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Future Tense: Letting Go of Yesterday's Tomorrows

David Gerrold — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 15:00:00 -0500

Editor's Note: We're very pleased to welcome David Gerrold, an acclaimed and prolific science fiction writer, to Maximum PC as a regular columnist. David, best known for his numerous contributions to Star Trek and Star Trek: The Next Generation, will share his thoughts on topics including the influence of science fiction on technology, the develop of tech trends, and notable technologists.

I try not to tell people I write science fiction. Too often, that turns into a conversation I don’t want to have: “Dude, it’s already ten past 2000. Where’s my flying car? Where’s my jetpack? Where’s my Lunar colony?”

This is "The Y2K Meme," the idea that the future was supposed to start in the year 2000 and we forgot to build it. And of course, because science fiction writers (allegedly) predicted all these glorious futures, it’s our responsibility to explain why it didn’t happen.

This meme began at least a century ago. The father of modern science fiction, Hugo Gernsback, made specific predictions about the future, everything from motorized roller skates to night baseball. Within a short time, many science fiction writers were functioning as futurists, telling tales of fabulous technologies to come.

Hugo Gernsback, the "Father of Science Fiction"

Heinlein wrote about cell phones and waldos, dilating doors and roads that roll, even atomic powered rockets traveling to the moon and Mars. Asimov told us about wall-sized 3D televisions and robots. Arthur C. Clarke predicted communication satellites and space stations. And my personal favorite, Murray Leinster wrote about a worldwide computer network used for shopping, entertainment, and education. Many of these technologies were pegged to specific dates in the forseeable future, so by the mid-fifties, it was generally accepted that the year 2000 would be a brave new world.

What we really missed is that the future creeps up on us one day at a time, like raising the temperature of the water one degree at a time so the lobster won’t notice. (I think the lobster notices, I really do, but that’s a different conversation.)

But it’s now obvious that the future stands firmly rooted in the past that produced it. Instead of the future we predicted, we got the future we built. And the future we built is a lot more functional than the one we dreamt.

Doors open for us automatically. Cars map the route to our destination and tell us how long it will take to get there. We watch movies on wall-sized screens with multi-channel sound. We talk to people all over the world on phones that fit in our pockets. Our three-pound computers have more processing power than all the computers that existed in the year 1970 combined. Our notebooks give us video chats and our cameras take movies and stills with resolution equal to or better than film. We have global access to an unlimited library of entertainment, movies, music, books, and educational material. We have medical devices that do full-body scans. We use lasers for almost everything — to read and write data on discs, to cut, to cauterize, to burn, to measure, to scan, and best of all, to tease the hell out of cats.

Okay, we don’t have rolling roads, dilating doors, jet packs, or flying cars. Why not?

Because they’re not cost effective, they’re not practical. They don’t give us utility. Technological possibility is not the same as practicality. Prediction does not guarantee production.

Part of the geek-appeal of the original Star Trek television series was that much of what it portrayed about the future was based on practicality. (Thank Gene Roddenberry, Bob Justman, Dorothy Fontana, and Gene L. Coon.) The starship’s computer understood human speech and responded with appropriate information. The doors of the Enterprise always opened for an approaching person (unless the grip forgot to pull the cord in time). Communicators flipped open and gave you instant access from anywhere. Medical beds gave real-time reports on patient health. Those were things that were understandable, desirable, and ultimately build-able.

During the first two years of the series, Star Trek’s production offices regularly received letters from people who wanted to implement the future portrayed. Architects asked where they could get sliding doors like the ones seen on the show for buildings they were currently designing. Medical engineers wanted to study sick bay’s med-beds. The US Navy came by to study the starship’s bridge. Two engineers watched an episode that showed a data stored on large silver disks (vinyl records painted silver) and began to speculate on how to store data optically; five years later, they demonstrated the first laserdisc player, the forerunner of all optical disc storage. And while the ships computer was under-used in most episodes, it certainly understood human speech well enough to be useful.

But the technology that surrounds us today, whether inspired by Star Trek or not, the things listed here (and a whole lot more) moved from the realm of prediction into the domain of production because a lot of smart people saw the value of researching, designing, and building the technology.

And that’s the point. The future we built is the future we built because this is the future we really wanted to build. Science fiction is great for imagining possibilities. Inevitabilities are something else entirely.

