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The seductive, science fictional power of spreadsheets
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Tomorrow (Apr 30) at 2PM, I’ll be at the San Francisco Public Library with my new book, Red Team Blues, hosted by Annalee Newitz.
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This week, John Scalzi was kind enough to let me write a guest-editorial for his Whatever blog about the themes in my new crime technothriller, Red Team Blues; specifically, about the ways that spreadsheets embody the power and the pitfalls of science fiction at its best and worst:
https://whatever.scalzi.com/2023/04/26/the-big-idea-cory-doctorow-2/
If you’d like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here’s a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:
https://pluralistic.net/2023/04/29/gedankenexperimentwahn/#high-on-your-own-supply
Yes, spreadsheets. Marty Hench (the protagonist of Red Team Blues) is a 67-year-old forensic accountant who specializes in unwinding Silicon Valley financial frauds, a field he basically invented 40 years ago, when, as a PC-struck MIT dropout, he moved from Cambridge to San Francisco to recover the stolen millions hidden in spreadsheets.
Working through this book — and its two sequels, which travel back in time to the 1980s and Marty’s first encounters with VisiCalc and Lotus 1–2–3 — I was struck by the similarities between spreadsheets and science fiction.
While many people use spreadsheets as an overgrown calculator, adding up long columns of numbers, the rise and rise of spreadsheets comes from their use in modeling. Using a spreadsheet, a complex process can be expressed as a series of mathematical operations: we put these inputs into the factory and we get these finished goods. Once the model is built, we can easily test out contrafactuals: what if I add a third shift? What if I bargain harder for discounts on a key component? If I give my workers a productivity-increasing raise, will the profits make up for the costs?
These are the questions that anyone managing a complex system asks themselves all the time. Historically, the answers have sprung from intuition, from fingerspitzengefühl — the “fingertip feeling” of how a system’s components work and what their potential and limitations are. But intuition can calcify, become a rigid set of rules that increasingly diverge from the best strategy.
By contrast, spreadsheets yield a set of crisp, instantly tallied answers to any question you put to them. Change the input and watch as that change ripples through the whole system in an eyeblink. If you’re adding three more people to your camping trip, will the amount of additional water require renting another vehicle? No need to guess: just check and see.
This has a lot in common with science fiction, a genre full of thought experiments that ask Heinlein’s famous three questions:
What if?
If only, and
If this goes on…
These contrafactuals are incredibly useful and important. As critical tools, science fiction’s parables about the future are the best chance we have for resisting the inevitabilism that insists that technology must be used in a certain way, or must exist at all. Science fiction doesn’t just interrogate what the gadget does, but who it does it for and who it does it to:
https://pluralistic.net/2023/03/20/love-the-machine/#hate-the-factory
One of science fiction’s key methods comes from sf grandmaster Theodore Sturgeon: “ask the next question.” Ask a question, then ask “what happens next?” Do it again, and again, and again:
https://christopher-mckitterick.com/Sturgeon-Campbell/Sturgeon-Q.htm
This technique produces excellent, critical ways of interrogating technological narratives — check out this delightful example of the possible pipeline from self-driving cars to ransomware gangs to mutual aid societies to the reinvention of the train:
https://dduane.tumblr.com/post/715940904747352064/you-can-make-your-mercedes-ev-go-faster-for-60-a
The commonalities between sf and spreadsheets don’t stop there — sf and spreadsheets share pitfalls, too. A spreadsheet is a model and a model is not the thing it models. The map is not the territory. Every time a messy, real-world process is converted to a crisp, mathematical operation, some important qualitative element is lost.
Modeling is an intrinsically lossy operation. That’s why “all models are wrong, but some models are useful.” There is no process so simple that it can be losslessly converted to a model. Even the actions of the nanoscale transistors in a microchip, which toggle between “0” and “1,” are rarely in a state of “no voltage” and “voltage.” That clean, square-wave line that’s used to describe what happens in a chip is a lie — that is to say, it is a model.
The wave isn’t square, it’s a squiggly line that hovers around zero and around one. Under normal circumstances, “zero” and “zero-ish” is a distinction without a difference. But when computers go wrong, it’s sometimes because a sufficiently ambiguous “zero-ish” acts like a “one.” That’s true all the way up the stack. On engineering diagrams, the nanoscale lines that electrons travel along inside a chip are represented as sharp paths, the kind of thing a Tron-cycle would lay down. But in the real world, we get all kinds of weird effects at that scale — electrons sometimes tunnel through those lines, performing a spooky quantum trick that reminds us that Newtononian physics are also just a model.
Every real-world phenomenon contains qualitative and quantitative elements, but computers can only do math on the quantitative parts. This creates a powerful temptation to incinerate the qualitative and perform operations on whatever dubious quantitative residue is left in the crucible, often with disastrous results.
Remember during lockdown, when a pair of University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign physicists produced a model of covid spread that predicted that the campus could safely reopen, predicting no more than 500 cases over the entire semester and no more than 100 cases at any one time? The physicists were openly contemptuous of their epidemiologist peers, saying that this kind of model making lacked the “intellectual thrill” of real science.
UI was so swayed by the crisp, precise model that they invited students back to campus — only to shut down again in a matter of weeks, with 780 active cases on campus and more rolling in every day.
The model reduced qualitative factors — like the propensity of undergrads to get drunk, take off their masks, and lick each others’ eyeballs — to a quantitative probability, using the highly precise, scientific technique of taking a wild-ass guess. That guess was wrong. The campus reopening was a super-spreader event.
Any model runs the risk of hiding the irreducible complexity of qualitative factors behind a formula, turning uncertainty into certainty and humility into arrogance.
Think of how we replaced contact tracing with exposure notification. Contact tracing has a qualitative foundation: public health workers establish rapport with infected people, win their trust, and get them to fully enumerate the places they’ve been and the activities they participated in.
By contrast, exposure notification measures whether two Bluetooth radios were within range of each other for a predetermined interval. It substitutes signal strength for a person’s own understanding of their experience. Now, people can be wrong about their own experience — we lose track of time, we misremember emotionally charged events, and so on — but that doesn’t mean we can substitute Bluetooth measurements for personal experience.
That’s why, despite all the clever privacy-preserving math and interesting analysis, exposure notification was a bust, something between a distraction and a false-confidence-generating disaster. Contact tracing ended the 2014 ebola outbreak. Exposure notification just wasted a lot of time:
https://locusmag.com/2021/05/cory-doctorow-qualia/
It’s just too easy to forget which parts of a model are based on guesses and which parts are based on ground truth. And even if you can keep track of those differences, it’s even harder to re-check the model’s ground truth to determine whether the underlying factors have changed. That’s how we got into so much trouble with collateralized debt obligations, which were supposed to be “risk-free” mortgage derivatives that could be safely insured and invested in.
The formulas behind CDO hedging were designed by some of the world’s smartest mathematicians and physicists, who simply assumed that market actors — from loan-originating bank officers to insurance underwriters — would act in reliable, predictable ways. They were so very wrong that they brought the world economy to the brink of ruin:
https://www.wired.com/2009/02/wp-quant/
This is also science fiction’s failure-mode: any science fictional “ask-the-next-question” exercise represents a series of guesses or speculations or maybe possibilities — but when you combine that guesswork with the deceptive certainty that comes from inhabiting a cracking story, it’s easy to mistake “guessing” for “prediction.”
Prediction is hard, especially about the future. The assumptions that go into a prediction are always incomplete, not least because human beings have free will and agency and can change the circumstances that go into the assumptions. The very best science fiction embodies this principle. I’m thinking here of the likes of Ada Palmer, an historian and sf writer whose deep historical knowledge informs her sf and her pedagogy at the University of Chicago:
https://pluralistic.net/2022/02/10/monopoly-begets-monopoly/#terra-ignota
Palmer is famous — even notorious — for her annual four-week undergraduate LARP in which students re-enact the election of the Medicis’ Pope. It’s four weeks of alliances, betrayal and skullduggery by the students, each of whom is enacting the agenda of a real-world Cardinal or other power-broker.
The final investiture is done in full costume at the university’s massive faux-gothic cathedral, and going into that climax, of the four candidates, two are always the same, because the great forces of history are bearing down on that moment to ensure that the champions of the two dominant power-blocs are in the running. But the other two? They’re never the same — because the agency of the actors jockeying for power change the outcome, every single time, in absolutely unpredictable ways.
