HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: manes@tandon.com (Dane Manes)
Subject: Re: _The Adolescence of P1_
Organization: Tandon Corporation, Moorpark, CA
Date: Fri, 24 Jul 1992 18:13:27 GMT

Yeah, I remember _The Adolescence of P1_ -- in fact, I think I've still
got a copy somewhere.  The writing wasn't amazingly complex, but the
story of a software program becoming self aware and trying to find its
maker is very interesting.

The co-protagonist is a comp-sci major trying to write some nifty software
to crack the supervisor account of the old-style mainframes.  He comes up
with some code that will do the following:

	Hack into the supervisor account
	Erase its tracks
	Avoid detection
	Try to find other computers and infect them

Repeating the cycle endlessly.  He dumps the program in to the core, which
hacks in under record time and then disappears or something like that -- 
maybe he kills it after he's caught.  He doesn't think of anything until
a few years later when the program starts tracking him, finds his workplace,
and halts all of the jobs saying "Get me so-and-so."  Kinda nifty!

Reminded me of the JP Hogan style of SF writing -- very hardware oriented and
grounded in common sense rather than "what can I get away with now?"  Also a
funny look at the days of punched cards/tape and the wierd fonts on printers.

/2cents mode = off


-- 
Dane Manes                  manes@tandon.com                 voice 805-378-7899
Tandon Corporation          76376.2266@compuserve.com          fax 805-529-9033
Product Support Engineer    "If it ain't broke, it hasn't been tested by Dane!"
---                                                                         ---
From: Loring Wirbel <lwirbel@igc.org>
Newsgroups: alt.cyberpunk
Date: 25 Jul 92 13:37 PDT
Subject: Re: The Difference Engine
Nf-ID: #R:1992Jul20.204205.11655@honte.ule:-1755460288:cdp:1300100006:000:743
Nf-From: cdp.UUCP!lwirbel    Jul 25 13:37:00 1992


Dust jacket aside, I paid $20 for the hardcover version and LOVED DE;
not as history, not as scifi, but as pointless, meandering speculative
fiction.  I know nothing of history, but DE made me go learn some 19th
Century British history.  DISCLAIMER: I also LOVED Joyce's "Finnegan's
Wake," Proust's "Remembrance of Things Past."  I also thought Pynchon's
"Counterforce" section of "Gravity's Rainbow" was the best part of the
book.  More people should take David Byrne's advice and Stop Making Sense.
It's far more profound to hear David Thomas sing "I got two arms and
legs that flip-flop flip-flop" than to read Vonnegut, Salinger, et.al.
pontificating.  That's why DE is Gibson/Sterling's best work.
Loring Wirbel
EE Times
Colorado Springs

Newsgroups: alt.cyberpunk
From: tedwards@src.umd.edu (Thomas Grant Edwards)
Subject: Re: Tetsuo
Organization: Systems Research Center, Maryversity of Uniland, College Park
Date: Mon, 27 Jul 1992 19:19:42 GMT

In article <1992Jul23.060037.4974@cam.compserv.utas.edu.au> cjudd@esk (Craig Thomas Judd) writes:
>In article <1992Jul22.124301.952@miavx2.ham.muohio.edu>, ptsyck@miavx2.ham.muohio.edu writes:
>>
>>> Perhaps Tetsuo is actually so me type of sequal of Akira or something like
>>> that.

Tetsuo the Iron Man has absolutely no relationship to Akira as far as I
can understand.  It's showing at the Biograph theatre in Washington, DC
this week, so I hope to go scan it and return with a description.

