5 bookmarks for 2025-04-17

15.

Different Kinds of Darkness

www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/different-kinds-of-darkness

A somewhat hopeful continuation to BLIT. Fun and probably partial inspiration for a Black Mirror episode.

14.

BLIT

www.infinityplus.co.uk/stories/blit.htm

A remarkably grounded form of the same core idea as SCP memetics, and among the earliest forms of the concept in scifi.

13.

the hairshirt doldrums

www.late-review.com/p/the-hairshirt-doldrums

on having a brain injury

How much could one concussion cost, Michael, $3000?

A detailed point-of-view of the experience of a brain injury, both on a subjective level and in navigating the medical system.

12.

The Curse of Xanadu

www.wired.com/1995/06/xanadu

The article I subscribed to WIRED for.

"It wouldn't take millions of dollars. I estimate something like a three- to six-man, monthlong effort." I instinctively factored this prediction in my head, because I recognized the code in which the Xanadu programmers speak of the future: six months.

My thoughts (posted elsewhere):

i am of course fundamentally opposed to a lot of the core of xanadu because I am very anti-copyright and anti-capitalism. also we have a damn good citation system on the web and bullshit citation chains still manage to spread. i think the idea that people en masse would comply with a system that tries to enforce perfect citation is hopelessly naive. like any Great Libertarian Project, the idea doesn't seem to be aware of its own weight or ramifications, but instead simply standing before itself in somnambulant awe

11.

Free Software is an Abject Failure

www.paritybit.ca/blog/free-software-is-an-abject-failure