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Bruce Sterling educates America

By Cade Metz in San Francisco • Get more from this author

Posted in Music and Media, 24th May 2008 00:19 GMT

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The Reg has a new favorite cyberpunk sci-fi writer/ubiquitous tech pundit of the future. And a new favorite blog for professional excellence in public speaking, speech-writing, and executive communications.

Yesterday, at a future-happy tech conference in San Diego, cyberpunker Bruce Sterling did the podcast thing with a blog called Professionally Speaking. And when blogger Ian Griffin asked what he was up to, Sterling spilled the beans on his latest project.

"I've been spending a lot of time in Europe and I'm about to write a proposal for a novel set in a future Europe," Sterling said. "I did a novel called Distraction ten years ago, which is about a future United States - and a sort of political situation - and I'm very interested in European politics and European social organization and I'd like to do some extrapolating along those lines."

Europe is ripe for exploration, he went on to say, because it's largely ignored by American scribes. "There are things Europe has to offer that are harbingers for the general human future," he opined. "There is a definite gap opening between America and Europe in terms of coverage because Americans can't afford to live there."

Of course, there's always the net. And Griffin soon asked where on the web Americans could educate themselves on the New Old World.

"European news is not something I'd really recommend for popular consumption. Really trying to figure out what the EU does is really hard - and boring," Sterling answered. "You'd be better off reading the British tech press. Something like The Register."

So there you have it. If you're interested in "Europe as a kind of post-national confederate agency," this is where you turn. ®

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