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San Francisco, 12:50 AM
Mon Dec 28
10 posts in the last 24 hours

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  • posts about #virtualworlds more →

    Long Before Virtuality, Another Star Trek Alum Tried To Get Edgy With The Holodeck

    How Is Virtuality Different Than Star Trek's Holodeck?

    Win Fame and Prizes in Our Scifi Sims Contest

    Discover The Secrets Of Ron Moore's 10-Year Space Probe

    Scientists Create Method Of Uploading Your Entire Body To A Computer

    Virtual Resurrection: The Dead Who Went To Cyber-Heaven

    6 More Heroes Who Might Still Be Trapped In Virtual Reality

    Get Away From It All By Traveling The Multiverse

    Travel Inside The Horrifying Mind Of A Cyborg Killer, In "Offline"

    6 Characters Who Escaped Virtual Prisons... Or Did They?

    Star Trek's Absolute Worst Holodeck Adventures

    7 Failed Virtual Reality Technologies

    Indie Science Fiction Film Tackles Virtual Reality And The War On Terror

    Virtual Sex: Cheating or Not?

    How To React To Your VR Environment

    The Best And Worst Of Virtual Music Video Worlds

    The Dumbest Holodeck Episodes Of All Time

    The 5 Science Fiction Tales That Made Us Love Virtual Reality

    Ronald D. Moore's Ten-Year Space Mission Launches Early

    Win Fame And Prizes In Our Scifi Sims Contest
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    Dsmvwl  Admin  Promote to frontpage Approve user Ban user ×
    Image of lightninglouie lightninglouie
    07/01/09

    In reply to Long Before Virtuality, Another Star Trek Alum Tried To Get Edgy With The Holodeck
    I'd heard that the new Nintendo DS had some interesting new features, but never imagined that it could induce scary homoerotic interludes.
     Reply
    lightninglouie was starred lightninglouie was unstarred
    Image of Grey_Area Grey_Area
    06/30/09

    In reply to Long Before Virtuality, Another Star Trek Alum Tried To Get Edgy With The Holodeck
    The second clip will not play for me. But I imagine that the at one point the captain says, "Make my sleeves poofier!"

    To which the stalwart engineer, Hunny, replies, "Sajnálom, kapitány, de az ujjú nem veheti meg!"
     Reply
    Grey_Area was starred Grey_Area was unstarred
    Image of Grey_Area Grey_Area
    06/30/09

    @Grey_Area: Funny thing, my first attempt to run that line through Google Translate the word "sleeve" came out as Hungarian for "vagina". That would be very different scene indeed.


    We still have quite some ways to go before the Universal Translator is ready.

     Reply
    Grey_Area was starred Grey_Area was unstarred
    Image of Charlie Jane Anders Charlie Jane Anders
    06/30/09

    @Grey_Area: Bwa ha ha ha! The second clip is playing fine for me, and I'm on a crappy copy of Firefox on an ancient PC. Let me know if it's still not playing. The music, and the bathtub chick, are pretty great.
     Reply
    Charlie Jane Anders was starred Charlie Jane Anders was unstarred
    Image of Grey_Area Grey_Area
    06/30/09

    @Grey_Area: Ez jó! Fabio...in Space! If Virtuality was like this FOX wouldn't have cancelled it.
     Reply
    Grey_Area was starred Grey_Area was unstarred
    Image of InvaderPhlegm InvaderPhlegm
    07/01/09

    @Grey_Area: You are so true.
     Reply
    InvaderPhlegm was starred InvaderPhlegm was unstarred
    Image of twophrasebark twophrasebark
    06/11/09

    In reply to How Is Virtuality Different Than Star Trek's Holodeck?
    Charlie Jane, did you ask Ron why he seems to have become a lot more like Brannon Braga, his old writing partner (i.e. kind of in love with himself)?
     Reply
    twophrasebark was starred twophrasebark was unstarred
    Image of twophrasebark twophrasebark
    06/11/09

    In reply to How Is Virtuality Different Than Star Trek's Holodeck?
    I think he's saying:


    In the Matrix, you think you're eating a steak and it's exactly like eating a steak, but you're not.