Like any other model, sf is wrong, but sometimes useful. Thinking about jetpacks and flying cars is “useful” insofar as it gets us to interrogate how we think about cities, about mobility, about privilege and geography. But it’s not a prediction. Worse, the endless tales in which flying cars are presented a fait accompli is a gift to grifters raising money for the objectively stupid idea of flying cars. After all, we all know flying cars are inevitable, so it’s basically a risk-free investment, right? With flying cars just around the corner, wouldn’t it be irresponsible to build a city with mass-transit instead of helipads?
There’s a whole range of thought-experiments that got transformed into predictions and then certainties: self-driving cars, “general artificial intelligence,” infinite life-extension, space colonization, faster-than-light travel, cryptocurrency, etc etc.
Spreadsheets don’t just lead their users astray — they also trick their creators. The very same people who transform wild-assed guesses about hairy, unknowable outcomes into neat mathematical relationships are perfectly capable of acting as if those relationships are based on fact, rather than supposition. The Great Financial Crisis wasn’t just about people who didn’t understand the uncertainty in the hedging algorithm going all-in — the people who made those models were also fooled by them.
It’s very easy to get high on your own supply. I’ll never forget the sf convention panel I was on with Robert Silverberg about sf’s supposed predictive value, where the subject of Robert A Heinlein came up, and Silverberg sniffed, and, in that trademark bone-dry way of his, said, “Ah yes, ‘Robert A Timeline.’”
Sf isn’t just full of writers who mistake their suppositions for predictions — the canon is full of tales in which brilliant people can and do predict the future, with near-perfection. Think of Hari Seldon, the hero of Asimov’s Foundation series, who is able to forecast the future several millennia out. Or Heinlein’s first-ever story, “Life-Line,” in which a genius inventor destroys the insurance industry by creating a computer that can predict your exact date of death using statistical methods.
There’s something wild about this phenomenon, in which writers make stuff up and then assume that anything that cool must also be accurate. One tantalizing explanation for this comes from EL Doctorow’s (no relation) essay “Genesis,” from his 2007 collection “The Creationists”:
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/41520/creationists-by-e-l-doctorow/
Doctorow tells the history of the Genesis story, which the Hebrews plagiarized from the Babylonians. In Doctorow’s telling, the Babylonian mystics who made up the Genesis story assumed that it had to be true, because they considered themselves to be nowhere near imaginative enough to have come up with something as great as Genesis. An idea that amazing had to be divinely inspired.
I like this because it’s a story of being led astray by humility, rather than hubris.
Imaginative exercises — whether or not they are assisted by mathematical models and self-updating digital spreadsheets — are powerful tools for thinking about the future we want, and to guide our attempts to make that future come true. All models are wrong but some models are useful, of course!
I’m on tour with Red Team Blues right now — I’m writing this post while waiting for my flight to San Francisco, where I’m appearing at the public library with Annalee Newitz tomorrow (4/30) at 2PM:
https://sfpl.org/events/2023/04/30/author-cory-doctorow-and-annalee-newitz-conversation-red-team-blues
One especially fun stop on this tour will be on May 5, at the Books, Inc in Mountain View, where I’ll be talking about the book with Mitch Kapor, the creator of Lotus 1–2–3, who knows a thing or two about spreadsheets:
https://www.booksinc.net/event/cory-doctorow-books-inc-mountain-view
The tour is bringing me to Berkeley, Vancouver, Calgary, DC, Gaithersburg, Toronto, PDX, Nottingham, Hay, London, Manchester, Edinburgh and Berlin — I hope to see you!
https://craphound.com/novels/redteamblues/2023/04/26/the-red-team-blues-tour-burbank-sf-pdx-berkeley-yvr-edmonton-gaithersburg-dc-toronto-hay-oxford-nottingham-manchester-london-edinburgh-london-berlin/
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Catch me on tour with Red Team Blues in Mountain View, Berkeley, San Francisco, Portland, Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, DC, Gaithersburg, Oxford, Hay, Manchester, Nottingham, London, and Berlin!
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[Image ID: A Lotus 1-2-3 spreadsheet with green-on-black, low-res type; its center has an irregular vignette revealing a space station.]
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librawritesstuff · 14 days
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Preface to a collection of EL Doctorow short stories
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b3aches · 9 months
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Went to a bookshop today. It was lovely.
I already own the audiobook/ebook of Red Team Blues, but I wanted the hard cover too.
I am very excited about "This Is How You Lose the Time War" though.
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elgallinero · 1 year
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Practice English
Payne Whitney House – Wikipedia — Read on en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Payne_Whitney_House
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driftwork · 10 months
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names, most surnames (2)
Allow me to apologize again for this partial list of names in the library,  titles available on request…
amis, acker kathy, ackroyd peter, abbey edward, aldiss brian, alcott louisa, m. anonymous, aldiss brian editor, ackroyd peter, allende isabel, acker kathy, adair gilbert, adams richard, asimov isaac, alcott louisa m., austen jane, azhayev vasili, asimov isaac, austen jane, ableman paul, amis martin, atwood marga,ret adams richard, abish walter, burroughs edgar rice, benn melissa, butler samuel, blyton enid, beckett samuel, beckett samuel, blyton enid, billington rachel, burnford. sheila, burroughs edgar r,ice bentley phyllis, burney francis, burroughs edgar rice, burroughs edgar rice, compton-burnett ivy, bryant arthur, burchard johann, bryant arthur, brame charlotte, bryant arthur, boll heinrich, buckeridge ant,hony boston l.m., buchan john, brightwen mrs illustrated by f carruthers gold, bronte charlotte, bradbury ray, banks lynne reid, barr pat, betto fre,i baxter stephen, banks iain, bronte charlotte, bryant arthur, banks iain m illustrated by nick day, bradbury malcolm, bell adrian, ballantyne r,.m. balzac honore de, benson e.f, barth richard, barrie j.m, bainbridge beryl, bronte emily, ballard j.g, bronte charl,otte borden mary, black lionel , bellow saul, introduced b,y j. michael walton wilde oscar, salgado gamini, ready stuart, besier rudolf, salgado gamini, euripides, euripides, williams t,ennessee sophocles, ionesco. eugene, ibsen henrick, marillier chri,stabel jonson ben, bennett alan, ionesco eugene, brenton. howard, stoppard tom, pinter harold, aristophanes, arnold mathew, daisenberger j.a., stoppard tom, eliot t.s., creeley rob,ert chaucer geoffrey - edited by walter w. skeat, cronin a. j., carr j. l., cooper edmu,nd colette, chevalier tracy, cosse laurence, christopher joh,n chatwin bruce, collingwood h, cather willa, cattieuchlan, crane stephen, calvino italo, collier eric, cela camilo c,ela crichton micheal, carpino f. brancaccio di, comrie margaret s., chabon michael, crofts freeman wills, carre john le, crace jim, michael co,x and r. a. gilbert cheever john, cardetti raphael, coolidge clark, chevallier gabr,ial coxe harmon george, cronin a. j., cheyney peter, conway hugh, cullum ridgwell, christian catherine, crace jim, crace jim, dickens charles, dickens charles, dunn nell, defoe dani,el bernheim emmanuele, doctorow e.l., chesterton g. k., donleavy j.p., bronte charlotte, duggan alfred, delany samuel r. - petaja emil, durrell gerald, dallek robert, dickens charles, dickens