On his blog, Charles Stross, author of such works as Accelerando (2005), the wonderful novella “Palimpsest” in the collection Wireless (2009), and Glasshouse (2006), among others, thinks about what the world will be like in 2512. Interesting (and harrowing) stuff.
Author: Bradley J. Fest
Disaster Capitalism & Sandy
Thanks to R. for drawing my attention to Andrew Martin’s article, “Hurricane Sandy and the Disaster Preparedness Economy,” in Saturday’s New York Times that details yet another example of what Naomi Klein calls “disaster capitalism” (though this is admittedly a bit different than, say, Iraq or Chile . . .) in her 2007 book The Shock Doctrine. An excerpt:
It’s all part of what you might call the Mad Max Economy, a multibillion-dollar-a-year collection of industries that thrive when things get really, really bad. Weather radios, kerosene heaters, D batteries, candles, industrial fans for drying soggy homes — all are scarce and coveted in the gloomy aftermath of Hurricane Sandy and her ilk.
It didn’t start with the last few hurricanes, either. Modern Mad Max capitalism has been around a while, decades even, growing out of something like old-fashioned self-reliance, political beliefs and post-Apocalyptic visions. The cold war may have been the start, when schoolchildren dove under desks and ordinary citizens dug bomb shelters out back. But economic fears, as well as worries about climate change and an unreliable electronic grid have all fed it.
Last Call in the City of Bridges
My good friend Salvatore Pane (or whatever you are calling yourself these days mr. pane) just got a writeup/interview in The Huffington Post by Teddy Wayne for his new/first novel, Last Call in the City of Bridges. Check it.
The End (Repeat)
n+1, in honor of Sandy (so they say), just reposted this essay-review by Chad Harbach of Matthew Sharpe’s Jamestown (2007) and a host of other post-catastrophe lit, “The End, The End, The End.” Like Robert Charles Wilson’s recent Julian Comstock: A Story of 22nd Century America (2009), the catastrophic novels Harbach discusses lie on the other side of global oil-depletion: “Now we’ve burned half the available oil, or close to it, and burning it (along with so much coal) has altered the earth’s equilibrium. Our future, like our past, may be virtually free of oil, and global culture, and many of the social safeguards we enjoy. Thus the novel of future catastrophe threatens to become a version of the historical novel.” Harbach also has an old review of DFW’s Oblivion for n+1.
Unsettling at Best
Yesterday Thom Shanker and Rick Gladstone reported in The New York Times that “Iran Fired on Military Drone in First Such Attack, U.S. Says.” This occurred five days before the election, and was only talked about by the Defense Department after news organizations had broken the story. Shanker and Gladstone write: “the failure to disclose a hostile encounter with Iran’s military at a time of increased international tensions over the disputed Iranian nuclear program — and five days before the American presidential election — raises questions for the Obama administration. Had the Iranian attack been disclosed before Election Day, it is likely to have been viewed in a political context — interpreted either as sign of the administration’s weakness or, conversely, as an opportunity for President Obama to demonstrate leadership.” Nuclear worries don’t cease just b/c the election is over. . . .
D.T. Max on His DFW Biography
Just found this nice little clip today:
Watershed Moment for US Voting Blocs
Its amazing how quickly the conversation has turned toward the slowly shifting demographics in the US and the twilight of the GOP as we know it. Jonathan Chait’s “2012 or Never” in New York magazine is a great article that anticipated all this last February (citing those that anticipated this way back in 2002), and creator of The Wire (2002-2008) David Simon has a pretty nice, concise blog post re: the changing political landscape as well (and I love that Simon’s blog is called The Audacity of Despair). Are we really moving into a future that I and so many others desire? Probably not, but at least we’re not moving into the past.
Obama Elected to Second Term
Don’t have much more to say than that, but I thought it necessary to in some way mark the historic occasion of not only the nation’s first black President, but one elected to a second term amidst catastrophic economic conditions and the unprecedented natural disaster of merely a week ago. Sometimes we do pay attention to our better angels, and don’t only respond to things through fear and shame. The image is from The New York Times.
The Most Unsurprising Poll of this Election Cycle and other Stuff
If the election were held internationally, according the Huffington Post, Obama would win in a landslide.
Via The Atlantic, in Columbus, Ohio voters are waiting 7 hours to vote.
And The New York Times speculates on the impact Sandy had on the race, specifically “blowing Romney off course.” October surprise indeed.
Perpetual War
Aaron B. O’Connell, Professor of history at the US Naval Academy, has an op-ed in yesterday’s New York Times that is fairly interesting: “The Permanent Militarization of America.”
The Hyperarchival Parallax 