French Researchers Want HAL To Write Fatwas

Then Again, Perhaps Technology Is Good For Modern Stories

from the not-such-a-bad-thing dept

Mon, Jan 21st 2008 6:45pm — Mike Masnick

A few weeks ago, we pointed to an article claiming that modern technology was making it harder to write interesting "thriller" or "mystery" movie plots, since it was (according to the author) tougher to come up with plausible storylines that wouldn't be ruined by a character holding a mobile phone. That seemed like a bit of a stretch, but now we have the flipside to that, which is that authors of mystery stories claim that the web has been tremendously useful in helping them come up with important details to make their plots and stories more realistic. They track crime reports, learn new jargon, look up maps of locations, understand weapons and generally get the extra info they need to make the story feel more realistic. So, perhaps story writing hasn't been killed off by technology after all.

Filed Under: authors, plots, technology, web

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Rose M. Welch, 21 Jan 2008 @ 7:48pm

Like plagiarism, but not unethical...
Alot of writers use real-life events as a basis for thier stories. NOT the Ann Rule factual retlling, but more like Law and Order: SVU. So cell phones are a problem how? (Hint: It's to people who don't like to think so much.)
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Anonymous Coward, 21 Jan 2008 @ 8:49pm

You mean technology is good for something besides bringing me pr0n more efficiently? Who'd have thought?
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Pitabred, 21 Jan 2008 @ 11:04pm

"This is UNIX. I know this!"
And that security camera in the lobby really can zoom in 50x to make out the license plate of the truck across the street from the bank.

Technology may help people "come up" with important details, but they also completely twist the non-technical people's understanding of technology. People don't know why you can't just erase that big butt from in front of their face in the picture... they do it in the movies. Or hack into a mainframe while watching 3D cityscapes fly by.

Tech isn't good or bad for movies. It's just changed them, sometimes for the better, oftentimes for the worse, mostly dependent on how lazy and/or stupid the writers and directors are.
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Rosamunda, 22 Jan 2008 @ 2:26pm

We are talking of two different things here...
I think both perspectives have some strong points in favor.
But besides that, I think you´re talking of two different things here.
One thing is that authors can reach better, or faster, or more accurately information because of the technology, and another very different thing is that technology ruins those plots itself.
I personally don´t think technology ruined them, and maybe authors just won´t came up with better ideas (that´s not tech fault after all!), but, then again, there are two different thing.
Sorry for my lousy grammar, as an argentinian my spanish is far better ;)

Rosamunda
rosamundadotblogspotdotcom
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KD, 23 Jan 2008 @ 1:14am

Rosamunda is right
Rosamunda is right. The problem is not technology -- it is authors stuck in a rut. When I look around the world, I don't see that the advent of cell phones has magically reduced crime. Some of the constraints may have changed a little, but the criminals adapt quickly. The writers need to do the same.
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