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San Francisco, 6:16 PM
Sat Nov 7
12 posts in the last 24 hours

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  • posts about #apocalypse more →

    Robots Are Getting Their Own World War Z

    Research Reveals That Apocalyptic Stories Changed Dramatically 20 Years Ago

    New York's Post-Apocalyptic Survival Will Be Decided By A Hitman

    Why I Like To Write About The Apocalypse

    The One Thing That Could Make 2012 Worse: Motion Sickness

    Frightening Scenes from China's Pollution Apocalypse

    Has the Apocalypse Jumped the Shark?

    Now This Is A Post-Apocalyptic Ruckus We Can All Subscribe To

    Physics Proves the Mall is the Best Zombie Hideout After All

    A Diary of the Zombie Outbreak

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    Dsmvwl  Admin  Promote to frontpage Approve user Ban user ×
    Image of Klebert L. Hall Klebert L. Hall
    11/05/09

    In reply to Robots Are Getting Their Own World War Z
    So, it's kind of cute that in the graphic, the big anthropomorphic robot is fighting modern, remotely-piloted "robots".

    However, the artist shows the Global Hawk, an unarmed high-altitude recce aircraft as a strike platform. Kinda kills the mood, you'd think he could have Googled "predator"...
    -Kle. #robopocalypse
     Reply
    Klebert L. Hall was starred Klebert L. Hall was unstarred
    Image of Anekanta - Go Play! Anekanta - Go Play!
    11/04/09

    In reply to Robots Are Getting Their Own World War Z
    Blasted Robots! Always shooting me with their laser eye beams and chanting "Kill... all... humans" with their mechanical voices...

    What I wouldn't give for a good EMP device right about now.

    Number five is alive my ass!

    Sing Daisy, pinhead! #robopocalypse
     Reply
    Anekanta - Go Play! was starred Anekanta - Go Play! was unstarred
    Image of Mr. Damage Mr. Damage
    11/04/09

    @Anekanta - Go Play!: Nah, they'll just drink all our liquors, slack off, and want to pick pocket our wallets given half the chance.

    See, that is the case unless someone gets their mits on Mom's universal remote.

    Then you may proceed with the mass wholesale EMPing of the metal bastards.

    And Old Mutual Liberty Insurance with Robot Coverage! #robopocalypse
     Reply
    Anekanta - Go Play! promoted this comment Mr. Damage was starred Mr. Damage was unstarred
    Image of reaper2k reaper2k
    11/04/09

    In reply to Robots Are Getting Their Own World War Z
    Let's hope the movie version has more robots in it than Terminator: Salvation. #robopocalypse
     Reply
    Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H. promoted this comment reaper2k was starred reaper2k was unstarred
    Image of SuperTuna SuperTuna
    11/04/09

    In reply to Robots Are Getting Their Own World War Z
    So defeat zombies build robots...to defeat the robots enlist the help of aliens...to defeat aliens...Get Will Smith? #robopocalypse
     Reply
    ManchuCandidate promoted this comment SuperTuna was starred SuperTuna was unstarred
    Image of ManchuCandidate ManchuCandidate
    11/04/09

    @SuperTuna:
    No, Predators (assuming they're ALIEN aliens.) #robopocalypse
     Reply
    ManchuCandidate was starred ManchuCandidate was unstarred
    Image of Smiley Massacre Smiley Massacre
    11/04/09

    @ManchuCandidate: And then to defeat the Predators, we get the Governator...to defeat the Governator, we wage war with biological weaponry, which creates zombies...which, in turn, will start the whole cycle again. #robopocalypse
     Reply
    Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H. promoted this comment Smiley Massacre was starred Smiley Massacre was unstarred
    Image of ManchuCandidate ManchuCandidate
    11/04/09

    In reply to Robots Are Getting Their Own World War Z
    I hope they title it: Kill All HUMANS, BABY!!! #robopocalypse
     Reply
    ManchuCandidate was starred ManchuCandidate was unstarred
    Image of Lightice Lightice
    11/04/09

    In reply to Robots Are Getting Their Own World War Z
    And in 30-50 years time people will be watching that film with similar discomfort as they now watch the Birth of the Nation... #robopocalypse
     Reply
    J_Frank_Parnell promoted this comment Lightice was starred Lightice was unstarred
    Image of crashedpc - Haifisch crashedpc - Haifisch
    11/04/09

    @Lightice: That is, if we're not all dead or enslaved by our metal overlords yet. #robopocalypse
     Reply
    crashedpc - Haifisch was starred crashedpc - Haifisch was unstarred
    Image of SJ_Edwards SJ_Edwards
    11/04/09

    @Lightice: But will it be people or 'People' ? #robopocalypse
     Reply
    SJ_Edwards was starred SJ_Edwards was unstarred
    Image of Lightice Lightice
    11/04/09

    @crashedpc - Haifisch: Yeah, just like we're now oppressed by Jewish bankers using black enforcers to do their evil bidding.

