Cory Doctorow's Blog, page 30
July 29, 2019
Podcast: Adblocking: How About Nah?
In my latest podcast (MP3), I read my essay Adblocking: How About Nah?, published last week on EFF’s Deeplinks; it’s the latest installment in my series about “adversarial interoperability,” and the role it has historically played in keeping tech open and competitive, and how that role is changing now that yesterday’s scrappy startups have become today’s bloated incumbents, determined to prevent anyone from disrupting them they way they disrupted tech in their early days.
At the height of t...
July 22, 2019
Podcast: Adversarial Interoperability is Judo for Network Effects
In my latest podcast (MP3), I read my essay SAMBA versus SMB: Adversarial Interoperability is Judo for Network Effects, published last week on EFF’s Deeplinks; it’s a furhter exploration of the idea of “adversarial interoperability” and the role it has played in fighting monopolies and preserving competition, and how we could use it to restore competition today.
In tech, “network effects” can be a powerful force to maintain market dominance: if everyone is using Facebook, then your Facebook...
July 19, 2019
Appearance on the Jim Rutt Podcast
Jim Rutt — former chairman of the Santa Fe Institute and ex-Network Solutions CEO — just launched his new podcast, and included me in the first season! (MP3) It was a characteristically wide-ranging, interdisciplinary kind of interview, covering competition and adversarial interoperability, technological self-determination and human rights, conspiracy theories and corruption. There’s a full transcript here.
July 15, 2019
Podcast: Occupy Gotham
In my latest podcast (MP3), I read my essay Occupy Gotham, published in Detective Comics: 80 Years of Batman, commemorating the 1000th issue of Batman comics. It’s an essay about the serious hard problem of trusting billionaires to solve your problems, given the likelihood that billionaires are the cause of your problems.
A thousand issues have gone by, nearly 80 years have passed, and Batman still hasn’t cleaned up Gotham. If the formal definition of insanity it trying the same thing and e...
July 12, 2019
I appeared on Nanowrimo’s awesome Write-Minded podcast to talk about Radicalized
Today’s dystopian fiction seems to be closer to reality than the dystopian fiction of the past. Brooke and Grant explore this new reality with Cory Doctorow, whose socially conscientious science fiction novels delve into topics of political consequence. From the ways in which anxieties fuel science fiction writers to how fiction has the power to change the way we think and operate in the world, today’s episode emphasizes the importance of dystopian fiction for its...
Where to catch me at San Diego Comic-Con!
I’m headed back to San Diego for Comic-Con next weekend, and you can catch me on Friday, Saturday and Sunday:
Friday, 5PM: Signing in AA04
Saturday, 5PM: Panel: Writing: Craft, Community, and Crossover (with James Killen, Seanan McGuire, Charlie Jane Anders,, Annalee Newitz, and Sarah Gailey), Room 23ABC
Sunday, 10AM: Signing and giveaway for Radicalized, Tor Booth, #2701.
I hope to see you there!
July 9, 2019
Steering with the Windshield Wipers
In my latest podcast (MP3), I read my May Locus column: Steering with the Windshield Wipers. It makes the argument that much of the dysfunction of tech regulation — from botched anti-sex-trafficking laws to the EU’s plan to impose mass surveillance and censorship to root out copyright infringement — are the result of trying to jury-rig tools to fix the problems of monopolies, without using anti-monopoly laws, because they have been systematically gutted for 40 years.
A lack of competition r...
July 2, 2019
Fake News is an Oracle
In my latest podcast, I read my new Locus column: Fake News is an Oracle. For many years, I’ve been arguing that while science fiction can’t predict the future, it can reveal important truths about the present: the stories writers tell reveal their hopes and fears about technology, while the stories that gain currency in our discourse and our media markets tell us about our latent societal aspirations and anxieties.
Fake news is another important barometer of our societal pressure: when we t...
July 1, 2019
“Fake News is an Oracle”: how the falsehoods we believe reveal the truth about our fears and aspirations
For many years, I’ve been arguing that while science fiction can’t predict the future, it can reveal important truths about the present: the stories writers tell reveal their hopes and fears about technology, while the stories that gain currency in our discourse and our media markets tell us about our latent societal aspirations and anxieties. In Fake News is an Oracle, my latest Locus Magazine column, I use this tool to think about the rise of conspiratorial thinking and ask what it says abo...
June 27, 2019
Houston! Come see Hank Green and me on July 31
I’m coming to Houston on July 31 to appear with Hank Green at an event for the paperback launch of his outstanding debut novel An Absolutely Remarkable Thing: we’re on a 7PM at Spring Forest Middle School (14240 Memorial Drive, Houston, TX 77079); it’s a ticketed event and the ticket price includes a copy of Hank’s book. Hope to see you there! (Images: Vlogbrothers, Jonathan Worth, CC-BY)
