Neil Stephenson är författare till romanen Seveneves. Fick korn på boken då Bill Gates rekommenderat den som sommarläsning. Köpte den som pocket på Adlibris (108 kr inkl frakt). Efter att ha läst hälften av den 860 sidor tjocka pocketboken (finns ännu inte översatt till svenska tyvärr) och läst lite om den på nätet vågar jag mig på en rekommendation. Det är en science fiction roman som inleds med att månen exploderar!
En viktig kommunikationsform 5000 år framåt i tiden blir morsetelegrafi! Författaren säger i en intervju om det:
"It's a very simple robust kind of system of communicating. It endured for a long time, and it still endures with a subset of amateur radio users. I wasn't consciously trying to make a big point about it because, when you get overly pointed in your writing, it kind of shows and people tune out. There actually are amateur radio connections between the International Space Station and the ground. I just thought that was an interesting detail.
I wanted to make that link to an older generation of amateur science. When I was a kid and you were a kid, that had the same role in society as the Internet and hackers and makers and so on have now. You could get these books at the library, how to build your own radio. I can remember reading these instructions on how to make your own crystal detector by digging up a hunk of rock and finding the right kind of crystal. Winding your own coils and stringing up your own antenna. It was a very approachable style of tech. It drew in a lot of smart kids living on farms and in small towns and in places where they otherwise wouldn't have had access to that kind of technology."
I wanted to make that link to an older generation of amateur science. When I was a kid and you were a kid, that had the same role in society as the Internet and hackers and makers and so on have now. You could get these books at the library, how to build your own radio. I can remember reading these instructions on how to make your own crystal detector by digging up a hunk of rock and finding the right kind of crystal. Winding your own coils and stringing up your own antenna. It was a very approachable style of tech. It drew in a lot of smart kids living on farms and in small towns and in places where they otherwise wouldn't have had access to that kind of technology."
Det är en hel del amatörradio i romanen.
I videon (obs en VR-video) på Bill Gates hemsida träffas författaren och Bill Gates.