

William Gibson says the future is right here, right now - soitgoes
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-11502715

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jacquesm
Someone complained yesterday in #startups that they wanted to live in the
future and that was exactly my response.

You could have said that if you were born at any point in time but I think
anybody alive right now that happens to be lucky enough to live in the
developed world is already living in a time that science fiction writers
wouldn't have trouble accepting as 'the future'.

Gibson being one of the best in the field is a strong hint that others will
likely agree with him.

So many things that were 'distant future dreams' when I was a child are
everyday reality right now that I feel as though the future is 'happening' at
a faster pace than my life is progressing, it is overtaking me at a clip that
I worry if I'll be able to keep up with the rate with which new technology is
coming out.

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Towle_
" Planet Express: Where tomorrow is today, and today is yesterday... _you
heard me_."

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mortenjorck
Increasingly, I feel Gibson is the only futurist I can trust.

This kind of interview normally tends toward breathless, buzzword-laced
bluster. There's none of that here; I can barely even envision Gibson uttering
the word "crowdsourced" with a straight face.

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z303
He covered some of the same ground in his talk at the Watershed in Bristol
last week.

A video of which is now available if folks want to watch
<http://www.dshed.net/william-gibson>

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grovulent
Damn - I missed it. I'm always not paying attention when the cool stuff
happens like... the future.

Do you think the future might happen again someday? Perhaps we can put it up
somewhere on the internet so we know when it's going to happen a bit before
time.

~~~
djm
You don't get it.

What Gibson is saying is that, (1) The rate of development of new technology
is speeding up and that, therefore, (2) Humans experience an increasing amount
of change in their lifetimes.

So, in a way, the future is getting here quicker.

As an aside, I can't wait to read his new book. I got it when it came out and
promised myself I'll save it as a luxury to read in between getting my
startups product ready to launch and actually launching. I've had to cellotape
it back in the Amazon box to ensure I stick to my promise.

~~~
arethuza
Why just focus on technological change? Sure our gadgets are getting better
faster but there has also been a marked reduction (at least in these parts) of
people trying to force change on others at the gunpoint or by dropping bombs
on them.

Places like the UK look rather placid and _unchanging_ in many ways compared
to say the first half of the 20th century.

~~~
djm
I might just be a hippy dippy technology wonk but I have a gut belief that
most societal change results from technological development.

If country A wanted country B to do X then it's ability to make it happen
through violence will be limited by the willingness of citizens of country A
to let it happen.

That willingness will be affected by by the degree of how "alien" people in
country B are to people in country A. TV, internet, increased population
movement through technological change[1] and so on will decrease that
alienness.

[1] I mean both in terms of technology enabling physical travel of people from
A->B and technology making a person's origin less important in where they can
live during their lifetimes (for example, a programmer can go to work anywhere
there is work - they are not confined by location other than by arbitrary
things like visas)

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driznar
If you'd like to read a more substantiated account about the pace of
development of modern society I suggest that you rather read this:
<http://hanson.gmu.edu/bigthing.pdf>

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bitmage
From the article:

There was also another reason why setting a story in the present day is more
attractive than looking into a future even half a century away. This was
because, said Mr Gibson, using that setting would necessitate explaining away
present-day problems such as global warming.

"If I write something set 60 years in the future I am going to have to explain
how humanity got there and that's becoming quite a big job," he said.

Ouch.

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ahi
"The future is already here – it's just not evenly distributed." Gibson in
2003.

I reread Neuromancer and Count Zero this past summer. Still incredible 25
years later. I kept stumbling across tech cliches then realizing Gibson was
the original.

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emilis_info
What if it is not the things that are changing so fast, but our ability to
reflect and think long-term that has nearly vanished?