charles, dalby richard ed,. dickens charles, chang jung, delacorta, dickens ch,arles dickens charles, conan-doyle arthur, du maurier daphne, dostoyevsky f.m, durrant valentine, durrant valentine, donoso jose, delillo don, delillo don, defoe daniel, defoe daniel, duke neville, colette, camus albert, cheever john, egan frank, eastwood helen, england barry, duke of windsor, eden emily, egan greg, edwardson ake, franken rose, fowles john, frzer douglas, fielding henry, frankau gilbert, featherstone don,ald fyson j.g., fitzgerald f. scott, fyfield francis, fletcher h.l.v., ford madox ford, fuentes carlos, fuentes carlos, fossum karin, fielding henry, fielding henry, fox gardner f., forester c.s., flaubert gustave, forsyth frederick, fitchett w.h., faulkner willi,am gallico paul, garfeld leon, galsworthy john, gaskin catherine, goldring douglas, greene graham, fletcher j. s., goldsmith olive,r grey zane, faulkner william, grisham john, greene graham, green f.l., delany samuel r, fenn george manville, gide andre, grimwood jon courtenay , gordimer nadine, grisham john, greene graham, greene graham, grass gunter, galsworthy john, gray malcolm, gou xiaolu, goldsmith oliver, greene graham, harsch rick, hill weldon, hall radclyffe, hibbert christopher, hanley james, hemingway ernest, hardy thomas, horvath odon von, conan-doyle arthu,r scott-giles c.w., kollings ken, herbert a.p., houellebecq m,ichel hawes james, holt anne, hopkins r. thurston, huxley aldous, hawkins paula, holwell william, indridason arnaldur, inoue yasushi, ishiguro kazuo, houellebecq michel, hesse hermann, hemingway erne,st hamilton peter f., howard cecil, hyland ann, jewett sara,h orne - with a preface by willa cather joinville & villehardouin, jelinek elfriede, james m. r., jonke gert, moyle j.b.  (translator) - justinian, johns capt. w.e., jerome jerome k, jenkins elizabet,h jenkins elizabeth, james m. r., kipling rudyard, kipling rudyard, kipling rudyard, kipling rudyard, kerr j. lennox, kipling rudyard, kilvert rev francis, kipling rudyard, kipling rudyard, kent nora, kipling rudyard, king stephen, kipling rudyard, kipling rudyard, kipling rudyard, khadra yasmina, khadra yasmina, kipling rudyard, kipling rudyard, lovell ann, koontz dean, lucas-philli,ps c.e. kafka franz, leyner marx, linklater eric, kipling rudyard, kipling rudyard, kennard mrs. edward, kipling rudyard, kipling rudyard, kipling rudyard, kipling rudyard, kipling rudyard, leskov nikolai, leyner mark, lewis norman, carre john le, lee laurie, kilver francis - edited william plover, leyner mark, laver james, lear edward, lever charles, laing e.t., carre john le, longmate norma,n lane jane, lewycka marina, baker margaret, llwelyn davis w,eeks forestier-walker and bor wenstrom o. edmund and harlock walter e., rensschler eric, st. claire byrne muriel, day mabel  (edited by), linklater eric, linklater eric, linklater eric, martel yann, lewis c. s., lee laurie, longford elizabeth, lewis c. s., mason a.e.w, maupassant guy de, maclean alistair, masters john, reich-ranicki marcel, melwood mary, mathews basil, mackenzie fait,h compton maxwell  w. b., macleod m kathleen, mcwilliam candia, mee arthur, marquez gabriel garcia mendoza plinio apuleyo, maurois andre, maclean alistair, mankowitz wolf, masefield john, marryat captain, macnamara brinsley, morris william, murdoch iris, mandelstam. osip, morris william, murdoch iris, mustoe anne, morris william, morris william, bradbury ray, gifford barry, miller henry, maturin charles, millet lydia, mitchison naomi, michener james, mcewan ian, miln lousie, jordan mitford mary russell, menglong feng, munthe. alex, moran lord, nicholl charles, new yorker the editors, oppenheim e.phillips, o'neill jamie, oppenheim e.phillips, nin anais, nairne a, hughes-pa,rry j. powell anthony, ponsonby d.a., price anthony, pangborn edgar, pollard velma, priestley j.b, barry n. malzberg & bill pronzini, powell anthony, nabokov vladimir, porter sheena, peacock thomas love, pratchett terry ian ,stewart and jack cohen powell anthony, percy w. s., needham violet, raymond diana, russo richard, rice margery spring, rabelais, reed thom,as baines russ joanna, remarque erich maria, pearson hesketh, rezzori gregor v,on rolfe fr- frederick baron corvo, sayers dorothy l. sayers  (translator), renault mary, raphael frede,ric phillips adam, robertson e.arnot, pavic milorad, robinson heath, rendell ruth, read miss, robinson heath, rice elmer, rackham arthur, rutley c. bernard, renault mary, steinbeck joh,n smith alexander mccall, spyris johanna, sabatini rafael, spalding francis, stables gordon, camus albert, sinclair upton, stowe harriet b,eecher shem samuel, sienkiewicz henryk, swift jonathan, samuel maurice, scott sir walter, scott paul, stowe harriet beecher, scott sir walter, skinner john, sterne laurence, sewell anna, stevenson d.,e. sitwell edith, strang herbert, surtees r. s., sidney sir phi,llip stout william, sigurdardottir yrsa, solzhenitsyn alexander, scott sir walter, stephenson neil, self will, styron william, scott sir walte,r scott sir walter, scott sir walter, slavicsek bill, sebold alice, smith f seymour, slaughter frank, seth vkram, trollope jo,anna henry fielding, trevelyan g. m., thelwell normal, trevor elleston, thompson flora, thompson flora, tey josephine, tyler j.e.a., tutton diana, tuchman barbara, tolkien j.r.r, duke of windso,r wheatley dennis, wilkinson gerald, wells h.g, rawnsley c,.f. and wright robert white patrick, winchester simon, waugh evelyn, wodehouse p.g,. walsh j. m., welles orson, wood mrs henry, wren p.c, waugh auberon, white. t. h., white t. h., westo kjell, webster jason, wain john, quin b. g., westall rob,ert white t.h, wodehouse p.g, wodehouse p.g, westerfield sc,ott wodehouse p.g, zweig stefan, wodehouse p.g, urquhart r.e., wyndham john, wodehouse p.g, wodehouse p.g, waugh evelyn, wallace edgar, vine barbara, white patrick, virgil, vesaas tarjei, varesi valerio, vine barbara, updike john, young francis brett, vaizey george, wilde oscar, verne jules, wheatley dennis, updike john, markham mrs, vine barbara, vine barbara, kilvert rev francis, kilvert rev francis, new towns act 1946 -, leyser henrietta, perry anderson malcolm bull jan breman rob lucas david simpson rachel malik alexander zevin marco d'eramo, shaw george bernard, shaw george bernard, shakespeare william, shaw george bernard, shakespeare william, shaw george bernard, shaw bernard, shakespeare william, shaw bernard, shakespeare w,illiam shaw george bernard, shaw bernard, shaw george bernard, shaw george bernard, shaw bernard, sturgess keith (edited), euripides, matsumoto ,seicho lewis naomi, lang andrew, goethe, aristop,hanes pevsner nicholas, alvarez a., de la mare walter, larkin phillip, townsend sue, kyd thomas, euripides, lawrence d,. h. anderson w.e.k., marvell andrew, allan c.f., de la mare ,walter illustrated by edward ardizzone mitchell tony, plath sylvia, hobbs jack and hobbs margaret, spender stephen, whittier john greenleaf, millay edna st. vincent, bridges robert, steakley james , arkell reginald, thompson francis, arkell reginald, townsend sue, stamp l. dudley, keats john, farmer john s. , gollancz sir isr,ael and  day mabel and serjeantson mary s hood thomas, milton john, walsh michae,l (editor) barkow al, british sociological association, burgess tyrrell, bentley michael, braudel fernand, de botton alain, ardrey robert, barrow r. h., bennett joan, aylward j. d., albert marvin h., alford violet, ali ayaan hirsi, cookson mrs. nesfield, cecil david, cudlipp hugh, conway gregory j., ccta, beard patten, clarke mike, deighton k, doyle clare, cottrell leonard, the ecologist, ellis chri, furmston m.p. and simpson a.w.b, elton lord, arellano ro,bert williams reese, brandys kazimierz, rich adrienne, lee laurie, khorsandi shappi, midgley mary, blackburn robin , butler samuel, butler samuel, burroughs william s, brooke nichlas, d.s.pugh d.j.hi,ckman c.r.hinings moliere, hamilton ronald, hill christopher, hackforth-jones g,ilbert hartley john, hervey h.e., kynaston david, herrmann paul, gregory otto, clay a.j. mackenzie, gombrick e.h. and kris k, kingsmill hugh, lloyd christopher, jarvns matt, labour party research department, jacob e. f., krake ken, longmate norman, golding louis, jackson major ,donovan james philip, lethbridge t. c., liechti elaine, ladurie emmanue,l le roy morris desmond, malina f.j, p.m., mundy, john h. carroll noel , middleton john , perniola mario, maxton james, paz octavio, menzies gavin, plaskitt harold and jrdan percy, woodward c. vann, rowntree b.seebohm and lavers g.r., weill herman n., wellman paul i, victor weybrigh,t and henry blackman sell scruton roger, smith j.c., taylor g. rattray, the times, thompson james westfall, taylor arthur, kulke hermann and rothermund dietmar, thomas mary, diamond jared, bacigalupi paolo, johnston william r., woods william, woodward sir llewellyn, shaw josephine, williams christopher, sidebotham helen m., williamson james a., tuchman barbara, smith wm. dr. 