Thursday, October 23, 2008

Timeline: '90 and '91

90’s
• LOD (Legion of Doom) & Masters of Deception are rival Hacking groups. The Great Hacker War begins, with a swift defeat of the old guard LOD. This is a completely new type of “warfare,” based on information control and cyberspace.
• Hackers penetrate DOD sites. Dutch hackers used university, government, and commercial systems to hack into Department of Defense websites. 34 sites were hacked into by way of vendor-supplied accounts and accounts with guessable or nonexistent passwords. Hacking was so much easier back then.
• “The Difference Engine.” A steampunk novel written by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling. Mechanical computers are everywhere, making the British Empire even more powerful.
• EFF founded. The Electronic Frontier Foundation is an organization to protect civil liberties in a digital world. It educates press and policy makers, and funds legal defenses to protect digital freedoms.
• “Ribofunk.” A biopunk collection by Paul Di Fillippo. Biopunk is like cyberpunk, except that it focuses on synthetic biology and genetic information. Human experimentation in a totalitarian regime is a common theme.
• “Total Recall” (film). An Arnold Schwartzeneggar film about a man who purchases false memories as a sort of vacation. It triggers previously-deleted memories about being a secret agent on Mars, but the whole movie is possibly just part of the vacation.
• Steven Jackson games raided. The Secret Service targeted Loyd Blankenship, a well-known hacker who was publishing GURPS Cyberpunk via Steven Jackson Games. GURPS Cyberpunk is a role-playing toolkit, but the Secret Service claimed it was a “handbook of computer crime.”
• Op Sundevil. A nation-wide hacker crackdown. It targeted credit card thieves and telephone abusers.
• Phiber Optik hacks TRW. Mark Abene, aka Phiber Optik, hacked a lot of things, actually. He was arrested and indicted on 11 counts of computer crime, setting a legal example for other hackers.

91
• “Cultural logic of late capitalism.” A book by Frederic Jameson critiquing postmodernism from a Marxist perspective.
• 1,000 viruses exist in the world. Computers have become universal, and with them more and more viruses have cropped up. Such is cyberpunk: with technology comes hardship and irresponsibility.
• Debut of the WWW. The Web is a series of documents linked via hypertext and accessed on the Internet, viewed with browsers. It makes the internet a much more accessible place, since it can now be navigated by simply clicking.
• “Terminator 2” (film). Arnold is back from the future to protect John Connor, since he will grow up to save humanity. The movie plays with the idea of robotic emotion, as well as other Asamovian concepts.

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Random Thoughts on "Diamond Age"

Let me first admit that in order to gain a workable knowledge of The Diamond Age’s plot, I did have to skip large chunks of reading, and so I haven’t been able to completely connect everything. I truly enjoy the book, and will re-read more thoroughly when I have time, but I am an exceptionally slow reader, and I have other classes, too, you know. As another disclaimer, when you asked us to just write what we were thinking, you did so at your own risk. I don’t think there’s anything too bad; I’m just abdicating responsibility just in case.

Armies of little girls. It had to happen. Unfortunately, no teddy bears with skull guns, but maybe that’s just as well.

Now for thoughts on the Primer. Lots of them. First, I started thinking about the whole book-within-a-book thing, which took me outside Stephenson’s story to look at the book as a whole a bit more critically. Obviously, Stephenson has a slightly-too-grandiose view of himself to make a book without some perceived profound message, but I still can’t bring myself to believe that he thinks The Diamond Age is a tome of infinitely malleable wisdom and knowledge. Which brings us, of course, to:

The Bible. Thank god (pun intended) for stories whose roots are lost in history and are therefore subject to whatever interpretation the current body of power wishes to imbue it with. My senior prediction in high school was that I would found a new political party based on a platform of cynicism, as a random aside. Now, the idea of an electronic bible is fraught with meaning as it is (what with worshipping technology, giving science a metaphorical meaning that by definition as an objective pursuit it’s not supposed to have, blah blah blah). But that would make Stephenson god, as the creator of the author of this new bible, and that simultaneously makes me chuckle and makes me not want to give the idea too much credence, so I’m going to move on.

