douglas clark

douglas clark

  • Commented on Artificial Intelligence: Threat or Menace?
    May I just say thanks to everyone that discussed my vacuum idea, You guys rock!...
  • Commented on Artificial Intelligence: Threat or Menace?
    Off Topic, but I have asked google and places. And I have an idea for a story, which may be impossible. But, and my physics is kinda weak. So. Assuming that we could construct a very light framework that did...
  • Commented on The obligatory general election discussion post
    Charlie, On your opinion piece: There are 59, not 50 MP seats in Scotland. Just for the sake of accuracy. If this has aleady been addressed, then apologies....
  • Commented on Normal service will be resumed eventually
    I am sorry to read about your losses. It is never easy.Both my parents died within a relatively short time of each other too. And grief over that was hard to bear. I'd assume that everyone that comments here would...
  • Commented on CMAP #16: Book Title Blues
    Err, because you should have been? Sorry, this looks like stalking. I'll stop right now....
  • Commented on CMAP #16: Book Title Blues
    Charlie, Off topicise me if you like but I have to ask: The New York Times: "Editors’ note: This is the first installment in a new series, “Op-Eds From the Future,” in which science fiction authors, futurists, philosophers and scientists...
  • Commented on Lessons learned: writing really long fiction
    douglas clark, Could I just thank you for explaining just how tough it is to build a consistent world view. And you run, at least, two in your head simultaneously! That, sir, is quite a feat....
  • Commented on Happy Halloween!
    Off topic, mzybe. To the whole audience: Does this ring any bells? I ask on behalf of a friend: "I remember reading a short story years ago. I’ve never been able to find it again. (Conan, help: It’s not “The...
  • Commented on Unwanted Blogging Vacation
    That is very sad. My best wishes to you and yours....
  • Commented on Things Can Only Get Better! (Part 1)
    Can I suggest you read 'Out of the Tunnel' by Rachel North, who is something of a heroine to me?...
  • Commented on Things Can Only Get Better! (Part 1)
    Well, vote for gun laws, in the absolute sense. Another missing part of your story is Dunblane, check it out, when a lunatic killed lots of kids in a Scottish Primary School. We have, probably, the strictest gun laws in...
  • Commented on Things Can Only Get Better! (Part 1)
    Or, perhaps the KKK, or any foreign policy aimed at South / Central America? It was all so easy back the strong then: https://uk.video.search.yahoo.com/search/video?fr=mcafee&p=Strange+Fruit#id=5&vid=dda6276d2b3594c451ee10c2cbb61a93&action=click That's how you do it, money for nothing and your chicks for free. Times have moved...
  • Commented on Things Can Only Get Better! (Part 1)
    Martin, It is a tad odd that you used Glasgow Airport as your example. Perhaps you could explain? The 7/7 bombings in London had much more of a resonance for this Glaswegian than a couple of idiots that lost their...
  • Commented on Things Can Only Get Better! (Part 1)
    It seems to me that the Martin is unaware of the pretty obvious notion that a reasonable definition of a failed state is when people are shooting at each other. We had that in Northern Ireland not that long ago....
  • Commented on What else can you do with a Big Dumb Booster?
    I would really like to see a space elevator.. Given that it may be feasible in terms of material science - it might not be - the other component, as I understand it is an enormous counterweight. Moving that into...
  • Commented on Sometimes I don't know why I bother!
    One of my hero's is Francis Younghusband. Frankly, he shouldn't be my hero, but the dering do and the just ridiculous bravery is quite amazing. It is worth saying that he did bad things with machine guns....
  • Commented on What are you reading this summer?
    I have been reading 'Gods, Voices and the Bicameral Mind' edited by Marcel Kuijsten. Which is 'interesting' to say the least. Though, if you are interested then you should probably start with Julian Jaynes original book "The Origins of Consciousness...
  • Commented on A plaintive request
    Greg, We know why many people believe Cameron is self fellated by a pig, but why is Erdogan a goat fucker? You have used that expression twice and a little explanation would be useful....
  • Commented on Towards a taxonomy of cliches in Space Opera
    I think that describing a truly alien mind is probably beyond us to do. We ascribe extremes of our own culture as if they were totally alien. And, yet, they are merely our own extremes perhaps written in an almost...
  • Commented on Science-fictional shibboleths
    I have absolutely no idea what commodity would justify that effort. Do you?...
  • Commented on Science-fictional shibboleths
    Mayhem, Correct me if I am wrong about this but on Planet Earth, the movement from aqauatic to terrestrial habitats was incredibly slow, was it not? We are, perhaps, looking at deep time here?...
  • Commented on Science-fictional shibboleths
    Fascinating thread, tho the diversions into guided bullets are more MilSF than I would want. Is it not the deal between SF readers and authors that we do suspend belief? I absolutely love Charlies tales of the Laundry, but suspension...
  • Commented on Chilling Effects
    The last two SFF books I bought were Ann Leckie's Ancillary Justice and Nina Allan's Race. I bought them about ten days ago and I didn't really consider the sex of the authors when I bought them. I hummed and...
  • Commented on Thoughtcrime
    Is it a thought-crime to not like David Cameron very much? Guilty as charged....
  • Commented on The Biggest Little SF Publisher you never heard of pulls on the jackboots
    I read Analog in the '60's, '70's and I read Rolling Stone at the same time. Analog's editor of that era went through semi sensible comments about justifiable prejudices - in his world - i paraphrase, but the magazines were...
  • Commented on On the lack of cultural estrangement in SF
    Here's an 'interesting' thing for some of you. In a very popular MMORPG that I play, you define your looks. Given that, looks are not terribly important. Looking out for your chums is. It is the definition of chum that...
  • Commented on On the lack of cultural estrangement in SF
    Science fiction was never about Exploring The Unknown and Change, at least not as a majority project, science fiction is 99% of the time Status Quo Amplification. I don't think that that is true, or at least not all science...
  • Commented on The latest Hugo awards storm
    "The high levels of inequality thing may also correlate with societies that haven't undergone a demographic transition (from high birth rate/high death rate to low birth rate/low death rate)" Where are you getting that from? The UK, which has most...
  • Commented on PSA: Why there won't be a third book in the Halting State trilogy
    Greg, You can only trust a politician on the basis of whether they do what they say they'll do. Salmond has a pretty good record as First Minister on that score. But be under no illusions. If you live in...
  • Commented on Who ordered *that*?
    Y'know, Once upon a time I was horrified by 'One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich'. Nowadays it is commonplace. Gitmo, rendition, etc, etc. The West embraces the tactics of it's so-called enemy because of an expected dividend. We...
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