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   Lydia Conwell :mastodon: (lydiaconwell@todon.nl)'s status on Friday, 21-Feb-2025 08:31:57 JST Lydia Conwell :mastodon:

   Isaac Asimov critiques Orwell's 1984.

   It's an interesting read because it's a critique of a writer by a writer, so there's a lot of picking apart how the 1984 world would (or wouldn't) work.

   And he needs a hero. Asimov hates the lack of heroes in 1984, which I kinda liked.

   He also rightly points out that the state surveillance wouldn't work without robots or computers. And there are some interesting points made of Orwell's colonial leanings.

   I think Asimov is a touch too hard on the book, yet his criticisms seem quite valid. It goes to show that a writer can sort of get it wrong, yet end up creating something that kinda gets it right, and inspires people for generations in a slightly different way.

   Another thing I think Asimov misses is the culture of propaganda, an area Orwell worked in. I think the book is good at propaganda techniques.

   What's also interesting is that some of the things Asimov is dismissing in 1980, when he wrote the critique, seem very accurate descriptions of the present. So maybe Orwell did get it right?

   But I agree that I don't think Orwell was a prescient genius. I think he just happened to write something engaging and meaningful whilst bitching about the Soviet Union.

   https://redsails.org/asimov-on-1984/

   #Orwell #Asimov #1984 #Writing #Writers

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   Charlie Stross (cstross@wandering.shop)'s status on Monday, 02-Dec-2024 05:02:48 JST Charlie Stross

   This is your reminder that for the past 40 years the price of consumer electronics underwent roughly 10% compound *deflation* year by year.

   An entry level Android or iPhone is every non-shooty-bang-or-transportation James Bond gadget rolled into one for the inflation-adjusted cost of a 35mm film SLR or a Commodore 64 back in 1984.

   It's also much more powerful than every supercomputer on the planet back then, in combination.

   And it's in your pocket.
   https://canada.masto.host/@graydon/113579152811903958

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   Charlie Stross (cstross@wandering.shop)'s status on Monday, 29-Apr-2024 18:13:04 JST Charlie Stross

   I remember when I first saw a CPC464 in a shop I was working in, in 1984.

   It was a very neat answer to what the market needed in 1982. But by 1984, cassette storage and Z80s were clearly long in the tooth—it came out the same year as the Macintosh, and 12 months late Atari STs and Amigas were showing up.
   https://mastodon.social/@keyboards/112351091848131466