Author Topic: EP282: You’re Almost Here  (Read 30690 times)

statisticus

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Reply #50 on: March 12, 2011, 10:00:44 AM
Coming into this thread a little late...

I liked this story, though like others I found the world presented a little bleak.  It read to me like a sketch of a world on the edges of a singularity.  I didn't get that the protagonist felt that he was above the rest of the world because he was artistic and insightful and was depressed because no one else could see it.  I got that he was depressed because he realised that he wasn't good enough to compete with his own creations.  He creates a program which can take the various life jottings he records and from them create great works of literature, but when he tries to write the books himself they are rejected.  Why?  Not because his editor is an insensitive philistine, but because the protagonist is less good at writing than his own writing programs.

The point is reinforced with the making of coffee.  The protagonist toys with the notion of buying a coffee maker, but in the end rejects it, because he knows that the end result would taste worse than what the Baristomatic makes every time.  Just like his writing.


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Unblinking

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Reply #51 on: March 14, 2011, 01:44:29 PM
A bit of a sidestory, but it is relevant.

From time to time, when I am trying to split myself in too many directions on any given day, I sometimes have trouble sleeping as my mind races away on the things it's trying to compute.  As I get more exhausted and more split, and as I start to drift to sleep, these lines of reasoning make less and less sense.  For instance, a couple months back I spent half the night sleepless trying to figure out a problem, and later realized the problem was nonsensical, something like "How do I say a comeback to an insult that doesn't result in a compiler error?"  (A result of too much programming at work and for school I guess)

The reason this is relevant is that over the weekend I had one of these sleepless nights, and the question of the night was about trying to write a program that would write stories.  The particular aspect I was trying to sort out was how to write the code to robustly deal with point of view switches that also include a change from 1st person to 3rd person. 

Oy, I can't wait til I'm done with school.  My poor addled brain can't take much more of this.




Gamercow

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Reply #52 on: March 14, 2011, 03:44:03 PM
I didn't get the bleak or dystopian views on this story.  Most of this is happening now, where safe sells, and the best way to get acclaim is to do whatever is popular at the time.  That said, I didn't find the story that interesting because, other than the elevator pay to ride and the computer program(I wonder if he called it Locke or Demosthenes) the story is pretty much current-day tech, and current day events.  I have plenty of friends who travel through the world in their own devices, spending their days exactly like the MC. 

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kibitzer

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Reply #53 on: March 15, 2011, 01:41:25 AM
From time to time, when I am trying to split myself in too many directions on any given day, I sometimes have trouble sleeping as my mind races away on the things it's trying to compute.

You're not alone there :-)

See Babylon 5, "The Hour of the Wolf".


JoeFitz

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Reply #54 on: March 15, 2011, 03:54:13 AM
I didn't love this story. But, wow, I love the people who take the time to write such interesting comments in the forum! Thanks!



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Reply #55 on: March 18, 2011, 01:55:18 AM
A lot of people forget The Graveyard Book, which is, arguably "this magical person stumbles upon a secret, ordinary land where he/she is no one special."

The Graveyard Book is stolen plot/theme tho, because it's the Jungle Book. 

So I'm not so sure that counts as Neil Gaiman writing a different plot.  Not that I don't love Neil Gaiman as much as the next geek, but still...

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FNH

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Reply #56 on: March 18, 2011, 11:31:43 AM
Another yawn-tastic story. Lets check the list of sci-fi must haves...

Space ships - nope
Aliens - nope
Awesome tech - nope
Galaxy spanning evil villains - nope

... as you can see, on the  "Felbrigg's Scale of Sci-Fi-ness" it's a little lacking.


iamafish

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Reply #57 on: March 18, 2011, 11:51:28 AM
i do hope your tongue is planted firmly in your cheek, sir


Reginod

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Reply #58 on: March 18, 2011, 01:16:48 PM
Me too, I mean the barista-bot alone gives it a “yup” for awesome tech. 



matweller

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Reply #59 on: March 18, 2011, 01:45:40 PM
That makes me weep, since -- what was the...oh yes, 'Felbrigg' is obviously a name as ubiquitous in sci-fi circles as 'Hilton' is in the halls of MENSA.

