Flutterby™! : Being frustrated with a lack of science

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Being frustrated with a lack of science

2026-09-01 19:25:03.218497+02 by Dan Lyke 5 comments

Being frustrated with a lack of science fiction that's positive about the future, I get. Proposing using LLMs to write same... I think that's a symptom of why the human writers can't see a positive future.

[ related topics: Writing ]

comments in ascending chronological order (reverse):

#Comment Re: made: 2026-09-02 16:08:55.055017+02 by: markd

Andy Weir's (The Martian / Hail Mary)'s writing is pretty positive. The books remind me of the old-school (asimov / clark) writing style, which I really enjoy. Unfortunately they're torture porn, and I find that stressful. PHM wasn't too bad, but I had to stop The Martian and skip to the end. Same way I couldn't watch more than one episode of 24, ever.

#Comment Re: made: 2026-09-02 20:22:56.556821+02 by: Dan Lyke

Yeah, this is in particular in response to a hallway conversation. I think Kim Stanley Robinson came up as someone who's also doing somewhat positive stories.

And, of course, there's the whole "solarpunk" movement, so it's not actualy like we're short on positive SF visions of the future, just that this person suggested LLMs as a way to get some for themselves felt like the concept went completely over their head.

#Comment Re: made: 2026-09-02 22:32:13.320971+02 by: markd

> this person suggested LLMs as a way to get some for themselves

Can I get off this timeline? I REALLY want to return to the Berenstein path.

#Comment Re: made: 2026-09-08 19:49:08.136044+02 by: Definitely Not a Bot

I always felt 24 existed to legitimize torture. A nuclear bomb will annihilate LA in mere hours? Of course torture away! This guy knows someone who might have a bomb some day? Sounds nuclear, torture away! This guy spoke critically of the regime and lowered the morale of nuclear bomb preventing personnel? Straight to dungeon!

#Comment Re: made: 2026-09-09 00:54:57.625308+02 by: Dan Lyke

Yeah, I never saw an episode, but my impression was that 24 was copaganda crossed with torture porn. Which... for all mass media, you generally don't have to dig too far to figure out what cultural falsehoods it's propping up.

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