-Thomas
 resident technoshaman
From: pol_in01@Oswego.EDU (Brandon Hockle)
Newsgroups: alt.cyberpunk
Subject: Re: c_punk movies
Date: 27 Jul 92 21:59:09 GMT
Reply-To: pol_in01@oswego.Oswego.EDU (Brandon Hockle)
Organization: Instructional Computing Center, SUNY at Oswego, Oswego, NY

In article <ADRIAN.92Jul24111534@percy.robots.ox.ac.uk> adrian@robots.ox.ac.uk (Adrian Cox) writes:
>In article <CCKRASIC.92Jul23112120@plg.waterloo.edu> cckrasic@plg.waterloo.edu (Charlie Krasic (Buck)) writes:
>instantly label it cyberpunk.  I tend to be a little cautious about
>labelling things cyberpunk, though a lot of people label everything
>they like as cp.  The whole tone of the movie was very different to
>most cp movies: in particular, violence tends not to resolve anything
>in _UEW_.  My gut reaction is that the movie is just too gentle to be
>cyberpunk.
>
>- Adrian

Adrian I would definately have to label it cyberpunk. Violence is only one
apect of the cyberpunk genre. I think the KEY with a capital K to the post  
modern or cyberpunk scene is the value of the image or symbol over the real
or Meat things that we find in our world. The movie U.E.W. was definately
cyberpunk in that the most important scenes in the movie involved people
becomming addicted to the images of their own dreams. More real than real
in that those dreams were veiwed again and again.

In cyberpunk memory of an actual event is less effectual than the video of the
same event. Memory fades bu digital memorex dreams don't.


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Abiguity is the Devil's volley ball - Emo        |Brandon W. Hockle just a guy@
"SpAcE CaBbAgE...Juss how yew like it!"          |pol_in01@gidney.oswego.edu
                         -  Ren & Stimpy         |pol_in01@penelope.oswego.edu
SUPER NOFRIENDO! I BOUGHT IT FOR THE COOL EJECT BUTTON SO SHOULD YOU!!!!!!!!!!
-------Sig File Straight From the Intellectual Cauldron @ S.U.N.Y. OSWEGO------
From: ccaajmf@ucl.ac.uk (John Franks)
Newsgroups: alt.cyberpunk
Subject: Re: YABB - DIFFERENCE ENGINE - Spoiler
Date: 24 Jul 92 11:56:03 GMT
Organization: Bloomsbury Computing Consortium, London

In article <kitchel.711901699@moray> kitchel@moray.dpsi.com (Sidney W. Kitchel) writes:
>jaguar@wiz.outb.wimsey.bc.ca (Jeremy Reimer) writes:
>
>>JR> Also, strictly speaking, shouldn't this have been called the _Analytical
>>JR> Engine_?  After all, *that* device (never completed) was to be the
>>JR> forerunner
>>JR> of the modern computer, NOT the Difference Engine, which was a mere
>>JR> calculator.
>
>	Let's be a little clearer. Are you claiming that Charles
>Babbage could see into the future or that he was a time traveler??
>How could he plan a "forerunner"???? The Difference Engine was not a
>mere calculator. It was specifically a mechanical device capable of
                                                          *******
>being commanded to execute calculus of differences computations and
       *********
Be careful. You're implying the difference engine was programmable in some
way; wrongo. It just did the difference  computations. Data in at one end,
answer out at the other after you turn the handle.

>print the results automatically. Its purpose was to create totally
>accurate astronomical and navigational tables.
>


>>JR> Babbage had plans for the Analytical Engine to have a "CPU", memory,
>>JR> storage,
>>JR> etc, and this more like the stuff in the novel.
>
>	It would be, if that is what Babbage did. But once again, he did
>not know what electo-mechanical and electronic computers were going
>to become in the 20th century. The Analytical Engine had registers, an
>arithmetic "mill" and was commanded via Jacquard Loom-style cards.
>There was no real memory or stored programs. There was no "CPU".
>It was 100% mechanical. It was slow and prone to lock up because of 
                         ***********
>the great number of gears.
>
Careful again. It wasn't built; only the arithmetic unit was built, and about
the most impressive thing it could do was compute multiples of pi. 
  As for speed, well, it was faster than any number of humans, I suspect. 
  And there's no stigma in being mechanical.
  The stored program issue is a dodgy one; as I remember, it had two inputs,
so it could handle program & data seperately. I also believe it had conditional
execution; basically, I think you'd probably find it was equivalent to a 
Turing machine, or lambda calculus or whatever, and therefore qualifies as a
computer. I stand to be corrected. My lecturer would never quite be drawn on
the conditional execution bit... 
  On the gear problems I give way, but the difference engine worked pretty
smoothly when they built it at the Science Museum (London, recently).