    In the Holodeck, you're eating a steak, and it's exactly like eating a steak, but it's not actually a steak.


    However:


    This is a rather meaningless and stupid distinction. You would perceive no difference as a user. It's like saying this car runs on gas and this one runs on electricity.

     Reply
    twophrasebark was starred twophrasebark was unstarred
    Image of seefive seefive
    06/11/09

    In reply to How Is Virtuality Different Than Star Trek's Holodeck?
    Clea Duvall never ages...

    ...or maybe has the whole Benjamin Button thing going on.
     Reply
    seefive was starred seefive was unstarred
    Image of The Curse of Millhaven The Curse of Millhaven
    06/11/09

    @seefive: I was not particularly interested in this until I saw miss Duvall here.
     Reply
    The Curse of Millhaven was starred The Curse of Millhaven was unstarred
    Image of Slovenly Muse Slovenly Muse
    06/11/09

    @The Curse of Millhaven: Same here! She's so great.
     Reply
    Slovenly Muse was starred Slovenly Muse was unstarred
    Image of bluehinter bluehinter
    06/11/09

    In reply to How Is Virtuality Different Than Star Trek's Holodeck?
    So, Virtuality is basically "locked into a terrible service plan and forced to use buggy software that was never properly Beta tested... In space!!!"


    I still plan on watching it though, if for no other reason than to see my nightmares of working 5 years in tech support made flesh.

     Reply
    bluehinter was starred bluehinter was unstarred
    Image of Mark 2000 Mark 2000
    06/11/09

    In reply to How Is Virtuality Different Than Star Trek's Holodeck?
    I didn't actually see anything in what he said that makes the two different. One is a room and one is a headset, i guess was the big one. But otherwise....


    Seems to me that much of what happened in the Holodeck related to the real world, please name an Episode where it didn't, just like Virtuality is supposed to do. I'm getting the feeling this show whould have been better suited for a less savvy late 80's, early 90's audience, but I'll watch it and see.

     Reply
    Mark 2000 was starred Mark 2000 was unstarred
    Image of Charlie Jane Anders Charlie Jane Anders
    06/11/09

    @Mark 2000: Well... I think he's trying to say it's more limited and less physical. In the Holodeck, you could interact with the environment in a really realistic way. Here, it's more like you're projected into a VR fantasy world. And there won't be any artificial peril springing from the idea that the safeties are off and you could really get killed in VR.
     Reply
    Charlie Jane Anders was starred Charlie Jane Anders was unstarred
    Image of Byronotron Byronotron
    06/11/09

    @Charlie Jane Anders: except the virus that get's let loose on the ship and I'm 99% sure that the twist in the end of the movie is that one of the crew is murdered by that virus/avatar.
     Reply
    Byronotron was starred Byronotron was unstarred
    Image of Charlie Jane Anders Charlie Jane Anders
    06/11/09

    @Byronotron: Not in the version of the script I read. Someone dies, but the virus has little or nothing to do with it.
     Reply
    Charlie Jane Anders was starred Charlie Jane Anders was unstarred
    Image of Bill-Lee Bill-Lee
    06/11/09

    In reply to How Is Virtuality Different Than Star Trek's Holodeck?
    Yeah...It's completely different in the way morphine is different than heroin.
     Reply
    Bill-Lee was starred Bill-Lee was unstarred
    Image of OW-Holmes:Bringer of Fear OW-Holmes:Bringer of Fear
    06/11/09

    @Bill-Lee: In that both are awesome.
     Reply
    OW-Holmes:Bringer of Fear was starred OW-Holmes:Bringer of Fear was unstarred
    Image of alphanumeric1971 alphanumeric1971
    06/09/09

