Karl Schroeder
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karlschroeder.bsky.social
Karl Schroeder
@karlschroeder.bsky.social
350 followers 37 following 120 posts
Science fiction writer, speculative designer, with a Masters in Strategic Foresight, two cats and a dog, and a fantastic family.
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The book "Late Soviet Britain" by Abby Innes is a devastating critique of neoliberal economics. It also has implications about how AI is going to impact how we work and live.
open.substack.com/pub/kschroed...
Reposted by Karl Schroeder
This week's #FreeFictionFriday pick, "The Baker of Mars" by @karlschroeder.bsky.social follows Myrna, a chef serving settlers colonizing Mars. Relocation seems promising, until a visit with a friend reveals the expansion is quickly draining the planet's aquifers.

www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/3ipli...
Now that AI is being driven by the same user-engagement algorithms that enshittified social media, we need an alternative business model. Why not take a lesson from the past, with a new kind of PDA?

open.substack.com/pub/kschroed...
Return of the PDA
The AI business model is based on user engagement, like social media. Not doomscrolling, but something just as bad: automated rumination. We need a different model.
open.substack.com
Because they're intelligent, educated people who have agency and (increasingly) a lot of money. I could turn your question around and ask why you think they will be helpless?
Last week's post inspired some lively debate. I'm following up with an even more provocative idea--the question of whether quantum mechanics can tell us something about how to improve our political institutions.
open.substack.com/pub/kschroed...
Quantum Politics
Can we ground our divisive political discussions in a reality that neither Left nor Right can argue away?
open.substack.com
While good people debate, bad people act. We're all concerned with finding the ground for a new social contract; but we're out of time to do that. Why not abandon that effort, and start building a pluralistic society based on the complete lack of common ground...?
open.substack.com/pub/kschroed...
Ride Madly Off In All Directions
What's after Postmodernism? Is it Metamodernism? Or, instead of seeking new ways to ground authenticity and authority, can we build a society that doesn't need them?
open.substack.com
Wow, thanks! I love this
Reposted by Karl Schroeder
Because the world is a bad place right now and I'm in a bad headspace, here are 5 copies of @karlschroeder.bsky.social 's _Stealing Worlds_.

#KindleBookGiveAway
I took the summer off to write. Amazingly, I accomplished everything I planned for, including preparing a new short story collection for publication, and finishing the novel I've been promising. I'm back online now and resuming my newsletter, Unapocalyptic.
open.substack.com/pub/kschroed...
Pivot Season
The dangers of writing very-near-future science fiction; or, What I Did on My Summer Vacation
open.substack.com
Bought! A theme I'm working towards in my Substack, but haven't yet felt confident to take on. Also relevant to the new novel, which is about the future of the Arctic and Indigenous self-governance.
Can't do that if Tor still holds the audiobook rights. I'll have to review my contract. Rolling my own audiobook would also be A) time-consuming, or B) money-consuming. I have neither the time nor the money to do it right now.
Frankly, I chose Substack because I was unable to import my mailing list to any of the alternatives. And I've heard Substack's reputation, but Margaret Atwood and Salman Rushdie trust it.

I'm interested in Ghost but have no time to explore it right now.

I am on Facebook but don't post.
I've paused my Substack newsletter for the summer so I can focus on writing fiction. Got a novel to finish.
I think I'll have to narrate that one myself. Yeah, it was always intended to be the end of the series. It was all wrapped up, and I wanted to make room in my brain for new characters in new worlds. Of which, there are a lot.
I've written an introduction to the 2x2 scenario-planning method, using the example of the future of the Hinterland.
Well, I did write a book based on the idea that intelligence's purpose is to make it possible for an entity to move into environments it isn't directly adapted to. But direct adaptation is always "cheaper" in the long run and will render intelligence unnecessary in the end, every time.
Why does stuff happen? What ultimately causes the kind of seismic shift we’re seeing in the world today? Is it just one man? Or are impersonal historical forces at work? In the post, I presented six theories people use and use them in a worldbuilding exercise.
open.substack.com/pub/kschroed...
Progressives need to understand that technology is legislation if they're going to counter the MAGA-ization of everything.

open.substack.com/pub/kschroed...