The Primer obviously has a much more profound effect on Nell than it has on Elizabeth or Fiona (or the hordes of Christians, I mean… small Chinese girls, for that matter). There are two obvious explanations for this. First, as far as I can tell, Nell’s Primer is the only one with a live* human being at the other end of it. I know the Chinese version is synthesized, and I couldn’t tell with the other girls’, but I’m making an assumption. The second explanation is that Nell is the one who actually needs to use the more down-and-dirty street sense the Primer has to offer. For the others, it’s just a particularly addictive ractive/boot camp/whatever.

*The idea of ractors kind of irks me. It seems to be a logical extension of a lot of the cinematic technology used today with movies like “The Lord of the Rings” and “Beowulf.” It just struck me as ironic how those stories, with their background and setting, are the ones that most heavily use modern technology, but that’s beside the point. Anyway, it makes sense when you want to create a non-human character with more organic motions (as with Gollum), or want to create a universal aesthetic when everything BUT the people is computer generated (as with Beowulf, even though this is a pretty bad example of…everything). It also makes sense when you want to do real-time theatre on a global scale, or want to make cosmetic changes that makeup and costumes can’t accomplish. You know, the more I talk about it, the more it makes sense logistically and culturally, but as an actor it still just bugs me, ok? *grumble*

It also kind of amuses me what Hackworth’s idea of “subversive” is. The Primer teaches Nell martial arts, viral programming, how to start a fire, to name a few. What she does with this knowledge is another thing entirely, but it still makes me chuckle to see Hackworth teaching someone to be naughty. The programming is a result of his own profession, but much of the other information could be found in a boy scout’s handbook.

Also, Rob was right, the Drummers are freaky. The whole wetware thing is once again reminiscent of the Borg and the Matrix and everything else. I do think it’s clever how sex was repurposed, even though it gives rise to a slew of dirty geek jokes. (“Oh, baby, I’m going to import some data through your USB slot. Yeah, you are universal service, aren’t you?”)

Oh, and before I forget. What the hell. Just…what the hell.

Thursday, October 9, 2008

I Have A Week to Find A Better MMO

I chose to start a character in Runescape, which is a free online MMO. Runescape has a members portion, as well, which significantly expands the scope of the game. There is no opening sequence to speak of, except for a tutorial section for new players. The character I picked somewhat arbitrarily, as there is no racial bonus to certain characters, or whatever else would make one choose a certain character for reasons other than aesthetic value.

I understand many people do simply choose characters for aesthetic value, but it’s something that has never factored into how I play games, so the idea of presenting myself in a certain fashion (in a game, anyway) is a foreign concept to me. As far as names go, I ended up with Zeromus59, after discovering that all the screen names I usually cycle through were too long. I also hate having a random number after my screen name (I’m picky, I know), because as a writer I figure I should be able to come up with some combination of characters no one else on the server has. I believe Runescape includes random numbers by default, though. Zeromus is the final boss of Final Fantasy IV, by the way, and it was, again, the last obscure name I tried putting through before I gave up.

The interface is simple point-and-click. You click on something, and your character walks there, or asks what you want to do in a drop-down menu if there’s something interesting there. I have not discovered keyboard shortcuts for anything besides camera movement, which makes the interface somewhat inefficient. For example, to cast a spell you have to click into the spell menu, select the tiny icon that indicates a particular spell, and then click on what you want to use it on. In a battle, or any other time-dependent scenario, this is annoying, to say the least.

The experience system is nice, for me anyway, because it allows you to do pretty much anything and everything the game allows. So theoretically a character can gain maximum levels in all skills, which is not always true of an MMO, or any RPG, for that matter. Personally, I almost always play the most well-rounded character I can find, so I have the most options available and the greatest potential strength. When I stopped playing, I believe I had six ranks in wood-cutting, which I used more often than, say, attacking, in which I’m only second rank.