David Gerrold is a Hugo and Nebula award-winning author. He has written more than 50 books, including "The Man Who Folded Himself" and "When HARLIE Was One," as well as hundreds of short stories and articles. His autobiographical story "The Martian Child" was the basis of the 2007 movie starring John Cusack and Amanda Peet. He has also written for television, including episodes of Star Trek, Babylon 5, Twilight Zone, and Land Of The Lost. He is best known for creating tribbles, sleestaks, and Chtorrans. In his spare time, he redesigns his website, www.gerrold.com

No BS Podcast #106: The 'What the Heck is a Retcon' Edition

The Maximum PC Staff — Fri, 22 May 2009 17:26:51 -0500

The entire staff is back in the office this week, eager to grill Gordon about his thoughts on the new Star Trek movie. Was there enough intersteller diplomacy for him? Did he find its message heavy handed enough? Will caps the Star Trek chat to 5 minutes, after which we jump into recent tech news. Apparently, the US military is going to adopt Windows Vista, Intel announces a new anti-Ion netbook platform, and we uncover the real size of the internet. After numerous debates and tangents, we eventually tackle a few listener questions, and Gordon unleashes his rant of the week. All that and more on this week's Memorial Day weekend podcast!

Do you have a tech question? A comment? A tale of technological triumph? Just need to get something off your chest? A secret to share? Email us at maximumpcpodcast@gmail.com or call our 24-hour No BS Podcast hotline at 877.404.1337 x1337--operators are standing by.

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No BS Podcast #105: We Are and Always Will Be, Your Podcast

The Maximum PC Staff — Fri, 15 May 2009 13:42:01 -0500

Disaster strikes! Not only is Will out of the office (meaning no video feed for this episoe), but Gordon reveals that he has yet to watch the new Star Trek movie! Nevertheless, this doesn't prevent the rest of the gang from sharing their [spoiler-free] thoughts about this geek touchstone in this week's exciting podcast. We also spend time weighting the merits of the EU-Intel case, and analyze the implications of Windows 7 and Larrabee replease dates. Gordon gives advice to advertising agencies for Microsoft and Apple, and delivers a fuming rant of the week. Did we see the return of the Dark Knight 2.0? Download the podcast to find out!

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No BS Podcast #104: It's a Podcast, Jim, but Not as We Know It

The Maximum PC Staff — Mon, 11 May 2009 15:30:53 -0500

Continuing with the series of Justin.TV-streamed video podcasts, the gang recorded another live podcast for the first week of May. Everybody shares their thoughts on the new Windows 7 RC, and discuss the merits of Amazon's Kindle DX. Listeners call in to ask about file permission problems (a solution found here), and we all lament the passing of 3D Realms. Also, no rant of the week this time as Gordon was out last week, but Norm gives try at expressing his rage toward the new Wolverine film. Apologies for the late post, but stay tuned this week for a special episode where Gordon reveals his reaction to the Star Trek movie. Did he love it or loathe it? Place bets now!

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10 Most Powerful Computers of All Time

Tom Edwards — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 13:45:10 -0500

Sure, you overclock your rig to the bleeding edge, direct deposit your paycheck to Newegg, and are on the utility company’s watch list because of the blackouts you’ve been known to cause. Yes, you’re a badass power user, but let’s face it, none of your home-built rigs can touch these 10 beasts. So what if half of these machines only exist in the minds of sci-fi writers – their computational prowess transcends the fiction/reality plane, putting our mighty Petaflop age to shame. Peruse this list for inspiration and then get building, you’ve got some catching up to do before you can compete with the real big boys. We won’t settle until our rigs achieve sentience.

10.Tardis

Dr. Who is the original geek cult TV series, beating Star Trek to the small screen by three years, and while Tardis is not the only rig on this list allows for time travel, were suckers for that Time Lord tech, and doubly impressed that the Tardis is grown, not built, making it the ultimate green PC.

9. WABAC machine

Baseball. Nope. A beautiful summer day. No way. The ice cream man. Uh-uh. Nothing, seemingly, was powerful enough to draw kids outside when Rocky and Bullwinkle was on and Mr. Peabody and his boy Sherman hopped into the WABAC machine.

8. Holly

Although regularly showing signs of senility due to spending 3 million years on its own, we find Holly’s ability to transform from a middle aged, balding man into a blonde woman a particularly desirous skill for many technophiles.

7. Proteus IV

Talk about packing a load of RAM, no other machine we know of has the power to impregnate Julie Christie!

6. Deep Blue

What could possibly be more boring than watching a chess match? In our book, nothing (that is until someone decides to start broadcasting online poker tournaments). Until that day arrives, chess retains the title of worst spectator sport ever devised. Yet the epic battle between Deep Blue and Gary Kasparov had us rethink this proposition. Deep Blue’s 1997 victory gave us an early view into the mind of our soon-to-arrive computer overlords.

5. WOPR

Yes, in fact, we would like to play a game. The WOPR takes us back to a more innocent time when a 2400 baud modem and a bit of ingenuity would allow you to change your grades or play a game of Global Thermonuclear War. And in a game of chess, we’ll take WOPR over entry No. 6 any day.

