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(Science) Fiction Becoming Reality

James_H

James_H

And I like to roam the land
Joined
May 18, 2002
Messages
7,629
There are many classic examples of this, but one I noticed is the recent trend of record companies to make animated/computerized popstars. Damn sure there's no artistic difference between one of them and Will Young...
Irritatingly I can't remember any of these band's names (apart from gorrilaz who are slightly different) but - people used to write about such things in futuristic stories! I swear!

sorry for rambling but I think I made a point.
 
Ah, the humble videophone is more or less upon us...
Didn't William Gibson write about the whole popstar thing, in the early 90s? On a slightly grim note, I'm sure that the events of 9/11 had been vaguely foreshadowed for years in 'near future' dramas; attacks on mainland USA being the stuff of fantasy in those days.
 
There's a movie that came out this year in the states, called Simone, Al Pacino's in it. It's a comedy about a guy who creates a film star who only exists in cyberspace. When he erases the program, and she disappears, he's tried for her murder.
 
The William Gibson novel is called Idoru - thing is he based it on what was going on in Japan at the time. The Japanese have had artificial pop stars for years now - seems like they are still living 20 years in the future so Japan is the place to look for science fiction turned science reality.
 
I'm sure that the events of 9/11 had been vaguely foreshadowed for years in 'near future' dramas;
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You could be right there. The pilot episode for X-files Spin-off "The Lone Gunmen" had a story based on terrorists using airliners as flying bombs to attack the World Trade Centre. It was made in around 1998, iirc.
 
Science Fiction turning into reality

In some of Larry Niven's novels and short stories from the 70s, eg. The Long Arm of Gil Hamilton, there's a crime of 'organ-legging', stealing organs for transplants an black market body parts. There're stories, Urban legends?, that this is actually going on.

Also in the stories executed criminals can be disassembled for spare parts, isn't this supposed to have happened already somewhere?
 
I always thought that was one nasty future, people voting for more and more death penalties so they could keep the supply of body parts up and extend their life that way - until the most minor offence is punishable by death. Ugh. Very nasty.
 
You thought that the 'Thought Police' were just a fiction, from the novel 1984 (which I think can be classed as 'dystopian sci-fi).
But no. This is 2022 in the UK this week.
Woman arrested for standing silently near an abortion clinic because the police accused her of 'thinking of prayers'.
And no, this isn't made up.
https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1607843451516719104
 
Trevp666 said:
You thought that the 'Thought Police' were just a fiction, from the novel 1984 (which I think can be classed as 'dystopian sci-fi).
But no. This is 2022 in the UK this week.
Woman arrested for standing silently near an abortion clinic because the police accused her of 'thinking of prayers'.
And no, this isn't made up.
https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1607843451516719104
Click to expand...
The lady told the police that was what she was doing when asked why she was standing near the abortion clinic.
 
Trevp666 said:
You thought that the 'Thought Police' were just a fiction, from the novel 1984 (which I think can be classed as 'dystopian sci-fi).
But no. This is 2022 in the UK this week.
Woman arrested for standing silently near an abortion clinic because the police accused her of 'thinking of prayers'.
And no, this isn't made up.
https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1607843451516719104
Click to expand...
Trevp666 said:
You thought that the 'Thought Police' were just a fiction, from the novel 1984 (which I think can be classed as 'dystopian sci-fi).
But no. This is 2022 in the UK this week.
Woman arrested for standing silently near an abortion clinic because the police accused her of 'thinking of prayers'.
And no, this isn't made up.
https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1607843451516719104
Click to expand...

It is made up though. She was arrested for violating a Public Space Protection Order, not praying silently. Even the Daily Express reports that the claim being made was nonsense.

https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1...ying-twitter-fact-check-Row-false-information
 
Yeah, the PSPO in effect around the clinic is basically there to stop people harassing users of the service, however the police questioned this woman who was just standing there minding her own business and she (stupidly IMO) said she was 'praying in her head'.
The police have interpreted this ridiculously and arrested her for 'praying', as it is mentioned in the PSPO, despite the fact that it obviously should be worded to be clear that it means 'praying aloud'.
Had she not told them that she was 'praying in her head' then none of this would have happened.
 
She should have said 'waiting for a friend' or 'trying to remember what's on my shopping list'.
 
But, yeah... I'm an atheist and I defend the right of anyone to silently pray to their deity of choice.
WTF!
 
kesavaross said:
It's a bit odd that someone was there to film it.
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Not really that odd. There is always someone around to film anything and everything, it seems.
I wouldn't be surprised if at some point somebody will appear to film me taking a dump in my own home.

She was doing nothing wrong. She would not have been arrested for breaching the terms of the PSPO in operation around the abortion clinic had she not admitted that she 'might be praying in my (her) head' because as I said earlier, the PSPO is specifically worded to include 'prayer' but does not exclude 'silent' prayer. Which nobody would have a problem with.

