Following on from the interview I linked to yesterday, it looks like the Gibsonian publicity engine is moving into high gear ahead of the release of his forthcoming novel, Spook Country – which esteemed genre critic John Clute has reviewed for SciFi.com. In a move that makes perfect sense for the man whose name will forever be associated with cyberpunk (whether he wants it that way or not), his publishers are using the metaverse as a promotional tool; as reported by UKSF Book News and Forbidden Planet, Second Life is going to be full of promotional events connected to the release of Spook Country. Just what I need – more reasons to hang about in SL instead of getting any real work done. If I were a published author, though, I could probably justify it as self-promotion – maybe Walter John Williams should add it to his list of ways to grow a Long Tail?
Quantum dots for teleportation?
While it’s not quite ‘beam me up, Scott!’ fans of Star Trek and SF in general will find this article about using quantum dots, which allow for the identical signature of an atom to get sent somewhere else on the quick means teleportation. More of a breakthrough for communications (think Ursula K. LeGuin’s Ansible) and computing than in creating the Human Fly, but still pretty nifty.
Ten Politically Incorrect Truths
Psychology Today, in a transparent bid to stir up a little traffic, has published ten politically incorrect truths about human nature. For example: blondes do have more fun, most suicide bombers are Muslim, beautiful people have more daughters and men sexually harass women because they’re not sexist. [slashdot]
Bill Gibson interview
There’s a good in-depth interview with William Gibson on the College Crier website, where Gibson talks about the ideas and motivations that have informed his writing over the years.
The Real Bioweapons Threat Is Homegrown
In order to protect its citizens from terrorist bioweapons, the United States government has undertaken a massive expansion in bioweapons research. I recall articles several years back that worried this kind of crash program might not be in our long-term best interests. Although nothing catastrophic has happened yet, it seems the authors of those articles might have been on to something. There have been a whole series of accidents at labs in the last few years, including accidental infections or exposures to tularemia, brucellosis, Q fever, anthrax, Valley Fever and tuberculosis. [image by tedsblog]