    Lets face it, Hollywood is not the best place to go looking for accurate depictions of our future. #robopocalypse
     Reply
    Lightice was starred Lightice was unstarred
    Image of Lightice Lightice
    11/04/09

    @SJ_Edwards: There's a difference? #robopocalypse
     Reply
    Lightice was starred Lightice was unstarred
    Image of SJ_Edwards SJ_Edwards
    11/04/09

    @Lightice: If they're sentient, mobile and mortal. They're people.

    If they're sentient, distributed and immortal. They're not people.

    Wishing it so, won't make it so. #robopocalypse
     Reply
    SJ_Edwards was starred SJ_Edwards was unstarred
    Image of Lightice Lightice
    11/04/09

    @SJ_Edwards: I don't comprehend your logic. Sentience makes a person, nothing else. Or are you seriously saying that if I were to expand your lifespan indefinately, you'd cease to be a person? #robopocalypse
     Reply
    Lightice was starred Lightice was unstarred
    Image of SJ_Edwards SJ_Edwards
    11/04/09

    @Lightice: Yes. #robopocalypse
     Reply
    SJ_Edwards was starred SJ_Edwards was unstarred
    Image of Prolorn Prolorn
    11/05/09

    @Lightice: If to die is human, give me transhumanity?

    Personhood based on non-cognitive criteria doesn't compute for me, anyways. #robopocalypse
     Reply
    SJ_Edwards promoted this comment Prolorn was starred Prolorn was unstarred
    Image of Lightice Lightice
    11/05/09

    @SJ_Edwards: I can only say this: you are insane. You can't base personhood on arbitrary distinctions like that. I guess you don't think that paralyzed people qualify as persons, since they are not mobile. #robopocalypse
     Reply
    Lightice was starred Lightice was unstarred
    Image of givemeanameffs givemeanameffs
    11/05/09

    @Lightice: I think that last post = fail m8.

    When he say's mobile I believe he just means corporeal and limited to one instance - Johnny 5 was a person, Skynet is more like a God.

     Reply
    SJ_Edwards promoted this comment givemeanameffs was starred givemeanameffs was unstarred
    Image of Slatz_Grobnik Slatz_Grobnik
    10/30/09

    In reply to Research Reveals That Apocalyptic Stories Changed Dramatically 20 Years Ago
    Some say the world will end in fire,
    Some say in ice.
    From what I've tasted of desire
    I hold with those who favor fire.
    But if it had to perish twice,
    I think I know enough of hate
    To say that for destruction ice
    Is also great
    And would suffice.

    -Robert Frost, 1920

    I don't think the conceptual point of the missing apocalypse developed in the 90s. Note also Teasdale's "There Will Come Soft Rains" from the same year, where the only description is "war," not why this one was wholly destructive. What I think is more at hand is the "science" in science fiction. Especially for a purist, the lack of an explanation strikes as good as "a wizard did it." That's not going to cut it for a lot of people.

    Likewise, there's the question of how much the event matters. Zombies aren't bombs. If you just want to hit a reset button on human society, it's not really worth dwelling in the details thereto. On the other hand, something like SF is going to frequently maximize on those details. So it's less of a dip and more of a peak before.

    Which is dangerous to write, because I think it risks coming off as overly critical of not explaining. I actually prefer not explaining, for another reason, which may (to reverse positions) explain the 90s dip.

    One of the more salient criticisms of the Watchmen movie (and by extension the comic) was that it managed to be both hopelessly naive and overly bleak. The Cold War taught an important lesson, namely that stuff just keeps going on. It's never as dramatic as all that. We didn't destroy ourselves, despite how close we may have actually been, which gives a sheen of the unrealistic to any situation where we do.

    This is not quite that it's cliche. It's almost the opposite. It's a realization that the whole necessary system is just that more obnoxiously complex. #apocalypse
     Reply
    Slatz_Grobnik was starred Slatz_Grobnik was unstarred
    Image of RollsRoyceRevenge RollsRoyceRevenge
    10/29/09

    In reply to Research Reveals That Apocalyptic Stories Changed Dramatically 20 Years Ago
    The reason why there is no notable post-apocalyptic fiction these days is because no one really cares any more about the apocalypse. We've decided it's going to happen, one way or the other, and we might as well amuse ourselves with other things while we wait. #apocalypse
     Reply
    RollsRoyceRevenge was starred RollsRoyceRevenge was unstarred
    Image of braak braak
    10/29/09

    In reply to Research Reveals That Apocalyptic Stories Changed Dramatically 20 Years Ago
    Do you have a corresponding volume chart? Or chart of apocalypse-to-nopocalypse genre fiction?