Unfortunately, that’s where the benefits of the skill set end. The game has no overarching goal or purpose, so you just bounce from quest to quest for the sake of it. The game map is enormous, yet your character moves at a frustratingly slow pace, even when running, which is a rare privilege. People in Runescape tire quickly. Combined with the clunky interface, it makes for a very long game with very few rewards.

Basically, my plan to avoid spending money on an MMO—a concept to which I object as a gamer and a human being—backfired spectacularly. If I’m going to get any sort of meaningful play or interaction, I’m going to need to buy a game that will hopefully strike the fine balance between giving me my money’s worth and eating my soul. One where I can have my own name. And not have to chop logs more frequently than fight something.

Dystopias in "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" and "Blade Runner"

While Phillip K. Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep and Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner are based on the same story, no one would say that they are identical. From the book the influence of Mercerism, Buster Friendly, “dust,” mood organs, and—most obviously—sheep are missing in the film. But to touch a bit further on the “dust,” this brings up another important distinction: namely, that the film has people, lots of people, and the novel does not. But they are both dystopian worlds, in their own right. This essay will explore these divergent dystopias, analyzing the differences between them.

In Dick’s novel, the world has ended due to nuclear war, showering the planet in radioactive “dust” that threatens to eventually kill humanity, prompting them to leave for off-world colonies. This puts the sanctity of life in very obvious focus, since there is not very much of it. In fact, the universal religion states that not owning an animal is immoral. “These are not pets as we think of them today, but instead represent a combination of two themes: that of consumerist America, …[and] the yearning for the closeness to organic life” (Hill).

These ideas are in stark contrast to the dystopia of Blade Runner. Aldous Huxley called Los Angeles (the setting of the film, as opposed to the San Franciscan novel) “a 'ruinous sprawling ossuary' subject to 'deforestation, pollution and other acts of ecological imbecility'” (Clements). Quite the opposite from the novel, where such a waste of life would be heinous. But then again, the world of the movie has not been ravaged by nuclear war.

So which is the truer dystopia? Do Androids Dream certainly presents a vision of the future that showcases a constant, direct, oppressive threat to human life. However, Michael Heilemann compares the city of Blade Runner to Hell, complete with spouts of fire and wretched, aimless masses. He also notes that “Despite their numbers, everyone is lonely” (Heilemann 16). Ironically, the only time the protagonist Deckard engages more than one person at a time in the book is when he is taken to a false police station filled with androids.

Despite these obvious differences, several critics still argue that the world of Blade Runner supports Dick’s vision. Patrick Meaney even goes so far as to say “The film's incredible visuals capture perfectly the run down city atmosphere that Dick described in his novel.” To go a bit more in-depth, both mediums do accurately represent a synthesis of the old and new, as is frequently found in Dick’s works; for example, parking flying cars on top of present-day apartment buildings (Cowie). Xan Brooks calls this style a “post-modern collage,” a description that can certainly be attributed to both versions of the story (Clements).

And so both settings, while overtly different, do support the central themes of Dick’s work. After all, a miserable world is a miserable world. While the post-apocalyptic world in Do Androids Dream is necessary to support various plot points not included in the film, the overall style of the future is preserved in the film. Conversely, Blade Runner’s Los Angeles is necessary to pull off the film noir style, yet uniquely Dickian themes prevail. The city is still sparsely populated by actual, independent human beings, entropy is taking its throne, and kipple is ubiquitous, be it the trash Pris sleeps in or the faceless crowds Decker wades through.

