From: Damien Broderick (thespike@earthlink.net)
Date: Fri Nov 15 2002 - 14:24:35 MST
> From: Slawomir Paliwoda <velvethum@hotmail.com>
> To: <sl4@sl4.org>
> Date: 11/15/2002 1:20:17 PM
> Ben wrote:
> > The goal of the site I propose is simple: I want to get media type
people
> > interested in the Singularity.
>
> But, as I pointed out earlier, this is not possible if the target audience
> (including media people) has never heard the word "Singularity" before. In
> order for the website to work, there needs to be a way of making people
> aware that the website or the concept exists, and, more importantly, a way
> of making it desirable for the audience to seek the information.
> Consider the amount of TV-inspired content that finds its way on the
> internet, for example, and how much internet-exclusive content makes it to
> the other media. Internet's impact on the collective conscience of society
> is almost nonexistent. [etc etc]
Memory is apparently short in the fast lane, but here are some reminders
that might be relevant to this discussion:
http://www.abc.net.au/programsales/programs/s346659.htm
links to a 2001 Aussie TV series explicitly about the Singularity. It's not
terribly good, but it happened. People in other countries might consider
getting it onto their own screens.
Several eps of that program explicitly used my shorthand term `the Spike',
which reminds me that, hey, there's been a book of that title available
since 1997 that deals exclusively with our topic. The US edition, from
Tor/Forge, came out in 2001, and the trade paperback has been around since
February this year. I'm told it has not yet sold out its advance: that is,
only a modest number of copies have been purchased in the States. People
eager to promote the Singularity might consider starting there. I admit
there might be some resentment at my use of a neologism for the ancient,
carved-in-stone term `Singularity', but I felt that `the Spike' might have
a snappier media-friendly feel to it. At this point I don't know, but it's
worth considering. (It's been adopted in, e.g., the new space opera trilogy
by Sean Williams and Shane Dix.)
BTW, there's also the outreach-to-the-academy aspect. Next month a book
will be released by the (wonderfully appropriately named) Power Institute
in Oz, PREFIGURING CYBERCULTURE (Eds. Darren Tofts, Annemarie Jonson and
Alessio Cavallaro), with a long chapter by me on the Singularity; it will
also be released in hardcover next March by MIT Press.
Damien Broderick
thespike@earthlink.net
www.thespike.us
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