Kelson
@kvibber.com
Techie, software developer, hobbyist photographer, sci-fi/fantasy and comics fan in the Los Angeles area. He/him. More often at @notes.kvibber.com or my website https://kvibber.com
The title refers to Norman Spinrad's satirical 1972 novel, The Iron Dream, which takes that strain to its logical conclusion, and makes the parallels to real-world fascism explicit through a framing sequence set in an AU where a dictator became an SF writer instead.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Iro...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Iro...
December 1, 2025 at 5:33 AM
The title refers to Norman Spinrad's satirical 1972 novel, The Iron Dream, which takes that strain to its logical conclusion, and makes the parallels to real-world fascism explicit through a framing sequence set in an AU where a dictator became an SF writer instead.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Iro...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Iro...
I'd known the broad strokes and some of the specifics, but seeing them all tied together in a continuous thread is...enlightening.
And makes it clear how people like Musk and Andreeson can look at the "genre of ideas" and only pick up on the tropes that justify their own prejudices and ambitions.
And makes it clear how people like Musk and Andreeson can look at the "genre of ideas" and only pick up on the tropes that justify their own prejudices and ambitions.
December 1, 2025 at 5:33 AM
I'd known the broad strokes and some of the specifics, but seeing them all tied together in a continuous thread is...enlightening.
And makes it clear how people like Musk and Andreeson can look at the "genre of ideas" and only pick up on the tropes that justify their own prejudices and ambitions.
And makes it clear how people like Musk and Andreeson can look at the "genre of ideas" and only pick up on the tropes that justify their own prejudices and ambitions.
Reading that, I'm reminded of Office Space, and Michael Bolton explaining why he doesn't want to change *his* name...
November 16, 2025 at 4:07 AM
Reading that, I'm reminded of Office Space, and Michael Bolton explaining why he doesn't want to change *his* name...
TL;DR: Vivaldi is the spiritual successor to the old Opera & has email instead of AI, Orion is like an advanced Safari & runs Chrome extensions, Waterfox is Firefox without the Mozilla services & telemetry, and Zen is an attempt to build a "calmer" experience similar to Arc.
November 6, 2025 at 7:42 PM
TL;DR: Vivaldi is the spiritual successor to the old Opera & has email instead of AI, Orion is like an advanced Safari & runs Chrome extensions, Waterfox is Firefox without the Mozilla services & telemetry, and Zen is an attempt to build a "calmer" experience similar to Arc.