HUPOMNEMATA

In complement to the book of Bruce Sterling, here is another history of hackers.
But this time written by a Swedish computer enthousiast, Linus Walleij.

“The word originally applied to the people who spent their time crawling under the railroad tracks at the Tech Model Railroad Club’s (TMRC) facilities at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the 1950’s, connecting switches and relays with cables. This model railroad was one of the first computer-like structures. A hack originally meant a prank of the kind that students and faculty played on their school (or rivaling institutions), such as wrapping the entire roof in tinfoil. A good hack would be very conspicuous, and also prompt the observer to ask him- or herself: “How in the hell did they do that!?”. Later, the word became synonymous with a spectacular solution to a technical problem, or an ingenious computer program, or some other generally brilliant design. A hacker , therefore, was someone who created and implemented things of this kind.

A hacker, generally speaking, is a person who uses a computer for its own sake because it’s fun. An author that uses a word processor all day is not a hacker. Neither is a graphic designer, inventory specialist, or computer instructor. Their professions simply require them to use a computer to simplify or improve the efficiency of some other task. However, a programmer that loves his or her work is a hacker. Likewise, an enthusiastic computer technician or microcomputer designer is also a hacker. Last but definitely not least, there are hobby hackers , who actually constitute the largest and most overlooked group of computer enthusiasts – probably because they don’t use a computer in a professional sense. These amateurs do not have PR directors shouting their cause, nor do they have publishers or trade journals that print their opinions. Some elements of the media focus on this group, but they seldom speak for them; rather, the computer media generally focuses on “bringing up” the amateurs to the standards and norms of the professionals. ”

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I don’t really know who is Souther Salazar. He or she publishes comics and has an art gallery on his/her website.. There are those robots.

Cory Doctorow and Charles Stross just finished the collaborative online writing of Unwirer (first draft, the dead tree version should be shorter, they say). For some weeks, we could watch it progress on a very simple Movable Type blog (looking exactly like this one), seeing who wrote what, with additional comments from the authors and various readers. Very nice. Go and read it.

In Richard Morgan’s new ( and first, by the way ) book ” altered carbon”, people can,….
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Ken Macleod about Matrix

“(…) I thought of something I hadn’t before – the real reason why
in the film the machines use the humans as a power source, as
‘batteries’, something I have long derided. On a literal level it is of
course ridiculous. But symbolically it makes literal sense: we are the
source of their power. Surplus value comes only from living labour, not
from machines.

Look at the title and see whose name is spelled out in it: The MAtRiX.

Comrades, this is no accident! “

Science fiction everyday with robots.net where you can read all the latest news about robotics and artificial intelligence. And also admire the pictures of the robot of the day, such as this one that i like a lot.

By sci-fi author’s David Brin, the first chapter is online:

“This is a tale of two cities. Cities of the near future, say ten or twenty years from now.
Barring something unforeseen, you are apt to live in one of these two places. Your only choice may be which.

At first sight, this pair of municipalities look pretty much alike. Both contain dazzling technological marvels, especially in the realm of electronic media. Both suffer familiar urban quandaries of frustration and decay. If some progress is being made at solving human problems, it is happening gradually. Perhaps some kids seem better educated. The air may be marginally cleaner. People still worry about over-population, the environment, and the next international crisis.

None of these features are of interest to us right now, for we have noticed something about both of these 21st century cities that is radically different. A trait that marks them distinct from any metropolis of the late nineteen-nineties.
Street crime has nearly vanished from both towns. But that is only a symptom, a result.
The real change peers down from every lamp post, every roof-top and street sign.

Tiny cameras, panning left and right, surveying traffic and pedestrians, observing everything in open view.”

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A nice essay about the Clamp manga X 1999, where Kamui is “the one”. His only choice is to decide if he will trust the oracle or not (!) Here’s a little bit of it :

” The most prominent theme in X is that of a set destiny; as the tagline of the series states, “Their destiny was foreordained” (CLAMP, X 1: 2). Each of the fourteen major characters possess magical or psychic abilities but are powerless to significantly affect the roles they play in the future of humanity. Only one character appears to be offered a choice about his future, the main character, Shirou Kamui. He must choose between joining the Dragons of Heaven or the Dragons of Earth but once he makes his choice the path for the rest of humanity is inexorably decided. This once again reflects the powerlessness of the individual against the monolith of modern society; the other characters are powerless to determine their own futures or to alter their destiny.”

The Closed World:
Computers and the Politics of Discourse in Cold War America

The sensors — shaped like twigs, jungle plants, and animal droppings — were designed to detect all kinds of human activity, such as the noises of truck engines, body heat, motion, even the scent of human urine. When they picked up a signal, it appeared on the ISC’s display terminals hundreds of miles away as a moving white “worm” superimposed on a map grid. As soon as the ISC computers could calculate the worm’s direction and rate of motion, coordinates were radioed to Phantom F-4 jets patrolling the night sky. The planes’ navigation systems and computers automatically guided them to the “box,” or map grid square, to be attacked. The ISC central computers were also able to control the release of bombs: the pilot might do no more than sit and watch as the invisible jungle below suddenly exploded into flames. In most cases no American ever actually saw the target at all.

The “worm” would then disappear from the screen at the ISC. This entire process normally took no more than five minutes.

the first chapters of The Closed World are online:
the closed world

How can we protect ourselves against the threats of germs and toxins? Cold War America gears up to fend off threats from unconventional bioweapons.

Sponsor: U.S. Federal Civil Defense Administration

see movie