The Things That Make Me Weak and Strange Get Engineered Away -- story about geek monasteries for smart people who don't fit in

Tor.com has just published a new story of mine, "The Things that Make Me Weak and Strange Get Engineered Away" (the title is from "The Future Soon," a Jonathan Coulton song), which is about geek monasteries that house smart people who can't get along in the world and put them to work as coders. The story is the first Tor.com piece to be Creative Commons licensed and you're encouraged to remix it, translate it, whatever. There's already a podcast of me reading the story (also CC licensed) and PDF, Mobipocket and Sony reader files are already available.

Lawrence’s cubicle was just the right place to chew on a thorny logfile problem: decorated with the votive fetishes of his monastic order, a thousand calming, clarifying mandalas and saints devoted to helping him think clearly.

From the nearby cubicles, Lawrence heard the ritualized muttering of a thousand brothers and sisters in the Order of Reflective Analytics, a susurration of harmonized, concentrated thought. On his display, he watched an instrument widget track the decibel level over time, the graph overlaid on a 3D curve of normal activity over time and space. He noted that the level was a little high, the room a little more anxious than usual.

He clicked and tapped and thought some more, massaging the logfile to see if he could make it snap into focus and make sense, but it stubbornly refused to be sensible. The data tracked the custody chain of the bitstream the Order munged for the Securitat, and somewhere in there, a file had grown by 68 bytes, blowing its checksum and becoming An Anomaly.

Order lore was filled with Anomalies, loose threads in the fabric of reality–bugs to be squashed in the data-set that was the Order’s universe. Starting with the pre-Order sysadmin who’d tracked a $0.75 billing anomaly back to foreign spy-ring that was using his systems to hack his military, these morality tales were object lessons to the Order’s monks: pick at the seams and the world will unravel in useful and interesting ways.

The Things that Make Me Weak and Strange Get Engineered Away, MP3 link

• [cheekipoo]

  Interesting, is there a widget like this already? I can’t find it on apple.com

• [Jeff]

  Antinous, I’m a broker. I do risk assessment every day. So, what you’re telling me (and thank you for taking the time to do so), is that Cory is on the ground floor of an investment strategy that he (and others)has decided is worthy. But you’re also telling me that it’s new and there is risk involved. Risk implies unknowns. I guess I’m always looking for Unknowns and how they will affect the market. Cory’s a great, young, writer, but I’m a very good young-ish investor–I’ve made a lot of wealthy people even wealthier. I do have the ability to evaluate any business strategy as long as I have good numbers and understand the specific market applications. So maybe I’m guilty of seeing problems where none exist.

  • [Antinous]

    what you’re telling me, is that Cory is on the ground floor of an investment strategy that he (and others)has decided is worthy.

    No, exactly the opposite. First, it’s not the ground floor because the building might fall down in two years. Your view is predicated on the notion that a strategy could last for a long time, maybe decades. This might be the only floor that ever exists for this strategy. You get on it or you don’t. And you might be called on to make that decision every year.

    Second, it’s not strategy. It’s doing what seems good and right at the time. It’s applying ethical principles to business decisions. If it makes you money, that’s great. If it doesn’t make so much money, you still stuck to your principles. You’re fixated on the economics of writing rather than on the writing itself. That can’t go well.

• [RJ]

  Well, I was going to make a comment relevant to the post, but then I read this thread and forgot what I was going to say. I don’t suppose it much matters now, anyway.

• [biztheclown]

  Let’s not feed the trolls, readers and famous authors.

  Thanks to Cory for yet another wonderful bit of reading. I really enjoyed this one.

• [TheMadCreator]

  Cory, I just listened to your reading of this story, and just wanted to say that I thought it was EXCELLENT. Really, you have some of the freshest, most thought provoking SF out there right now, and I always love hearing your new stuff.

  Great work as always!

  (Also thanks for releasing it free)

• [coaxial]

  @16

  or become Objectivists. :) *ducks*

• [Roland]

  lvd th stry. ‘m cnfsd by th ndng thgh. Dd Lwrnc g t wrk fr th Scrtt lk Rndy, r dd h rfs t g bck t wrk fr th rdr nd mnky wth th strms? f h rfsd, h gt dspprd, rght?

  thnk lt f my cnfsn cms frm th fnl tw sntncs: “H cld gt t th plc tht Cmps tk hm t nywhr. Tht ws ll tht mttrd.”

