The WELL: inkwell.vue.373: Bruce Sterling: State of the World 2010

#223: Gail (gail) Mon 25 Jan 10 12:58

Mon, 25 Jan 2010 12:58:00 PST

Thank you both. [Read entire topic]

#222: Jon Lebkowsky (jonl) Wed 20 Jan 10 14:01

Wed, 20 Jan 2010 14:01:00 PST

Amen on all counts, brother. [Read entire topic]

#221: Bruce Sterling (bruces) Wed 20 Jan 10 08:55

Wed, 20 Jan 2010 08:55:00 PST

I'm back in Belgrade now. In a couple of days I'll be back in Obamastan.

Global jet travel is relentless targeted by the Terror on War, and it's also wrecking the atmosphere. But it's really a great historical privilege to live in an era when a human individual can see so much of his planet.

I hope we can do this another eleven times. It's a joy and a wonder just to watch the parade. [Read entire topic]

#220: those Andropovian bongs (rik) Tue 19 Jan 10 18:04

Tue, 19 Jan 2010 18:04:00 PST

And thanks for the pseud. [Read entire topic]

#219: Gail Williams (gail) Tue 19 Jan 10 16:46

Tue, 19 Jan 2010 16:46:00 PST

Sounds good!

Thanks, Bruce. I think there might have been some kind of confusion about the two week span and when it was to start, and I hope that didn't totally wear you out! We have been lucky enough partake of your insights and the general contact-high and counterpoint for nearly three weeks. That's enough to make anybody upbeat even without those Andropovian bongs. [Read entire topic]

#218: Jon Lebkowsky (jonl) Tue 19 Jan 10 11:04

Tue, 19 Jan 2010 11:04:00 PST

This year's "state of the world" has been an interesting ramble. Thanks, Bruce, and thanks to all the others who took part.

Despite the grimness in the world around me, despite all the distressing bits I've learned and seen over the last year, I'm feeling up beat. There's a creative pulse beating within my world, and the juices are flowing relentlessly into visions of innovation. Our new company, Plutopia Productions (http://plutopiaproductions.com) - plutopia a mashup of "pluralist utopias" - is catching all sorts of energy and vibe from artists and makers and visionaries who won't let the world go dismal and wrong. They're just not gonna have it. We're planning our SXSW Interactive event, "The Science of Music (http://plutopia.org)," featuring DJ Spooky. It reminds me of Thomas Pynchons "enclaves of negentropy" from _Gravity's Rainbow_.

This year will be a great party, despite everything. Let's go do great things. [Read entire topic]

#217: Bruce Sterling (bruces) Tue 19 Jan 10 06:50

Tue, 19 Jan 2010 06:50:00 PST

By the way, if you eat "rime," it has the exact texture and taste of the frosty build-up inside a neglected freezer. [Read entire topic]

#216: Bruce Sterling (bruces) Tue 19 Jan 10 06:48

Tue, 19 Jan 2010 06:48:00 PST

It's still snowing up here. Barely. Not near enough to impress the locals, who pine for their legendary second-story snowdrifts in the 1980s, with Yugoslav helicopters dropping food-packs on stranded farm-houses and diggers prospecting for buried cars as people forged from house to house through snow-roofed tunnels.

Got a couple of inches of fluffy white stuff. That may be enough to bring in a few tourist buses this weekend. I'm leaving for Belgrade tomorrow.

The blog's got a couple of YouTube videos up on it now, from the state-of-the-art in Serbian pop music.

http://www.wired.com/beyond_the_beyond/

We're nearing the end of the tape here on the WELL (whew), but over at BEYOND THE BEYOND, the pontification is like some endless dripping faucet! [Read entire topic]

#215: Bruce Sterling (bruces) Tue 19 Jan 10 06:42

Tue, 19 Jan 2010 06:42:00 PST

That vision doesn't sound all that bizarre to me. It's basically the Soviet Union under Andropov, with vodka replaced with bongs. [Read entire topic]

#214: Dan Flanery (sunspot) Tue 19 Jan 10 00:11

Tue, 19 Jan 2010 00:11:00 PST

Talk about Soylent Green! [Read entire topic]