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alex, bendis brian micheal and  maleev alex, mcauley paul j., bendis brian micheal and  maleev alex, shaw john h., simmonds posy, cochrane james, (edited by) barth john, jeter k. w., dunn euan , lynch richa,rd warwick christopher , fraser george macdonald, barnes djuna, neuvel sylvai,n kepler lars, durrell lawrence, durrell lawrence, durrell lawrence, durrell lawrence, shakespeare william, waugh evelyn, puig manuel, crais robert, houellebecq michel, durrell lawrence, grant morrison, p,hil jimenez, steve yeowell eriksson kjell, jordan robert, slavnikova olga, story jack trevo,r boll heinrich, crussi f. gonzalez, dick philip k, ackerman diane, perec georges, stross charles, ashman howard, rosen michael, mcllwraith a. k., packer nigel, haasen carl, hesse herman,n hesse hermann, lewis norman, ballard j. g., maupassant guy, de perry sarah, dickey james, friedman kinky, friedman kinky, durrell lawrence, ings simon, jones diana wynne, forrest katherine ,v.  weldon fay, sophocles, mitchison naomi, kermode frank, firestone shulamith, webster john, gosse edmund - introduction by, conrad joseph, palmer frank, trollope anthony, bronte charlotte, durrell lawrence, prose francine, murphy devla, lyall gavin, fraser georg,e macdonald fo dario, fleming peter, disch thomas m. and sladek john t., marlowe christoher, rosewicz tadeusz, nunez raul, shakespeare william, webster john, poliakoff stephen, murakami ryu, neuvel sylvain, eliot t. s., fitzgerald penelope, fergusson francis, curie ewa, geoff dyer, (contributor) lila azam zanganeh (contributor) leanne shapton (contributor) alain de botton (contributor) alice rawsthorn (contributor) swann ingo, le carre john, nabokov vladimir, evans julian, ahndoril alexander, gonzales tony, chu wesley, gentle mary, solnit rebecca, barnes john, fitzgerald penelope, hamilton geoff, jordan robert, sterbenz carol endler, mcnaughton colin, david peter, innes clive, banks lynne reid, miller henry, hartley l. p., smith e. e. 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pablo iglesias mike davis francis mulhern joann wypijewwski joshua rahtz emma  fajgenbaum  r taggart murphy, evgeny morozov gopal balakrishnan wang chaohua  mauricio velasquez franco moretti jeffrey r. webber anders stephanson barry schwabsky, joshua wong frederic jameson joetrapido emilie bickerton sebastian veg  adam tooze achin vanaik franco moretti, gopal balakrishnan bhaskar sunkara  daniel finn francesco fiorentino  enrica villari  micheae denning blair ogd,en  vivek chibber susan watkins ching kwan lee neil davidson nancy ettlinger alex niven timothy brennan joshua rahtz emilie bickerton,mike davis giovanni arright, g tamas peter nolan koza yamamura asef bayat  benedict anderson tariq ali ian birchill kheya bag  regis debray, dark horse comics, dark horse comics, warren ellis lee bermejo david baron, warren ellis lee bermejo david baron, warren ellis lee bermejo david baron, damon hurd with pedro camello, brian wood /  becky cloonan, chris claremont jim lee scott williams, dark horse comics, jeph loen carlos pachego jesus merino, morrison grant, morrison grant, morrison grant, morrison grant, amis martin, mike carey sonny liew marc hempel, groening matt, jenkins johnson faucher, dark horse comics, damon hurd rick smith, damon hurd rick smith, brian wood becky cloonan, brian wood becky cloonan, brian wood becky cloonan, grant morrison frank quit,ely *, mike carey sonny liew marc hempel, grant morrison philip bond d'israeli daniel vozzo, bendis brian micheal and  maleev alex, brian wood becky cloonan, damon hurd with pedro camello, mike carey sonny liew marc hempel, brian wood becky cloonan, jim valentino chance wolf dan davis, mckelvie gillen, mckelvie gillen, mckelvie gillen, mckelvie gillen, mckelvie gillen, veitch and  baikie, pienkowski jan, berenstain stan and jan, martin ruth, jones terry, palmer jessi,ca williams ursula moray, pratchett terry, farmer penelope, hunter norman, dahl roald, cresswell helen, rumble adrian (collected by), norton andre and madlee dorth,y bond micheal, brennan j. h., gibson andrew, hall willis, ridley philip, hutchins pat, wright ralph, clarke arthur, cross gillian, lowry lois, wright ralph, king-smth dic,k piserchia doris, proysen alf, priest graham, blackburn simo,n buckeridge anthony, steed ben, wilson forrest, norriss andrew, deary terry, cresswell helen, jacques brian, webber collin, snell gordon, rodgers mary, kastner erich, ordnance surve,y schmidt arno, garner alan, dahl roald, wilson davi,d henry lindgren astrid, kemp gene, art thibert and pamela thibert, bennett arnold illustrated by m,orten sale pynchon thomas, burgess anthony, huxley aldous, dahl roald, boll heinrich, herr micheal, dibden michael, o'connell jack, greenland colin, gifford barry, gifford barry, russell leigh, dahl roald, shakespeare william, marivaux, rodgers m,ary lucasfilm bob woods (editor), lucasfilm bob woods (editor), lucasfilm bob woods (editor), lucasfilm bob woods (editor), lucasfilm bob woods (editor), mcfarlane todd, jim valentino chance wolf dan davis, jim valentino chance wolf dan davis, mckillip patricia a., du maurier daphne, elgin suzanne haden, de teran lisa st aub,in collingwood r. g., winterson jeanette, carmody isobelle, perry steve, egan doris, moorcock michael, gaiman neil, gilden mel, larry niven jerry pounelle micheal flynn, eddings david, cooper louise, weaver micheal, claremont chris, hamilton laurell k., kepler lars, nothomb amel,ie staig laurence, wood anthony, murrary linda, kaveney roz di,tor plato, cumming elizabeth and kaplan wendy, reiss johanna, glover jonatha,n goodman nelson, plato, carmody isobelle, wilson robert cha,rles wilson robert charles, wilson robert charles, johnson george, kepler lars, brookmyre christopher, jordan robert, kinsella sophie, jewell lisa, parent gail, gibson williams, kinsella sophie, carofiglio gianr,ico hesse hermann, nesbo jo, duane diane, higginson wi,lliam j. ferguson margaret.  salter mary jo. stallworthy jon, evanovich janet, evanovich janet, bennett alan, blaylock james p., aylett steve, roffey monique, chambers clare, sedaris david, warner alan, cross amanda, lee harper, brookmyre christopher, lawrence louise, levi primo, coupland do,uglas homesa. m., wesley mary, nicholson geoff, chambers clare, chambers clare, lee chang-rae, ahmed rollo, gowdy barbar,a suri manil, brickell christopher (editor), adelson warren et al, ishiguro kazuo, curley marianne, miller alexander, macleod ken, diamond jare,d persson leif g.w., littell robert, anderson poul, hamilton laure,ll k. nicoll andrew, miller mark and mcniven steve, wells h.g., xing jan, robinson kim stanley, dahl roald, chandler arthur, breznik melitta, jordan robert, cherryh c.j., sayers dorothy l., dow kristin and do,wning thomas e. mccaffery anne, brent-dyer elinor m., jordan robert, crichton miche,al evanovich janet, williams john, schlosser eric, murphy pat, trollope joanna, mcintyre vonda n., lackey mercedes and dixon larry, lackey mercedes, duane diane and morwood peter, lewis jon e., mccaffery anne, mccaffery anne, jewell lisa, holden wendy, binchy maeve, duane diane, mccaffery anne, mccaffery anne, lovelock james, eddings david, besher alexander, mccaffery anne, barnes john, briggs ian, leon donna, mcdonagh martine, stackpole micheal a, blake william, nassib selim, rankin robert, child