    Because I wonder if the breakdown in the pattern could be attributable to a rise in the volume of post-apocalypse fiction muddying up the waters. #apocalypse
     Reply
    braak was starred braak was unstarred
    Image of Chanda Phelan Chanda Phelan
    10/30/09

    @braak: good point - I can't speak for ms fox and that gorgeous chart she made, but in my original excel-generated one, I did correct for the change in volume, and everything still gets all muddled around the 90s.

    But yes, up till the 1950s there aren't nearly as many pa books being churned out - volume peaks in the 50s and in the 80s, if I remember correctly.
     Reply
    Chanda Phelan was starred Chanda Phelan was unstarred
    Image of (Starman) Alpha (Starman) Alpha
    10/29/09

    In reply to Research Reveals That Apocalyptic Stories Changed Dramatically 20 Years Ago
    Aww....

    But I actually liked seeing how everything got destroyed and reading all the processes that caused the chain of events and actually seeing happen! :[

    Besides, once you finish the disasters, it usually gets resorted to some kind of "new beginnings" morality that everyone must follow... #apocalypse
     Reply
    Annalee Newitz promoted this comment (Starman) Alpha was starred (Starman) Alpha was unstarred
    Image of Anekanta - Go Play! Anekanta - Go Play!
    10/29/09

    In reply to Research Reveals That Apocalyptic Stories Changed Dramatically 20 Years Ago
    I hate being so late to this very cool party--this is an awesome post Chanda! #apocalypse
     Reply
    Anekanta - Go Play! was starred Anekanta - Go Play! was unstarred
    Image of Chanda Phelan Chanda Phelan
    10/30/09

    @Anekanta: thanks anekanta! #apocalypse
     Reply
    Chanda Phelan was starred Chanda Phelan was unstarred
    Image of Anekanta - Go Play! Anekanta - Go Play!
    10/30/09

    @Chanda Phelan: You're very welcome! :) #apocalypse
     Reply
    Anekanta - Go Play! was starred Anekanta - Go Play! was unstarred
    Image of BadUncle BadUncle
    10/29/09

    In reply to Research Reveals That Apocalyptic Stories Changed Dramatically 20 Years Ago
    FWIW, Frank Kermode's The Sense of an Ending traces the apocalypse - or end of history - as a basic western need through the beginning of its literature. I'm not doing justice to his thesis. But basically, he says we fear becoming insignificant in the infinite, and need an end point. #apocalypse
     Reply
    BadUncle was starred BadUncle was unstarred
    Image of Chanda Phelan Chanda Phelan
    10/29/09

    @BadUncle: kermode is the best. I discovered S. of an Ending about a month into researching my thesis and thought, damn, he said everything I was thinking, only way better than I ever could. *sigh*
    I compromised by quoting him all over the place.
     Reply
    Edited by Chanda Phelan at 10/29/09 5:18 PM Chanda Phelan was starred Chanda Phelan was unstarred
    Image of RocktheDebit RocktheDebit
    10/29/09

    In reply to Research Reveals That Apocalyptic Stories Changed Dramatically 20 Years Ago
    As soon as you said "20 years ago" I thought "Oh, nuclear holocaust stories must've gone out of fashion." And so they did. What's really interesting is that right after 1991 there are a few years where eco-apocalypse seems to be big. I reckon the anti-nuke people all became environmentalists.

    Another interesting thing on that map - there's NO apocalyptic fiction during most of WWI, and the WWII period's dominated by "unexplained apocalypse" stories. #apocalypse
     Reply
    Annalee Newitz promoted this comment RocktheDebit was starred RocktheDebit was unstarred
    Image of ceti ceti
    10/29/09

    In reply to Research Reveals That Apocalyptic Stories Changed Dramatically 20 Years Ago
    Contrast the 1939 cartoon, "Peace on Earth" with post-war, post nuclear 1955 remake "Goodwill to All Men" #apocalypse
     Reply
    Annalee Newitz promoted this comment ceti was starred ceti was unstarred
    Image of asyouwere asyouwere
    10/29/09

    In reply to Research Reveals That Apocalyptic Stories Changed Dramatically 20 Years Ago
    "Destroying the world in books about apocalypse is one way we can entirely take ownership of it. We can only see the world the way we have been raised to, the way our parents saw it, so we need to raze the old world and build a new one in its place in order to have a world that is really and entirely our own. The story of the End, after all, is not nearly as compelling as the story of the Beginning that comes after it."

    Maybe in a world still run by the baby boomers the how is not just less relevant but irrelevant to the occurrence of the end of the world. #apocalypse
     Reply
    Annalee Newitz promoted this comment asyouwere was starred asyouwere was unstarred
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