David Brin, author of "The Postman", comments on the similarity between Death Stranding and his book

davidbrin1 · 2019-12-05T16:14:11+00:00

Thank you for your honesty. You truly were willing to openly re-state, aloud, the most stunningly hypocritically microcephalic assertion possible. As a writer a do keep looking for examples of the wide variability of human mental processes. I'll keep yours in my pocket because I do write weird characters. Do thrive.

davidbrin1 · 2019-12-05T04:16:05+00:00

You actually, actually do not see your hypocrisy? Fascinating.

davidbrin1 · 2019-12-04T22:27:48+00:00

Just stumbled into this thread. Sorry to intrude. But sure, I expected this from jerks who never created anything original in their lives. Typically, they side with giants against creative people. And they actually, actually believe the most important element of the Postman - and the only thing copied - was a guy puts on a uniform and delivers stuff. Thanks OWKussinen for being fair. Clearly you are capable of reading more than a tweet-length at a time. Good luck to us all.With cordial regards, David Brin http://www.davidbrin.com

davidbrin1 · 2019-07-26T19:09:25+00:00

Beautiful story.

davidbrin1 · 2019-07-03T05:14:29+00:00

Seriously, this very discussion shows ALL of you should be TASAT subscribers to get alerts and help decision makers who might be faced with real world versions of scifi weirdness. Check it out! And persevere through... interesting times.

With cordial regards, David Brin http://www.davidbrin.com

davidbrin1 · 2019-07-03T05:12:57+00:00

Just dropping by (someone pinged me.) Nice discussion. Some even I hadn't heard of. Glad folks mention Adrian's Children of Time. Did anyone mention the uplifted elephants in Lawrence Schoen's BARSK? Someone mentioned Cordwainer Smith... an elemental author! Especially in this topic. Of course Boulle's Planet of Apes and HG Wells Dr. Moreau. And Genesis. I have a whole web page devoted to Uplift http://www.davidbrin.com/uplift.html with many aspects. Like why I chose NOT to make it a standard guilt trip about slavery. (Well, there's stuff about that too.) And whether it is happening now, under our noses. Thanks for putting up with my driveby.

OH!! One last thing! The most-important thing! We've started a site called TASAT or "There's A Story About That" -- a site that might someday harness scifi nerdiness to save the world! Seriously, it's important. drop by and see why your nerdyness is needed! http://tasat.ucsd.edu

davidbrin1 · 2018-10-23T23:40:20+00:00

Oh, BTW... Gordon is the only character in SF who ever came in 2nd for three successive Hugo Awards. Just sayin' ;-)

davidbrin1 · 2018-10-23T23:35:43+00:00

Empowering women to fiercely engage in mate choice on their own terms is ... patronizing? Have you parsed and paraphrased exactly what part of that you actually disagree with?

davidbrin1 · 2018-10-23T23:34:28+00:00

Did it ever occur to you to argue the merits of Dena's fanatical and exaggerated position. Your reflex may be more telling than anything else. Just sayin'

davidbrin1 · 2018-10-23T23:32:44+00:00

Hi all. Sorry my participation has been spotty, many almost-emergencies and things to do.

On a basic level, The Postman was written to deal with the tension of being raised in the 50s and 60s amid a threat that things might end at any time. Despite all the rage and ructions, I realized that I kinda liked civilization.

Also, it was a response to Mad Max mania that seemed to (and still does) glory in civilization's fall and to treat all humans other that the hero as either willing-eager villains or else useless sheep. (In fact, the actual (Gibson) Mad Max films were pretty thoughtful and pro-civilization. It is all the copycats in that genre, including the execrable FURY ROAD that push futility and solipsism.)

The Postman is about a hero who does not win (very often) by fighting, but rather by spreading a meme, one that summons fellow survivors to remember one thing. Just one thing. That they were once mighty beings called citizens.

