Tag: Charlie Stross

3D printing clothes: The next revolution will not be hand-stitched [Article]

Charlie Stross’s vision of the printed clothing future:

You go in, go to the scanning booth, and do the airport-equivalent thing in a variety of positions—stretch and bend as well as hands-up. You then look at the styles on display on the shop floor, pick out what you like, and see it as it will appear on your own body on an avatar on a computer screen. You buy it, and a machine in the back of the store (or an out-of-town lights out 24×7 robotic garment factory) begins to print it. Some time later—maybe minutes, maybe hours or a day or two—the outfit you ordered comes to you. And it fits perfectly, every time. Some items are probably still off-the-shelf (socks, hosiery, maybe even those cheap tee shirts), but anything major is printed, unless you can afford to go to the really high end and pay a human being to make it for you out of natural fibres. Oh, and the printed stuff doesn’t have seams in places that chafe or bind.

But it isn’t all good. Read on.

When their fictional ideas become real, how do science fiction authors cope? [Article]

Not without feeling like all their made up work will be obsolete, says science fiction author Charlie Stross:

well, I’m just boggling. I’ve got a subplot for this trilogy (no spoilers!) which I think is up there with anything reality can throw at us and which is hopefully funny, plausible, and crazy (but in an “it just might be true” kind of way). Only now, I’m getting a sick feeling in my stomach. One month before publication, there’s going to be a bombshell revelation and an ancient festering spyware secret will surface, blinking in the light of day like half-mummified groundhogs (Secret Squirrel need not apply!) and my satirical thriller will be obsolete.

Bonus link from that article

Polemic: how readers will discover books in future, Charlie Stross [Article]

Charlie Stross paints a horrid picture for those who love to read – how readers will discover books in future.

Books are going to be like cockroaches, hiding and breeding in dark corners and keeping you awake at night with their chittering. There’s no need for you to go in search of them: rather, the problem will be how to keep them from overwhelming you.

What have we learned? asks Charlie Stross [Article]

I somehow missed this article by Charlie on September 11, 2013:

Today is September 11th, 2013.

Twelve years ago today, a cell of angry, highly committed, and (by the standards of their peers) extremely well trained young men executed the simultaneous hijacking of four airliners, and used them to mount a suicide attack on those they perceived as their enemies.

What have we learned from this?

The comments at the bottom of the article are enlightening.

Welcome to the Panopticon – [Article]

Charlie Stross welcomes you to it:

Don’t jaywalk, chew gum in public, smoke, exceed the speed limit, stand in front of fire exit routes, or wear clothing that violates the city dress code (passed on the nod in 1892, and never repealed because everybody knew nobody would enforce it and it would take up valuable legislative time). You won’t be able to watch those old DVD’s of ‘Friends’ you copied during the naughty oughties because if you stick them in your player it’ll call the copyright police on you. You’d better not spend too much time at the bar, or your insurance premiums will rocket and your boss might ask you to undergo therapy. You might be able to read a library book or play a round of a computer game, but your computer will be counting the words you read and monitoring your pulse so that it can bill you for the excitement it has delivered.

And don’t think you can escape by going and living in a log cabin in the middle of nowhere. It is in the nature of every police state that the most heinous offense of all is attempting to escape from it. And after all, if you’re innocent, why are you trying to hide?

Charlie Stross on Syria [Article]

Sane voices are rather hard to find when everyone wants vengeance – whether warranted or not. Charles Stross explains.

proposals in the UK and USA to carry out bombing strikes against the Assad regime in Syria are not only criminal (in the absence of a firm UN Security Council ruling on the matter), they’re stupid. One such imperial adventure might be an accident, two might be a coincidence, but embarking on a third one within a decade of the blood-spattered fiasco that was Iraq and the traumatic counter-insurgency occupation that was Afghanistan should be grounds for incarcerating any western politician proposing it in an institution for the criminally insane.

The real take home of the Snowden leaks [Article]

Charlie Stross believes the three-letter acronym agencies haven’t considered a problem: Gen X & Gen Y.

The key facts are: Generation X’s parents expected a job for life, but with few exceptions Gen Xers never had that — they’re used to nomadic employment, hire-and-fire, right-to-work laws, the whole nine yards of organized-labour deracination. …..

… Edward Snowden is 30: he was born in 1983. Generation Y started in 1980-82. I think he’s a sign of things to come. PS: Bradley Manning is 25. 

The life of a royal born in the Internet Era [Article]

Charlie Stross writes science fiction – and explains the future that awaits the most recent addition to the UK’s royal family.

What is it going to be like to be the heir to the throne, aged ten and starting at a public school (that is, a very high-end private school) in 2023?

In lhe context of the Environment [Article]

Context is everything, says Charlie Stross, while talking about our fascination about “Saving the planet”. Certain to antagonise the environmental protection types, but the facts he presents are worth considering. And the comments make for spectacular discussion on the theme too. Not to forget the George Carlin rant on the same subject.