PeterCanessa Oh Posted September 30, 2011 Share Posted September 30, 2011 Continued wonderfulness Del. (You might have to make clear this is just about the UK though - you never know who might have difficulty otherwise.) I certainly think this is a bubble but I'm not sure about five years. Instead I think it's a bubble that will deflate rather than burst, with "social" media evolving much, much better grouping. The big problem at the moment is that it's all-but broadcast. Blogs, chatrooms and *gasp* forums are already great for that. Emails and IMs are great for pointcast. The narrow-cast area of identifying and communicating with circles of friends, family, relations and shared-interest groups is still up for grabs. Rather like virtual worlds themselves I think social media are still searching for a particular modus operandi that works for people. My pet teenager daughter (see how much I give away to the public here!) and her friends switched from MSN Messenger to Facebook a couple of months ago. Why? They don't know apparently ^^ I pointed them at IRC but they just looked at me blankly. Facebook is what "everyone" uses, so if you want to be "anyone" you use facebook. Apparently. Bottom line is people like to know all about each other. For given values of "all" and "each other". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Celestiall Nightfire Posted October 1, 2011 Share Posted October 1, 2011 PeterCanessa Oh wrote: Continued wonderfulness Del. (You might have to make clear this is just about the UK though - you never know who might have difficulty otherwise.) Actually Peter, those links, are for BBC articles that cite news from around the world. First one mentions a Swiss woman. : ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Celestiall Nightfire Posted October 1, 2011 Share Posted October 1, 2011 Deltango Vale wrote: I had mentioned David Brin's "The Transparent Society" before. I urge you to obtain a copy and read it. (don't just read the blurbs, as it appears that many have written about the book without actually reading it) We have broached a technological place in the world's development time-line where we can't turn back the clock. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Void Singer Posted October 1, 2011 Share Posted October 1, 2011 I like Brin but I've missed that one... last one of his I picked up was Glory Season? ah, and now I see why... it's speculative non-fiction. still may give it a read though Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deltango Vale Posted October 1, 2011 Author Share Posted October 1, 2011 Y'know, I have written hundreds of pages in these fora, which I deleted unposted because they reveal too much about my RL. It's a constant burden to hold back sincere thoughts and feelings, to be forever on guard, but it is the price we pay in the media age. In Second Life, though, I can let my hair down, particularly with close friends. Perhaps I am more alert than most to the presence of the past. I don't want a possible university tenureship blown by some guy I messed with when I was an 18-year-old bitch. Those of us who busted out of that rough and tumble world are keenly aware of the incompatibility of our pasts with our presents. For example, good luck being elected president or prime minister now unless you have lived your whole life in a sterilized bubble. The age of media terrorism is upon us. Wisdom and experience have become vices to be exploited (one does not gain wisdom and experience in sterilized bubbles; one gains them through messy mistakes in the hurly-burly of human affairs). It's only a matter of time before people figure this out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterCanessa Oh Posted October 1, 2011 Share Posted October 1, 2011 Deltango Vale wrote: ... that rough and tumble world ... 'salright - it's the one I was trained in (Army -> lecture circuit -> corporate management) :-) Deltango Vale wrote: ...For example, good luck being elected president or prime minister now Lost me there mate. Surely you BUY elections. Publicity only counts as part of the cost. (Did you see the PPB by Labour the other day? The most blatant twisting of truth, but pretty, so it'll probably work) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RudolphUkka Posted October 3, 2011 Share Posted October 3, 2011 @Deltango: While I am * loving the non * paranoid attitude you (and the other * smartass * Brits are bringing to this * thread discussion, I must disagree with your assertion of an SF void (no relation) existing since the 80s. I would point to Charles Stross (well, his harder stuff) and most definitely China Mieville both, unsurprisingly, Brits, and Orwellian in the political undercurrents of their writing (look at their personal websites, particularly the latter, which are extremely socially concerned) as exceptions, even if they are vitual oases in a metaphorical desert.>br> *** Rudi *** Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WADE1 Jya Posted October 3, 2011 Share Posted October 3, 2011 :matte-motes-inlove: Charles Stross My favorite of his is "Accelerando", its a great read & so densely full of ideas that you can read it more than once & catch new things you missed the first time. I could see that book actually being a fairly realistic depiction of the future... if we don't just run out of essential resources followed by technology/economy/population crash. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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