When Sysadmins Ruled the Earth (2007) | Hacker News Reader

When Sysadmins Ruled the Earth (2007)

craphound.com

102 pointsux-app18 comments

Well since this is a short story, we probably need reviews so people know whether it's worth their time to read it. Here's mine:

As far as 11th-grade high school english lit writing assignments go, this one is pretty good. I like how the author tells the reader technical things without ever trying to explain them, assuming that his readership is completely familiar with the subject matter. I also like how there's virtually no character development whatsoever, the ending is forced, and there's no conflict or strife in this idealized post-apocalyptic world. Anyone who would normally fight or kill for resources has apparently died, leaving only calm, rational citizens to share plentiful provisions.

My favorite part is how completely emotionally detached the protagonist is. His wife and baby boy dies, and he's basically alright about 5 minutes later. Each time he remembers them he seems to feel sad, then forget about them like an alzheimer patient. No shock, no panic, no guilt, no sorrow. Just a completely emotionally dead nerd who's more focused on his computers than his real relationships. It puts a realistic face on what could have been just another cypherpunk dystopian piece of drivel.

Yeah, my back's sore from all the geeky back-patting.

This is the reason why I stopped reading Doctorow, it's all just 'geeky back-patting'.

His stance on copyright is very black and white, and he uses his books to preach this black and white 'internet is best' world-view - Makers for example has the 100% good open blogger vs. the 100% evil traditional journalist, Down and out in the magic kingdom has post-scarcity financial system based on how much people like you on the internet..

It's all just preaching to the choir mixed with an obsession with Disney, and I learn nothing new from his writings.

Edit: Why the downvote?

I think you guys may have missed something. The protagonists feels a lot of emotion, but they mourn in a sad and silent way. They spend the whole story trying to get over what happened to their family. Its far from clear that the Internet is best, or that anyone is doing the right thing.

I'll give you that Doctorow's novels celebrate technology; birds are also going to fly, and fish are going to swim. And when a nerdy sysadmins write about nerdy sysadmins, the story will have a certain bend to it.

Its cool that you guys didn't like it, maybe you could express that in a way that isn't pedantic.

Exactly the point. Most people there lost someone. If I was in that situation, I'd be completely devastated inside, but I'd keep working, trying to make the best with what I can in the hopes that it creates a better world out of what's left. That's the point of what any of them were trying to do.

this is the read that got me into doctorow, of course basically all of his other writing is great. 'little brother' was the 'one city, one book' selection by SF Library last year, and anyone concerned about the surveillance state should definitely give it a read.

I fell in love with Doctorow's works through Pirate Cinema and Makers. Please grab one of his books when you have time; its worth the read.

"Makers" is fantastic, and has a lot of fun ideas in it. Doctorow nails the tech personalities in his works very well, arguably better than Stephenson.

With regards to governance of the world, why wasn't a federation considered (eg: a United Federation of Networks)? Perhaps modeled after Canada and her provinces (one of the most decentralized federal states), there is still a central seat of power however there is a great deal of autonomy afforded to members.

why dont you check usenet ?

Canada is more centralized than it seems. The Prime Minister has more power than the US president (relatively speaking, of course!)...

The Prime Minister of Canada is the head of the legislative (usually!) and executive branches. It's the combination of the speaker of both houses and the president, in one position.

Individual provinces have more power than US states, with clear separation of powers.

Great read!

Interdependence is something that I always think about in these situations. Our society is so dependent on trade and working with other regions/countries that to see those systems collapse would be utter chaos.

Should be labeled [2007].

Yes, definitely. The title was familiar to me however the age of the article would've made me instantly recall what this is.

OK so did...anyone else realize this was not a satire and go read the CN tower wiki to see when it fell down/caught on fire, only to become very confused?

Really enjoyed this read, and mostly accurate on the technical aspects.

this was great ...why i come to hacker news

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