4. Roadrunner

Roadrunner is a $133 million computer used for classified military projects. Perhaps a $135 million computer will be able to find weapons of mass destruction.

3. HAL

How many conversations between a man and a computer have become cultural touchstones? By our count, one. Even folks who consider sci-fi a sort of geek plague that will instantaneously make you wear your pants three inches too high and utilize a Flowbee for your next haircut know that HAL doesn’t want to open the pod bay doors.

2. Master Control Program

We can think of no other computer powerful enough to cause a grown man to do this:

1. M5 Multitronic System

Yes, Dr. Who was first, but Start Trek remains unquestionably the geek TV touchstone. And while the other machines on this list present a broad range of unique and previously unseen powers, we’re quite confident in our assessment that no other machine could possibly be more powerful than the rig that was powerful enough to power the ship that powered the show that powers a million geeks!

Something we left off the list? Enter your choices in the comments below.

Gaming Roundup 8/8/08: Special Cameo Edition

Nathan Grayson — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 21:45:34 -0500

Yesterday evening, I had the indistinct pleasure of viewing G4's GPhoria gaming awards. GPhoria is odd in that it doesn't take place at the end of a year; rather, it highlighted, in this case, the best games from the second half of 2007 and first half of 2008. Even so, I was fairly surprised when Halo 3 took home GOTSHO07AFHO08 honors. I mean, Halo? Seriously?

But GPhoria is voted for by the fans, which got me to thinking about how different audiences have different expectations, and about how those expectations can shift with time.

See, in my experience, Halo is typically met with derision and utterances of "Moar liek Fail-O" when mentioned in the presence of PC gamers. It is, after all, just a dumbed-down, slow-moving console shooter, right? The first domino in a long, weaving line that wrecked the FPS genre as we know it. Well, except for maybe Half-Life 2. Oh, and TF2. And Call of Duty 4. Also Bioshock. Portal, too. Hey, maybe Halo didn't bring the genre crashing down after all! Actually, I'd say the expanded audience led developers to try new things.

These days, though, gamers are fretting about a new scourge: casual gaming. Where am I going with this? Simple. I believe casual gaming is nothing to worry about. As with the FPS genre, an expanded audience, lured in from casual titles, will inspire great devs to try new things, as well as provide them with more cash to back their games.

So, what's your opinion on so-called "casual" gaming? Whether it be the Wii, Diner Dash, or fan-fave Peggle, how do you think these games and the audiences they attract will affect gaming? Good? Bad? Both? Neither?

At the very least, today's Roundup is dedicated to the hardcore gamer. Past the break, you'll find stories about BioWare's handheld ambitions, John Carmack's stance on PC gaming, and Star Trek Online's upcoming reveal. And more, of course.

Carmack: PC is "junior partner in the cross-platform strategy"

When asked why id is now putting so much of its development prowess behind consoles, Carmack replied:

"Well, it's hard to second guess exactly what the reasons are. You can say piracy. You can say user migration. But the ground truth is just that the sales numbers on the PC are not what they used to be and are not what they are on the consoles. Certainly, piracy is a contributor to that. I also think a lot of the people that bought PC games have bought consoles and are happy with them. We still think the PC is a market worth supporting, but we're not making decision around the PC. It's probably more of the junior partner in the cross-platform strategy, although obviously, our day-to-day development is predominately on the PC."

However, Carmack didn't seem interested in crafting a console exclusive, so he isn't flying a new flag just yet.

Still though, this paints a dreary picture for PC gaming -- at first glance, anyway. Remember, this is the man who said his team's two biggest games aren't going to be released digitally.

Patcher: No Dark Knight tie-in cost EA $70m

The Dark Knight was a smashing success, but when Electronic Arts most needed the caped crusader, he was -- as Batmen are wont to be -- nowhere to be found. Via the Assoicated Press, super-analyst Michael Pachter likely made EA feel some super-regret.

“Based on the record-breaking success of the movie, Wedbush Morgan video game industry analyst Michael Pachter believes a Dark Knight game released at the same time as the blockbuster film last month could have sold 4 million units and banked $100 million — with $70 million going to the game’s publisher and $30 million going to Warner Bros,” read the article.

Well, props to EA for sticking to their newfound guns. Good luck, Pandemic. You now have $70 million worth of pressure riding on your shoulders. So no pres--oh, right.

Mass Effect being considered for DS, says BioWare

"We have a lot of big plans for Mass Effect. Having a DS version would be an awesome way to keep interest alive and keep it going in addition to [Mass Effect 2]," said Miles Holmes, lead designer on Sonic Chronicles.

BioWare also wouldn't mind zapping Jade Empire and Dragon Age with the shrink ray, should they find the time.

For those of you who don't own a DS or PSP, would a full-fledged (non-Sonic) BioWare RPG persuade you to invest in one?