lincoln, goudge elizabe,th de teran lisa st aubin, beukes lauren, ridge antonia, greenland coli,n palmer stephen, crais robert, kirstein rosemary, duane diane, lawrence sara, bronte charlotte, plater alan, jones j. v., norriss andrew, girling brough, jordan robert, jones j. v., jones j. v., konwicki  tadeusz, bateman colin, erpenbeck jenn,y scarpa tiziano, lisick beth, warner alan, evanovich ja,net dalby liza, warner alan, adler-olsen  jussi, alcott louisa m., dickinson peter, hicyilmaz gaye, lindgren astrid, lucas george, davies russell t., bendis brian micheal and  maleev alex, bawden nina, gross philip, foster alan dean, anderson kevin j, lucas george, glut donald, kahn james, cadigan pat, murakami haruki, bodlian library, zizek slavoj, tucker andrew, and kingswell tamsin davidson alan, cadigan pat, ashton charles, brookmyre chris,topher brookmyre christopher, brookmyre christopher, evanovich janet, david peter, leon donna, brookmyre christopher, brookmyre christopher, simon anne, scamander newt, whisp kenilworthy, davies pete, blyton enid, blyton enid, walsh helen, bradley marion, steve pike and ,paul fisher travers p.l., lively penelope, vinge joan, jacques bri,an aiken joan, fisk nicholas, o'keeffe linda, deegan denise, clarke stephen, franken al, blyton enid, blyton enid, mankell henning, smith alexander mccall, jones diana wynne, norton andre, ullmann linn, jones vanessa, pinborough sarah, kafka franz, anderson kevin j. (edited by), rankin robert, rankin robert, mccaffery anne, evanovich janet, mccaffery anne, yoshimto ray - clamp nanase ohkawa, brookmyre christopher, allen roger macbride, pratchett terry, anderson kevin j. (edited by), connolly joseph, cherryh c.j., cadigan pat, mccaffery anne, divakaruni chit,ra banerjee zappa moon unit, vernadsky vladimir i, mackesy serena, waterhose keith, hines barry, golding william, keenan joe, ironside vi,rginia cullimore claudine, kawabata yasunari, motter dean and lark michael, mccaffery anne, mccaffery anne, mccaffery anne, packard vance, moore gerald, furey maggie, furey maggie, mccaffery anne, duane diane, gaiman neil, brown dan, furey maggie, lindsay dougl,as scott-giles c. w., modesitt jr  l. e., bronte charlotte, murdoch iris, streatfield noel, leiris michel, bronte emily, williams ursu,la moray ecke wolfgang, pratchett terry, mclean lenny, edwards-jones, imogen nesser hakan, mcintyre vonda, fisk nicholas, evanovich jane,t tey josephine, robbe-grillet alain, aeschylus, baudrillar,d jean baudrillard jean, pagels heinz r., sen amartya, sen amartya, caputo john d., rossini, corey james a., holt tom, kube-mcdowell michael p., sweterlitsch tom, wolfe tom, cadigan pa,t murdoch iris, bronte anne, dyer geoff, spinoza  be,nedictus de  spinoza  benedictus de, haasen carl, dexter colin, moffat gwen, handke peter, handke peter, handke peter, handke peter, kavan anna, kavan anna, kavan anna, gaiman neil, nicholson william, christopher adam, lena levinas ousmane sidibe gabrial piterberg kristen surek franco moretti tom mertes jan breman emilie bickerton, tawadayoko, snow c. p., snow c. p., groening matt, claudel philip,pe leith sam, spinrad norman, russo richard paul, hamilton peter f., haldeman joe, rankin robert, musil robert, niven larry, niven larry, walsh micheal, dibden michael, anouilh jean, herbert frank, allen roger macbride, mcgraw eloise jarvis, lowery marilyn m., bruford bill (editor), bishop micheal, saraute nathalie, abbey edward, wahloo per, davies andrew, davies andrew, asimov isaac, faulks sebastian, dos passos john, egan greg, egan greg, bradley marion, rankin robert, brown eric, shakespeare, william jeter k. w., dyer geoff, beckett chris, roth philip, marshall smith michael, armesto felipe fernandez, almond david, bolano robert,o goscinny f - uderzo a, goscinny f - uderzo a, lowe helen, arnott jake, reynolds alaistair, frith r. j., lena levinas ousmane sidibe gabrial piterberg kristen surek franco moretti tom mertes jan breman emilie bickerton, anderson perry, anderson perry, watkins susan, watkins susan, watkins susan, watkins susan, watkins susan, watkins susan, watkins susan, watkins susan, higgins jack, hoban russell, rolfe fr- fred,erick baron corvo busby f.m, kepler lars, barnes julian, machiavelli ni,ccolo sebald w.g, priest christopher, martin sean, gibson gary, banks iain m, gibson gary, gibson gary, gibson gary, gibson gary, gibson gary, mclellan david, grady james, tilley patrick, van vogt a.e, boyd william, swartz richar,d bennett alan, cortazar julio, anders charlie jane, lowe helen, stagg guy, banks iain, banks iain m illustrated by nick day, banks iain m, banks iain m, flint james, larsson stieg, anthony piers, mcdevitt jack, lostetter marina j., richardson dorothy m., scott m. k. c., gaskall mrs, talbot-booth e. c., whitman walt, le carre john, shelley percy bysshe (introduction phyllis hartnoll ), holt tom, tett gillian, shepard luciu,s grimwood jon courtenay, proust marcel illustrated by phillipe julian, fenn jaine, caldecott a,ndrew caldecott andrew, harvey colin, mcauley paul j., mcdonald ian, mcdonald ian, linklater eric, pliny, nesbo ,jo mcauley paul j., brown eric, backman fedrik, de la motte and,ers galbraith robert, dahl arne, watkins susan, anderson perry, watkins susan, watkins susan, watkins susan, bull mccormack, badiou hart blackburn therborn sarfattio watkins susan, watkins susan, watkins susan, watkins susan, susan watkins benedict anderson franco moretti, hallward collini 'retort' bickerton, jean baudrillard giovanni arrighi richard gott rgis debray, watkins susan, anderson perry, anderson perry, watkins susan, watkins susan, tom mertes peter gowan gerad dumenil & dominique levy, watkins susan, watkins susan, watkins susan, blackburn ronin, watkins susan, watkins susan, watkins susan, watkins susan, perry anderson darko suvin lucio magri  carlos prieto, watkins susan, watkins susan, watkins susan, watkins susan, blackburn robin, watkins susan, watkins susan, watkins susan, blackburn robin, watkins susan, watkins susan, anderson perry, watkins susan, watkins susan, blackburn robin, blackburn robin, blackburn robin, peter hallward t,om nairn jean baudrillard sabry hafex watkins susan, watkins susan, blackburn robin, watkins susan, watkins susan, watkins susan, watkins susan, watkins susan, watkins susan, watkins susan, watkins susan, watkins susan, watkins susan, watkins susan, watkins susan, watkins susan, moravia alberto, tolstoy leo, busby f.m, marquand j,ohn p. airne c. w., haldeman joe, oçonnor richard, hardy thomas, rhys jones  griff, butcher jim, harper david, larsson stieg, joslin edward c., furnival kate, eastland sam, eastland sam, kadare ismail, hertzberg max, grancsay stephen v., mcintyre vonda, kafka franz, piketty thomas, greene harris, butcher jim, ordnance survey, brodie bernard and fawn, kornbluth c. m., bull emma, seigel martin, imlah mick, thomas edward, maclean alista,ir de giovanni maurizio, banks iain m, banks iain m, banks iain, corey james a., corey james a., carver raymond, mason paul, reynolds alaistair, lagercrantz david, lagercrantz david, shakespeare willia,m brooks rosetta , brooks rosetta , grant richard, scudder bernar,d (translator) bull emma, eliot george, kadrey richard, lowry malcolm, de la motte anders, aaronovitch ben (cartmel williamson renne), dick lesley, herbert fran,k setterfield diane, lyall gavin, carr caleb, mcintyre vo,nda groening matt, groening matt, dark horse comics, groening matt, greene graham, gunn kirsty, klein rachel, bussi michel, wiltshire professor patricia, collins bridget, ford ford madox, bishop micheal, brandao ignazio de loyola, kube-mcdowell michael p., pratchett terry, anderson kevin j, mitchell david, barnes john, barnes john, marion  jean,-luc marin louis, marion  jean-luc, marion  jean-luc, horner robyn, zizek slavoj, goscinny f - uderzo a, goscinny f - uderzo a, zizek slavoj, zizek slavoj, powers richard, nietzsche, zizek slavoj,  rorty richard, marion  jean-luc, monbiot george, zizek slavoj, zizek slavoj, litvinoff emanuel, williams raymond, williams raymond, williams raymond, fabre dominique, zizek slavoj, stiegler bern,ard knight renee, painter sarah, north claire, upson nicola, wesley