Truenames

I am currently re-reading Vernor Vinge's seminal #scifi novella True Names good reads

Itself influenced by Ursula LeGuins Earthsea (which I know was an influence in your naming kieran of truename-index). This was being read at the time many of the underlying technologies we are working with were being conceived, designed and developed.... an apt place to find aspects of the encoded ethics and frameworks of thought...

The latest penguin version has a bunch of essays by various legends: Timothy May, Richard Stallman to name a few...

Mr Slippery is an illegal computer hacker - a Warlock - and an expert in a new virtual reality technology called the Other Plane. Arrested by US the government and forced to work for them, he finds himself pitted against a new and frightening international cybercriminal: the Mailman.

The Mailman is building a network of Warlocks, promising them wealth and power, causing chaos around the globe - but noone has ever met him in person. As Mr Slippery and his sidekick Erythrina drain the world's computational power to track down their formidable adversary, they begin to wonder if they are chasing a ghost. Is the Mailman a man at all? Is he even human?

cc: @Kieran @mix

#truename #sci-fi #libertarianism

Sounds ace @Dan Hassan, adding it to the sci-fi queue. Its gotta wait until all of Octavia Butler is finished though. Then there's Doctorow's 'Walkaway', and I still haven't read 'Brave New World'.

Sounds ace @Dan Hassan, adding it to the sci-fi queue. Its gotta wait until all of Octavia Butler is finished though. Then there's Doctorow's 'Walkaway', and I still haven't read 'Brave New World'.

I would consider reading walkaway and true names as work :)

I can see how so many of the early #cypherpunk s with #libertarianism as an overly stated position would be super into protagonists such as those laid out in this book.

Brilliant smart individuals at odds with the State....

It was interesting to me that even in their Coven there was still an element of adversarial competition amongst eachother as they tried to pawn eachother and get their True Names and have power over them and 'enslave' them.

I can see how cypherpunks who were typically highly skilled and educated and used to having this feeling would identify with such plots/characters.