  Srry t b dns.

  • [Antinous]

    Roland,

    Please don’t put details of the ending of the story in your comments. I’ve disemvowelled your comment for that reason.

• [Ben Morris]

  Neat, I mean I am somewhat predisposed to reading Cory’s stuff anyway but in this case even more so, as one of my all time favorite novels is concerned with a different but related idea; an ‘academic monastery’. Hermann Hesse’s The Glass Bead Game being the book in question.

• [jeffguevin]

  I don’t have anything to add to the excellent rebuttals of Jeff’s “points”. But I just wanted to post something so that in the future there’s some proof that I’m not _that_ Jeff.

• [EH]

  We know what that is, it’s called fascism.

  No, it’s called Objectivism. Fascism is “the desire to be led.”

• [clothingoptional]

  @biztheclown Great comment! Nice to see I wasn’t the only one to actually READ the story. LOL!

• [Jeff]

  How nice, congrats on being able to give your work away. There was a time, not too long ago, when a talented author such as yourself could expect to be paid for his shorts. Isn’t there a zine you can give your work too? Are you a lost lead for Tor? They want to draw people in, give them some free stuff, and promote traffic so they can use the data some how. Such as generating ad revenue. Telling us this on BoingBoing will add to that traffic, of course. Can Tor give any sales figures on their writers whose work has been given away and whose book sales numbers have increased? I might expect them to tell you that number. So, if Cory’s book sales go up 15% after a free short is released, I could see doing it often enough. If this model of Giving it away for Free really works, why wouldn’t every other Publisher quickly jump on the band wagon? You know like people jumped on when internet stocks were really hot and perceived value was nothing like actual value. As for Creative Commons usage: as long as you don’t expect all authors to invite other people to mess with their stuff, then its fine. Allowing people to use your art as they see fit in no way invalidates the rights of those who wish to remain in control of what is theirs. In perpetuity if they so desire.

• [mdhatter]

  @Jeff #3 – “How Nice”

  You lost me right there.

  Resenting others successes is not attractive (aside from the flies brought out by the stink)

• [Roland]

  Sorry Antinous. Thanks for your help.

• [mdhatter]

  @Jeff – Antinous, I’m a broker. I do risk assessment every day. So, what you’re telling me (and thank you for taking the time to do so), is that Cory is on the ground floor of an investment strategy that he (and others)has decided is worthy.

  That’s not what he’s telling you. That’s your vocation running over your avocation. You’re not grasping the ‘why’ Mr. Doctorow (whose fiction I’ve never once read (before I get called a fan boi)) does what he does.

  I suspect that Mr D’s motives and your perception of his motives are divergent, and I’m quite certain (evidenced by your approach) that you don’t respect that difference very much. Maybe you just don’t see the difference for what it is?

• [Lobster]

  I don’t claim to be one of the best and brightest but I’d be all for legal and cultural enclaves ruled by reason instead of politics and religion.

• [Trevel]

  Um, Cory’s been giving his books away for free for years now.

  Neil Gaiman gave a book away for free for a while, to the tune of a jump in sales.

  Baen Books has been giving books away for free for some time: http://www.baen.com/library/ — they’ve found that not only does giving a book away for free online jump sales for that book, it jumps sales for ALL books by that author. This includes Lois McMaster Bujold, Larry Niven and Mercedes Lackey.

  Brandon Sanderson is giving away a book as he writes it.

  The numbers are on their side.

• [ispinyarns]

  Thanks for the link, Trevel! And yes, if I am fond of the books I find, I probably will buy them. I am a student, thus by definition do not have much spending money for leisure books. Walk in a Barnes and Noble and look at the prices…$15-20 is a lot of money for some people, and that’s in paperback. However, if I know already that I like the book, then I will be willing to drop the money on it so I can read it wherever and whenever I like.

• [eain]

  I’m amused that almost all of the discussion so far has been about the politics of copyright. ;)

  Cory: Good stuff. This is the first time I’ve read your fiction. Fuckin’ chilling, though. ;)

• [Robotech_Master]

  Also, Tor was giving a whole lot of its ebooks away as a free promotion for a couple of months, up until the end of July.

