I'm reading Cryptonomicon and he spent 19 pages - 19 PAGES - describing a guy eating cereal. Combine that with the fact that he will frequently use words that I don't think anybody but him knows (The whole reason I bought a e-reader was so I can use the definition function to understand what the hell he is talking about) and it feels like I'm reading the literary equivalent of Dark Souls. I really love the ideas he writes about, I just wish he didn't have a burning hatred for the reader.

deleted 14y ago

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