Slaves to the machines?

The sci-fi writer Isaac Asimov spoke of the concept of Singularity – the evolution of man and machine to form a new being, resulting from the rewiring of our brains as the result of the way we use and develop technology.

We are slaves to our machines.  I think Asimov would enjoy the irony of that.

Can you imagine life before computers?  Before mobile phones?  Before phones? Before TV?

Machines are writer’s friends in so many ways – they have provided us with so many opportunities to create work and get it published and accessible.  I remember typewriters, and the frustration of typing out a novel, using copious amounts of tippex, to realise that actually I need to move Chapter 2 to the end of the book.  Which often meant typing the whole lot out again.  Planning was essential in those days, using paper and pen to map out the structure.  It changed the creative process.

I love the flexibility of word processors and the way I can contact people using email.  The internet provides me with a 24 hour library for research.  But I do often feel like I am chained to my machines – the slavery of my own making.  After all, we do have choices.  But I also worry about the addictive nature of much of our digital technology, and the way we depend so much upon it.

I’ve always had a fascination with robotics and the way that we use machines and how we allow them to take over our lives. And the way that visionary writers such as Asimov and Philip K. Dick imagined futures that are genuinely prophetic.

I wonder what the future holds – will we become further fused with our machines or will there be a backlash? Is the tyranny of technology a double edged sword?

Check out some great articles on the topic here:

http://www.scienceomega.com/article/359/artificial-intelligence-from-fantasy-to-reality?utm_source=MailingList&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=ScienceOmega_2012Top10

http://www.scienceomega.com/article/856/robotics-and-the-human-brain-nothing-like-the-movies?utm_source=MailingList&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=ScienceOmega120312

Related posts:
http://janeayres.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/are-novels-getting-weirder.html
http://janeayres.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/on-books-digital-landscape-and-bigger.html
http://janeayres.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/on-connections.html

Do digital books make you read faster?

When I was a child, I devoured books at the rate of one or two a day but as I’ve got older (much older!), my reading rate, along with everything else, it seems, has slowed down considerably.  Reading a standard novel can take weeks to finish.  Sometimes longer.

 

So I was rather surprised the other day to realise that in the space of a few hours I had read Nora Ephron’s I feel Bad About My Neck, was on Chapter 8 of Life of Pi by Yann Martel and almost finished How I Sold 1 Million eBooks in 5 Months by John Locke.  Frankly, I was astonished. 

Then I looked at what was on my kindle, over 30 books, most already finished. What the hell was going on?  It got me thinking.  In my job and as a writer, I spend a good deal of my working day at a computer screen.  I’m more used to reading words on a screen than on paper now.  So I did some research (via Google of course!) and apparently the way the brain experiences a book (printed) is different to a digital book. 

In fact, if you use a specific technology often enough (or undertake any highly repetitive action) neurons in your brain fire in a certain way and make strong connections so that the action we undertake becomes second nature; effectively “rewiring” the brain and affecting our evolution.  Quite literally,mind-blowing.  

To quote a phrase from Hebb’s Law:

“Neurons that fire together, wire together.”    

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_O._Hebb 

Wow!  So is that what’s happening?  My brain has, over a period of time, simply rewired so that my preferred reading platform is now digital rather than paper? 

Who knows?  What matters to me is that I feel like since getting my humble kindle ink, I have rediscovered the joys that reading brought me as a child and which I lost for a big chunk of my life.  I’m really grateful for that.

Related posts:

http://janeayres.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/on-books-digital-landscape-and-bigger.html
http://janeayres.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/thinking.html

http://janeayres.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/on-books-and-reading-and-pony-books.html

http://janeayres.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/on-ways-to-read-book.html

The publishing revolution?

I was recently having a clear out and came across some old issues of ALCS* News.  This feature about the “new” technology, got my attention. Written 20 years ago, it predicted who and how the digital revolution would impact. Interesting that the tone of the article assumes that it will be the publishers who will be at the forefront of the revolution.  There isn’t much mention made of writers taking control by indie publishing their own work and bypassing the publishers.  If i-phones or tablets existed then, we weren’t aware of it.  Did Amazon exist 20 years ago? Who could have imagined what a different direction the technology has taken us.

What we face now is a revolution in the way information is transmitted; a change from the familiar carriers, such as books, records, cassettes and films, to an intangible form of delivery by electronic means.  Despite appearance, creators are in a strong position: their work will remain in demand as the indispensable foundation for this new activity.  It is the producers of the traditional carriers who will have to look to their livelihoods…But it is imperative for writers themselves to believe in, and make use of, their strength; if they do not, it will evaporate.

ALCS NEWS July 1993

*The ALCS is the Authors' Licensing and Collecting Society, a membership organisation that campaigns for and collects money due to Members for secondary uses of their work. These include such things as photocopying, cable retransmission in the UK and overseas, digital reproduction and educational recording. This sort of income is typically made up of small transactions that are difficult for individual writers to monitor. 