  Anyway, it’s Cory’s choice to make.

• [Cory Doctorow]

  Tor.com is one of the best-paying science fiction markets in the field.

• [jphilby]

  Geek monastery. Haha! Back during the Cold War we called them “Institutes of Technology”.

  In the last year “free” music by Radiohead and Prince liberated VAST amounts of cash. Not everybody can work it that way, but I appreciate people willing to prospect for new veins.

  GIVE AWAYS are so refreshing in a world that has been so focussed on greed since Reagan. I feel such people to be a new breed … able to recognize that good will sells more than good PR.

  ”Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell. Cancer has no purpose but growth; but it does have another result – the death of the host.” Ed Abbey recognized that capitalism, like all the isms, is an unsustainable street. It’s good to see the recognition spreading. We can all just get along.

• [Cory Doctorow]

  Jeff, that post was so packed with straw men, ridiculous assumptions, accusatory implications factual inaccuracies and just random theorizing that it probably constitutes a bigger work of sf than mine.

  Tor is a high-paying, high-prestige, high-circulation market that pays more than anyone else in the field, more or less.

  Regarding whether others are “expected” to release CC — I’vewritten a bunch about why this is a good idea, but I’ve never said writers have a duty to do so, just that they’d be crazy not to.

  And the comparison of CC to the dotcom bubble is just bizarre.

  And “in perpetuity”? In a pig’s eye. Copyright expires. Good thing for writers that it does, or a) most of our work would vanish after a short period because no one could figure out whom to license it from (google “orphan works” — today more than 98% of works in copyright qualify) and b) because it would prohibit adaptations of public domain works, such as Alice in Wonderland and Peter Pan.

  Honestly, what are you thinking?

• [Jeff]

  Antinous said, “Other people will try doing what Cory is doing now, but they’ll try it in ten years…”

  That’s why I said ground floor. It’s pretty new. First floor if you must.

  “Your view is predicated on the notion that a strategy could last for a long time, maybe decades.”

  I don’t think so. I see this an emerging strategem in what might be a quickly transoforming market. Stability for ten years? That’s for bonds. Call it what you like, but stategy works for me. But seeing how publishing is using a very old model (in general), I’ll have to assume at this point that rather large portions of the industry will fight change and slow the process down. Don’t you think that’s reasonable when considering who controls the industry? And don’t we have to project loss due to theft in the formula? I could see theft of DMR-free e-books eating up all the savinging that could be realized by not using paper. There is no way to really judge this other than by looking at other segments of the market, such as music. But the comparison is of limited value at the current time.

• [Roger Strong]

  A geek monastery that housees people who can’t get along in the world and puts them to work as coders…..

  Sounds like the Heaven’s Gate cult.

• [GregLondon]

  There was a time, not too long ago, when a talented author such as yourself could expect to be paid for his shorts.

  Huh? I just submitted a short to a magazine a couple weeks ago. There seem to be paying markets still.

  Isn’t there a zine you can give your work too? Are you a lost lead for Tor? They want to draw people in, give them some free stuff, and promote traffic so they can use the data some how. Such as generating ad revenue. Telling us this on BoingBoing will add to that traffic, of course.

  It’s like you’re just throwing spaghetti and hoping that something hits and something sticks.

  Can Tor give any sales figures on their writers whose work has been given away and whose book sales numbers have increased? I might expect them to tell you that number. So, if Cory’s book sales go up 15% after a free short is released, I could see doing it often enough.

  When you get something published, you could try it and see for yourself.

  If this model of Giving it away for Free really works, why wouldn’t every other Publisher quickly jump on the band wagon?

  Do you, like, worship at the alter of the invisible hand of capitalism, or what?

  When the first Napster came out, they ended up offering a deal to the music industry, some chunk of money per person or per song or something, and the music industry turned it down. How many years later is it now and iTunes is doing exactly the same thing. Rhapsody charges a flat-fee per month.

  But there are still artists you can’t access on certain music sites for download, and whether it’s because they’re afraid of the change, they don’t understand the medium, or what, is irrelevant. The point is that the lack of immediate industry adoption doesn’t prove it can’t make money.