>>You know, this man is right on the money...
I agree with this. Sorry. :-)

>Sidney W. Kitchel  	    kitchel@cs.indiana.edu, kitchel@dpsi.com

John Franks, ccaajmf@ucl.ac.uk or jmf14@phx.cam.ac.uk to readers in Cambridge.
     "And a thousand slimy things
      Lived on; and so did I."    - Coleridge
Newsgroups: alt.cyberpunk
From: jan_b@lysator.liu.se (Jan Besehanic)
Subject: Nootropic; The Mind is a terrible thing to taste
Summary: Allah is great.
Keywords: NSA, nootropics, DEA, DHEA, cyberpunk
Organization: Lysator Academic Computer Club, Linkoping University, Sweden
Date: Tue, 21 Jul 1992 18:37:49 GMT

There seems to be a debate going on whether nootropics work or not.
I've been taking DHEA for six months now and my memory has improved,
at least accordingly to the authorities that are in charge of the 
Swedish equivalent of the S.A.T. 

Since DHEA (Dehydroepiandrosterone) is a steroid hormone and since
the only other nootropic that I've used is vasopressin (also a hormone)
I can only certify that they work, at least moderately...

However, there are weird stuff that promises to increases your life span,
improve your sex life and make your hangovers disappear :-)
These drugs are total larks vomit as far as I'm concerned.
At least I know that the hormones actually do something to your mind
and so far it has been in a postive direction...

Although I wonder whether or not they'll want urine samples the next
time the test is being done...

Btw, if you can't fuck around with your mind, whose mind can 
you fuck around with?? 

Just mine .5 ECUs worth...

Jan B.
--
Jan Besehanic
email: jan_b@lysator.liu.se
New, improved .sig-file under construction.

Newsgroups: alt.cyberpunk
From: olson@dstl86.gsfc.nasa.gov (Paul Olson)
Subject: Re: Smart Pills
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41    
Organization: Mission Operations and Data Systems
Date: 27 Jul 1992 13:56 EST  

In article <1992Jul24.051442.4643@highlite.uucp>, mike@highlite.uucp (Mike Wiik) writes...
>olson@dstl86.gsfc.nasa.gov (Paul Olson) writes:
> 
>>This thread, and statements like "I felt smarter after taking them" reminds me
>>of a joke I was told as a kid.  It invloved two kids I'll call Bob and Tom. 
>>The scene went like this:
> 
>Personally, I'd like to know more about smart drugs and their alledged
>effects. Jokes like this, though, (which I've deleted), probably belong
>in alt.i.am.stupid or something, eh?

No, Mike.  Not stupid.  Just skeptical.  I'm just too much of a scientist to
believe claims that cannot be properly measured.  I'd like to know more about
smart drugs/drinks too.  I never said I didn't.  But you won't find me at the
front of the line, waiting for a paper cup and pills.  I'll let others suffer
neurotransmitter failure first.

> 
>	-Mike
> 
>-- 
>   | o==== . : ... :  :  .     |Mail Me Neat Stuff->POB 3703 Arlington VA 22203
> --@-- . o o o ... O -O- o o : |No disclaimers needed: I actually pay for this.
>   |           ... :  :        |-----------------------------------------------
>mEssAGE fRoM sPAcE ARt stUdiOs |Man:TheMissingLinkBetweenApes&HigherIntelligence

Dr. Forbin
Newsgroups: alt.cyberpunk
From: mike@highlite.uucp (Mike Wiik)
Subject: Re: Mondo 2000 #1
Organization: Gotham Communications Research
Date: Thu, 23 Jul 1992 03:02:23 GMT

Leigh Nystrom <ln0c+@andrew.cmu.edu> writes:

>Does anyone out there have a copy of the first issue of Mondo 2000?
>I'm curious about its contents -- would you be willing to send me
>a summary/table of contents?  I have every issue but this one, and
>am wondering if it's worth buying.

