Working Futures: The Future Of Work Is Likely To Be Complicated

from the but-it's-coming-either-way dept

Order your copy of Working Futures today »

On Wednesday we officially launched our Working Futures anthology, which is available at Amazon as both an ebook (for $2.99) or a paperback for ($9.99) or both together ($10.99). I really recommend the paperback, because it looks great. So far, we've been blow away with the support we've received and the excitement over the collection. The book has shot up the various best seller lists on Amazon, reaching in the teens for science fiction anthologies, and reaching #12 in the "new releases" category.

In the launch post earlier this week, I profiled the first three stories, so today I want to explore the next three -- which has some names that Techdirt readers will recognize... starting with me:


The Nole Edge Economy: I've been talking a lot about protocols over platforms lately, and wanted to explore such a world in a fictional context -- and combined two other elements: the incredible wealth of DIY info found totally free online such as on YouTube (I was inspired to write this after learning how to rebuild a carboretor via YouTube videos) and also the odd dependencies created by shareable, reusable code. Also, there'a little nod towards SLAPP suits as well. In short, this is a story that hits on a lot of regular Techdirt points.

eMotion: by our very own Timothy Geigner. He kept telling me he was too busy to write something, and then at the last minute delivered this wonderful story exploring what the world might look like when artificial intelligence is granted its own rights -- and starts to require what probably can't be called "human" resources any more when dealing with job changes and transitions. But, in such a world, certainly the line begins to blur between who gets to make decisions for whom. And, I mean, how do you let a military artificial intelligence know that its services are no longer needed...

Genetic Changelings: by Keyan Bowes was one of the few stories we received that didn't focus on artificial intelligence, but rather started exploring a world where genetic engineering has taken off to fairly spectacular levels. It's a world that will seem quite familiar to today's... but with a few potentially startling differences. I mean, when a story starts out in its first line discussing a child's tail, you know it's going to be a bit different.


We'll continue describing more stories next week, and we'll have some fun other stuff, including some of the authors on our podcast. I also wrote a short guest post at Boing Boing about the project, and wanted to highlight one point I made over there. These stories don't paint a dystopian or a utopian future -- but mostly somewhere in between. Indeed, some of the stories are being interpreted in very different ways, with one author letting me know that he thought his story was really optimistic, but someone who read it reacted the opposite way. As I wrote for Boing Boing:

Some stories are upbeat and optimistic. Some... not so much. Many are deeply, deeply, in between: stuck in a world where “it’s complicated” is a fair way to describe things. But all of them help paint possible pictures of what work might mean in the future.

And that's part of why I like this collection so much. I've said all along that I'm less impressed by the "it'll all turn out horrible" or "it'll all work itself out" viewpoints, because they don't tell us anything useful, and the reality is almost always somewhere in the middle. But that's a big spectrum, and it often includes elements of good things... and elements of bad. Mixed together. It's complicated. Just like real life.

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Filed Under: future of work, scenario planning, working futures


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  1. This comment has been flagged by the community. Click here to show it
    identicon
    R. E. View, 4 Oct 2019 @ 11:15am

    "Average Customer Review: Be the first to review this item"

    Is my (TOR) browser not allowing javascript so not showing reviews? Or you're actually up the charts without a SINGLE review? -- Not even HERE?

    C'mon, kids. Tell me how great this is!

    And by the way: putting it on torrent sites is PROMOTION as I said, 'cause saw the CC license. So, rip it and PROMOTE a torrent here! All I ask. 'Cause otherwise it's just not convenient, ya know?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  2. This comment has been flagged by the community. Click here to show it
    identicon
    R. E. View, 4 Oct 2019 @ 11:19am

    Also, it's $3.28 according to the page.

    But I'd be DELIGHTED to read you for FREE!

    Maz, you're just not practicing what you preach.

    (BTW: last week was to DARE, didn't appear that you were within a week of release.)

    link to this | view in thread ]

  3. This comment has been flagged by the community. Click here to show it
    identicon
    R. E. View, 4 Oct 2019 @ 11:34am

    Re: "Average Customer Review: Be the first to review this i

    Clicking around got me to review of other books...

    So, no reviews.

