SILICON SOAPWARE wafting your way along the slipstreams of the Info Highway from Bubbles = Tom Digby = bubbles@well.com http://www.well.com/~bubbles/ Issue #118 New Moon of August 15, 2004 Contents copyright 2004 by Thomas G. Digby, with a liberal definition of "fair use". In other words, feel free to quote excerpts elsewhere (with proper attribution), post the entire zine (verbatim, including this notice) on other boards that don't charge specifically for reading the zine, link my Web page, and so on, but if something from here forms a substantial part of something you make money from, it's only fair that I get a cut of the profits. Silicon Soapware is available via email with or without reader feedback. Details of how to sign up are at the end. ********************* Someone on an online conferencing system I'm on was bemoaning the lack of archives from the system's early days. Such things weren't kept then because computer storage technology wasn't up to doing it in a cost- effective manner. Thus some potentially valuable history was lost. That led me to wonder about the future. We seem to be heading in the direction of more surveillance in the name of security and crime prevention and protection against terrorism and such. If people come to accept that, and if the technology continues to improve and the cost continues to drop, will posterity criticize our generation (and those that went before us) for not saving every possible scrap of info? Will our children wonder why Grandma and Grandpa didn't save the honeymoon hotel's surveillance videos of their wedding night? Will they be unable to comprehend the economic chaos of not having a permanent record of family finances six generations back? Will they wonder how we were able to choose marriage partners without a full DNA screening? Someone I mentioned this to brought up the question of who would be able to sort through such a mountain of data. Wouldn't the gems get lost amidst the sludge? I don't think that will be a problem because by then we'll have what amounts to robots (even if they're just computer programs without physical bodies) to do the searching and sorting for us. So how will future generations view our times, and will they wish we had kept more and better backups? ********************* I'm also reminded of thoughts about the mortality or immortality of ideas. Do bits and pieces of ideas linger in the idea pool forever, or do some of them vanish completely? I like to think that some of mine will be among those bits that will be around forever, but how likely is that to really be the case? Will there be a time when no one remembers that there was once such a place as Earth, even if there are still beings around who are somehow descended from us? It's something to wonder about, even if the probable answers are a bit depressing. ********************* Speaking of ideas, here is something too short to use as a featured poem: R? X?? Most sunsets are still rated for General Audiences. written 0255 hr 9/16/76 entered 1210 hr 4/09/92 ********************* The July 2004 issue of IEEE Spectrum has a science fiction story (with accompanying technical commentary) where the characters are wearing computer stuff as part of their clothing. This is not a new idea, but it may now be starting to actually become practical. The story and accompanying articles mentioned things like picking up electrical signals from tiny muscle twitches that others nearby wouldn't notice, and interpreting them as commands. The question that this raises in my mind is, if "everybody" is wearing clothing with computer interfaces built in, and it's become more or less the norm in society, what happens to nudists? Will there be other types of interfaces available that don't require clothing as part of their structure, and that aren't so physically intrusive that one might as well be wearing clothing? Sure, people may be willing to go offline for a few minutes a day in the shower, and maybe even for an occasional couple of hours at clothing- optional hot-tub parties and such, but what of those whose normal everyday at-home garb is their birthday suit? Will they lose the ability to communicate with their new computers in what may by then be the "standard" mode? Of course this whole problem may be transitory, until implants take over, but it still could be an awkward few years for those who feel that clothing is only for certain social situations and for keeping warm in cold weather. This is an issue I haven't seen talked about. Is it time to bring it up? ********************* That recent "I Robot" movie, like many other science fiction and fantasy movies I've seen that are set in something more or less like our real world, got me to thinking of what happens after the movie ends. In this particular case, given a world that has pretty thoroughly woven robots into its socio-economic fabric, what happens when they are suddenly no longer available, or at least no longer to be trusted? How will that society cope in the short term? And how will society adjust over the longer term? What economic dislocations will there be? How will the kinds of