Weblog | I don't like the word blog, it's ugly. Anyway, new content happens here. (Swedish dito)

About me and the site | Twenty-something male who likes text. Obsessed with things such as books, reality, communication, and one or two tv-shows.

Archives | Things written here since... well, 2001. Some of it is good, some is utter shait.

Books | Books read, not books written. So far I've struggled to maintain unpublished.

Photo | I like my camera and it likes me.

Links | Outwards, away, flee.

e-mail | J. Nicklas Andersson

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Horrible idea

Once, not long ago, in fact it was just a few hours ago, I hade this idea. That I wanted to see Phantoms again. I mean, it’s every humans right to watch a movie with bad acting, mediocre special effects and a script that, frankly, it sucks from square one.

But then it happened. I feel asleep. Yes, my entire plan of self-torment was spoilt by something so ordinary as sleep. Thank God perhaps, but couldn’t I’ve been informed before so that I could prepare — put the video on record or something.

Mussings in the summer

I sat on the porch, the weather was decent and the sun was about to set. The sky invoked thoughts within me; this could be the last time I got to see it. Freak accidents happen all the time, although I don’t plan to leave the material world behind me anytime soon. After all, I’ve got to experience how it is to be a mean old man with a stick before that airplane runs me over — hey, I like to plan what matters, and how I die matters to me. It’s also the only thing I’ve planed in years, but rest assured, I don’t think of death often, five times a week at most. Except around Christmas when I pray — despite being a die-hard atheist — several times a minute for five hours that a huge meteor should crash down and destroy my relatives, all in one swift blow.

But this was none of the things on my mind this evening. Instead I thought about books. Besides being an atheist, I’m also a experiencing the neverending joy of being a biblioholic, so yes, I think of books fairly often. And I came to the conclusion that Norman Spinard was right in his essay “Science Fiction Versus Sci-Fi”, a small part in the book “Science Fiction in the Real World” (Spinards Philip K Dick-essay is well worth the money all by itself). The genre lacks true tragedies. Steven Brust almost gets there in his Vlad Taltos-cycle, although the end is still far away so it’s all a bit uncertain.

Even Stephen Donaldson, whose work can drive the happiest human alive to the verge of slitting the wrists, manage to fail and produces a upbeat ending. Wait! Oh my. I got one sf-tragedy, by Jeff Noon. Damn. Why didn’t I think of “needle in the groove” before? I mean, the book got my hooked on playing bas and literary experiments. I think this means it’s time for a re-read soon, after I’ve finished Wilton Barnhardt. Oh yes.

Shut down

It feels empty somehow. It didn’t come as a surprise, well it did actually, but more of a small one. The signs where there all along the last few months, adding upp to each other until the strain was to much. Elfwood is officially offline. Down. Perhaps not buried but I guess the time has caught up with it, the period of greatness is over and nothing will ever be the same again. No matter what they say, it will never be the same again. The memory of what was will always be there, haunting the fabric of the web.

And all this for two crimes; being free of charge and grown to big for one man to handle. One of the two is okay — it works — but when those two joins together, the outcome leaves a bleak taste of doom afterwards. It’s just not fair. Especially not to Thomas who created it and cared deeply, the time spent will be lost though the fond memories will remain vibrant and flamboyant.

I don’t want it to end here, not like this. It deserves better.

Nano-heaven is still far away

It is likely, however, that one of the greatest impacts will be on privacy. Vast databases that can be accessed at very high speeds will enable governments and businesses to collect, store and access much more information about individuals than is possible today. In addition, the capacity for data mining will increase dramatically. Perhaps most importantly, the monitoring and surveillance of workers, prisoners and the population in general will be greatly enhanced.
-- John Weckert, Australasian Science [ link ]

Oh hell. This was not what I though nanoheaven would be like. It does seem a likely that this is what will happen though. As a “crypto-fascist” — that is to say I think all men, animal and even strawberries alike should be equipped with heavy crypto right from birth — I don’t think I have to say that this would be more of a nightmare than a wet dream.

Some things at the end of the article look a hell of a lot like the things that Vernor Vinge has said about the Singularity. We must have experienced what its like or we won’t understand the phenomenon at all.