    In reply to Discover The Secrets Of Ron Moore's 10-Year Space Probe
    I just want to know when we went from calling him "Mister Ronald D. Moore" to just "Ron Moore."
     Reply
    alphanumeric1971 was starred alphanumeric1971 was unstarred
    Image of Charlie Jane Anders Charlie Jane Anders
    06/09/09

    @alphanumeric1971: It's hard to get "Mister Ronald D. Moore" to fit into a headline that will go in one of those boxes up top.
     Reply
    Charlie Jane Anders was starred Charlie Jane Anders was unstarred
    Image of alphanumeric1971 alphanumeric1971
    06/09/09

    In reply to Scientists Create Method Of Uploading Your Entire Body To A Computer
    Why the hell would I want to do that? I would want a better model than the one I'm stuck with now!!!
     Reply
    alphanumeric1971 was starred alphanumeric1971 was unstarred
    Image of phoenix phoenix
    06/09/09

    @alphanumeric1971: This is what I was thinking! Hell, if I'm going to upload myself to a computer, I want to review it when I'm done:


    "Yeah, trim a little there...and can you take off a few inches around the waist? Yeah now add some muscle there...and oh yeah definitely trim that down. Can you make me a couple inches taller? Yeah, that's it..."

     Reply
    phoenix was starred phoenix was unstarred
    Image of Robert Hewitt Wolfe Robert Hewitt Wolfe
    06/08/09

    In reply to Star Trek's Absolute Worst Holodeck Adventures
    I cashed a residuals check for "A Fistful of Datas" the other day. Please continue watching it and debating its horribleness for all eternity. Thanks!


    No, seriously, thanks for watching. I actually do apprecitate it.

     Reply
    Robert Hewitt Wolfe was starred Robert Hewitt Wolfe was unstarred
    Image of Grey_Area Grey_Area
    06/08/09

    In reply to Virtual Resurrection: The Dead Who Went To Cyber-Heaven
    I remember liking Terminal Cafe by Ian McDonald, but it's been a long time since I read it.
     Reply
    Grey_Area was starred Grey_Area was unstarred
    Image of Rainbucket Rainbucket
    06/08/09

    In reply to Star Trek's Absolute Worst Holodeck Adventures
    I'm sorry that Outrageous Okona was spared, just because I've longed to see that episode eviscerated here. But you could do a whole other article listing the low points of early TNG tell-don't-show writing, aka the "Informed Attribute."


    ([www.agonybooth.com])


    Still, Joe freakin Piscopo?

     Reply
    Rainbucket was starred Rainbucket was unstarred
    Image of EBone EBone
    06/11/09

    @Rainbucket: True story: they had originally wanted Jerry Lewis and written it for him, but he was unavailable at the last minute. So they got Piscopo (who is always available).
     Reply
    EBone was starred EBone was unstarred
    Image of BrandonSweet BrandonSweet
    06/07/09

    In reply to Virtual Resurrection: The Dead Who Went To Cyber-Heaven
    In Hardwired, it's actually the character Reno, not Cowboy, who gets killed while interfaced and whose consciousness lives on in cyberspace.


    His electronic ambush at the end of the book is all kinds of awesome.

     Reply
    BrandonSweet was starred BrandonSweet was unstarred
    Image of Charlie Jane Anders Charlie Jane Anders
    06/07/09

    @BrandonSweet: Oh, let me fix that!
     Reply
    Charlie Jane Anders was starred Charlie Jane Anders was unstarred
    Image of octaslash octaslash
    06/07/09

    In reply to Virtual Resurrection: The Dead Who Went To Cyber-Heaven
    No Dollhouse?
     Reply
    octaslash was starred octaslash was unstarred
    Image of Charlie Jane Anders Charlie Jane Anders
    06/07/09

    @octalass: I've seen every episode of Dollhouse. There's nobody whose brain survives in cyberspace. There are wedges, but that's different.
     Reply
    Charlie Jane Anders was starred Charlie Jane Anders was unstarred
    Image of Dominus Astra Dominus Astra
    06/07/09

