|
Cannot freaking wait for monster Baru Cormorant. Reread the first one, still amazing. E: tried reading a Brin uplift book (the second one) after enjoying children of time. This is a bit of a struggle.
|
#
?
Oct 29, 2018 00:07
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 24, 2024 23:56 |
|
|
gvibes posted:Cannot freaking wait for monster Baru Cormorant. Reread the first one, still amazing. Try The Crucible of Time by John Brunner instead. I mean, it's also not as good as Children of Time, but it's a lot more similar than the Uplift books are, and it doesn't poo poo the bed at the end as a lot of Brin's books do.
|
|
#
?
Oct 29, 2018 00:18
|
|
|
gvibes posted:Cannot freaking wait for monster Baru Cormorant. Reread the first one, still amazing. Me too, I finished my re-read a few days ago in anticipation for the sequel coming out on the 30th. I was in the mood for more, so I read some of Seth's blog posts where he does a chapter by chapter synopsis of his writing process. He only wen't up to Chapter 5 but it did a real good job of showing how there is a lot more going on than what the reader gets to experience.
|
|
#
?
Oct 29, 2018 02:17
|
|
|
90s Cringe Rock posted:I agree. Modern media is practically propaganda with a side order of "appealing to a wider audience." Same with AAA game publishers. By appealing to as many people as possible instead of a specific audience, they have to dumb down material in order so that the least capable in the audience won't get discouraged and leave. So its jangling keys, bouncing tits, orchestral stings, lens flares, explosions, and drama/action every moment all smooshed together in a plot that reads like a tumblr post mated with r/politics. Tada! Weak men, cucking, 'strong independent wymyns that don't need no man,' purple haired lesbians mocking men all the time, women who solve all the mens problems because men are useless trash, 'ask me about my SJW agenda,' diversity is our strength, and so on. Its pretty much why I prefer my harem fantasy because at least the male characters aren't useless most of the time. #gamersreadup
|
|
#
?
Oct 29, 2018 02:55
|
|
|
90s Cringe Rock posted:I agree. Modern media is practically propaganda with a side order of "appealing to a wider audience." Same with AAA game publishers. By appealing to as many people as possible instead of a specific audience, they have to dumb down material in order so that the least capable in the audience won't get discouraged and leave. So its jangling keys, bouncing tits, orchestral stings, lens flares, explosions, and drama/action every moment all smooshed together in a plot that reads like a tumblr post mated with r/politics. Tada! Weak men, cucking, 'strong independent wymyns that don't need no man,' purple haired lesbians mocking men all the time, women who solve all the mens problems because men are useless trash, 'ask me about my SJW agenda,' diversity is our strength, and so on. Its pretty much why I prefer my harem fantasy because at least the male characters aren't useless most of the time. Quorce your sotes e: Startide Rising was the great book of my childhood
|
|
#
?
Oct 29, 2018 03:41
|
|
|
I want to be put in stasis until Monster Baru Cormorant comes out on Tuesday
|
|
#
?
Oct 29, 2018 04:35
|
|
|
yall are reminding me I need to do a full Uplift read-through at some point Startide obviously is great The Uplift War is a bit rough in places but still interesting I've not read Sundiver and have heard it is bad, but I doubt anything that produced those two sequels would be totally not worth a read
|
|
#
?
Oct 29, 2018 09:54
|
|
|
Sundiver is good, just not as good, and quite different in style IIRC? It's a murder mystery sort of thing.
|
|
#
?
Oct 29, 2018 10:00
|
|
|
Yeah Sundiver is the weakest of the three, but it's still fun.
|
|
#
?
Oct 29, 2018 10:05
|
|
|
I'm looking forward to the next Baru Cormorant book but I'm in the UK and can't seem to find a way to buy it on release!
|
|
#
?
Oct 29, 2018 12:08
|
|
|
The most bullshit sounding thing in Brin's Sundiver is actually plausible and does work. Talking about the huge laser beam heat sink in Sundiver
|
|
#
?
Oct 29, 2018 14:03
|
|
|
minema posted:I'm looking forward to the next Baru Cormorant book but I'm in the UK and can't seem to find a way to buy it on release! Truly why she is the monster, after all.
|
|
#
?