  You know like people jumped on when internet stocks were really hot and perceived value was nothing like actual value.

  This is more spaghetti.

  As for Creative Commons usage: as long as you don’t expect all authors to invite other people to mess with their stuff, then its fine.

  I… er… what?

  Allowing people to use your art as they see fit in no way invalidates the rights of those who wish to remain in control of what is theirs.

  You explaining copyright law to Cory is sort of like you explaining a quadruple bypass to a heart surgeon. Not that I don’t find it entertaining in its own way, but just letting you know.

  In perpetuity if they so desire.

  OK, imagine your explaing that quadruple bypass to heart surgeon, and then imagine that you briefly mention why using leeches to remove “bad blood” is a useful technique in recovery.

  It’s abundantly clear that you don’t understand copyright law or creative commons or publishing.

• [Jeff]

  I wouldn’t have to set many straw men on fire if you move from the hypotheses stage of this marketing strategy to the facts portion. I realize there are a lot of writers out there that don’t agree with your ideas. That wasn’t too hard to discover either. In fact, I think there are probably more that disagree with you than agree. So you think it’s a good idea to give a bit of writing away and hope that will get people to buy a book. That seems to have been proved in limited examples. I’m just wondering why it isn’t happening faster. If it’s such a great idea why aren’t all publishers (at least of genre fiction) standing up and saying how great it is? Am I supposes to agree with the majority or with you? And if I’m going to agree with the “Give It Away culture of books,” I want to be able to see where that’s headed.

  You’re a sf writer, C.D., so what happens when the desire to make a living comes into conflict with people’s increased expectations that what you’re providing them should be free? Not just an occasional short, but all of it? Just like people expect to get free music and free news and free medical care? How are you going to make a living book selling if the technological trends lead to wide-spread use digital book readers? What if everyone just assumes they can download a book for free? Perhaps I’m thinking too far ahead, but that’s how markets are evaluated for long term investment.

  I used the example of the internet stock bubble to illustrate the idea that sometimes ideas can make money in the short term, but in the end they fail. Only time will tell.

• [Brother Phil]

  Well, as a minister in good standing of the Universal Life Church, I’m entitled to found a church of my own. If Cory’s ok with it, anyone else fancy founding the order online?

• [Antinous]

  Jeff,

  This is at least the dozenth, if not the hundredth, time that you’ve started exactly the same argument about how Cory runs his business. You keep raising the same points and you keep getting the same answers. Nobody, nobody, nobody but you gets anything out of this incessant carping.

• [Jeff]

  Madhatter said, “…that you don’t respect that difference very much. Maybe you just don’t see the difference for what it is?”

  What is the difference? Respect is not the right word. “Understand” is the right word, and as I’ve said, I’m trying. And as Antinous said this is new, innovative stuff (for some of us). New mind sets can take time to learn. At least I’m spending time thinking about it, trying to figure it out.

• [mdhatter]

  Jeff,

  But seeing how publishing is using a very old model (in general), I’ll have to assume at this point that rather large portions of the industry will fight change and slow the process down. Don’t you think that’s reasonable when considering who controls the industry?

  Risk assessors control the industry Jeff, and risk assessors are boring boring boring. Believe me, I speak from personal experience (I do environmental risk assessment, and I’m quite boring when I talk shop).

  And don’t we have to project loss due to theft in the formula?

  If you assume that the materials have a fixed cost and would otherwise be paid for, then yes.

  But personally I wouldn’t pay for most of what I get for ‘free’ online (the music and movies I boost/steal a copy of to listen to or watch once or twice, before I decide they are junk, which most of them are). That said, when I find something really good for free, I’m often willing to pay for it. (e.g. I like 3 songs so I buy the CD, like a movie enough to share it so I buy the DVD to be lent from my collection, appreciate a website enough to pay 5 bucks a year for extra content).

  I could see theft of DMR-free e-books eating up all the savinging that could be realized by not using paper.

  I think you see it eating all the ‘profits’, not the ‘savings’. This is where I think your model and Mr. Doctorows models diverge. I’m not going to try to guess what his motives are, but becoming a bazillionaire doesn’t appear central to his motives. His only risk in sharing his talent freely is in showing up ‘the industry’.