mary, hogan ruth, jones ruth, brookmyre c,hristopher evanovich janet, dabos christelle, greene joshua, bullmore edwar,d upson nicola, gardener graham, honeyman gail, evanovich jane,t kadrey richard, vonnegut kurt, pratt tim, thomas d. ,m. liminov eddie, liminov edward, dahl roald, banks iain, vickers sally, zahn timothy, vonnegut kurt, bassini giorgi,o eastland sam, bainbridge beryl, hill susan, golding wil,liam chen da, tey josephine, reig rafael, lawrence d. ,h. vinge vernor, brown eric, grimwood jon courtenay, stross charles, maddox tom, ellis bret easton, de teran lisa st aubin, aldiss brian, fleming jim and wilson peter lamborn, kepler lars, roslund and hellstrom, kepler lars, cartmel andrew, ripley mike, lyotard jean-francois, stross chalres, kristjansson snorri, king laurie r, powell gareth l., costantino maria, various, mosley walter, brown eric, brown eric, nespolo matias, king laurie r, le carre john, cheever john, campbell john w. , ferman edward l. , oatmeal matthew inman, le carre john, niven larry, zetford tully, ripley mike, le carre joh,n boardman tom, candlish louise, gombrich e.h., shaw george be,rnard jones diana wynne, kennedy emma, jones ruth, gardiner be,cky  wainwright martin , bates stephen , meer malik, sylvain dom,inique paolini christopher, bourdain anthony, horowitz anthony, hugo victor, hesse hermann, tolstoy leo, hawtree christopher graham greene, hilbig wolfgang, barnes julian, kundera milan, zafron carlos ruiz, grimwood jon courte,nay bellow saul, isherwood christopher, clark alan, dahl roald, lotringer sylvere, pullman phillip, galgut damon, paolini chris,topher cresswell helen, jones sadie, christie agatha, doyle a.conan, robinson geoffrey, hodges andrew, sylvain dominique, dostoevsky f.m, martin george r.r., moore christopher, hacker katerina, o'flynn catherin,e cervantes miguel de, kavenna joanna, one direction, austen jane  g,rahame-smith seth conan-doyle arthur, lessing doris, wakeman rick, conan-doyle a,rthur conan-doyle arthur, gaskall mrs, hansen essa, trapani gina, lore pittacus, upward edward, lively penelope, morrison grant, ennis garth, ellis warren, morrison grant, ennis garth, moyes jojo, simsion graeme, shea dave and holzschlag molly e., cederholm dan, martin george r.r., macdonald kyle, feist raymond, upward edward, levi primo, stross charles, sjowall maj and wahloo per, krauss  rosalind, bataille georges, queneau raymond, blackwood algernon, arnold n. scott, leckie ann, cobley michael, levy david, bywater mic,hael brennan marie, fuller steve, fuller steve, fuller steve, tom taylor , jeremy rapack , mik s miller, tom taylor , bruno redondo , ball philip, morden simon, conan-doyle a,rthur pratchett terry, lovegrove james, sartre jean-paul, simenon georges, allan nina, plato, brown eric, cumming cha,rles moore christopher, mieville china, genna  giuseppe, aldiss brian, davidson lionel, adams douglas, russell eric frank, vance jack, cobley michael, cobley michael, furst alan, judd alan, king laurie r, gaiman neil, saint-exupery antoine de, aldiss brian, acker kathy, woolf virgina, mordern s. j., meaney john, anthony piers, christie agatha, smith cordwainer, smith cordwainer, dickson gordon, brin david, davidson lionel, cottrell leonard, rushdie salman, le carre john, brown eric, sayers doro,thy l. brown eric, szerb antal, szerb antal, von schrirac,h ferdinand barthelme donald, shakespeare william, jerome jerome k, kipling rudyard, duras marguerite, pavese cesare, ackroyd peter, tilly charles, thorton tim, reynolds alaistair, von arnim elizabeth, land nick, mackay robin, gould stephen jay, gould stephen jay, mackay robin, veal damion, wolfendale peter, ball philip, castoriadis ,cornelius chomsky. noam, dyson freeman, waldrop n. mitchell, wyatt sir thomas, watson james d., macrae  donald g, larsson stieg, noon jeff, rowbotham sheila & segal lynne & wainwright hilary, carrion jorge, hilbig wolfgang, fermor patrick l,eigh parveeb adams beverly brown elizabeth cowie, parikka jussi, pelevin victor, kurkov andrey, introduced by j. michael walton, jones steve, russ joanna, bennett jane, morgan dan, hannah dolan elizabeth dowsett emma grange, judge dredd!, sayers doroth,y l. sayers  cox edward, vickers sally, nykanen harri, matheson richa,rd jenkins martin and swift jonathan, fleming ian, o'brien flann myles na gopaleen, gieysztor aleksander et al..., de beauvoir simone, sayers dorothy l., sayers dorothy l., de la mare walter, marnham patrick, cumming charles, enger thomas, sayers doroth,y l. lebor adam, dick philip k, naylor doug, amis martin, priest christopher, makine andrei, pratchett terry, carofiglio gianr,ico s. c. kaines smith, grenier jean, lessing doris, pratchett terr,y vickers sally, pratchett terry, pratchett terry, pratchett terry, pratchett terry, pratchett terry, pratchett terry, pratchett terry, akerman chantal, kevin eastman peter laird dave sim, tremain rose, hustvedt siri, evanovich janet, nesser hakan, cage john, van vogt a,.e karlsson jonas, lethem jonathan, singer peter, tuck rchard, leach edmund, floridi luciano, floridi luciano, rose mark (edito,r) skolimowski henryk, kunzru hari, sexton ed, arden kath,erine milanovic branko, helen pluckrose and james lindsey, pinker steven, brooks rosetta,  zizek slavoj, keene jogn, fox jeremy, collins jef,f myerson george, fox dominic, pallant kathryn, haggard william, haggard william, haggard william, henshaw lee, golumbia dav,id dawkins richard, dawkins richard, dawkins richard, kaplan robert, balestrini nanni and moroni primo, watkins susan, watkins susan, barry max, weir andy, kadrey richard, mcauley paul j., mcauley paul j., mcauley paul j., mcauley paul j., mcauley paul j., mcauley paul j., mcdonald ian, mcdonald ian, mcdonald ian, cavanaugh wil,liam t. corina john, lee yoon ha, unt mati, simcox ad,am ripellino angelo maria, morgan richard, setterfield diane, morgan richard, stross chalres, garner alan, bassini giorgio, jennings luke, jennings luke, jennings luke, mordern s. j., novick naomi, novick naomi, macleod ken, reynolds alaistair, reynolds alaistair, afary janet and anderson kevin b, quignard pascal, queneau raymond, arrighi giovanni, niffenegger audrey, quignard pascal, conklin groff, gibson william, quignard pascal, quignard pascal, atkinson  anthon,y b zelazny roger, karl frederick and hamalian leo (edits), modiano patrick, foer jonathan sa,fran chekov anton, garnier pascal, thiongó ngugi wa, crussi f. gonzale,z forrest richard, delany samuel r., cadigan pat, damasio anto,nio damasio antonio, ackroyd peter, evans i. o. (editor), mcdevitt jack, van vogt a.e, stross charles, hamilton edward, pratchett terry, herbert frank, appia adolphe, king laurie r, brown eric, clifton mark and riley frank, mordern s. j., russell eric frank, kuttner henry, robson justina, tchaikovsky adrian, robson justina, mattelart armand and michelle delcourt xavier, dick philip k, cherryh c.j., pohl frederick and kornbluth c. m., graeber david, graeber david, robin blackburn, stiegler bernard, stiegler bernard and derrida jacques, llansol maria gabriela, benkler yochai, robinson kim stanley, anderson poul, jeter k. w., king lily, moorcock michael , leon donna, silverberg ,robert pratt tim, mcarthur maxine, moorcock michael , stephenson neil, carver jeffrey a., van vogt a.e, wollheim donald a. (editor), simenon georges, clarke arthur, mossman keith, okuda michea, and denise, gibson william, daly mary, sterling bruce , rankin ian, evans peter, j. coleman gabriella, edmund spencer, edmund spencer, patrick hamilit,on alexander moszkowski, jane austen, alexander moszkowski, christine brooke rose, helmuth plessner, zubrowsky
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jiff01 · 5 months
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Ya salió el nuevo libro de Cory Doctorow, de nueva cuenta un Kickstarter muy exitoso y las versiones digitales libres de DRM.
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sronti · 1 year
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Cory Doctorow @kakitunder -el van. (2023-ban ezt a mondatot szerettem eddig a legjobban leírni, csodálatosan hangzik, hát nem?)
EDIT :
Ezt a linket is ott találtam és ez is nagyon jó.