Bibliography
Meaney, P. (2002, June 10). Alienations in a Dystopia: Scott's Blade Runner and Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep. Retrieved October 9, 2008, from BRmovie.com Web site: http://www.brmovie.com/Analysis/BR-DADoES.htm

Cowie, J. (2008, April 15). Blade Runner vs. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep. Retrieved October 9, 2008, from Concactenation.org Web site: http://www.concatenation.org/articles/bladerunner_do_androids_dream_of_electric.html

Hill, C.N. Retrieved October 9, 2008, from Philip K. Dick: A comparison between the novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? and the film Blade Runner. Web site: http://members.aol.com/cnhill/sf/bladerunner.htm

Clements, D. (2003, December 6). FROM DYSTOPIA TO MYOPIA: Metropolis to Blade Runner. Retrieved October 9, 2008, from hem.passagen.se Web site: http://hem.passagen.se/replikant/dystopia_myopia.htm

Heilemann, M. (2001). Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep and Blade Runner.

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

"Red Star, Winter Orbit"

The reason I am analyzing “Red Star, Winter Orbit” is because of the two Gibson short stories, this one is less clear to me, perversely enough. Also, I’ve been reading “Neuromancer” on the side, so the literary infusion from Bruce Sterling is a welcome one. I will provide a short summary—if only to clarify my thoughts—and then comment upon the nature of apocalypse as presented in cyber-punk and in the story. Also, I want to explain my choice of source beforehand, since I know it is not usually accepted as an academic source; simply, Wikipedia is the best possible source to explain cyberpunk. It’s essentially an autobiography of the dystopian, information-driven society cyber punk warns us about. And now the essay begins:

The protagonist of the story is Colonel Korolev, a Kazakhstani cosmonaut. He has been in the space station Kosmograd for twenty years, and will remain there for the rest of his life, an explosion having damaged his hip in a way that prevents his return to gravity. The crew finds out the station is to be decommissioned, essentially pronouncing the death of Korolev, the first man on Mars. This incites a strike and then a revolt against the resident KGB officer, Yefremov. In the end, Korolev is alone on the station, waiting for its orbit to decay and destroy them both, until some Americans come to squat there, setting the station back in orbit (Sterling 202-222).

Apocalypse is a frequent theme in cyber punk. More generally, dystopia is a frequent theme in cyber punk (Wikipedia), and an apocalypse certainly isn’t utopian. In “Red Star, Winter Orbit,” the apocalypse is not global, except insofar as Kosmograd is the Colonel’s world. This use of metaphor is certainly appropriate for early cyber-punk; it synthesizes the off-world big technology of cyber-punk’s sci-fi ancestry with the social dilapidation of the new Movement (Sterling x). Apocalypse in the story is, on a more literal level, characterized by the mutiny on Kosmograd, resulting in a crippled station and a very lonely Colonel. However, on a more subtle and uniquely cyber-punk level, apocalypse takes on a new name: obsolescence.

Many cyber-punk stories are set post-apocalypse, or, as is frequently the case in Gibson’s writing, post-apocalypse-that-never-was. “Red Star, Winter Orbit” is unique in that it describes the apocalypse, and it is slow, sad, and unrelenting. The fact that the Americans who arrive did not know Krolev was there is evidence that his crewmates never told his story. The Colonel, arguably the last man in the “world” of the station even before its abandonment, simply fades from existence, old, crippled, and alone, and no one even knew it. Seen in this light, the perennial American adolescence of manifest destiny seems cruel, at best.

An apocalypse is a world-ending event, by definition, but who is to say whose world it ends, or the manner in which it does so? Is it not more sinister, more melancholy, more definitively cyber-punk to allow people to be outdated, living in their own Museum of Triumph, enduring the Apocalypse of the Forsaken? Thus “Red Star, Winter Orbit” reminds us of two things. First, that we must never forget those that came before us. The technology may become outdated, but those who pioneered it do not. Second, that the human machine is one of adaptation. It will rebirth itself in the face of tragedy. Korolev, the old guard, the previous generation, the explorers, will, however unfairly, cease to be, being destroyed or forgotten. But the simple fact that cyber-punk is frequently post-apocalyptic is a sign of morbid hope: just because it’s the apocalypse doesn’t mean it’s the end of the world.