>Thanks,
>--Leigh

The first Mondo 2000 is issue number 7. The next was number 2.
It's wierd but true, and related to changing numbering schemes
for High Frontiers, Reality Hackers, and M2K.

No summary is necessary. The first M2K is arguably the best (of
the M2K's). It's the *CyberPunk* issue. Some of the info might be
out-of-date, though... Still highly recommended...

	-Mike
-- 
   | o==== . : ... :  :  .     |Mail Me Neat Stuff->POB 3703 Arlington VA 22203
 --@-- . o o o ... O -O- o o : |No disclaimers needed: I actually pay for this.
   |           ... :  :        |-----------------------------------------------
mEssAGE fRoM sPAcE ARt stUdiOs |Man:TheMissingLinkBetweenApes&HigherIntelligence
From: michaelb@cse.fau.edu (Michael Rogero Brown)
Newsgroups: alt.cyberpunk
Subject: Re: Islands in the Net
Date: 25 Jul 92 17:42:05 GMT
Organization: Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, FL, USA

In article <1992Jul24.214034.7808@octel.com> shaun@octel.com (Ralph Neutrino) writes:
>In article <VFZ8NB2w165w@angus.mi.org> thx1138@angus.mi.org writes:
>>
>>Yeah, 
>>  I could not figure that cover out either.  The main character was
>>  a mom, for crissakes! Not some bimbo.  I saw the cover of a hardbound
>>  version --they should have stuck withg that. 
>
>My best guess is that it is Reverend Morgan, the disposable character from the
>Church.  How do these covers get done, anyway?  Does an artist get commissioned
>early on and handed a few chapters early on in the game? 

Well, I don't know about other books, but the cover for _Islands in the Net_ 
was not commissioned.  If you look at the inside front cover of Heavy Metal
you will see an add for art prints that includes the art used for Islands.
One thing you will notice is the the art print has a totally different back-
ground from _Islands_.  I guess they took these artwork, blocked out every
thing but the babe, and slapted in on the cover.

I guess some books get commisioned cover art, others get a generic art cover.

Go figure.  

-- 
<<                                                               >>
<< Michael R. Brown    CS Graduate Student-Florida Atlantic Univ >>
<< Internet: michaelb@sol.cse.fau.edu                            >>
<< BitNet: m_brown@fauvax                                        >>
From: adrian@robots.ox.ac.uk (Adrian Cox)
Newsgroups: alt.cyberpunk
Subject: Re: Tetsuo
Date: 23 Jul 92 12:20:41 GMT
	<1992Jul22.124301.952@miavx2.ham.muohio.edu>
Organization: Robotics Research Group, Oxford University
In-reply-to: ptsyck@miavx2.ham.muohio.edu's message of 22 Jul 92 16:43:01 GMT

In article <1992Jul22.124301.952@miavx2.ham.muohio.edu> ptsyck@miavx2.ham.muohio.edu writes:
   > Perhaps Tetsuo is actually so me type of sequal of Akira or something like
   > that.
   >
   >
   Excuse me but Tetsuo died in Akira. So how can there be a sequel???
   If you would like to see if you can get some more infomation on the movie
   Tetsuo post the orignal message in rec.art.anime. They should help you with
   your question.

The film under discussion is probably _Tetsuo: Man of Iron_.  I
haven't seen the film, but from all the reviews I've read this has
nothing to do with Tetsuo in _Akira_.  I don't know how common a name
Tetsuo is in Japan, but I suspect this discussion is like someone
Japanese linking an American film called _Jim_ with a character called
Jim in a different movie.  (Of course, now someone will flame me and
say that the name Tetsuo was invented for _Akira_.)

_Tetsuo: Man of Iron_ is about a man turning into a machine.
Reactions have ranged from "Way neat cyber movie" to "eeeuugghh,
gross!"  Somebody posted a review in [rec.arts.movies.reviews] about a
day ago.

_Akira_ was pretty good - we watch it on video and join in with the
dialogue: "Tetsuo!"  "Kaneda!"  "Tetsuo!"