• [John Coulthart]

  Paulo Coelho has also been giving away his work online:

  http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/aug/04/digitalmedia

• [mdhatter]

  At least I’m spending time thinking about it, trying to figure it out.

  Very true, I for one appreciate your new tone.

• [Individual]

  Yeah, Cory’s choice to be a scab. Giving his hard work away free denigrates it below any value and is the main reason I’ve avoided reading anything he’s written. I can only think, if it’s free it’s garbage. I just bought the newer Pevear Three Musketeers translation.

• [Anonymous]

  This sounds a lot like Anathem!

• [mdhatter]

  “You’re a sf writer, C.D., so what happens when the desire to make a living comes into conflict with people’s increased expectations that what you’re providing them should be free?”

  Um, their rates on the blog-ads will go up, and the moneymaking off our entertained eyeballs will be just as transparent as it is today.

  What’s your plan Jeff? Are you going to complain until someone decide you’re a critic and pays you for it? I recommend you start your own criticism blog, run ads on it, and see who comes out ahead.

• [So-Called Austin Mayor]

  Where can I find the .pdf version?

  I took family to hear Cory read in SEATAC and they want to know how the story ends.

  – SCAM

• [brianeisley]

  Noen says:

  The leftwing geeky paradise is to escape into one’s neurosis where one can manipulate the secret levers of the world and never be stained by anything human.

  Uh, no. The leftwing geeky paradise is to have government that’s open, transparent, sensible, and above all, competent. Leftwing geeks who care about politics tend to become European-style socialists.

  Rightwing geeks, on the other hand, usually become libertarians or neocons, and when they get into power, we get the system we have now in the U.S. Karl Rove is a perfect example.

  (Insert standard political IMHO disclaimer here.)

  Oh, and yeah, the idea of geek monasteries sounds just like Anathem. Where do I sign up?

• [wurp]

  Cory@#9: You have, of course, been trolled. Well written response, though (of course).

  Individual#14: Pure art.

• [soni]

  #14 posted by Individual , August 6, 2008 9:42 AM

  Yeah, Cory’s choice to be a scab. Giving his hard work away free denigrates it below any value and is the main reason I’ve avoided reading anything he’s written. I can only think, if it’s free it’s garbage. I just bought the newer Pevear Three Musketeers translation.

  Howard Hendrix, is that you?

• [noen]

  I’d be all for legal and cultural enclaves ruled by reason instead of politics and religion.

  We know what that is, it’s called fascism.

  Maybe when I have time I’ll read the story but it doesn’t sound attractive to me. One thing does strike me though. It seems to be a kind of mirror to Heinlein’s dystopias. It appears to be a common enough fantasy of the rightwing to yearn for a Mad Max world in which they just know they’s agonna be livin’ large. It’s talk like a pirate day at the Thunderdome. The leftwing geeky paradise is to escape into one’s neurosis where one can manipulate the secret levers of the world and never be stained by anything human.

  Both are pre-adolescent fantasies, delusions. Both negate the real world filled with adults who are not me. Neither are prescriptions for a healthy world. Most people however grow up.

• [mdhatter]

  The left-wing ideal is a government transparent and responsible to its people. The right-wing ideal is vice-versa.

• [Cory Doctorow]

  Jeff, the largest circ sf magazine I know of right now is Escape Pod, which is 100% CC licensed. They do not lack for submissions.

  I have, in fact, written about and reported on the outcomes of the experiment. See my Locus columns and various links here.

• [blutec]

  Thank you mr. Doctorow, I’ve learned more and enjoyed it very much: I’ve read it along the audio version, for me a great option to comprehend (English). It was my first Doctorow read, and will now start with Little Brother :)

• [Jeff]

  Antinous, can I send any questions I have to you via email? Please? I think I’m frustrated because I don’t understand. You know, it’s one of those conflicts: I’m a Cory Doctorow fan and I want to know this stuff. But accepting a new theory that hasn’t been tested for long is not what Cory would promote. He’s an advocate of the scientific method, after all. He wouldn’t respect me at all if I was just going to suck up any new idea. The fact that he advocates some pretty new stuff means he’s already proved to himself that these ideas are valid. I’d like to think so to, but I’m neither the Thinker or the Prover and so it’s a lot harder for me.