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therainbowfishy · 1 year
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2023 Reading List
I usually read based on whims, but I wanted to make a partial reading list this year (with plenty of room for diversions) because a good chunk of books I’m excited about are upcoming releases. The rest are a catalogue of books that have moved with me twice and are once again sitting on my shelf. I think this is the year of reading the books I own and reading down some old tbrs.*
Super Pancake by Megan Wagner Lloyd, illus. by Abhi Alwar  (out 2/14)
The Accursed Vampire #2: The Curse at Witch Camp by Madeline McGrane (out 2/21)
Empty Theater by Jac Jemc (out 2/21)
Summer is for Cousins by Rajani LaRocca, illus. by Abhi Alwar (out 5/16)
The Say So by Julia Franks (out 6/6)
Phoebe’s Diary by Phoebe Wahl (out 9/5)
Roaming by Mariko Tamaki and Jillian Tamaki (out 9/12)
Good Women by Halle Hill (out 9/12)
El Rey of Gold Teeth by Reyes Ramirez (out 10/3)
I Loved You in Another Life by David Arnold (out 10/10)
That Mac Barnett / Jon Klassen Christmas picture book
The Book of Delights by Ross Gay
Wanderlust by Rebecca Solnit
That fairy tale graphic novel collection I got for Christmas
The Sculptor by Scott McCloud
Swamplandia by Karen Russell
Chokepoint Capitalism by Rebecca Giblin + Cory Doctorow
The Henna Wars by Adiba Jaigirdar
How to Trap a Tiger by Tae Keller
A Line in the World by Dorthe Nors
NG Life by Mizuho Kusanagi
Screen Tests by Kate Zambreno
A Good Man is Hard to Find by Flannery O’Connor
Piranesi by Susanna Clarke (this one’s on thin ice)
Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi
When I Am Playing with My Cat, How Do I Know That She Is Not Playing with Me?: Montaigne and Being in Touch with Life by Saul Frampton
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab
Signal Fires by Dani Shapiro
Sparrow Envy by J. Drew Latham
Still Life by Sarah Winman
Anything by Samantha Hunt
The Story of My Teeth by Valeria Luiselli
Madame Bovary by Gustav Flaubert
*I will be following by DNF policy of giving a book 50-100 pages, and if I’m not hooked, off it goes
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vague-humanoid · 1 year
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youtube
@britomartis @mrchicsaraleo @el-shab-hussein
TRNN Editor-in-Chief Maximillian Alvarez joins Rebecca Giblin and Cory Doctorow for the launch of their new book, Chokepoint Capitalism: How Big Tech and Big Content Captured Creative Labor Markets and How We’ll Win Them Back. This event was hosted by The Peale Museum in Baltimore.
Rebecca Giblin is an ARC Future Fellow and Professor at Melbourne Law School. She is director of the Intellectual Property Research Institute of Australia (IPRIA) and heads up the Author’s Interest and eLending projects, as well as Untapped: the Australian Literary Heritage Project. Chokepoint Capitalism is her latest book.
Cory Doctorow is a science fiction author, activist and journalist. He is the author of many books. Chokepoint Capitalism is his most recent non-fiction work. In 2020, he was inducted into the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame.
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I assure you, an AI didn’t write a terrible “George Carlin” routine
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There are only TWO MORE DAYS left in the Kickstarter for the audiobook of The Bezzle, the sequel to Red Team Blues, narrated by @wilwheaton! You can pre-order the audiobook and ebook, DRM free, as well as the hardcover, signed or unsigned. There's also bundles with Red Team Blues in ebook, audio or paperback.
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On Hallowe'en 1974, Ronald Clark O'Bryan murdered his son with poisoned candy. He needed the insurance money, and he knew that Halloween poisonings were rampant, so he figured he'd get away with it. He was wrong:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_Clark_O%27Bryan
The stories of Hallowe'en poisonings were just that – stories. No one was poisoning kids on Hallowe'en – except this monstrous murderer, who mistook rampant scare stories for truth and assumed (incorrectly) that his murder would blend in with the crowd.
Last week, the dudes behind the "comedy" podcast Dudesy released a "George Carlin" comedy special that they claimed had been created, holus bolus, by an AI trained on the comedian's routines. This was a lie. After the Carlin estate sued, the dudes admitted that they had written the (remarkably unfunny) "comedy" special:
https://arstechnica.com/ai/2024/01/george-carlins-heirs-sue-comedy-podcast-over-ai-generated-impression/
As I've written, we're nowhere near the point where an AI can do your job, but we're well past the point where your boss can be suckered into firing you and replacing you with a bot that fails at doing your job:
https://pluralistic.net/2024/01/15/passive-income-brainworms/#four-hour-work-week
AI systems can do some remarkable party tricks, but there's a huge difference between producing a plausible sentence and a good one. After the initial rush of astonishment, the stench of botshit becomes unmistakable:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/jan/03/botshit-generative-ai-imminent-threat-democracy
Some of this botshit comes from people who are sold a bill of goods: they're convinced that they can make a George Carlin special without any human intervention and when the bot fails, they manufacture their own botshit, assuming they must be bad at prompting the AI.
This is an old technology story: I had a friend who was contracted to livestream a Canadian awards show in the earliest days of the web. They booked in multiple ISDN lines from Bell Canada and set up an impressive Mbone encoding station on the wings of the stage. Only one problem: the ISDNs flaked (this was a common problem with ISDNs!). There was no way to livecast the show.
Nevertheless, my friend's boss's ordered him to go on pretending to livestream the show. They made a big deal of it, with all kinds of cool visualizers showing the progress of this futuristic marvel, which the cameras frequently lingered on, accompanied by overheated narration from the show's hosts.
The weirdest part? The next day, my friend – and many others – heard from satisfied viewers who boasted about how amazing it had been to watch this show on their computers, rather than their TVs. Remember: there had been no stream. These people had just assumed that the problem was on their end – that they had failed to correctly install and configure the multiple browser plugins required. Not wanting to admit their technical incompetence, they instead boasted about how great the show had been. It was the Emperor's New Livestream.
Perhaps that's what happened to the Dudesy bros. But there's another possibility: maybe they were captured by their own imaginations. In "Genesis," an essay in the 2007 collection The Creationists, EL Doctorow (no relation) describes how the ancient Babylonians were so poleaxed by the strange wonder of the story they made up about the origin of the universe that they assumed that it must be true. They themselves weren't nearly imaginative enough to have come up with this super-cool tale, so God must have put it in their minds:
https://pluralistic.net/2023/04/29/gedankenexperimentwahn/#high-on-your-own-supply
That seems to have been what happened to the Air Force colonel who falsely claimed that a "rogue AI-powered drone" had spontaneously evolved the strategy of killing its operator as a way of clearing the obstacle to its main objective, which was killing the enemy:
https://pluralistic.net/2023/06/04/ayyyyyy-eyeeeee/
This never happened. It was – in the chagrined colonel's words – a "thought experiment." In other words, this guy – who is the USAF's Chief of AI Test and Operations – was so excited about his own made up story that he forgot it wasn't true and told a whole conference-room full of people that it had actually happened.
Maybe that's what happened with the George Carlinbot 3000: the Dudesy dudes fell in love with their own vision for a fully automated luxury Carlinbot and forgot that they had made it up, so they just cheated, assuming they would eventually be able to make a fully operational Battle Carlinbot.
That's basically the Theranos story: a teenaged "entrepreneur" was convinced that she was just about to produce a seemingly impossible, revolutionary diagnostic machine, so she faked its results, abetted by investors, customers and others who wanted to believe:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theranos
The thing about stories of AI miracles is that they are peddled by both AI's boosters and its critics. For boosters, the value of these tall tales is obvious: if normies can be convinced that AI is capable of performing miracles, they'll invest in it. They'll even integrate it into their product offerings and then quietly hire legions of humans to pick up the botshit it leaves behind. These abettors can be relied upon to keep the defects in these products a secret, because they'll assume that they've committed an operator error. After all, everyone knows that AI can do anything, so if it's not performing for them, the problem must exist between the keyboard and the chair.
But this would only take AI so far. It's one thing to hear implausible stories of AI's triumph from the people invested in it – but what about when AI's critics repeat those stories? If your boss thinks an AI can do your job, and AI critics are all running around with their hair on fire, shouting about the coming AI jobpocalypse, then maybe the AI really can do your job?
https://locusmag.com/2020/07/cory-doctorow-full-employment/
There's a name for this kind of criticism: "criti-hype," coined by Lee Vinsel, who points to many reasons for its persistence, including the fact that it constitutes an "academic business-model":
https://sts-news.medium.com/youre-doing-it-wrong-notes-on-criticism-and-technology-hype-18b08b4307e5
That's four reasons for AI hype:
to win investors and customers;
to cover customers' and users' embarrassment when the AI doesn't perform;
AI dreamers so high on their own supply that they can't tell truth from fantasy;
A business-model for doomsayers who form an unholy alliance with AI companies by parroting their silliest hype in warning form.