Oct 29, 2018 14:09
|
|
|
NoNostalgia4Grover posted:The most bullshit sounding thing in Brin's Sundiver is actually plausible and does work. It's not plausible because it violates thermodynamics. You can't turn high-entropy blackbody radiation at 6K into low-entropy collimated narrowband laser energy at "millions of degrees" without the generation of even more heat. Imagine that it works and cools the ship. Then we put a mirror outside the sun, reflecting the laser back into the sun. The sun would get hotter. It's a perpetual motion machine, it's thermodynamically forbidden. There are real-world "laser coolers" but they don't work that way at all. They involve shining a laser beam on the thing you want to cool down.
|
|
#
?
Oct 29, 2018 14:28
|
|
|
meinstein posted:I name my computers after Neuromancer characters. Just yesterday, I set up a service called pi-hole on my home network that spoofs known advertising web servers to block ads at the network level. Called it Riviera of course. Cardiac posted:That and Blade Runner names have been a common factor in the networks I have used. I blame scientists. Hah, I like those ideas. I always end up with lame and/or generic names for my 'puters; my home rig (8700k/1080ti/970 evo/32gb ram) I just called "Beast Rig" like an idiot. All my machines at my warehouse/facility on my network I just give generic, formulaic names -- DD-RigXX etc. Now I feel like I need to up my naming game
|
|
#
?
Oct 29, 2018 14:32
|
|
|
I saw a Wi-Fi network called “We Can Hear You loving” in a neighborhood of duplexes, does anyone know what skeevy sci-if book inspired that.
|
|
#
?
Oct 29, 2018 15:04
|
|
|
Drone Jett posted:I saw a Wi-Fi network called “We Can Hear You loving” in a neighborhood of duplexes, does anyone know what skeevy sci-if book inspired that. sounds like heinlein
|
|
#
?
Oct 29, 2018 15:05
|
|
|
Phanatic posted:It's not plausible because it violates thermodynamics. You can't turn high-entropy blackbody radiation at 6K into low-entropy collimated narrowband laser energy at "millions of degrees" without the generation of even more heat. ?? Thermodynamics complaints in a science fiction novel where forcefields exist + FTL works? Rebolding the science-fiction novel part for you. If you were trolling, welp excellent work. As you said, real-world "laser coolers" exist(plausible), and they work in very special conditions. quantumfoam fucked around with this message at 15:18 on Oct 29, 2018 |
|
#
?
Oct 29, 2018 15:12
|
|
|
NoNostalgia4Grover posted:The most bullshit sounding thing in Brin's Sundiver is actually plausible and does work. No, they don’t work at all. Like quantum black holes they’re one of those things science fiction writers got really excited about for a little while and then quietly retired. I think Battletech had to do some gymnastics to pretend their laser heat sinks had worked differently all along. Real life laser cooling still produces more heat from the laser than it removes from the target, so it’s not much good to you if the laser is inside the ship you’re cooling. But it does have awesome technique names like ‘Sisyphus cooling’ and ‘gray molasses’ Of course the best laser in Sundiver is the alien with the secret laser eyes
|
|
#
?
Oct 29, 2018 16:01
|
|
|
Ugh, Rimrunners kinda sucked. I was pretty excited after Pride, but that book was a mess.
|
|
#
?
Oct 29, 2018 16:02
|
|
|
Uh he and I both interpreted your post as saying the laser heat sink sounds like bullshit but actually works. It sounds like you meant the opposite. It was legitimately worded unclearly.
|
|
#
?
Oct 29, 2018 16:05
|
|
|
NoNostalgia4Grover posted:?? Thermodynamics complaints in a science fiction novel where forcefields exist + FTL works? You're the one who brought it up and said it works in the real world. It doesn't, and it can't. It's fine in a SF novel where forcefields and FTL work, but it's not real-world physically possible.
|
|
#
?
Oct 29, 2018 16:13
|
|
|
General Battuta posted:Of course the best laser in Sundiver is the alien with the secret laser eyes A) pulling that play late in the 4th QTR B) making me go "of course!" when really I should have gone "bwah?"
|
|
#
?
Oct 29, 2018 17:20
|
|
|
Phanatic posted:You're the one who brought it up and said it works in the real world. It doesn't, and it can't. It's fine in a SF novel where forcefields and FTL work, but it's not real-world physically possible. I seem to recall there was some sort of time dilation/manipulation going on to make the ship work too (remember the chimp test pilot laughing about having lunch in 15 seconds or something like that), I could buy that mucking with the heat transfer rate to make the math OK. To be fair, I forgive a lot for a climax where their biggest problem is freezing to death in the middle of the sun  .
|
|
#
?
