4 ms·

The article was thought-provoking for me, as I hadn't heard the Sterling talk, but she lost me here: I myself mostly post links to this column, hoping that the

by _pius 18y ago

The article was thought-provoking for me, as I hadn't heard the Sterling talk, but she lost me here: I myself mostly post links to this column, hoping that the self-promotion is transparent enough that people can easily ignore a link or click it if they’re curious .... I can’t help wondering if I’ve turned into some banged-up street kid, stuck in a cruel and crowded neighborhood, trying to convince everyone that regular beatings give you character. Maybe the truth is that I wish I could get out of this place and live as I imagine some nondigital or predigital writers do: among family and friends, in big, beautiful houses, with precious, irreplaceable objects. And what is stopping her from doing that? Her Twitter usage seems to be very much self-promotional and one way, so it's not as if she's leaving a community she has a stake in. What's she whining about?

sho 18y ago
Bruce Sterling is awesome! He's one of the very few people who I'll at least skim pretty much anything he writes, watch all his talks, think about what he says. Sometimes he's wrong, but it's always a great ride. Love the guy. Funnily enough I basically hate all his books but who cares.
abrahamsen 18y ago
>> in big, beautiful houses, with precious, irreplaceable objects. > And what is stopping her from doing that? Lack of money, perhaps? Even the non-material first part >> among family and friends can be difficult if everyone are busy making ends meet.
- _pius 18y ago
  She was speaking metaphorically.
  - _pius 18y ago
    Surprised someone downmodded me for this one. If you actually read the article, she wasn't literally talking about living in an overcrowded neighborhood and wanting to move to a big, secluded house; she was talking about feeling bombarded with tweets and wanting to get out of the Twittersphere, where she's not really well accepted. You know, writers sometimes use these things called "metaphors" to make their points more interesting ... :P
    - abrahamsen 18y ago
      Context is everything, in this case the context is Sterling's assertion that connections is for poor people. So the context is rich versus poor. "A big, secluded house" is correctly a metaphor, but a shallow one, namely for living the style of life of rich people. Something that really is a whole lot easier if you have a lot of money. This makes your original question seem weird, you are basically asking "What prevents her from living like a rich person?". The answer to that one is obviously "Lack of money".

by _pius 18y ago

sho 18y ago

Bruce Sterling is awesome! He's one of the very few people who I'll at least skim pretty much anything he writes, watch all his talks, think about what he says. Sometimes he's wrong, but it's always a great ride. Love the guy. Funnily enough I basically hate all his books but who cares.

abrahamsen 18y ago

>> in big, beautiful houses, with precious, irreplaceable objects. > And what is stopping her from doing that? Lack of money, perhaps? Even the non-material first part >> among family and friends can be difficult if everyone are busy making ends meet.

_pius 18y ago
She was speaking metaphorically.
- _pius 18y ago
  Surprised someone downmodded me for this one. If you actually read the article, she wasn't literally talking about living in an overcrowded neighborhood and wanting to move to a big, secluded house; she was talking about feeling bombarded with tweets and wanting to get out of the Twittersphere, where she's not really well accepted. You know, writers sometimes use these things called "metaphors" to make their points more interesting ... :P
  - abrahamsen 18y ago
    Context is everything, in this case the context is Sterling's assertion that connections is for poor people. So the context is rich versus poor. "A big, secluded house" is correctly a metaphor, but a shallow one, namely for living the style of life of rich people. Something that really is a whole lot easier if you have a lot of money. This makes your original question seem weird, you are basically asking "What prevents her from living like a rich person?". The answer to that one is obviously "Lack of money".