- Adrian
Xref: sparky alt.cyberpunk:3513 alt.cyberpunk.movement:300
From: dansmith@Autodesk.COM (Daniel Smith)
Newsgroups: alt.cyberpunk,alt.cyberpunk.movement
Subject: Re: Gibson's _Book of the Dead_ release
Date: 24 Jul 92 22:52:26 GMT
Followup-To: alt.cyberpunk
Organization: Autodesk Inc., Sausalito CA, USA

In <14p40uINNa8m@early-bird.think.com> sean@think.com (Sean Colbath) writes:
> > Some people have already started on the task of breaking
> >the encryption scheme and Begos said some are reportedly using the
> >Touchstone Delta supercomputer at Cal Tech to do so. 

	This is probably Lo Tek, but aren't there monitors for the Mac
with video out?  You could just tape it :-)

				Daniel
-- 
            dansmith@autodesk.com            dansmith@well.sf.ca.us
        Daniel Smith, Autodesk, Sausalito, California, (415) 332-2344 x 2580
              Disclaimer: written by a highly caffeinated mammal
 $|=1;for("..."," hacker"," perl"," a","just"){print $l=$_.$l,"\015";sleep 1;}
Newsgroups: alt.cyberpunk
From: mlharley@unix1.tcd.ie (Kubik)
Subject: Re: Akira
Organization: Trinity College, Dublin
Date: Sat, 25 Jul 1992 11:01:22 GMT

In <1992Jul23.105618.182@ccsvax.sfasu.edu> z_falkrg@ccsvax.sfasu.edu writes:

>>Akira did have a lot of CP type of stuff in 
>>it...perhaps a predecessor to modern Cyberpunk.
>>
>>Padraig
>>

>Sorry dude, but cyberpunk was around in force a long time before Akira hit the
>screens.  Don't get me wrong, it is very punkish, but it wasn't pre-punk.

>#    Rob Falk                  
>#     a.k.a. Tora       

I wouldn't shout that too loud. Akira's been around since long before it
hit the screens too... A Comic strip. Still, probably not pre-punk, but
not brand-new, or near :-)

--
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mark Harley...	         |  "Truth is, Belief is not required",  Gerry Roston.
mlharley@unix1.tcd.ie    |
(Kubik)		         |  "I am, Belief is not required",                Me. 
Newsgroups: alt.cyberpunk
From: braca2@cspyr1.cs.adfa.oz.au (BRAY CHRISTOPHER)
Subject: Re: c_punk movies
Organization: Australian Defence Force Academy, Canberra, Australia
Date: Sun, 26 Jul 1992 12:32:51 GMT

From article <25JUL199217254118@romeo.caltech.edu>, by joelong@romeo.caltech.edu (Long, Joseph Louis):
> In article <X7NFoB2w165w@rivdell.UUCP>, macduff@rivdell.UUCP (Lord Macduff) writes...
>		[sh*ttins of garbage] 
> Dude!  What the fuck?
> 
> ***Action: joe briefly thinks... "It'd be nice to be able to kick 
>            someone's ass on the net!"
> 
> Now that we all see how cool you are (I'm bowing to you right now) GROW UP!
>
	The guy may be new, and not know how to handle stress, give him
	a break!!. sheesh.

	hook

	P.S. Does anyone else out there consider Heinleins _Friday_
	    Cyberpunk??  It has all the elements (corporate war, some 
	    nice hi tech, replicants, space colonies, etc, etc) except 
	    for the net.  and it was written about 1974, i think.
From: z_falkrg@ccsvax.sfasu.edu
Newsgroups: alt.cyberpunk
Subject: Re: Akira
Date: 23 Jul 92 16:56:18 GMT
Organization: Stephen F. Austin State University

>Akira did have a lot of CP type of stuff in 
>it...perhaps a predecessor to modern Cyberpunk.
>
>Padraig
>
>_______________________________________________________________________________
>|Patrick T DeWind				Unix dewind@acsu.buffalo.edu  |
>|	Be afraid!			     Vax/Vms V077PW3W@UBVMS.BITNET    |
>|	Be VERY afraid!!!						      |
>| "When you say I've got a problem that's a certainty...		      |
>|  But I can put it all down to ecentricity."	-Lyric by Fish		      |
>|_____________________________________________________________________________|

Sorry dude, but cyberpunk was around in force a long time before Akira hit the
screens.  Don't get me wrong, it is very punkish, but it wasn't pre-punk.

