Boy this story played a lot of notes in my mind. Memories and images and thoughts of my own somewhat misspent youth. But I think the cherries are important too, so maybe we need humans after all. Thanks Walter.
I started w Blood Will Out which is a true story, and really good. Then I read Thumbsucker and Lost in the Meritocracy. They were both good. I didn’t like Up on the Air that much, but it was made into a movie, so it’s probably just me!
Excellent read. Poor Tyson, even in sex he loses to the machine. Automation is about to hit a sea change comparable to the flood in Genesis, so I hope if you are in one of those targeted areas, you are building a raft.
I've read that it takes 7,000 pounds of rocks to break apart in order to find the Lithium needed for one Electric Car battery and that the giant battery plant being built right now in the USA will require a coal-fired power plant equivalent to that used to provide power for a midsized city. Oddly, the danger of automation seems as quaint as the concept of Global Warming in October, 2023. Wherever you are when the Big War breaks out, be sure to have plenty of batteries and personal vibrators.
Well, we will see. Keep your eyes on AI and self-driving cars/trucks. That is where the potential, hopefully not inevitable, transformation will occur. The loss of the manufacturing sector and jobs for cheap overseas labor was a knife in the heart of America. Labor unions were partly to blame, but if you are in an industry that can be diluted by AI then best to begin collecting animals two by two.
Self-driving cars are likely to outnumber those driven by humans if the 3rd Obama administration does not lead the world into another giant reduction in the world's population. It is when AI begins to run governments that humans need to consider bunkers and landmines.
The need for humans in production is diminishing every day. Our only purpose in life is to love our families and follow God's commandments.
And, as Kurt Vonnegut said, it is important to fart around.
Brilliant! I have been craving literature for our current moment. There seems to be no observation and only the dogged pursuit of the next thing, damn the consequences and costs.
Having been relegated second fiddle to the oscillating cum gun, I can attest there is nothing less sexy than putting in an honest night’s work of tongue tango only to be interrupted by the bzzzzzz. There may be no use for us after all.
My comment was going to be 'shit, man, this is great' but then i thought no author wants to read a comment on a story that start with 'shit'. Anyway, great little story, sucks you right in and you almost forget you are reading it, more like watching or remembering from a different life.
You know what you did here I won't explain it to you.
I'll say you succeeded with your story though.
Grrrrr
I know the older do not look out for the younger like they are supposed to. Like they have to. Like nature dictates. Not just their own young. That's just another form of selfishness. The universal wise elders watching out for all the youth is just fucking gone in our society.
Which is the entire purpose behind our species living so long. That's why we are set up that way biologically.
Our elders don't do that. Especially those we choose to lead. What a great way to head into their End, not doing what they lived their entire lives to become able to do.
They have no idea what they are supposed to be or why they are still here & it makes them warped, discontented, and dangerous.
I don't think we can survive that for long as a people.
I know that.
I'd just rather not feel it without prior consent!
Ice Cream and Automation indeed
--segue--
You are the only person I know who writes sex like you do.
Like the not great reality that it can be sometimes that I have lived through.
I don't see that in print except in your work.
Andrew Greely was a Catholic priest & novelist who caught flak for including sex scenes. He had to answer questions about that so often he invented an acronym: OSS
OSS was the "Obligatory Sex Scene" his publishers pressured him to include to boost sales. "What am I gonna do?" was his reasonable defense.
All that by way of setting up my joke that I bet your publishers don't pressure you for an OSS. At least not twice.
Last is when reading, I pictured myself as Tyson down below doing my duty with my boss in order to conquer her when along comes her mechanical friend. Oh my God did I laugh at that.
I want to point out that I didn't laugh callously at Tyson. I laughed so much when I pictured it happening to me. So I got a lot of fun out of that part.
But the cost is when I think of that hilarious passage it reminds me of the rest about poor Tyson who is in fact imaginary but feels real because he is also pretty much real times ten million.
The motif of robotic suppantation of human labor has a long history. The rise of AI has nenewed strong interest in it. One of my favorite treatments of it in fiction is Kurt Vonnegut's 1952 novel Player Piano, which portrays a dystopian future in which robots have eliminated most human labor except engineering and some other desk jobs. In a developed AI world, the desk job, including engineering, will be taken over, too.
Ahhh...those wonderful rubber bath toys! Might be my juvenile mindset, but that line was classic!! Or as we used to say in 90s north Jersey, that line was tits! Literally haha!
Boy this story played a lot of notes in my mind. Memories and images and thoughts of my own somewhat misspent youth. But I think the cherries are important too, so maybe we need humans after all. Thanks Walter.
I'm ashamed to say I've never read any of Walters prose, only articles and commentary.
I see now why he's so popular.
the dude can write...
you should try his books!
which one would U recommend first..?
I started w Blood Will Out which is a true story, and really good. Then I read Thumbsucker and Lost in the Meritocracy. They were both good. I didn’t like Up on the Air that much, but it was made into a movie, so it’s probably just me!
thanks, I'll pick up Blood Will Out soon...
