Too many topics, too little time

the wonderful wizard of mars. The System Administrator's Guild demonstrates true geek wisdom in governence. Like the scientist-intellectual class in Kim Stanley Robinson's epic Mars Trilogy, the members of this Guild elect volunteer leaders to fulfill the group's administrative functions. Robinson's democratic fantasy land–where there are no real politicians–is often overshadowed by the sheer scientific whiz-bang wonderment of his novels. The trilogy is great not for its descriptions of space elevators and artificial gravity but rather because it is a fine example of Feministische phantastische-utopische Literatur and represents insightful social commentary. It even has its own little world-wide subculture, whose members most hopefully sit around and fantasize about how a newly-habitable world–made possible by the genius of the human mind and the skill of human hands–is politically, socially, economically, spiritually and environmentally shaped by the powerful and influential “First Hundred”. Although the Sysadmin Guild's most recent executive board election showed a relatively poor voter turnout–touted on the site to be a “very high” 28.5%–I can't help but think they may be on to something. Perhaps a healthy disinterest in ruling and wielding power would be good back here on Earth [NYT]. [MetaFilter]

amazing, amazing, amazing, this post is just too much stuff to even relate, in the end, i am calling the post a fiction.