Oct 29, 2018 20:34
|
|
|
Sorry for being excited and oh poo poo unclear about the bullshit sounding "laser heat sink" plot device in Brin's Sundiver 100% real-ness status. It would be cool if laser-cooling was more real-world applicable. The sagas of fusion power always being 10 years around the corner + the james webb space telescope being stuck in development hell since the mid-1990s are my biggest big-project science disappointments. Vaguely recall the laser cooling device in Sundiver being directed into the corona or near-corona zone of the sun/not the actual surface of the sun in book, but I read Sundiver 3 or 4 years ago, and mostly remember uplifted dolphins/chimps/dogs, the beginning of uplifted intelligence vs evolved intelligence conflict that makes the Uplift War series so very weird, and what MadDogMike said about freezing to death in the suns corona.
|
|
#
?
Oct 29, 2018 21:36
|
|
|
The greatest failure of the Uplift series is generalized lack of uplifted dogs.
|
|
#
?
Oct 29, 2018 22:00
|
|
|
Hieronymous Alloy posted:The greatest failure of the Uplift series is generalized lack of uplifted dogs. Nobody wants talking dogs 
|
|
#
?
Oct 29, 2018 22:10
|
|
|
Dogs are explicitly mentioned as undergoing uplift but are early in the process, having been started later as they were less human-like than chimps and dumber than dolphins
|
|
#
?
Oct 29, 2018 22:19
|
|
|
andrew smash posted:Dogs are explicitly mentioned as undergoing uplift but are early in the process, having been started later as they were less human-like than chimps and dumber than dolphins I thought the galactic powers had banned further uplift, but it was implied that this was controversial and perhaps partially underway already when the (unenforceable, prior to the big war?) ban came down. Two decades later I remember some line about humanity’s special relationship with dogs, and I think one other species may have been in progress.
|
|
#
?
Oct 29, 2018 22:33
|
|
|
andrew smash posted:Dogs are explicitly mentioned as undergoing uplift but are early in the process, having been started later as they were less human-like than chimps and dumber than dolphins I mean on screen viewpoint characters. It's explained sure but it's still a missed opportunity.
|
|
#
?
Oct 29, 2018 22:45
|
|
|
One day until Baru
|
|
#
?
Oct 29, 2018 22:48
|
|
|
Drone Jett posted:I thought the galactic powers had banned further uplift, but it was implied that this was controversial and perhaps partially underway already when the (unenforceable, prior to the big war?) ban came down. Two decades later I remember some line about humanity’s special relationship with dogs, and I think one other species may have been in progress. The secret gorilla uplift project in Uplift War.
|
|
#
?
Oct 29, 2018 22:51
|
|
|
Hell Ship by Philip Palmer remains one of the most depressing books I have ever read.
|
|
#
?
Oct 29, 2018 23:13
|
|
|
Nikita Khrushchev posted:One day until Baru I'm wrapping up the third book now (should have it in by end of year) so if you live post your criticism I can
|
|
#
?
Oct 30, 2018 00:24
|
|
|
General Battuta posted:I'm wrapping up the third book now (should have it in by end of year) so if you live post your criticism I can 
|
|
#
?
Oct 30, 2018 00:35
|
|
|
General Battuta posted:I'm wrapping up the third book now (should have it in by end of year) so if you live post your criticism I can Don’t kill him, do something like making him a micropenis-having infant rapist like Michael Creighton did with his critics!
|
|
#
?
Oct 30, 2018 00:40
|
|
|
I got a google notification not long after midnight telling me that The Monster was out, and here I am 12 hours later still not able to buy it 
|
|
#
?
Oct 30, 2018 00:51
|
|
|
Hmm, doesn't seem to be a Monster Baru Cormorant Kindle version, at least in the UK Amazon store, even for pre-order.
|
|
#
?
Oct 30, 2018 00:54
|
|
|
team overhead smash posted:Hmm, doesn't seem to be a Monster Baru Cormorant Kindle version, at least in the UK Amazon store, even for pre-order. And the hard copy can be pre-ordered but it says it won't be delivered for a month
|
|
#
?
Oct 30, 2018 01:14
|
|
|
General Battuta posted:I'm wrapping up the third book now (should have it in by end of year) so if you live post your criticism I can If Nikita Khrushchev shows up in the third book I'll be thrilled 
|
|
#
?
Oct 30, 2018 01:25
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 24, 2024 23:56 |
|
|
andrew smash posted:Dogs are explicitly mentioned as undergoing uplift but are early in the process, having been started later as they were less human-like than chimps and dumber than dolphins General Battuta posted:I'm wrapping up the third book now (should have it in by end of year) so if you live post your criticism I can
|
|
#
?
Oct 30, 2018 01:36
|
|