Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom
Just finished reading a surprisingly enjoyable short sci-fi novel by first-time author Cory Doctorow called Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom. Surprising, not just because it was a really good read, but also because the author is giving the book away for free in electronic format, in an effort to promote himself. You can download this from here in a variety of electronic formats.
It's a book set in the relatively near future of Earth, in which a utopian society called the Bitchin society has spread around the world. Various technological advances have occurred - such as cloning, which have effectively eliminated old age and disease. People have the ability to 'upload' their minds as backup copies, so that if ever their bodies are damaged due to their lifestyle, all it takes is a a bit of their DNA to clone a body and their memory can be restored from the backup.
The most interesting part, to my mind at least, is the way in which virtually everybody is hardwired into the future equivalent of the internet. People can pull up screens that appear in heir vision with all sorts of information, and can communicate with other people subvocally via either the equivalent of IM or voice communication.
Another major change to this society is the removal of money. In its place is a new thing - whuffle. It seems to be a weird extrapolation of an on-line popularity contest. Rather than money determining you ability to buy and do things, whuffle is used instead. It seems be calculated by adding up other peoples opinions of you and their thoughts on the value of your contribution to society. It's a bit (alot) more complicated than that, but that's the best I can describe it off the top of my head.
It's a book which is in someways a refreshing throwback to the old-style science fiction authors such as Heinlen and Clarke, in which you have an authors prediction of the future evolution of society based upon trends and developments of today. It's always been one of the greatest strengths of the science fiction genre, and something which hasn't really been used to that great an extent by modern sci-fi writers.
Cute nods from the author include one of the parades that anyone who's ever been to a Disney-(insert locale here) theme park are major events, is the Snowcrash parade, with plenty of cavorting Hero Protagonists flitting about the parade.
Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom is a thoroughly enjoyable read from a fresh voice in science fiction. It's a style of storytelling which harkens back to the early days of modern science fiction.
It's a book set in the relatively near future of Earth, in which a utopian society called the Bitchin society has spread around the world. Various technological advances have occurred - such as cloning, which have effectively eliminated old age and disease. People have the ability to 'upload' their minds as backup copies, so that if ever their bodies are damaged due to their lifestyle, all it takes is a a bit of their DNA to clone a body and their memory can be restored from the backup.
The most interesting part, to my mind at least, is the way in which virtually everybody is hardwired into the future equivalent of the internet. People can pull up screens that appear in heir vision with all sorts of information, and can communicate with other people subvocally via either the equivalent of IM or voice communication.
Another major change to this society is the removal of money. In its place is a new thing - whuffle. It seems to be a weird extrapolation of an on-line popularity contest. Rather than money determining you ability to buy and do things, whuffle is used instead. It seems be calculated by adding up other peoples opinions of you and their thoughts on the value of your contribution to society. It's a bit (alot) more complicated than that, but that's the best I can describe it off the top of my head.
It's a book which is in someways a refreshing throwback to the old-style science fiction authors such as Heinlen and Clarke, in which you have an authors prediction of the future evolution of society based upon trends and developments of today. It's always been one of the greatest strengths of the science fiction genre, and something which hasn't really been used to that great an extent by modern sci-fi writers.
Cute nods from the author include one of the parades that anyone who's ever been to a Disney-(insert locale here) theme park are major events, is the Snowcrash parade, with plenty of cavorting Hero Protagonists flitting about the parade.
Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom is a thoroughly enjoyable read from a fresh voice in science fiction. It's a style of storytelling which harkens back to the early days of modern science fiction.
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