P0000510 Chris Nakashima-Brown (left) and Lawrence Person

at the ArmadilloCon 2004 panel "Cyberpunk after 9/11".

Synopsis from ArmadilloCon program book: Why have the cyberpunks abandoned the future? Do William Gibson's "Pattern Recognition" and Bruce Sterling's "The Zenith Angle" evidence a trend? (And don't forget the pre-2001 "Cryptonomicon" of Neal Stephenson and "Zeitgeist" of Sterling) Are they science fiction? What makes them different from more mainstream techno-thrillers? What does it mean for the future of SF?

My impression: most science fiction panels are a lot more interesting when there is a technologist on the panel. This discussion had a lot of what the slipstream discussion lacked: direction and focus on ideas, rather than ramblings about publishing and book marketing business -- mostly thanks to Kurt Baty.

The whole article can be found on my web site.