And so you wait, and lie awake, for a lonely miracle...
How fitting that my last entry, two months ago, was about insomnia. (-_-). Nonetheless, I've done that rant and will move on.
Blizzard's Real ID thing has come and gone, and I'm only mentioning it because I want to springboard onto an interesting observation I heard during discussions of it--anonymity on the internet is what allows internet communities to function like real-life ones. In real life, your boss doesn't know what you do on weekends, your friends may not know exactly what you do at work, your family probably doesn't approve of certain of your friends, maybe you have different friend groups for different interests, etc., etc. Having different internet identities for different sites allows for a facsimile of this same behavior and prevents the well-known tendency of the internet to preserve all of your mistakes for ever and ever from mattering so much.
Having to use your real name, or the same name everywhere you visit a-la Ender's Game, would shatter that tenuous existence by allowing a complete record of everything you do, accessible to everyone. Even beyond real-life safety concerns, it's already bad enough in real life with political figures where 30-year-old statements are drug up for smear campaigns (who really believes the same stuff they did 30 years ago? Though perhaps you all are not the best audience for that question, since none of us are even 30 yet...). People wouldn't constantly watch their words on the internet because people don't work that way. We aren't conditioned for constant, unfailing records. It'd be horribly stifling, and all in all, showed me that not all parts of John Gabriel's Greater Internet Fuckwad Theory are so bad.
I recently read Elantris by Brandon Sanderson, better known as the guy who was chosen to finish the interminable Wheel of Time series. It was quite good, though the ending was a little rushed and invoked a bit of special snowflake-ism. The main thing I thought was amazing is that he proved that it's still possible to tell an engaging fantasy story in a well-realized world in only a single book (albeit one of 600+ pages). It makes me realize that I've never actually finished a novel I've started. I have several short stories I'm proud of, but I haven't written one in years. For a while, I did something where I'd write a short bit and post it in LJ every week. I should start doing that again.
Also, South Korea is now using combat drones to patrol the DMZ. It all makes sense now--Skynet thought it was playing Starcraft.
Blizzard's Real ID thing has come and gone, and I'm only mentioning it because I want to springboard onto an interesting observation I heard during discussions of it--anonymity on the internet is what allows internet communities to function like real-life ones. In real life, your boss doesn't know what you do on weekends, your friends may not know exactly what you do at work, your family probably doesn't approve of certain of your friends, maybe you have different friend groups for different interests, etc., etc. Having different internet identities for different sites allows for a facsimile of this same behavior and prevents the well-known tendency of the internet to preserve all of your mistakes for ever and ever from mattering so much.
Having to use your real name, or the same name everywhere you visit a-la Ender's Game, would shatter that tenuous existence by allowing a complete record of everything you do, accessible to everyone. Even beyond real-life safety concerns, it's already bad enough in real life with political figures where 30-year-old statements are drug up for smear campaigns (who really believes the same stuff they did 30 years ago? Though perhaps you all are not the best audience for that question, since none of us are even 30 yet...). People wouldn't constantly watch their words on the internet because people don't work that way. We aren't conditioned for constant, unfailing records. It'd be horribly stifling, and all in all, showed me that not all parts of John Gabriel's Greater Internet Fuckwad Theory are so bad.
I recently read Elantris by Brandon Sanderson, better known as the guy who was chosen to finish the interminable Wheel of Time series. It was quite good, though the ending was a little rushed and invoked a bit of special snowflake-ism. The main thing I thought was amazing is that he proved that it's still possible to tell an engaging fantasy story in a well-realized world in only a single book (albeit one of 600+ pages). It makes me realize that I've never actually finished a novel I've started. I have several short stories I'm proud of, but I haven't written one in years. For a while, I did something where I'd write a short bit and post it in LJ every week. I should start doing that again.
Also, South Korea is now using combat drones to patrol the DMZ. It all makes sense now--Skynet thought it was playing Starcraft.