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I will put child garden on my Kindle list.

>> ^berticus:

i liked anathem... but i also liked cryptonomicon, and the baroque cycle.
can't wait to read his new book.
nothing has been as good as the diamond age though.
whatever happened to the tv series they were making out of it?
wasn't george clooney producing it or something?
can i please recommend the child garden by geoff ryman?
i'd love to know what other people think of it.
i reckon it's wildly underrated sci-fi.. actually sci-fi doesn't cover it.
"speculative fiction" maybe.
one of my favourite books ever -- along with contact by carl sagan.
i just finished reading brave new world.
can't believe i'd never read it before.
now i'm dividing my (extremely limited) reading time between:
his dark materials
a song of ice and fire
and, somewhat ironically, a book called "getting things done"

i liked anathem... but i also liked cryptonomicon, and the baroque cycle.
can't wait to read his new book.
nothing has been as good as the diamond age though.
whatever happened to the tv series they were making out of it?
wasn't george clooney producing it or something?

can i please recommend the child garden by geoff ryman?
i'd love to know what other people think of it.
i reckon it's wildly underrated sci-fi.. actually sci-fi doesn't cover it.
"speculative fiction" maybe.
one of my favourite books ever -- along with contact by carl sagan.

i just finished reading brave new world.
can't believe i'd never read it before.
now i'm dividing my (extremely limited) reading time between:

his dark materials
a song of ice and fire
and, somewhat ironically, a book called "getting things done"

I'd love to give Soma (from Aldous Huxley's Brave New World) a go.

This is the exact dilema from Huxley's Brave New World. >> ^eric3579:

My experience is that the ones who may be ignorant(just not interested) in politics, state of the world and most things outside their sphere of influence, are generally happier people.

Religious doctrine? Cults? Market research? Corporate policy? Economic policy by banks, hedge funds, Wall St.? Big Pharma? Big Agro? Big Oil?

These are all excellent points, and in my zeal I have to admit that it was rather hyperbolic to say government is the “only” institution that creates the “I was following orders” mentality. In that I stand corrected. However, I stand by the substance of the idea that government is the primary violator, and that history’s most egregious examples are government created.

If you are down on government save us all the time and just denounce humanity and go live in a cave somewhere.

I’m down on big central governments. Limited, small government at the municipal, county, and state level which are held to a high standard of culpability and performance by voters is fine. Big federal government that implements one-size policies on nations for social engineering are lousy. Federal government is for national defense and some intra/inter state trade regulations. That’s it. The constitution was designed to keep federal powers limited. It is no surprise that one of our man-child president’s great irritations with the country he runs is that the constitution doesn’t allow him to do more “TO” the public.

Build your own running water system, police, and fire dept. while you're at it.

Feds don’t do those things. Those are city, state, and county functions.

Maybe instead of bitching about the TSA you could suggest an alternative?

I have. Profile the likely offenders and stop hassling people who are low statistical risks. It will decrease the workload, reduce costs, and speed up the process a hundred-fold.

I'm not going to sit here and scream… even though I don't like them either. … The kid will be just fine. He'll get over it. … It's a brave new world.

Brave New World. Oh, what fools these mortals be. I’d suggest brushing up on your Huxley and Shakespeare. I doubt Huxley would be applauding your, “bend over and take it” sentiment. You might think it is admirable. History suggests that such a docile attitude towards central government is profoundly unwise. Government is meant to be questioned, held to account, challenged, and regarded with suspicion.

The problem, of course, is that the TSA procedures do not work, and using them to only inconvenience a demographic that does not happen to include you, will not make them any more effective.

Well – very true – this is a good point. What the TSA is doing is security theatre. It is not effective at preventing terrorist acts from succeeding. So why are we doing this? If the object is increased SECURITY then the procedure needs to change radically. But if we aren’t willing to do the things that will actually provide security then we’d be better off just abandoning the whole effort as a fruitless exercise.

Allan stole a loaf of bread. Allan is a thief. Allan is black. All blacks are thieves.

