Teenagers join “tribes” that commit real mayhem, burning down territories. There are parts of cities that are no-go areas. There are game shows on TV where people are maimed and killed, and there are live circuses broadcast that have gladiatorial games and real deaths.

John Brunner : r/printSF - Reddit John Brunner : r/printSF - Reddit

The novel was written shortly after two pivotal events of the 1970s, the resignation of Richard Nixon and the overthrow of the Chilean President Salvador Allende, which are cited in the novel as examples, in Nixon's case, of a failed attempt by organised crime to suborn the Presidency, and in the second, of the consequences of working against multinational commercial interests. You will hear the message 'Intercom Connected' to confirm connection, the red and blue LEDs will flash once periodically while the devices remain paired. That we are a civilized species. Therefore none shall henceforth gain an illicit advantage by reason of the fact we together know more than one of us can know.Is our society on the right lines when of of its most gifted people can find no better career than crime unless literally millions per year of public money are lavished on him?

Works of John Brunner : r/printSF - Reddit Works of John Brunner : r/printSF - Reddit

Hey!” In an incredulous tone from a man beside Rose Jordan. “All kind of weird stuff has been coming off the beams since yesterday, like they’ve been paying women to bear kids that are sure to be deformed. You mean this is supposed to be true?” I find no evidence for believing that I matter any more than any other human being who ever existed or who ever will exist. Nor does any of them matter more than I do. We’re elements in a process that began in the dim past and will develop through who knows what kind of future.” bit of a campy ending but this book is really good. just incisive takes on the way big data feeds into consumption and the construction of a consumer personality, leading to the dissolution of a personal self and community. i will say this book is good in the way it articulates the psychological and sociological impact of a data-driven society and government, as opposed to blowing me away with any revelations in and of themselves. there are so many cool moments in this book so here's potpourri about it. Mi pequeña cabecita alcanza a formular reflexiones pero no le da para desarrollarlas del todo; leyendo este libro me ha dado por preguntarme cómo es posible que alguien en los 70 fuera capaz de percibir la trampa y las falsas religiones que surgirían a partir del desarrollo de los ordenadores, pero no fuera más allá de imaginar un aparato que sería aún más engañoso: el smartphone.After all, the rich get richer and the poor get children. Which is okay so long as lots of them starve in infancy.”

Five Fascinating Facts about John Brunner – Interesting Five Fascinating Facts about John Brunner – Interesting

And — no, it can’t be killed. It’s indefinitely self-perpetuating so long as the net exists. Even if one segment of it is inactivated, a counterpart of the missing portion will remain in store at some other station and the worm will automatically subdivide and send a duplicate head to collect the spare groups and restore them to their proper place. Incidentally, though, it won’t expand to indefinite size and clog the net for other use. It has built-in limits.” Reading it 45 years on I cannot believe how much he got right. This story could still be part of our future. Ultimately, it is Brunner’s process that makes Zanzibar’s crystal-ball-gazing predictions so enduringly fascinating: he arrived at them via a combination of careful observation, listening and reading – that and a zany imagination. He was looking to the future, but it was only by being fully immersed in the present that he was able to see it with such unnerving clarity, effectively turning his typewriter into a time machine. He died in 1995, appropriately enough while attending a science-fiction conference. It's not because my mind is made up that I don't want you to confuse me with any more facts. It's because my mind isn't made up. I already have more facts than I can cope with. So SHUT UP, do you hear me? SHUT UP!”Brunner published his first novel when he was just 17 – and did so under a pseudonym. Brunner’s first novel, Galactic Storm, appeared under the pen name Gill Hunt in 1951. He began his career as a prolific author of space operas – and then, in the 1960s, became something far more interesting. One of the turning points was his landmark 1968 novel Stand on Zanzibar, of which more below. Brunner wrote around 100 novels, making him one of the most prolific ever science fiction authors – in a genre that isn’t exactly short of prolific writers. the plight of being old: clearly recalling what it was like to act voluntarily and enjoy life as it came, now trapped in a frame that forbade anything except slow cautious movements” Brunner had an uneasy relationship with British new wave writers, who often considered him too American in his settings and themes. He attempted to shift to a more mainstream readership in the early 1980s, without success. Before his death, most of his books had fallen out of print. Brunner accused publishers of a conspiracy against him, although he was difficult to deal with (his wife had handled his publishing relations before she died).[2] He had straightened as he spoke. Now he was arrow-rigid, and his voice boomed in huge resounding periods like the tolling of a death bell. Though it turns out here they only use that as an occasional abbreviation for the more usual 'tapeworm'.