Lost in the meritocracy is autobiographical for the most part, and excellent 👌
There’s a Bear in the House is another.
Oh yes that’s in my list right now! Thanks for the reminder 😌
I think also that I love Walter’s work so much because we are the same age and because I grew up in the midwest too.
He can indeed.
A command of the language, I would say.
But, did he ever get his raise :)
Excellent read. Poor Tyson, even in sex he loses to the machine. Automation is about to hit a sea change comparable to the flood in Genesis, so I hope if you are in one of those targeted areas, you are building a raft.
I've read that it takes 7,000 pounds of rocks to break apart in order to find the Lithium needed for one Electric Car battery and that the giant battery plant being built right now in the USA will require a coal-fired power plant equivalent to that used to provide power for a midsized city. Oddly, the danger of automation seems as quaint as the concept of Global Warming in October, 2023. Wherever you are when the Big War breaks out, be sure to have plenty of batteries and personal vibrators.
Well, we will see. Keep your eyes on AI and self-driving cars/trucks. That is where the potential, hopefully not inevitable, transformation will occur. The loss of the manufacturing sector and jobs for cheap overseas labor was a knife in the heart of America. Labor unions were partly to blame, but if you are in an industry that can be diluted by AI then best to begin collecting animals two by two.
Self-driving cars are likely to outnumber those driven by humans if the 3rd Obama administration does not lead the world into another giant reduction in the world's population. It is when AI begins to run governments that humans need to consider bunkers and landmines.
The need for humans in production is diminishing every day. Our only purpose in life is to love our families and follow God's commandments.
And, as Kurt Vonnegut said, it is important to fart around.
Brilliant! I have been craving literature for our current moment. There seems to be no observation and only the dogged pursuit of the next thing, damn the consequences and costs.
Having been relegated second fiddle to the oscillating cum gun, I can attest there is nothing less sexy than putting in an honest night’s work of tongue tango only to be interrupted by the bzzzzzz. There may be no use for us after all.
My comment was going to be 'shit, man, this is great' but then i thought no author wants to read a comment on a story that start with 'shit'. Anyway, great little story, sucks you right in and you almost forget you are reading it, more like watching or remembering from a different life.
Shit, man, this comment is great ;)
This made me sad on several levels. Well done.
That story was an unexpected treat for the end of the weekend. You put the cherry on top in a way a chatbot never could. Thanks.
Grrrrr
That's my summarized reaction Mr. Walter.
You know what you did here I won't explain it to you.
I'll say you succeeded with your story though.
Grrrrr
I know the older do not look out for the younger like they are supposed to. Like they have to. Like nature dictates. Not just their own young. That's just another form of selfishness. The universal wise elders watching out for all the youth is just fucking gone in our society.
Which is the entire purpose behind our species living so long. That's why we are set up that way biologically.
Our elders don't do that. Especially those we choose to lead. What a great way to head into their End, not doing what they lived their entire lives to become able to do.
They have no idea what they are supposed to be or why they are still here & it makes them warped, discontented, and dangerous.
I don't think we can survive that for long as a people.
I know that.
I'd just rather not feel it without prior consent!
Ice Cream and Automation indeed
--segue--
You are the only person I know who writes sex like you do.
Like the not great reality that it can be sometimes that I have lived through.
I don't see that in print except in your work.
Andrew Greely was a Catholic priest & novelist who caught flak for including sex scenes. He had to answer questions about that so often he invented an acronym: OSS
OSS was the "Obligatory Sex Scene" his publishers pressured him to include to boost sales. "What am I gonna do?" was his reasonable defense.
All that by way of setting up my joke that I bet your publishers don't pressure you for an OSS. At least not twice.
Last is when reading, I pictured myself as Tyson down below doing my duty with my boss in order to conquer her when along comes her mechanical friend. Oh my God did I laugh at that.
I want to point out that I didn't laugh callously at Tyson. I laughed so much when I pictured it happening to me. So I got a lot of fun out of that part.
But the cost is when I think of that hilarious passage it reminds me of the rest about poor Tyson who is in fact imaginary but feels real because he is also pretty much real times ten million.
This was a weird story.
The motif of robotic suppantation of human labor has a long history. The rise of AI has nenewed strong interest in it. One of my favorite treatments of it in fiction is Kurt Vonnegut's 1952 novel Player Piano, which portrays a dystopian future in which robots have eliminated most human labor except engineering and some other desk jobs. In a developed AI world, the desk job, including engineering, will be taken over, too.
Ahhh...those wonderful rubber bath toys! Might be my juvenile mindset, but that line was classic!! Or as we used to say in 90s north Jersey, that line was tits! Literally haha!
Hope Tyson got the heck out of that weird little town. He has a talent for creative storytelling!
Short but deep and wide. I wasn’t prepared to be so deeply touched this morning.
Can I point out a possible typo? I’m thinking “not new” is supposed to be just “new.”
Took me a while to figure it, but that's some dark shit Walter.
Pretty funny stuff in there too though XD
...Oh, yes... and Brilliant, Walter.