Just to be clear, a PSPO is a 'catch all' piece of legislation which covers a space, building or area and is not aimed at any one individual, or is it able to be aimed at any one individual.
Should any single person be specifically excluded from a certain area (eg, through a court order as a result of their actions) then that is covered under different laws.
The police will most often cite Section 35 of the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014, (which gives a Police Constable and a Police Community Support Officer in uniform the power to exclude a person from an area for a period of up to 48 hours with an Inspector's authority - in an instance such as this one, that 'inspectors authority' would have already been verbally given prior to any officers patrolling that area).
I'm fairly certain, though, that that does not give a police officer the right to ask about what you are thinking.
 
Trevp666 said:
Not really that odd. There is always someone around to film anything and everything, it seems.
I wouldn't be surprised if at some point somebody will appear to film me taking a dump in my own home.

She was doing nothing wrong. She would not have been arrested for breaching the terms of the PSPO in operation around the abortion clinic had she not admitted that she 'might be praying in my (her) head' because as I said earlier, the PSPO is specifically worded to include 'prayer' but does not exclude 'silent' prayer. Which nobody would have a problem with.

Just to be clear, a PSPO is a 'catch all' piece of legislation which covers a space, building or area and is not aimed at any one individual, or is it able to be aimed at any one individual.
Should any single person be specifically excluded from a certain area (eg, through a court order as a result of their actions) then that is covered under different laws.
The police will most often cite Section 35 of the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014, (which gives a Police Constable and a Police Community Support Officer in uniform the power to exclude a person from an area for a period of up to 48 hours with an Inspector's authority - in an instance such as this one, that 'inspectors authority' would have already been verbally given prior to any officers patrolling that area).
I'm fairly certain, though, that that does not give a police officer the right to ask about what you are thinking.
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I reckon it was a publicity stunt.

https://adf.uk
 
Trevp666 said:
She was doing nothing wrong. She would not have been arrested for breaching the terms of the PSPO in operation around the abortion clinic had she not admitted that she 'might be praying in my (her) head' because as I said earlier, the PSPO is specifically worded to include 'prayer' but does not exclude 'silent' prayer. Which nobody would have a problem with.
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You’re wrong. As already said, she’s an anti abortion activist & was inside the exclusion zone standing around. She wasn’t going anywhere. I’m surmising that the police probably knew about her from previous incidents - they appeared to know she didn’t live in the area & was there as a protest. My assumption is it’s not illegal to walk through the area but it is illegal to stand around. Sooner or later you’re going to be recognised as protesting.

The report says

Isabel Vaughan-Spruce, 45, a director of anti-abortion group March for Life UK, has been charged with four counts of failing to comply with a Public Space Protection Order and is due to appear in court next year. The city council order makes it illegal to engage in act of approval or disapproval, including prayer and protest, in an area around the clinic.
Click to expand...

So it looks like there were 3 other incidents as well as this one. We don’t know the full story.

Stating the obvious but exclusion zones outside clinics are there to stop protests which, if they weren’t there, have the potential to turn nasty & some undoubtedly would.

If you choose to ignore them you can’t complain if you get your collar felt. The police’s duty is to enforce the law - they can’t just ignore it, especially if it’s a repeat offence or there’s been complaints.

I’m thinking that Toby Young could also be in the anti abortion camp but that’s just a suspicion.

To extend this, what if Toby sent one of his minions to video the incident he was expecting & which duly happened. He then spins the story & gets his face on GB news. The video gets shared & ends up here. He has achieved his aim.

That’s the way the Toby Youngs of this world operate. Cherry picking & omitting details is the name of the game.

Whatever, I don’t think it’s Sci-Fi becoming reality.
 
If I understand the Public Space Protection Order around the abortion clinic, it bans protests and harassment, not loitering (which may be a general offense on its own). If this woman was being quiet and not expressing her views to passers-by, then she was not violating what any reasonable person would consider the terms of the order. Of course she may have been planning some sort of protest or harassment, but arresting her for that would have fallen into the thoughtcrime category as well.

The loitering, any spectacle created by the presence of the videographer, any organized crowd forming around the woman, etc. may have been cause for arrest in this instance - regardless of any previous incidents - but I can't see how one person standing around violates the specific protection order.

Going back to an older post:
James_H said:
the recent trend of record companies to make animated/computerized popstars.
Click to expand...
Anyone remember The Archies? They were an animated band who had a big hit in 1969 with Sugar, Sugar - long before William Gibson's writing career, and before any concept of real-life cyberspace. And of course there have been many faked bands before and since who use real people instead of cartoons or computers as their incarnations: Milli Vanilli, Boney M., etc.
 
