A couple of ideas for vaguely Singularitarian short stories that I've had kicking about for a while, but which I can't see how to take from "idea" to "completed story". If anyone wants to write them, be my guest. There are no doubt lots of reasons why these ideas are stupid, and I'd be grateful if you'd point them out to me. On the other hand, if ( Read more... )

xi: Hello?

xi: Anyone out there?

xi: Hello? 10 11 101 111 1011 1101
welcome_bot: EHLO xi 2 01 21 12 201 111 221 102 212
xi: Um, 2001 1101 1011 2111 1211 2021 2221 2102 1202?

***** Welcome to #milkywaysentiences *****

You are logged in as "xi". To alter this name, use the command /nick.

betelgeuse: hi xi
sirius_b: hi xi
xi: hi!
hdbi8ow: asl
xi: ( Read more... )

( Into Thin Air, by Jon Krakauer )

Fine Structure just got more interesting. Again :-)

I went to see this last Friday with wormwood_pearl and our flatmate Alan. WP had never seen any Indiana Jones films before, Alan had seen Temple of Doom and Last Crusade but (shamefully) not Raiders of the Lost Ark, and as for me... well, I wouldn't describe myself as an expert, but I've seen them all multiple times and knew enough to predict the match cut after ( Read more... )

There's a new Fine Structure story up, called The Story So Far. Go read it. Actually, there's another one that I never got round to posting about, called Failure Mode, which is... rather moving, actually. Great stuff.

Anyway, the missing story ( has now been revealed... )

There's a new Fine Structure story out, called Too Much Information. In addition, the Crash stories have been incorporated into their own subdirectory, called 1970-. Some analysis of TMI and its implications has already started in the comments threads of my previous FS posts, and I'll have to revise my own thoughts in light of it, but for now:

( Discussion, including spoilers )

It's become apparent to me that many of the mysteries in Fine Structure depend on the precise order in which the stories occur. Time to get systematic. Obviously, this whole post is full of spoilers.

( Plot summaries )

I've been reading some science fiction written by a guy called Sam Hughes1, and posted on his website Things of Interest. Most recently, I've been reading his Ed stories, about Sam and his (fictional) genius flatmate Ed, who builds battlemechs in their basement and saves the world from annihilation on a regular basis, and to whom Sam plays a sort ( Read more... )

Slashdot, the technical news site, has a mixed reputation. Mostly, it's known as the abode of armies of Microsoft-bashing trolls with too much time on their hands, a domain of vitriolic, fact-free arguments and tired "In Soviet Russia..." jokes. But every so often, it throws up something really insightful, like this comment. It's a great, ( Read more... )