    Can't find any sales figures, either.

    Anyone want to explain the magic of Amazon's ratings to me? Do those just come... wait for it... out of the blue?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  4. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 4 Oct 2019 @ 11:52am

    Re: Also, it's $3.28 according to the page.

    You obvious do not look at other peoples comments, as if you did you would already have a copy to read for free from the link provided in the previous article.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  5. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 4 Oct 2019 @ 1:08pm

    Re: "Average Customer Review: Be the first to review this i

    Is my (TOR) browser not allowing javascript so not showing reviews?

    Amazon silently gave up their support for non-JS usage a couple of years ago; the "see all reviews" and "expand review" links are sometimes broken "javascript:" URIs. The review counts and star ratings are not broken, there are just no reviews for this.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  6. identicon
    Rocky, 4 Oct 2019 @ 2:46pm

    Troll crosses public bridge, demands to pay toll.

    He do look at other peoples comments, it's just that he cannot comprehend things that doesn't fit into his worldview.

    He actually exhibits signs of suffering from schizophrenia and fixation, and he really should seek treatment.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  7. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 4 Oct 2019 @ 5:17pm

    No it's not.

    Apparently you can't read either. It's $2.99.

    Maz, you're just not practicing what you preach.

    He does seem to be practicing what he preaches. The book is under creative commons license.

    (BTW: last week was to DARE, didn't appear that you were within a week of release.)

    Your comment saying he wasn't going to publish was literally on a post that said the book was to be released "next week". What about that "didn't appear" that they were within a week of release?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  8. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 4 Oct 2019 @ 7:01pm

    Re: No it's not.

    blue could have a copy delivered to him, for free, with money attached, and he'll still piss and moan about it because he wasn't given a "Fuck Masnick up the asshole with a railroad spike" coupon.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  9. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 4 Oct 2019 @ 11:39pm

    Re: ignorant motherfucker demands to special privlanges

    You’re so fucking jelly bro.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  10. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 5 Oct 2019 @ 4:04am

    Really? Deliver to Kindle Reader??!

    I can't. Sorry, I really just can't. Oh, wait - I could paperback? Even MORE NO!

    link to this | view in thread ]

  11. icon
    Mike Masnick (profile), 5 Oct 2019 @ 9:23am

    Re: Really? Deliver to Kindle Reader??!

    Why?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  12. icon
    That One Guy (profile), 5 Oct 2019 @ 12:51pm

    Or whatever eReader you own, your choice

    Step 1: Get Calibre.

    Step 2: Load ebook to Calibre.

    Step 3: Convert ebook to whatever format you want.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  13. icon
    Andrew Pam (profile), 5 Oct 2019 @ 6:07pm

    Not available in Australia

    Amazon says the book is not available (even for Kindle) in Australia. Mike, when will you make the book available in Australia?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  14. icon
    Andrew Pam (profile), 5 Oct 2019 @ 6:11pm

    Re: Not available in Australia

    My mistake - the paperback is apparently available for shipping to Australia, it's only the eBook that is not. Mike, will the eBook be available in other formats and/or through other vendors?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  15. icon
    Andrew Pam (profile), 5 Oct 2019 @ 6:15pm

    Re: Re: Not available in Australia

    ARGH!! I just successfully ordered the eBook via amazon.com.au (eventually). I hate their system so much. Please delete all these posts if possible.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  16. icon
    Mike Masnick (profile), 6 Oct 2019 @ 12:00am

    Re: Re: Re: Not available in Australia

    Heh. I just saw the first comment and was coming to note that it absolutely is available in Australia and in fact, we have orders from Australia for both the ebook and paperback. But... I guess you figured it out. Sorry about Amazon's bad interface. :(

    link to this | view in thread ]

  17. icon
    Andrew Pam (profile), 6 Oct 2019 @ 12:47am

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Not available in Australia

    Yeah I have accounts on amazon.com amazon.com.au amazon.co.uk amazon.co.jp and amazon.de because I want to order things from those countries, and nowadays they notice that you're not using the site from your own country when you go to pay and forcibly redirect you, which loses the thing you're trying to buy. It's not always obvious how to find it again.

    link to this | view in thread ]


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