But there's a fifth motivation for criti-hype: to simplify otherwise tedious and complex situations. As Jamie Zawinski writes, this is the motivation behind the obvious lie that the "autonomous cars" on the streets of San Francisco have no driver:
https://www.jwz.org/blog/2024/01/driverless-cars-always-have-a-driver/
GM's Cruise division was forced to shutter its SF operations after one of its "self-driving" cars dragged an injured pedestrian for 20 feet:
https://www.wired.com/story/cruise-robotaxi-self-driving-permit-revoked-california/
One of the widely discussed revelations in the wake of the incident was that Cruise employed 1.5 skilled technical remote overseers for every one of its "self-driving" cars. In other words, they had replaced a single low-waged cab driver with 1.5 higher-paid remote operators.
As Zawinski writes, SFPD is well aware that there's a human being (or more than one human being) responsible for every one of these cars – someone who is formally at fault when the cars injure people or damage property. Nevertheless, SFPD and SFMTA maintain that these cars can't be cited for moving violations because "no one is driving them."
But figuring out who which person is responsible for a moving violation is "complicated and annoying to deal with," so the fiction persists.
(Zawinski notes that even when these people are held responsible, they're a "moral crumple zone" for the company that decided to enroll whole cities in nonconsensual murderbot experiments.)
Automation hype has always involved hidden humans. The most famous of these was the "mechanical Turk" hoax: a supposed chess-playing robot that was just a puppet operated by a concealed human operator wedged awkwardly into its carapace.
This pattern repeats itself through the ages. Thomas Jefferson "replaced his slaves" with dumbwaiters – but of course, dumbwaiters don't replace slaves, they hide slaves:
https://www.stuartmcmillen.com/blog/behind-the-dumbwaiter/
The modern Mechanical Turk – a division of Amazon that employs low-waged "clickworkers," many of them overseas – modernizes the dumbwaiter by hiding low-waged workforces behind a veneer of automation. The MTurk is an abstract "cloud" of human intelligence (the tasks MTurks perform are called "HITs," which stands for "Human Intelligence Tasks").
This is such a truism that techies in India joke that "AI" stands for "absent Indians." Or, to use Jathan Sadowski's wonderful term: "Potemkin AI":
https://reallifemag.com/potemkin-ai/
This Potemkin AI is everywhere you look. When Tesla unveiled its humanoid robot Optimus, they made a big flashy show of it, promising a $20,000 automaton was just on the horizon. They failed to mention that Optimus was just a person in a robot suit:
https://www.siliconrepublic.com/machines/elon-musk-tesla-robot-optimus-ai
Likewise with the famous demo of a "full self-driving" Tesla, which turned out to be a canned fake:
https://www.reuters.com/technology/tesla-video-promoting-self-driving-was-staged-engineer-testifies-2023-01-17/
The most shocking and terrifying and enraging AI demos keep turning out to be "Just A Guy" (in Molly White's excellent parlance):
https://twitter.com/molly0xFFF/status/1751670561606971895
And yet, we keep falling for it. It's no wonder, really: criti-hype rewards so many different people in so many different ways that it truly offers something for everyone.
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If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:
https://pluralistic.net/2024/01/29/pay-no-attention/#to-the-little-man-behind-the-curtain
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Back the Kickstarter for the audiobook of The Bezzle here!
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Image:
Cryteria (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HAL9000.svg
CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en
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Ross Breadmore (modified) https://www.flickr.com/photos/rossbreadmore/5169298162/
CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/
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librawritesstuff · 14 days
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Went to the library this afternoon to look for a book by EL Doctorow, turn around and THIS is at eye level
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thegeneralreturns · 2 years
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So I picked up a Salman Rushdie novel from thriftbooks a few months back, being as he was a writer I haven't read yet that I felt I should have by now. Same as William Gibson and EL Doctorow.
Recent events being as they are, I decided I should move him up in my massive queue of books I have collecting around my bedroom.
And, uhhhh....
If you need advice from me, let it be this: Don't read a Salman Rushdie novel at the same time you're working on a fic.
Because Salman Rushdie is an immediate, slap-you-in-the-face genius.
And I'm the complete dipshit who thought Coda was a good idea.
There are some motherfuckers I just straight-up cannot compete with, and Salman Rushdie is one such motherfucker.
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mcb3k · 7 months
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Books I've gotten to enjoy this year (so far):
The Corpse Ritual by Yin Leong
Red Team Blues by Cory Doctorow
An Absolutely Remarkable Thing by Hank Green
A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor by Hank Green
This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone
Currently in progress:
The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green
So You Want to be a Wizard by Diane Duane
The True Game by Sherri Tepper
Cash Flow for Creators by Michael W Lucas
Books on deck:
The Internet Con by Cory Doctorow
Short fiction read this year(so far):
The Road Not Taken by Harry Turtledove
The Coffee Shop on 72nd Street by Jade Stewart
Short Fiction on Deck
The Tether by Max Lavergne
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antonio-velardo · 7 months
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Antonio Velardo shares: Amazon es el gran depredador de nuestra era de plataformas by Cory Doctorow
By Cory Doctorow Hemos llegado a la etapa final de descomposición monopólica. Este es un buen momento para hacerle frente a los gigantes tecnológicos. Published: September 29, 2023 at 04:00AM from NYT En español https://ift.tt/DN8sAbK via IFTTT
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safereturndoubtful · 9 months
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Lerwick - Kirkwall - Stromness - Scrabster
Tuesday 15th August (Day 54)
I hadn’t expected much, but the last trek of this course on Shetland, the Ness of Sound, was excellent. The car park I had used is only half a mile from Lerwick town and yet completely quiet, and though it attracts a few walkers and joggers in the daytime, there was no one around from evening onwards.
The day was also a warm and sunny one for Shetland, the first day at 16C since June, when I even went swimming a few times. The hike finished at Lerwick’s beach, and it was busy, notably with school-aged children who return to school tomorrow. A last hurrah. I can’t think of many kids around the world who would swim and enjoy the beach in just regular costumes, not wet suits, at 16C.
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Prior to that the arrow-shaped headland of the Sound of Ness has decent sized cliffs, of 30 to 40 metres, with the ocean waves crashing in and a backdrop of blue sky with the overnight mist clearing.
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The ferry left at 5 pm and arrived in Orkney, to Kirkwall, at 11 pm. It then continues with most of its passengers, to Aberdeen. Every other day it goes direct, without an Orkney call-in.
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The seas were calm, and I got through a mixture of work and reading, the only EL Doctorow novel I haven’t read, his novel of the American Civil War, The March (all of his books are tremendous).
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At Kirkwall, with Orkney shrouded in mist, I drove across the island to Stromness, and it’s coastline just beyond that, where I knew of a good place to park-up from my visit a couple of years ago. Similar to where I was in the morning at Ness or Sound, this coast was heavily defended in World War II and the there are the remains of shelters and gun emplacements.
After an hour out in the morning, we continued the journey to the Scottish mainland with the Stromness to Scrabster ferry, just 90 minutes, and one which for some reason, Roja is allowed on the main decks. He befriended a chocolate Labrador which was travelling with two poodles, and the four of them just slept in a big heap together, while I continued with Doctorow.
My LPG has lasted, I’m sure readers will be delighted to hear. I filled up at the first chance, which was near Brora. The tank took 5.4 litres, which indicates I had 1.3 litres left, probably about 10 days at the rate I was using it. So my cooking and kettle, 3 or 4 kettles a day, and evening meal, cost about £5 for 60 days since I last filled up.
Tonight I’m at Glen Devon, near the town of Dollar. I had chosen here as it seems a good place to stop, and also has good hiking. The rain was heavy when we arrived though, so the walk was a short one.
There’s an immediate shock of course for the amount or people around generally, and the busy roads of the North Coast 500 packed with campervans, having seen so few for the last 8 weeks. Also, the ability to stop pretty much anywhere you want, and not just stop, be made welcome also. Glen Devon, close to Gleneagles, is on estate land, and most car parks have signs that forbid overnight stays. On a B road up a hill I found one that didn’t.. but Shetland this isn’t.
I’ll be in Cumbria tomorrow for a few days with friends. The van is in for a new timing belt, and I’ve some other things to sort. The next post is likely to be at the weekend.
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harmcityherald · 10 months
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Cory Doctorow, science fiction as a weapon against the metaverse: ‘We are not free, and we don’t know it’ | Culture | EL PAÍS English
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