My op-ed in New Internationalist,
‘Don’t break the 21st century nervous system’, seeks to cut through the needless complexity in the Net Neutrality debate, which is as clear-cut as climate change or the link between smoking and cancer — and, like those subjects, the complexity is only there because someone paid to introduce it.
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I was honoured to be invited to address the University of Waterloo on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Cheriton School of Computer Science; my father is a proud Waterloo grad (and I’m a proud Waterloo dropout!), and so this is indeed a very special opportunity for me.
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The kind folks at Dark Delicacies, my local specialist horror bookstore here in beautiful Burbank, California have volunteered to fill orders for my novels; since they’re walking distance from my front door, I’ll be popping in there a couple of times every week between now and Xmas to sign and inscribe any orders you place; they make fabulous gifts and also excellent firelighters! Call them at +1-818-556-6660, or email darkdel@darkdel.com.
According to journalist, blogger, “creative commons” advocate, Electronic Frontier Foundation Fellow, and award-winning science fiction author Cory Doctorow, the fight for a free, fair and open Internet isn’t the most important fight on the planet, but you can’t win any of the other major battles without it. Although the Net is the nervous system of the 21st century, so far we have misunderstood and mismanaged it and made it susceptible to capture by the powerful and corrupt. Cory will share his strategies to reclaim the global lifeline that should belong to all of us.
Introduction by Joshua Fouts, Bioneers Executive Director.
This speech was given at the 2017 National Bioneers Conference.
My latest Locus column is “How to Do Everything (Lifehacking Considered Harmful),” the story of how I was present at the birth of “lifehacking” and how, by diligently applying the precept that I should always actively choose how I prioritize my time, I have painted my way into a (generally pleasant) corner that I can’t escape from.
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By a very happy coincidence, Ada Palmer and I are both passing through London on November 8 and we’re doing a joint event at the Waterstones in Gower Street, starting at 6:30! The tickets (which include wine) are £6/£4 for students; you can book them here.
CNet has started a new book-club podcast, and they honored me by picking my novel Walkaway as their second-ever title.
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When I first saw Will Stahle‘s cover art for my novel Walkaway, I was pleased beyond all reason (and not least because I am an unabashed Stahle fanboy, as he is behind some of the greatest covers of our era, from Yiddish Policeman’s Union to Autonomous to A Darker Shade of Magic to All the Birds in the Sky).
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On Monday, the World Wide Web Consortium published EME, a standard for locking up video on the web with DRM, allowing large corporate members to proceed without taking any steps to protect accessibility work, security research, archiving or innovation.
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In my latest Locus column, “Demon-Haunted World,” I propose that the Internet of Cheating Things — gadgets that try to trick us into arranging our affairs to the benefit of corporate shareholders, to our own detriment — is bringing us back to the Dark Ages, when alchemists believed that the universe rearranged itself to prevent them from knowing the divine secrets of its workings.
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