Axiom 1: We are living in the future.
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@joshsusser @cstross over a decade ago when staying in the Rioplatense area, a friend told me of the Argentinian mindset: it's all about scams, everyone's running scams constantly. When they see someone with a fancy house and car, it's not “oh they must be successful, I wonder what they do" it's “I wonder who they scammed that from"
now, I'm sure that was a bit overblown, but I've been reminded of that a lot lately
@joshsusser oh which reminds me, if you can find a version of it with subtitles (or you speak really good Spanish), the movie Nueve Reinas by Argentinian director Fabián Bielinsky is one of the finest heist dramas ever made.
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@oddhack Yes, worst case would absolutely include famines, plagues, and *all* available resources (public and private) squandered on failed mega-projects. The plague and the supply-chain failurees would hit *everybody*, including the wealthy. Vibe-coded infrastructure would have "vaccine sceptic" know-it-alls literally lying rotting in their malfunctioning fully automated mansions. Worst-case extrapolations from present day would be rejected by any publisher as too unbelievable. @cstross
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Accidental Utopia. By trying to control the oil, the public is galvanised into full electrification and renewable energy, heading off the climate emergency. The next couple of years sees more oil price shocks and pushes a public already softened up during Covid to the benefits of walking and cycling to "do a Dutch" globally and elect leaders that implement cycling infrastructure and livable streets. A sense of community returns and the fascist tech bros are put to bed. The end.
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@hakona @cstross Also remembering that plutocrat who built a hideout bunker in New Zealand. He fled there at the start of COVID and... found he could not get inside his bunker. Hoping he was pecked to death by keas, or something suitably unpleasant (being NZ rather than Australia, earthquakes or volcanoes are much more plausible forms of death than wildlife).
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@cstross Next step: the failsons of Bond villains? The inbred aristocracy of Bond villains?
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@joshsusser oh which reminds me, if you can find a version of it with subtitles (or you speak really good Spanish), the movie Nueve Reinas by Argentinian director Fabián Bielinsky is one of the finest heist dramas ever made.
@mattly @joshsusser Prime video has it as Nine Queens
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Axiom 1: We are living in the future.
Axiom 2: The future *really* sucks.
By induction: the next future will suck even harder.
By SF author brain: if this goes on, how sucky a future can I imagine?
(I mean, we've already gotten to live in a planet ruled by fricken' Bond Villains, how hard can you go?)
@cstross Dick Tracey villains seems the obvious answer.
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@cstross@wandering.shop I've been pondering that question for 6 years now and reality always teaches me that I'm not imaginative enough
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@cstross @graydon
Nah, unknown to the protagonist they were only using the meat to make SG; the brains & nervous tissue was being destructively scanned & virtually replicated to upload people-models into slave-robots.Why else do you think the ruling classes were allowing the population to continue to increase rather than just wiping out millions of plebs to create farmland?
@HighlandLawyer @cstross Far too much long term planning. Oligarchies are unspeakably terrible at planning, never mind long term logistical planning.
They do fashion; they do greed. They do power and control.
And public health is dead.
In the bleak even more capitalist future, there will be innumerable competing prettiness viruses seeking to improve you.
After a few cycles of infection, all the oligarchs are so very happy because no one ever complains.
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Axiom 1: We are living in the future.
Axiom 2: The future *really* sucks.
By induction: the next future will suck even harder.
By SF author brain: if this goes on, how sucky a future can I imagine?
(I mean, we've already gotten to live in a planet ruled by fricken' Bond Villains, how hard can you go?)
@cstross (Spits coffee)BOND VILLAINS?? These people are the village idiots on drugs!!
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