  I do keep up with a lot of what gets said outside of BoingBoing. There are a lot of people who don’t agree with this new marketing idea. And what is the answer regarding the issue of people stealing DMR-free digital books? If the past and present are any indication, then the future will have even more theft. Everyone knows digital crime is increasing, every day, day in and day out. I’m sorry if that consideration seems too unrealistic, or stupid. But if you don’t look to see how an idea can fail, you’re not really condisering it well enoungh.

  I’ll drop it now. But you know what, unlike a lot of other ass holes here, I’ll admit to it and say I’m sorry. So here it goes: I’m sorry for picking on issues or asking stupid questions or being flip. I’m sorry I don’t understand how all this DMR-free-free stuff works yet.

  • [Antinous]

    Jeff,

    Cory takes risks and they pay off. Other people will try doing what Cory is doing now, but they’ll try it in ten years. And they will fail. Risk aversion is a great survival mechanism, but a questionable business practice. By coming in on the first wave of marketing trends, Cory is basically buying low and selling high. Those who spend a decade waiting to see if it works will end up buying high and selling low.

    It really boils down to character and the willingness to risk failure in order to live your principles.

• [nigelstwin]

  I gotta say, it feels a lot like the comments here are spiraling out of control. That aside, I really liked the audio version of this. ‘Til now, I’d never read any of your work, but I will now. Consider me a convert.

• [Jeff]

  In perpetuity if they so desire.

  Greglondon said, “OK, imagine your explaing that quadruple bypass to heart surgeon, and then imagine that you briefly mention why using leeches to remove “bad blood” is a useful technique in recovery.”

  You know, Greg, they still use leaches in recovery. Not for heart surgery, of course.

  I was thinking of a specific issue regarding the rights of the author/estate in perpetuity because I don’t think I’d personally want to give up the rights to any of my work. What if we can eventually upload ourselves into a digital domain? Should I give up my rights to my digital intellectual property, especially if I’m a digital being that has been granted full “human” rights? So if I live of a thousand years and hold the copyright to a 960 year old book, so what? Is my continued ownership and control of that copyright hurting anyone else? It’s science fiction, but that doesn’t mean it wont’ be a real issue eventually. Also, there are some endowed foundations that I’m familiar with that hold copyrights, and the sales of those books still feed the endowment. By the way, Canada’s tax system makes setting up a charitable foundation unattractive. That’s why there are so few privatly established philanthropic foundations in Canada.

• [Anonymous]

  Switch…

  I would just like to say that the death in inverted commas of the short story in the printed media has been replaced by a new breed of short story writers in the new media.

  I enjoyed the story, I found it bright and intelligent and as scared as I feel in these peculiar days. The simple fact that I can read like this and in mu own little way write for this is a pleasure.

  So, thank you.

  The rest of you get of your high horses and go read some more.

• [Ceronomus]

  This makes me think of IMSA (The Illinois Math and Science Academy) where my nephew finished High School. Illinois has a public boarding school for the best and the brightest, a place to keep them until Universities catch up with them.

  It *IS* sort of a geek monastery.

• [acb]

  @30: I thought the left-wing SF utopia was a sort of Leninist central planning which works, by the magic of infinite computational power and/or weakly godlike artificial intelligences. (See Iain M. Banks and Ken Macleod, for example.)

• [clothingoptional]

  Of the three stories Tor had up during the beta (you, Scalzi, and Stross) I thought this was the best.

  Of course, Lawrence is a little close to the heart so perhaps that gave it a bit of an edge.

• [bardfinn]

  Fascism specifically /isn’t/ ruled by reason – the historical examples of Fascism: The NSDAP/National Socialists, the Italian Fascists – were explicitly /not/ ruled by reason and were entirely political machines that allied themselves with religions in order to reach their goals.

  Rule of Reason implies egalitarianism. Rule of Reason demands that people understand that arguments and not people nor personalities carry a debate, Reason requires a knowledge of the fallacies and an ability to spot them and an agreement that they disable an argument.

  The United States was founded to be a legal and cultural enclave ruled by Reason, rather than factions (that’s 1700′s English for “Politics”) or religions.

  It is the military-industrial machine (Fascism’s doppelganger and the ashes from which the phoenix of Fascism rises) that has led the American government down the road to fascism.