I’m coming to Southern California next week and I’ll be speaking at Claremont McKenna College’s Atheneum series. It’s next Wednesday, 30 March, at 1845h, and it’s free and open to the public. I’ll be reprising and expanding on the “Little Bit Pregnant” talk on technology regulation that I gave earlier this month at the University of Toronto iSchool conference — it’s a topic I’m developing, but one that I find really interesting. The idea is to look at all the different groups, interests and individuals who might call for restrictions on general-purpose computers and networks to prevent some real or imagined harm, ranging from printed weapons to malicious software to libel to copyright infringement, and what we might do to mitigate the real harms and tell them apart from the imaginary ones. I hope to see you!
I’m back podcasting after a long post-surgical hiatus. I don’t have any new material to read, so instead, I’ve read one of my favorite comedic Mark Twain stories, Punch, Brothers, Punch. It’s a great little essay about a earworming mind-virus, prefiguring Snow Crash by a century and more!
There’s more administrivia than usual in this one as I get caught up.
Conductor, when you receive a fare,
Punch in the presence of the passenjare!
A blue trip slip for an eight-cent fare,
A buff trip slip for a six-cent fare,
A pink trip slip for a three-cent fare,
Punch in the presence of the passenjare!CHORUS
Punch, brothers! punch with care!
Punch in the presence of the passenjare!
Mastering by John Taylor Williams: wryneckstudio@gmail.com
John Taylor Williams is a full-time self-employed audio engineer, producer, composer, and sound designer. In his free time, he makes beer, jewelry, odd musical instruments and furniture. He likes to meditate, to read and to cook.
The folks at ChiZine who hosted the reading that David Nickle and I did last week in Toronto have been good enough to put the video of the readings and Q&A online. Click through for the whole lot.
I’m coming through Los Angeles later this month on the way to a meeting and a lecture, and the nice folks at Dark Delicacies in Burbank (3512 W. Magnolia, 91505) were kind enough to host a signing and reading for me on Sunday, March 27th at 2PM. Hope to see you then!
My latest Guardian column, “Beware the spyware model of technology – its flaws are built in,” is a look at some of the coming battles over the general-purpose PC and the general-purpose network, and how the copyright wars have shown us what’s at risk when we do regulation wrong. It’s adapted from my talk at last week’s University of Toronto iSchool conference:
The growing realm of 3D printing will generate all sorts of new problems in search of solutions. From sex toys (banned in some southern US states) to kits to modify semi-automatic guns and render them automatic, new groups of would-be network/device cops will crop up every day. The list of problematic 3D objects is practically endless: anatomically correct Barbie torsos that can fit the standard head and limbs; keys for high-security locks; patented gizmos; even objects held sacred by indigenous people.
Around the corner are the bio-printers that can output organisms, pharmaceutical compounds, and biological material. The potential for these devices is enormous, but so are the problems, from patent infringement to bioweapons (inadvertent and deliberate).
The thing is, we’ll be no more effective at building a bio-printer or a 3D printer or a software radio that can only execute certain programs than we were at building a PC that won’t copy a copyrighted song. The flexibility of the universal computer and the universal network is fundamental and non-negotiable. Building a computer that can run every program is infinitely simpler than building a computer that can run any program except for naughty ones. Building a network that can carry every packet is infinitely simpler than building a network that carries all traffic except for the traffic you wish it wouldn’t carry.
Beware the spyware model of technology – its flaws are built in
Tor.com’s Steven Raets has a great write up on WITH A LITTLE HELP:
As for the stories, I think it’s safe to say that anyone who enjoyed Cory Doctorow’s novels will love them. Like his novels Little Brother, Makers and For the Win, they often start with a recognizable core: a present-day technological or sociological concept that Doctorow then pushes just a bit further than you could imagine, but in a way that’s so realistic and commonsensical that you’ll be considering “when” rather than “if” reality will catch up. Several of the stories play with one of Doctorow’s recurring themes: the relationship between information technology and personal freedom, with a special focus on privacy in the digital age. They range from hilarious (“Constitutional Crisis”) to deeply touching (“Visit the Sins”), and when Doctorow really gets going on how diminished our privacy has become (e.g. in “Scroogled”), they’re purely terrifying.
In this Clarkesworld interview, conducted last year during my tour for For the Win, Jeremy Jones and I talk about the rigors of touring, the politics of labor, and the elusive Drama Hobbit.
Have there been any strange moments?
There’ve been a couple pretty weird ones. I’ve had two funny misunderstandings. A friend of mine was interviewing me for the Guardian over Skype at six in the morning in San Francisco. It was later in the day for her, obviously, and luckily she’s a good friend. I forgot the camera was on and answered the phone naked. I’d been up since five but I hadn’t gotten dressed yet.
The other funny bit was when a guy came to my signing in Austin and I said, “What would you like in your book,” and he said, “Drama Hobbit.” I said, “Drama Hobbit?” And he said, “Yeah,” so I drew him the most dramatic Hobbit I could. I’m not much of a drawer and I said, “There you go!” And he said, “No, no, draw Muhammad.” Well, nobody knows what he looks like…
Tor.com’s Steven Raets has a great write up on WITH A LITTLE HELP:
As for the stories, I think it’s safe to say that anyone who enjoyed Cory Doctorow’s novels will love them. Like his novels Little Brother, Makers and For the Win, they often start with a recognizable core: a present-day technological or sociological concept that Doctorow then pushes just a bit further than you could imagine, but in a way that’s so realistic and commonsensical that you’ll be considering “when” rather than “if” reality will catch up. Several of the stories play with one of Doctorow’s recurring themes: the relationship between information technology and personal freedom, with a special focus on privacy in the digital age. They range from hilarious (“Constitutional Crisis”) to deeply touching (“Visit the Sins”), and when Doctorow really gets going on how diminished our privacy has become (e.g. in “Scroogled”), they’re purely terrifying.
In this Clarkesworld interview, conducted last year during my tour for For the Win, Jeremy Jones and I talk about the rigors of touring, the politics of labor, and the elusive Drama Hobbit.
Have there been any strange moments?
There’ve been a couple pretty weird ones. I’ve had two funny misunderstandings. A friend of mine was interviewing me for the Guardian over Skype at six in the morning in San Francisco. It was later in the day for her, obviously, and luckily she’s a good friend. I forgot the camera was on and answered the phone naked. I’d been up since five but I hadn’t gotten dressed yet.
The other funny bit was when a guy came to my signing in Austin and I said, “What would you like in your book,” and he said, “Drama Hobbit.” I said, “Drama Hobbit?” And he said, “Yeah,” so I drew him the most dramatic Hobbit I could. I’m not much of a drawer and I said, “There you go!” And he said, “No, no, draw Muhammad.” Well, nobody knows what he looks like…
