Simmons opened new frontiers of thought for me with his Hyperion Cantos. A house with each room on a different planet. A heartbreaking tale of a daughter aging in reverse. A romance playing out over space and time. A grand piano on the pop-out balcony of a starship. The cruciform parasite. The Shrike.
Branches of humanity torn between decadent stagnation and radical evolution. The artificial intelligence civilization with its own agenda. The All Thing (Internet) as the third branch of government.
Oh, boy. The Shrike. That thing still haunts me in a way that no other monster or alien across all of Sci-fi or fantasy really does. It's something about the inscrutability of it, especially in the first novel (still my favorite) where its purpose and backstory haven't been revealed. Sure, it's scary, but I think the mystery of its motives - and its ability to unpredictably act apparently benevolently sometimes - is where the real terror lies.
This one isn't actually inevitable in the near term. Lethal robots policing the streets isn't something that can just sneak up on us[0] - it's a pretty clear-cut civic issue affecting everyone, so excepting hardcore autocracies with no vertical accountability[1], the public can push such ideas back indefinitely[2].
It's hard to "agency launder" a killer robot when it's physically patrolling a public square.
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[0] - Except maybe through privatization of law enforcement, which could be more gradual - think police outsourcing more work to private security companies, which in turn decide to "pioneer innovative solutions to ensure personal safety" by giving weapons to mall security patrol robots and putting them out on the streets - but it'll still be pretty obvious what's happening.
[1] - Some cursory search suggests this is the correct term for the idea I'm thinking of, which is how much the people in power have to, in practice, take their subjects' reactions into account.
[2] - Well, at least until armed forces of multiple countries start using autonomous robots as ground infantry, and over the years, normalize this idea in the minds of civilians.
it’s in the discovery process with a deadline of February 23rd, at which time kellogg’s is to prepare their argument and motion for summary judgement. If that’s denied it tentatively goes to 3-4 day trial in July.
I never saw them again (and I host large food truck festivals here) so I just assumed they threw in the towel. I did not know they are still operating but apparently so.
I have to imagine they’ll spend more time and money fighting this suit than they did starting the food truck. I see no reason you wouldn’t just rebrand. The name is mid at best anyway.
But also, I’m kinda rooting for them. From a distance though.
I'm guessing (NAL) that would actually make it worse. Trademark violation revolves around brand confusion. If you actually serve their product you are making that _much_ more likely (in my uninformed opinion anyway).
Otherwise it's a standalone argument about a stupid pun applied to food in general.
Tailscale is definitely not one of that crowd. Their CEO had some very reasonable takes on AI and developers on LinkedIn / their blog (linked in a sibling comment).
Branches of humanity torn between decadent stagnation and radical evolution. The artificial intelligence civilization with its own agenda. The All Thing (Internet) as the third branch of government.
So much good stuff, published in 1989 no less.
Rest in Peace to a true legend.
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