jobs that had been filled by robots be handled? Will people be willing to take those jobs, or will they go unfilled? Will those who had been afraid of robots all along but had their fears discounted as "phobias" start saying "I told you so"? Will there be a greater incidence of certain kinds of stress-related mental health problems? Social unrest? Insistence that certain kinds of jobs remain in the hands of humans? Changes in various laws? And since the company seems to be American ("US Robotics"), how will people in other nations change their views of it and the US as a whole? These may not be the kinds of questions that make good movie sequels, but they might make good text stories. ********************* One reason there aren't more movies and books about the aftermath of the events in movies like "I, Robot" is that such sequels may not be quite the same genre. The original "I, Robot" is an "action" movie mixed with a mystery, but as I envision the aftermath you would have more stories about human emotions and relationships and such, with fewer opportunities for car chases and explosions and the like. These could be compelling stories in their own right, but they might not appeal to the same audiences that went for the original. Could that different audience be brought in? In a way it's a marketing problem. Can it be solved? ********************* Something reminded me of the backyard Fourth of July fireworks that I wrote about last issue. Even though they are illegal in this area, people continue to set them off. This time I got to thinking about fireworks in the world of "I, Robot". Might home-style fireworks be considered OK, if managed and lit by robots? Presumably a robot would be less likely to suffer burns than a flesh-and-blood human, and injuries like blown-off fingers can be repaired. There's still the matter of fire safety when people set off fireworks in the midst of stuff that is likely to catch fire. Perhaps a robot manager would be in a better position to judge that than a human, because of the robot's ability to measure things by eye and do complex math stuff in their heads, especially if they are equipped with real-time links to weather reports and such. So maybe humans could be allowed to set off their own fireworks, but only under robot supervision? Another point: One of the human characters in the movie has an artificial arm, as a result of an injury. It uses robot technology, and works well enough that most people around him don't know he has it. If that kind of injury can be repaired that well, might some of the safety- related arguments for banning amateur fireworks be weakened? Something to think about. ********************* All the recent hooraw about gay marriage reminds me of this. Although it was written long ago when the world was much less friendly to people who weren't "normal", it probably still applies in many places. To Be a Martian Let me tell you a little of what it feels like To be a Martian, One of the millions exiled to Earth and passing as human, All shapes, all sizes, all colors. I cannot tell you the reason we were sent here Except that we mean no harm And that nothing could be further from the truth Than the endlessly repeated tales of Horrors from the Red Planet. Although that's an annoyance, What really hurts is having to hold my tongue When someone I consider a friend Starts bad-mouthing Martians And telling how he would prove his loyalty to Earth By tearing tentacle from slimy tentacle Anything he meets That looks like his idea of a Martian. Even that would be bearable Except that most Martians, All but a few who venture To congregate in desolate places, Are disguised so well That they are seldom known even to one another. And there is a tradition, As old as the Martian race And established with good reason, That a Martian may love Only another Martian. Thomas G. Digby written 0220 hr 1/20/70 typed 0355 hr 5/07/77 entered 2205 hr 4/12/92 ********************* HOW TO GET SILICON SOAPWARE EMAILED TO YOU If you're getting it via email and the Reply-to in the headers is ss_talk@bubbles.best.vwh.net you're getting the list version, and anything you send to that address will be posted. That's the one you want if you like conversation. There's usually a burst of activity after each issue, often dying down to almost nothing in between. Any post can spark a new flurry at any time. If there's no mention of "bubbles.best.vwh.net" in the headers, you're getting the BCC version. That's the one for those who want just Silicon Soapware with no banter. The zine content is the same for both. To get on the conversation-list version point your browser to http://bubbles.best.vwh.net/cgi-bin/mojo/mojo.cgi and select the ss_talk list. Enter your email address in the space provided and hit Signup. When you receive an email confirmation request go to the URL it will give you. (If you're already on the list and want to get off there will be an Unsubscribe URL at the bottom of each list posting you receive.) To get on or off the BCC list email me (bubbles@well.sf.ca.us or bubbles@well.com). I currently do that one manually. -- END --