MotionPlus tech not exclusive to Nintendo

This isn't all that surprising. But now, if Microsoft and Sony's respective motion controllers end up paling in comparison to the Wii-mote, they won't have an excuse.

Star Trek Online to debut at 1:30 PM PDT on Sunday

At the official Star Trek Convention in Las Vegas, no less. It'll be in-game footage, too. With any luck, it'll actually be exciting, unlike a certain popular sci-fi show.

Speaking of exciting, what ever happened to that Firefly MMO?

My Video Scrapbook of Precious E3 Memories Part 8: Do You Manscape?

At E3, GayGamer took members of the gaming press aside, put cameras in their faces, and asked them very, er, revealing questions. I was one of those people. This video will also teach you what manscaping is, sans the mental scarring that one might incur from Googling it.

Last but not least, a special word from Max PC Editor in Chief Will Smith.

"I don't have enough to write an entire blog about it, but I just want to say that Braid is the greatest platformer I've played since Super Mario 3, and everyone who has an Xbox should download the demo. I couldn't hit X to buy the whole thing fast enough after I did that.

You can quote me if you want :)"

I'm definitely going to give Braid a download. Are you?

Gaming Roundup 7/28/08: Ack! Patrick Stewart!

Nathan Grayson — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 19:37:34 -0500

Why are you a PC gamer? Why did you choose to support a less convenient, less unified machine even in the face of Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo's pickup-and-play offerings? Do you like the customizability the PC affords? The constantly evolving technology -- to gaze down from a heap of cast-aside PC parts and proclaim the superiority of your uber-machine? Or is the community? Do you relish being a member of a tightly-knit underdog pack, a group that's not afraid to bellow "We'll prove you wrong" to the gaming community at large?

How would you react if everyone suddenly acknowledged PC gaming's strength? If people turned around and realized that PC gaming isn't dying, would you still be so gung-ho about it?

Well, today, we have -- among other things -- one more outlet prostrating itself before the PC. How long before the unwashed masses follow suit?

Additionally, we have a treat for Trekkies, EA's Riccitiello admitting to another one of his company's screw-ups, and the longest hypothetical game title evar. Please insert disc titled "Read more" to continue.

In a Fragmented Market PC Games Lead the Way

Er, ignore the date. The article isn't a spring chicken, per se, but neither is it a musty old Internet-relic. Regardless, it takes a nice, 360 degree view of the PC's current position as a gaming platform, noting that PC gaming is -- more so than consoles -- taking off in emerging markets.

However, the article brings up another interesting point. "What we are seeing is a demographic shift in the industry whereby the PC is no longer viewed as an advanced piece of consumer electronics relegated to only the upper class," it reads.

This leads me to wonder: for PC gaming to reach its peak, will it be forced to forsake its most ardent supporters? If PC gaming's high-end developers (id, Epic, Gearbox, etc.) left the platform for greener, more money-tinged pastures, would you still rally around it? Or would we see another Nintendo, with core fans slowly abandoning that which they once held most dear?

Cryptic Studios officially takes over Star Trek Online

Well, this is certainly good news. Frankly, the license couldn't have ended up in better hands (I'm just happy it didn't end up with SOE) and Trek fans can now set their phasers to "cautious optimism."

Since BioWare's Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic MMO is slowly shuffling in the general direction of the finish line, I imagine Star Wars and Star Trek will meet head-to-head. But this time, instead of a couple of nerds colliding with a sickening thud, it'll actually be a conflict worth watching.

We should have bet on Wii, admits Riccitiello

Riccitiello, always the atypical exec, admits that EA shouldn't have turned a blind eye towards Nintendo's white wonder. However, he that doesn't make his company's decision altogether regrettable.

“[What’s] unusual in this cycle is there's a second and third place that is meaningful, against which we can build a profitable business," he said. "That's a good and positive thing.”

He concluded by saying that EA will start sipping Big Gulps of Nintendo's Kool-Aid this year. Will EA be the first third-party developer to really succeed on the Wii? Time will tell.

Analysts: EA revenues up in Q2, $100 million in losses expected

No, EA haters -- the industry giant is still Fe-Fi-Fo-Fum-ing just fine. The loss is a result of a bad habit that I believe no longer has a place in the industry: "back-loading" games for the holiday season. After all, if games like MGS4 are any indication, big-name titles can and will sell gangbusters regardless of season. Plus, I'm fairly sure we're all sick of missing great titles while buried under the holiday game flood.

Live play now free for three games

Titles that feature cross-platform play between Xbox and PC users are now free for both sides of the fence. A sign of things to come? Probably not, but I can dream, can't I?

‘Mortal Kombat’ Creator Wants To Make ‘MK vs. Street Fighter vs. Tekken vs. Virtua Fighter’

Great fighting game; better kart racing mini-game.