(no subject)

[winneganfake]

Ok, I'm going to aggregate for a moment here. Go check out Five Thoughts on the Popularity of Steampunk over on Weird Tales. And I just have to quote one small chunk of that:

"Having 120 gigabytes of information storage in solid-state flash memory is like having the entire knowledge of a hundred ancient libraries of Alexandria in your pocket. But who the hell wants to explore your pocket?'

Steampunk says: Let’s store that knowledge in a colossal mechanical brain the size of a skyscraper that runs on punch cards, and whenever we want to know something, we’ll get to feed in our punch card and watch it go zipping and flipping through a behemoth full of gears, all the way summoning little clockwork librarians to spring up from behind panels and inscribe notes on it with miniature styluses, and they will all be well-oiled except that one that’s just screech-screech-screeching up a storm all along its track, and the spectacle will be frakking awesome."

If I can ever aspire to that level of crafting, mechanics, and outright sheer arrogant design, my life will be complete.

Comments

Aesthetics clash!

[kadath.livejournal.com]

I find the idea of having a kiloAlexandria on a two-inch memory stick in my pocket way more exciting.

Re: Aesthetics clash!

[winneganfake.livejournal.com]

I love the idea of it.

That said though, it's the kiloAlexandria. Accessing something on it should have more effect than just seeing some greyscale text saying "Now Loading..." the ease and lack of awesome just makes the fact of the information itself both boring and mundane.

The aesthetics of information should matter. They should have weight to them. Heft. Drama. We lose the sense of the sheer size of what we're dealing with. Alexandria was a huge tragedy for how much information was lost. Today, we can pack that same amount plus tons more into a handheld device, and we think nothing of it.

Re: Aesthetics clash!

[kadath.livejournal.com]

I like the idea of information being as omnipresent as air, noticeable only by its absence. Your Internet connection should pipe to a wall display by the door that shows the weather by color and shape, integrated seamlessly into your consciousness as you leave your home. Your glasses should notice when your eyes dwell on the architectural details of that building over there and dump the history of the place immediately into your field of vision.

This is one of the reasons Transhuman Space is one of my favorite RPG settings. (THS has that Blue Planet "okay, what am I supposed to be doing?" issue unless you create your party carefully, unfortunately.)

[ashbet]

People think of goths as weirdoes who take vampires too seriously, and therefore they can’t help being worried on some level that a crazy goth might, you know, want to make them bleed. Whereas steampunks are — what? Weirdoes who take pocket-watches too seriously? What are they gonna do, vehemently tell you what time it is?

HAHAHAHAHAH!! This is fabulous!

-- A ^_^