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Worldcon observations ...

Not much to report so far, nor much time in which to report it, but: man, keeping up a conversation with Paul Krugman is hard work.

(Yes, I have an mp3 of our talk. It's also been video'd. Unfortunately the mp3 runs to 54Mb, so I'm not going to host it directly on my own server. Anyone know of any reasonably sane streaming audio hosting sites I should be looking at?)

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30 Comments

1:

http://code.google.com will host it for free (up to 100MB). Just create an open source project, click on the Downloads tab, and upload it there. (Yes, it'll take whatever traffic you can throw at it)

2:

Can't you upload it to youtube in chunks? Doesn't need to have fancy-dan moving pictures, just create a videoless soundtrack i guess. Or put it on megaupload.com?

3:

Fantasitc!

"keeping up a conversation with Paul Krugman is hard work."

And yeah. I've been listening to his lectures on MP3 for a couple of days, and he seems like very witty, personable brain in a glass tank.

4:

I agree with teh youtubez.

You might want to disable comments, both on general principles and because the Krugman attracts an undesirable element.

5:

Archive.org will be happy to host the audio and video, particularly if you're willing to license it under Creative Commons.

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6:

I agree. youtube, no comments.

What have I to add?

You should include cat pictures, rather than a blank screen. (Paul Krugman also has a cat, or cats, apparently.)

7:

Offer it to someone at spokenword.org, I think they use limelight networks for audio file hosting.

8:

Or host it on your server and coralize the link.

9:

Krugman's cat is named after Doris Lessing. He's a huge ubernerd (and I mean that affectionately!).

10:

What about bittorrent? Video, Audio, the whole works.

11:

This comment has nothing to do with mp3s or uploading, but is perhaps relevant to the location - It has been a while since I have had a chance to go, but Le Cheval Blanc does some nice beers for post conversational recovery.

12:

I can't offer hosting, but thank you for recording the talk; I eagerly look forward to it.

13:

blip.tv is good for hosting this sort of thing, or archive.org as mentioned if it's CC-licenced or similar.

14:

I'm with Schmidt @10, this is exactly the type of media that, when distributed via P2P tools, proves the tools have legitimate use.

15:

My recommendation is Soundcloud which gives you an embedable player.

16:

I'll look forward to the transcript!

17:

I ran camera #1 for the opening ceremonies and your chat, so I got a great view... and missed half of what was being said.

The video was great, though.

18:

Okay, I'm currently trying to upload the mp3 to the internet archive. Remember I'm in a hotel at an SF convention in Canada, and the bandwidth has been sat on by the elephantine footprint of fandom! When it's up there, I'll post another entry.

19:

Andrew, if you think I'm taking time out of a worldcon to transcribe a 75 minute rapid-fire dialog, you're mistaken; I'm uploading the mp3. If anyone volunteers to provide a transcript that's another matter, and I'll happily post it.

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20:

re: transcript - too much typing for any one person, but how about a wiki so we can each do a minute or two?

If other people would do a bit, then I'll set something up on wikia or somewhere.

21:

re: transcript - Actually, it's amazing how small the text is when taken from the spoken word, even when you think that you're speaking quickly. Fast speaking runs 150 words a minute, so we're looking at about ten thousand words of text total. Don't count on me to volunteer, but if I have the time once the audio is available, I'll look into it.

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22:

If you build a transcript it will come...schwing!!!!

23:

Didn't try it myself, but what about http://posterous.com/faq/

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24:

Why not send it over tothe guys over at starshipsofa? I;m sure they;d podcast it in an eyeblink.

25:

As Till mentioned: posterous.com is the easiest service to use for old school people like me who still use email.
you just send in an email (with attached files eg)and you started a blog (that embeds common media types by default).

26:

The wife and I enjoyed the talk with Stross and Krugman. When the Q&A came I realized I wanted to hear somebody bring up the question of underground (black) economies around the world. Given that is the essence of the Merchant Princes series, I would like to have heard a back and forth between them, but especially Krugman's take on black economies.

27:

Well, the MP3 found its way to the Internet somehow—how else would I have been able to listen to it on my iPhone. I thought it was a terrific talk, although I have to take issue with two points:

Paul Krugman said that kitchens haven't changed much in the last 50 years. Well, how about the microwave oven. Even if you don't think the microwave was as big change, the hypothetical traveler from 1950 will be startled at one change in the kitchen—how little it was used. We eat a lot more take-out and processed foods than we did in 1950.

You both talked about how there's been very little change in daily life in most recent decades compared with the early part of the century. I have to disagree strongly with that: Civil rights, the election of an African-American U.S. president, acceptance of mixed-race and same-sex relationships, and the sexualizaton of popular culture and clothing standards are huge changes. They're just not technology-driven, as were the changes of earlier decades. I'm U.S.-centric in these statements, of course, but from what I gather then U.K. is also a far more diverse culture than it was a few decades ago.

Overall, great talk though—thanks for giving it and thanks to whoever-it-was who posted it.

28:

Well, I read the transcript :->

Interesting that you and Paul both brought up driverless cars, and neither of you seemed to know about either autonomous cruise control or lane departure warning systems:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autonomous_cruise_control_system
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lane_Departure_Warning_System

neither of which gives you a car that drives itself, but they do give you a damn good start - and are in cars currently on the roads.

29:

Andrew Ducker @28, cars that drive themselves.

30:

Les Paul died within the past 24 hours. He had some hit records, but his talent as an inventor outweighed his talent as a musician. He invented the electric guitar. To me, this is quintessential "street use of technology" of the kind extolled by Hugo Gernsback and the Cyberpunk movement. Although none of the rock bands I played in were successful, as a consumer, Les Paul's invention gave me literally thousands of hours of pleasure, listening. There would still have been the American inventions of Blues and Jazz, but likely no Rock & Roll without Les Paul's invention. In alternate history, somebody else invented it. Rock & Roll could have started earlier ("Rack & Roll"). But is this not the type of culture-changing invention that the best Science Fiction grasps for, and (in the figital domain) Charlie achieves reliably? So, what has been invented in this decade whose second-order effects will be bigger than Woodstock, the Beatles, MTV, Heavy Metal, Grunge, and how large are its economic consequences?