If you write I recommend you join as it can be a valuable source of additional income.

Related post: http://janeayres.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/adapt-and-survive.html

Leaving footprints

Setting up my Goodreads profile has been an interesting process.  It forced me to think about the books I have read and loved over the years, many of which had been pushed to the recesses of my memory. It reminds me of what a feast of wonderful words are available to us, and how I have not read anywhere near as much as I would have liked this year.  I will try to read more, although often it gets pushed to the bottom of my to do list and confined to days of illness or long journeys.

When I moved house a few years ago I had a major book cull.  I reduced everything down to two large cardboard boxes.  When I moved again I determined only to keep those precious books that meant something special to me, that I would re-read and could not bear to part with.  So various charities benefited from my major clear-out and I had to be very selective about what I kept, due to limited space. (Thank goodness for my kindle!)

Stand out titles include Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway, a self-help bible that helped me cope with various life crises and Edith Wharton's heart-wrenching tragedy Ethan Frome; the intense love story Damage by Josephine Hart, and the brilliant Fat: A Love Story by Barbara Wersba, which I read when I worked for Random House many moons ago. I will re-read the wonderful Story of my Life by Jay McInerny and hope to soon pick up again on collected stories of 1930s sci-fi edited by Isaac Asimov.

Of course, by setting up my Goodreads profile, my Facebook page, my blog, my Amazon wishlist and reviews I am leaving a trail of footprints about myself.  Me and millions and millions of others.  And in a way this is reflected in yesterday's post and takes me back to when I started this blog a year ago, when I thought about the future, the impact of technology on our lives and our brains, the prophecies of visionary writers like Philip K Dick and Asimov. My own journey in indie publishing and blogging.  I am leaving traces, revealing myself in a way that is both liberating and frightening.

Feel the fear indeed.....

Related posts:
http://janeayres.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/are-novels-getting-weirder.html
http://janeayres.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/on-books-digital-landscape-and-bigger.html
http://janeayres.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/on-connections.html

Call for writers to be heard

I just came across this, which may be of interest to other writers.....I've already registered and may complete the survey.

Call for Writers

http://www.katepullinger.com/blog/comments/the-writing-platform-press-release/

The Writing Platform, a free online resource and programme of live events, will launch in February 2013 to equip writers and poets with digital news, information and expertise.The website, which will be edited by writer Kate Pullinger and managed by The Literary Platform, will act as an authoritative resource about writing in the digital age for those at any stage of publishing.

The Writing Platform team is keen to hear from writers interested in contributing to the site and in informing the content they would like to see on The Writing Platform. 

A survey of writers experiences in the digital world will be running until the launch. To register your interest in contributing, please email hello@thewritingplatform.com and complete the survey here.

E-books and Tree Books

I'm really pleased that a piece I wrote for Creatabot is attracting comments.  It's all about e-books, digital technology and issues around permanence/impermanence.  A subject that fascinates me.

Yesterday, I came across the website of a publisher in Canada called BeWrite Books.http://www.bewrite.net/.  They refer to printed books as "treebooks" which I think is a really lovely expression.

Anyway, if you want to read my piece here's an extract....

In a previous post I quoted author Jonathan Franzen, and do so again as his views are thought provoking. Regarded as one of America’s greatest living novelists, he is not a fan of the ebook.

“The technology I like is the American paperback edition of Freedom. I can spill water on it and it would still work! So it’s pretty good technology. And what’s more, it will work great 10 years from now. I think, for serious readers, a sense of permanence has always been part of the experience. Everything else in your life is fluid, but here is this text that doesn’t change.”

When I first read this quote I immediately thought, what a strange thing to say.  An ebook is forever.  Once it’s out there, it’s there until the writer takes it down.  A printed book only exists while it is in print.  And paper and ink can rot, burn, fade and be physically destroyed. Therefore lost in that way.

Then I thought some more about permanence/impermanence.........

Article in full on http://creatabot.co.uk/2012/08/09/an-ebook-is-for-life-by-jane-ayres/


CC BY-NC-ND 2.0) By alienratt

Blood and bone china

I do enjoy escapist fantasy.  The second series of supernatural drama Bedlam is proving to be fun to watch.  Characters, stories, setting.

But a recent discovery that I am currently recommending to fans of the vampire genre is the award winning web series Blood and Bone China.     http://www.bloodandbonechina.com/index.html

Blood and Bone China is a feature length Gothic Victorian vampire film that has been broadcast on the internet in 12 bite-sized chunks. It was created and directed by award winning film-maker Chris Stone and set and shot in his home town of Stoke- On-Trent. Made as part of the Stoke Your Fires Film Festival it stars a wealth of up and coming local talent, including 'Hollyoaks' actress Rachel Shenton as journalist Anna Fitzgerald.

Loved it!  And it really made me think about how the internet has changed opportunities for creatives and opened up previously closed distribution channels for writers.  The future is indeed digital.....