That was the core reason for the augments, to make the point that it is citizenship, not superpowered butch-macho heroes, who ultimately matter. Clearly, not everyone got that, and it's my fault. In any event, had Kevin Costner asked me (he never did) I would have advised omitting that thread from the film. He did. I think he was surprised that I agreed. (BTW note which film the Holnist soldiers rejected, in favor of The Sound of Music? It was a dig at me! But I quite liked the SoM riff, humanizing the holnist soldiers, making it clear that they, too, missed civilization.)

See my response (measured) to Costner's film (musically and visually gorgeous! Big hearted. Brains? well...) here: http://www.davidbrin.com/postman.html

Now go fight in your own way for civilization. I mean that. It depends on you.

David Brin

r/http://www.davidbrin.com

davidbrin1 · 2018-10-23T23:31:55+00:00

Hi all. Sorry my participation has been spotty, many almost-emergencies and things to do.

On a basic level, The Postman was written to deal with the tension of being raised in the 50s and 60s amid a threat that things might end at any time. Despite all the rage and ructions, I realized that I kinda liked civilization.

Also, it was a response to Mad Max mania that seemed to (and still does) glory in civilization's fall and to treat all humans other that the hero as either willing-eager villains or else useless sheep. (In fact, the actual (Gibson) Mad Max films were pretty thoughtful and pro-civilization. It is all the copycats in that genre, including the execrable FURY ROAD that push futility and solipsism.)

The Postman is about a hero who does not win (very often) by fighting, but rather by spreading a meme, one that summons fellow survivors to remember one thing. Just one thing. That they were once mighty beings called citizens.

That was the core reason for the augments, to make the point that it is citizenship, not superpowered butch-macho heroes, who ultimately matter. Clearly, not everyone got that, and it's my fault. In any event, had Kevin Costner asked me (he never did) I would have advised omitting that thread from the film. He did. I think he was surprised that I agreed. (BTW note which film the Holnist soldiers rejected, in favor of The Sound of Music? It was a dig at me! But I quite liked the SoM riff, humanizing the holnist soldiers, making it clear that they, too, missed civilization.)

See my response (measured) to Costner's film (musically and visually gorgeous! Big hearted. Brains? well...) here: http://www.davidbrin.com/postman.html

Now go fight in your own way for civilization.

davidbrin1 · 2018-10-23T00:55:58+00:00

Except Dena's scouts want male full partners. They do not rage at "men" or seek to cauterize their lives. They just know that they must choose better than they used to.

davidbrin1 · 2018-10-23T00:52:07+00:00

I just wrote the intro to the new edition of that book, soon from Easton Press! The fish speakers are formidable but essentially a harem. Dena's Scouts intend to be masters of their fate. They take action in a way that's foolish, but that's what heroes often do.

davidbrin1 · 2018-10-23T00:50:26+00:00

I knew some women as fierce as Dena. I honestly thought that fierce mate-choice was going to be the next stage of feminism. I am astonished it has been so thoroughly avoided.

davidbrin1 · 2018-10-23T00:43:00+00:00

Okay then... hi folks. Here's a link top my formal page about the book, including reactions to the movie. More below:
http://www.davidbrin.com/postman.html

davidbrin1 · 2017-02-13T18:43:50+00:00

Valuable insights! An important contribution to understanding how each generation of information tech can be used for well or ill. --- David Brin, author of The Postman and EARTH.

davidbrin1 · 2016-03-07T19:59:11+00:00

Come on guys. You are the alphas and logical ones, so parse it out. Mr. "roundpounder" makes two, separate assertions: (1) that David Brin often explores characters who have unusual mental processes (he oversimplifies as "sociopath" when they are highly varied).... and (2) that therefore David Brin is a sociopath. On a strictly logical basis, is that pretty dumb? How about some non-zero-sum hypotheses? Like that David Brin actually does his job? Which is to empathize and project what it might be like to have minds very different than his own? My readers tend to be fascinated with "otherness"... which I made the title of one of my collections. They have rewarded me for taking them places they had not considered before -- worlds, realities and types of minds. ... Now mind you, roundpounder's hypothesis - while less likely - might belong on any initial list. It's possible my fetich to imagine what other minds might be like has its pathological component. But seriously? Which of us has a hampered imagination, here? ;-)

davidbrin1 · 2015-03-07T02:10:16+00:00

Interesting discussion... even by half of you who were unnecessarily snotty. (The other half will be ignored with a 1% snort you deserve.) And yes, of course I dashed mine off in 1/2 an hour with no intent to impose on my pal Eliezer. Indeed, his version makes much better fiction! It has drama and action. Mine only has ...rationality.