Take a breath and walk it off.



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Reply #60 on: March 18, 2011, 05:05:00 PM
That makes me weep, since -- what was the...oh yes, 'Felbrigg' is obviously a name as ubiquitous in sci-fi circles as 'Hilton' is in the halls of MENSA.

Take a breath and walk it off.

Hmmm lets see... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felbrigg ... no mention of Sci Fi!


Scattercat

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Reply #61 on: March 18, 2011, 07:52:14 PM
That makes me weep, since -- what was the...oh yes, 'Felbrigg' is obviously a name as ubiquitous in sci-fi circles as 'Hilton' is in the halls of MENSA.

Take a breath and walk it off.

Hmmm lets see... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felbrigg ... no mention of Sci Fi!

Um, yes.  That was... kind of the point of his remark.  I think he was assuming that "Felbrigg" was your real last name, and was pointing out that that name carries no weight of actual authority.



eytanz

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Reply #62 on: March 18, 2011, 08:51:25 PM
I think he was assuming that "Felbrigg" was your real last name

A mistaken assumption to be sure, given that it's his first name.



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Reply #63 on: March 24, 2011, 09:50:32 PM



Wilson Fowlie

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Reply #64 on: March 25, 2011, 04:09:35 PM
This is why I love Cat and Girl.

It might be worth finding the permalink for that particular comic and changing your link to point to it.  In the future, that link will point to a new comic and people won't know what you are referring to.

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Reply #65 on: March 25, 2011, 06:31:23 PM
This is why I love Cat and Girl.

It might be worth finding the permalink for that particular comic and changing your link to point to it.  In the future, that link will point to a new comic and people won't know what you are referring to.

Here's the link you want.

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CryptoMe

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Reply #66 on: March 27, 2011, 08:28:29 PM
For me, this was one of those stories where the forum posts were way more fun than the story. BTW, I have no idea what story you all were listening to, cause I got none of that. But, I did enjoy listening to your discussion. Thanks.

Also, I agree with Gamercow, the best part of the story I heard was the "pay for elevator rides" idea. Hmmm, maybe that would be a good start to solving our society's growing obesity problems.....



Devoted135

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Reply #67 on: March 28, 2011, 01:28:14 PM
This is my favorite way to combat obesity :) (or it would be if I lived anywhere near Stockholm :P)

http://www.brandfreak.com/2009/10/volkswagen-comes-up-with-piano-stairs-and-other-fun-diversions.html



hardware

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Reply #68 on: March 31, 2011, 10:21:01 AM
This felt a bit like an entry in some competition to write about how life in the future might look like. Not much plot, not much character, but quite some nice observations about which directions our culture is taking, and at least an attempt to see how that would change people including the protagonist. And no, I don't we should necessarily identify or agree with him.



eytanz

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Reply #69 on: May 24, 2011, 03:37:03 AM
I think you must be confusing this one with another story, because it had nothing to do with time travel.

Edit: this is in response to a post that was removed, not to Hardware's post.
« Last Edit: May 24, 2011, 10:54:21 AM by eytanz »



Planish

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Reply #70 on: May 24, 2011, 04:47:20 AM
I think you must be confusing this one with another story, because it had nothing to do with time travel.
You are perfectly correct.
My previous post has been removed to protect the clueless.::)

I must confess though, that I was tempted to simply delete it and not make this post. It would make eytanz' post somewhat surreal, because it almost seems relevant to hardware's post.

I skimmed the story again and upgraded my rating of it to somewhere between "meh" and "okay".

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olivaw

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Reply #71 on: July 03, 2011, 02:32:05 PM
Hi
This was the first Escape Pod I listened to, and it persuaded me to come back for more.
Alienation is a popular modernist theme, so it's nice to remember that SF can always up the ante.



kibitzer

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Reply #72 on: July 04, 2011, 02:44:01 AM
Hi
This was the first Escape Pod I listened to, and it persuaded me to come back for more.
Alienation is a popular modernist theme, so it's nice to remember that SF can always up the ante.

Welcome, Daneel! Hope you stick around.