    In reply to Virtual Resurrection: The Dead Who Went To Cyber-Heaven
    I read a humorous short story by Ted Chiang once, about a man whose digital afterlife was rudely interrupted during his "sexual endurance record tryout" by the managing corporation - his investments in real life had collapsed, leaving him unable to finance his further virtual life. He was given an option: Slowing down the processor speed (unacceptable, he would be out of sync with his still-living relatives); accept true death, or get a job as spam filter, the latter of which he accepted.
     Reply
    Dominus Astra was starred Dominus Astra was unstarred
    Image of nagumi nagumi
    06/07/09

    @Dominus Astra: I'd love to read that. Got a story name?
     Reply
    nagumi was starred nagumi was unstarred
    Image of Charlie Jane Anders Charlie Jane Anders
    06/07/09

    @nagumi: Actually, it's not by Ted Chiang, it's by David Langford, and it's linked to in my post... :)
     Reply
    Charlie Jane Anders was starred Charlie Jane Anders was unstarred
    Image of Dominus Astra Dominus Astra
    06/07/09

    @nagumi: Sorry, I only remembered that it was in a short story collection, all written by Ted Chiang (who I think is brilliant but underappreciated) I read the one story in the bookstore, so I felt a little guilty and hurried :). Can't remember the title of the book or the title of the story.


    Amazon search reveals that he's got only 1 short story collection, so I think it's this one:

    [www.amazon.com]


    But I can't be sure.


    PS: if not mistaken, that story is the first one in the collection

     Reply
    Dominus Astra was starred Dominus Astra was unstarred
    Image of Charlie Jane Anders Charlie Jane Anders
    06/07/09

    @Dominus Astra: It's not by Ted Chiang. Your memories are deceiving you.
     Reply
    Charlie Jane Anders was starred Charlie Jane Anders was unstarred
    Image of HalOfBorg HalOfBorg
    06/07/09

    In reply to Virtual Resurrection: The Dead Who Went To Cyber-Heaven
    Arnold Judas Rimmer --- H
     Reply
    HalOfBorg was starred HalOfBorg was unstarred
    Image of Charlie Jane Anders Charlie Jane Anders
    06/07/09

    @HalOfBorg: Yeah I thought about including him... not sure why I didn't. I guess because he's not really in cyberspace, he's just stuck as a hologram.
     Reply
    Charlie Jane Anders was starred Charlie Jane Anders was unstarred
    Image of cljohnston108 cljohnston108
    06/07/09

    In reply to Virtual Resurrection: The Dead Who Went To Cyber-Heaven
    Do Richard K. Morgan's Takeshi Kovacs novels count? I mean, nobody really dies unless you destroy their cortical stack, otherwise they just get re-sleeved.
     Reply
    cljohnston108 was starred cljohnston108 was unstarred
    Image of Charlie Jane Anders Charlie Jane Anders
    06/07/09

    @cljohnston108: Thought about including them, but it seemed like they were more like getting a new body when you die, not uploading per se. Similar to Down And Out In The Magic Kingdom & whatnot.
     Reply
    Charlie Jane Anders was starred Charlie Jane Anders was unstarred
    Image of OW-Holmes:Bringer of Fear OW-Holmes:Bringer of Fear
    06/07/09

    In reply to Virtual Resurrection: The Dead Who Went To Cyber-Heaven
    Am I the only one waiting for the day when the interweb looks like the one in Lawnmower man?
     Reply
    OW-Holmes:Bringer of Fear was starred OW-Holmes:Bringer of Fear was unstarred
    Image of Leif Hassell Leif Hassell
    06/07/09

    In reply to Get Away From It All By Traveling The Multiverse
    My personal favorite is the story "Why I Left Harry's All-night Hamburgers," by Lawrence Watt-Evans. Look it up if you're not familiar. It's a different take on the concept than most.
     Reply
    Leif Hassell was starred Leif Hassell was unstarred
    Image of Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H. Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H.
    06/07/09

    @Leif Hassell: That's a GREAT story.
     Reply
    Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H. was starred Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H. was unstarred
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