ChasFink said:
Anyone remember The Archies? They were an animated band who had a big hit in 1969 with Sugar, Sugar - long before William Gibson's writing career, and before any concept of real-life cyberspace. And of course there have been many faked bands before and since who use real people instead of cartoons or computers as their incarnations: Milli Vanilli, Boney M., etc.
Click to expand...
Their 'Top of the Pops' appearances were a cartoon. So that was good.

 
ChasFink said:
Anyone remember The Archies? They were an animated band who had a big hit in 1969 with Sugar, Sugar - long before William Gibson's writing career, and before any concept of real-life cyberspace. And of course there have been many faked bands before and since who use real people instead of cartoons or computers as their incarnations: Milli Vanilli, Boney M., etc.
Click to expand...

This really demonstrates a different transatlantic POV: "Does anyone remember The Archies?" In Britain the answer is no: I don't know if their newspaper strips were ever syndicated here but comic books would have been niche -if imported at all- and the TV show was never shown here. I think to Brits, Archies = Sugar, Sugar.

Of course Young People probably don't know it at all - cue grumbling 'no sense of history, what do they teach 'em at school' etc
 
oxo66 said:
This really demonstrates a different transatlantic POV: "Does anyone remember The Archies?" In Britain the answer is no: I don't know if their newspaper strips were ever syndicated here but comic books would have been niche -if imported at all- and the TV show was never shown here. I think to Brits, Archies = Sugar, Sugar.

Of course Young People probably don't know it at all - cue grumbling 'no sense of history, what do they teach 'em at school' etc
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I had a few of the Archie comics when I was a kid. I don't know if they still sell them over here, but they were available in the 70s.
 
The thing on Jughead's bonce always puzzled me.
Jugheadjns.png

Looks like he just got back from Burger King.
 
ChasFink said:
If I understand the Public Space Protection Order around the abortion clinic, it bans protests and harassment, not loitering (which may be a general offense on its own). If this woman was being quiet and not expressing her views to passers-by, then she was not violating what any reasonable person would consider the terms of the order. Of course she may have been planning some sort of protest or harassment, but arresting her for that would have fallen into the thoughtcrime category as well.

The loitering, any spectacle created by the presence of the videographer, any organized crowd forming around the woman, etc. may have been cause for arrest in this instance - regardless of any previous incidents - but I can't see how one person standing around violates the specific protection order.

Going back to an older post:

Anyone remember The Archies? They were an animated band who had a big hit in 1969 with Sugar, Sugar - long before William Gibson's writing career, and before any concept of real-life cyberspace. And of course there have been many faked bands before and since who use real people instead of cartoons or computers as their incarnations: Milli Vanilli, Boney M., etc.
Click to expand...
I preferred Michael Jackson when he was a cartoon, for sure...
 
oxo66 said:
I think to Brits, Archies = Sugar, Sugar.
Click to expand...

As far as music goes, same for Americans. The TV cartoon was probably only recognized as the source of that one hit, not as anything important in itself, and the comics at the time were recognizable to the general public, but I'll wager nowhere near as popular as the Marvel and DC superheroes.

In recent years there has been quite a resurgence of Archie comics, in various parallel universes. Some are quite dark, such as the inspiration for the TV soap opera Riverdale and the odd limited crossover series Archie vs. Predator in which many characters die.

eburacum said:
The thing on Jughead's bonce always puzzled me.
Jugheadjns.png

Looks like he just got back from Burger King.
Click to expand...

Once a popular form of hat for American youth:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whoopee_cap

They were sometimes decorated with pin-on buttons of various types, and the dot-dash arrangement on Jughead's cap is Morse code for A, in honor of his pal Archie.
 
....Chat GTP and other A.I systems producing pasable poetry and scholarly essays...parts of Japan are using humanoid robots as care staff in old people's homes...South Korea lands a probe on the Moon....Incel terrorist networks arise from intenet chatrooms...it becomes possible to produce `deepfake` realsitic animations of real people, to the extent that you can no longer trust an apparent posted video of any public figure....people, in the West, form their political allegiances around their degree of acceptance of surgery and other procedures undertaken to change people's sex....a youth subculture grows up which is dedicated to putting aside one's moble video phones for a week or two and experiencing reality at first hand....NATO floods armaments into its preferred side in the Russo-Ukranian civil war - knowing this may well escalate into a nuclear exchange.... an influential cult grows up in America which believes that a former president is in fact a Messiah here to rid the world of a demonic paedophile cabal whio run the world....respected military personnel and government figures come out and declare an interest in UFOs....a man is filmed by a drone and publclly shamed for by the police for tasking a walk on the moors during a period of `lockdowns`.... a leading punk rocker enters the Euriovision contest with a song about his wife's dementia.... Chinese researchers develop a miniature robot that can turn into a liquid form and then go back to being solid....AND OVER TO YOU....

Ladies and gentlemen, we are living in a science fiction show - and have been doing for at least several years.
 
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