#############################################################################
#    Rob Falk                   | What do you do to a guy who double        #
#     a.k.a. Tora               |   crosses you and then steals you girl?   #
#                               | You let him keep her.                     #
#    Z_FALKRG@CCSVAX.SFASU.EDU  |              --Rutger Hauer "Deadlock"    #
#                               | Life is a sexually transmitted and	    #
# Disclaimer:  Whatever I say   |   terminal disease                        #
#   is nothing more than the    |   	       --I really don't know        #
#   nonsensical ravings of a    | They're coming to take me away!  Ha Ha!!! #
#   lunatic mind...             |              --Napoleon XIV               #
#############################################################################
Xref: sparky alt.cyberpunk:3504 alt.cyberpunk.movement:299
From: sean@think.com (Sean Colbath)
Newsgroups: alt.cyberpunk,alt.cyberpunk.movement
Subject: Re: Gibson's _Book of the Dead_ release
Date: 24 Jul 1992 14:27:42 GMT
Organization: Thinking Machines Corporation, Cambridge, MA (USA)
NNTP-Posting-Host: merlin.think.com

In article <sirota#m#_alex-170792095318@17.9.6.181> sirota#m#_alex@msgate.corp.apple.com (Alex Sirota) writes:
>Here is the official release I got from clainews...
>
>LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1992 JUL 13 (NB) -- EDITOR'S NOTE:
>This version of the story corrects a typo in the previous version in
>today's wire.

[...]

>Agrippa comes in a case that resembles a laptop computer, with book
>inside surrounded by copper honey comb-shaped forms and cut-outs in
>the inside pages to contain a 3.5-inch floppy disk. The disk
>contains Gibson's story which is encrypted a scheme based on an RSA
>data encryption. The story can be read by a program which unencrypts
>the text on the fly and then self-destructs after one reading,
>leaving only the encrypted text on the disk. Once the reading of the
>text on the disk is started the story cannot be stopped, copied, or
>printed.

Well, this is a real step forward in online literature...

One would suppose you can make copies that will alleviate this problem.

> Some people have already started on the task of breaking
>the encryption scheme and Begos said some are reportedly using the
>Touchstone Delta supercomputer at Cal Tech to do so. 

What in god's name for?  Doesn't it occur to someone that the *key* has to
be somewhere on that disk as well?  Why not sit down for a few minutes with
a copy of the 68000 instruction set and some disk utilities for the Mac and
decode the reader?

I can't believe that there aren't plenty of tools for the Mac that would
almost do this for you.

> Others are not
>using high tech means to save the story. One poet whom Begos
>described as computer illiterate, said he would simply read
>the story aloud into a tape recorder.

Cute!

					-Sean


-- 
Sean Colbath
sean@think.com					...harvard!think!sean
"...and now for something completely different..."
Newsgroups: alt.cyberpunk
From: olson@dstl86.gsfc.nasa.gov (Paul Olson)
Subject: Re: The Difference Engine
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41    
Organization: Mission Operations and Data Systems
Date: 27 Jul 1992 13:45 EST  

In article <2!jmvp.tmaddox@netcom.com>, tmaddox@netcom.com (Tom Maddox) writes...
>
>[stuff deleted]
>
>All you've really established is that you don't like the book
>and couldn't be bothered to read it very carefully.
> 

Sorry, Tom, but I'm a very slow, very meticulous (sp?) reader.  I appreciate
subtlety and depth of story.  If it takes a writer's knowledge to appreciate
this book, perhaps it shouldn't be placed where "common readers" will pick it
up.

> 
>-- 
>				Tom Maddox
>		    	    tmaddox@netcom.com
>		   "I swear I never heard the first shot"
>                Wm. Gibson, "Agrippa:  a book of the dead"

Dr. Forbin
Newsgroups: alt.cyberpunk