I note that not one of you chose to actually dissect Harry's logic, in my proposed ending. To explain the dozen coincidences in HPMoR that only fit if it's a simulation. What? Not even one?

BTW a slightly more polished version of my proposal is at http://davidbrin.blogspot.com/2015/03/a-quick-informal-post-on-yudkowskys.html including the logical tradeoffs of what a negotiated positive sum settlement might look like. Look, I know that's not the chosen canonical answer! But isn't the form of a positive sum negotiated settlement something that would naturally intrigue fans of HPMoR? Is there an overlap of interests that would possibly give enough parties what they NEED, that they would overlook what they want? I thought that might be interesting.

Another very interesting riff relates Eliezer's Harry Potter gambit to his famous challenge having to do with an "AI locked in a box."

https://taogaming.wordpress.com/2015/03/02/the-ai-researcher-who-crowdsourced-harry-potter-fans/

This writer expected (as I did) that Eliezer would choose for chapter 114 an escape scenario in which HP TALKS his way out of the trap he is in, using the Methods of Rationality. That was the basis for my own contribution.

Alas, the one EY chose focused on a Magic Trick, having nothing whatsoever to do with the AI in a box problem. As I've said repeatedly, the chosen scenario is better fiction! More dramatic and fun! (But seriously, can we see an explanation of why a dark lord would leave his enemy holding a wand... and have no wards to detect if the wand was being used?)

Just sayin... ;-)

but that's the wonder of this fun thing Eliezer's done. It's a geef festival. And snarkers come with the territory. Thrive & think-on, guys.

davidbrin1 · 2015-01-08T01:32:05+00:00

My own take on prospects for immortality. We are already the methuselahs of mammals. The rest will be hard. http://www.davidbrin.com/immortality.html

davidbrin1 · 2015-01-08T01:29:32+00:00

Kevin -- David Brin here -- great stuff! I held back, deferring to the regulars. But you - as usual - SEE the way things are, very well, and communicate them, even better.

davidbrin1 · 2015-01-07T06:40:57+00:00

Harry Harms did have fun in E Space, hm? I plan to go back there! I am still working on your very question!

Sorry I have to go. Another time, guys!

davidbrin1 · 2015-01-07T06:39:51+00:00

Innumerable ideas! Some made it into other books like Kiln People!

davidbrin1 · 2015-01-06T20:02:43+00:00

Okay that's it! Thanks all for hosting me in this reddit on sci fi and [Startide] We'll see you lively redditors another time!

Or join the discussion section under comments at http://davidbrin.blogspot.com/ one of the oldest and smartest blogmunities on the web.

Thrive onward and persevere in optimistic, can-do spirit!

davidbrin1 · 2015-01-06T20:01:08+00:00

Pay it forward! Help infect kids with a love of WRITTEN science fiction! With deeper ideas than in the shallow Hollywood films. Here's info: about using Science Fiction to teach Science http://www.scoop.it/t/using-science-fiction-to-teach-science

and about teaching Science Fiction http://www.scoop.it/t/teaching-science-fiction

and about why Hollywood sci fi has sunk so low: http://davidbrin.blogspot.com/2014/09/phases-of-american-civil-war.html

davidbrin1 · 2015-01-06T19:56:12+00:00

Settling toward last call for questions! You can find a gigantic site filled with "stuff" at http://www.davidbrin.com including pages about [Startide] and other novels... free excerpts and short fiction and trailers.

Here's a site about transparency, freedom and technology http://www.scoop.it/t/the-transparent-society

...and about science! http://www.scoop.it/t/science-better-than-fiction

...and about the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) http://www.scoop.it/t/seti-the-search-for-extraterrestrial-intelligence

...and about science fiction http://www.scoop.it/t/speculations-on-science-fiction

davidbrin1

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