Except that’s not what I said or even anything remotely close to it. I’m saying…

“Over 95% of all air travel terrorism has been committed by foreign-born Muslim males between 17-40. The TSA should focus its efforts on this population to increase efficiency.” That isn’t saying “all Muslims are terrorists”. It is only saying, “This population sector is the highest risk”. Correlation does not equal causation but it does tell you where to weight your cases and analysis. Right now, even a basic statistical model would heavily weight the probability of a terrorist act towards foreign-born Muslim males.

Umm... Religious doctrine? Cults? Market research? Corporate policy? Economic policy by banks, hedge funds, Wall St.? Big Pharma? Big Agro? Big Oil? People who blame government for everything don't understand government. Government fails because of people, not because of intention. If you are down on government save us all the time and just denounce humanity and go live in a cave somewhere. Build your own running water system, police, and fire dept. while you're at it.

Also, if you don't like it, don't fly. Maybe instead of bitching about the TSA you could suggest an alternative? Do something constructive? I'm not going to sit here and scream "GROPING" and "PORNO" for these measures, even though I don't like them either. Call a spade a spade. The kid will be just fine. He'll get over it. Check your rhetoric. It's a brave new world. Educate yourself about it before you turn into the very type of radical that gets everyone into trouble.

>> ^Winstonfield_Pennypacker:

Ever notice how the only thing in human history that EVER creates that kind of mindset is government policy?

I really don't think she's all that hot-- I think she's a great athlete, and that's what should be focused on, not her shapely form, makeup-caked face, or overdone hair.

I disagree with the idea that a woman has to whore out pictures of her body to get ahead in a male-dominated field. That doesn't mean I don't think she should have done this-- I think the industry should work in a different way. And women shouldn't be objectified so much. But that's not gonna happen, I don't think, until we live in a society like the one in The Giver or Brave New World.

Really a great movie. It is like a brave new world but less depressing.

That part still gets me every time "No matter what your purpose, you must leave"

It is a brave new world out there.

Comment hidden because you are ignoring dag. (show it anyway)

Brave New World and
Avatar

Living too close to my hand
Damn, the desire
That escapes me

To watch
But never touch

To wish with hollow feelings
And wait for the echo
of your soul
in the voice of
a perfect stranger

To wait so patiently
For something that will never come

Resting yourself
on the unspoken

Like a latent fuse
to a brave new world

Burning, burning, burning bright
Like a tiger in the night

(I really truly hate you)

I want there to be a "Brave New World" for us. Is there an undiscovered country out there somewhere where we can go and start over???

And now, we step trepidly into a brave, new world.

that swedish dude Gardell's book on God is very very good.

But I can't make a list.. too many good books in the world. When I was younger, Ursula le Guins books were favourites. I love my cheap Shadowrun novels, and i consume paperback scifi books like chockolate.
"East, West" by Rushdie was very interesting. hmmm. And the classics "1984" "Do androids dream of electric sheep" "Brave new world" etc. love those.
"Mengele Zoo"

Hard to pick just five:

1. Hyperion and the rest of the Hyperion Cantos series by Dan Simmons
   
2. Marooned in Realtime by Vernor Vinge (though everything else he's written could easily have taken this spot)
   
3. Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan (and any other Takeshi Kovacs novel)
   
4. Footfall by Larry Niven -- IMO the best he ever wrote
   
5. Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke
   

• The City and the Stars by Arthur C. Clarke
  
• Accelerando by Charles Stross
  
• Pandora's Star and Judas Unchained by Peter F. Hamilton
  
• Iron Sunrise by Charles Stross
  
• Virtually anything by Robert J. Sawyer (particularly the "Neanderthal Parallax" trilogy)
  
• Snow Crash and Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson, though I'm with dag, everything that's followed has been disappointing
  
• Domesday Book by Connie Willis
  
• To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis
  
• The Golden Age Trilogy by John C. Wright
  
• Any short story by Michael Swanwick (particularly "The Radiant Doors" -- dft, there's another dystopia to be found in that one)