Sloan: New technology accumulates alongside old crafts rather than replacing them
Robin Sloan · Microbes, Robots, and Ambition - Robin Sloan on His Novel Sourdough · Y Combinator · Nov 29, 2017 · at 14:45
Novelist Robin Sloan explains the recurring theme in his books—such as Sourdough and Mr. Penumbra—where modern tech intersects with traditional crafts.
0:00 / 0:29exact quote · 29.9s
▶ Watch the full episode on YouTube → 720p mp4 · rendered on demand · StarZero watermark
“Instead of the new thing replacing the old thing, it all just piles up in this, like, multi-car crash non-violent crash glorious crash, where everything is just kind of like, and the mountain is getting higher and higher and higher, and I don't know, I find that totally exciting, because it means we get new things all the time, but we also get the benefit of Crafts and ideas and obsessions that have been sort of compelling people for a really long time.”
quote is from the automated transcript, cleaned for reading: filler sounds and stutters are removed, nothing is rephrased. names can be misheard (the analysis reads context, assessments check outside sources). how →
More from Robin Sloan
Robin Sloan: Good creative work begins with a format, not a story
“I, you know, there's that thing you hear where people say, like, Okay, you have to come up with a story, and then you find the right vessel for that story. Like, does this story want to be a book, or a video game, or a HBO series, whatever. I think that is wro…”
Sloan predicts Facebook updates and Instagram photos will be gone by 2050
“I would not bet against everything that we're pouring into kind of the vast digital box, you know, like everything, the Facebook updates, the Instagram photos, all of it basically being gone in 2060, 20, 50. Like, I hope that's not the case, and I mean, it see…”
Robin Sloan: Sourdough is first audiobook with machine learning creative output
“And to my knowledge, it's the first time that like the creative output of a machine learning system has been included in an audio book.”
Sloan: Robotic kitchen automation is extremely difficult outside modular fast food
“But in fact, it's really challenging because that kitchen space is in fact really chaotic and unbounded. It's not one of these spaces that's sort of at least a normal kitchen, like a restaurant kitchen or a, Or home kitchen. McDonald's obviously is kind of is …”
Blogging was essential cross-training for writers to develop ideas publicly
“Because I think people who kind of came up during that time, not only as bloggers, but kind of as writers more broadly, because it was this amazing way to kind of cross train and just force yourself to, like, write something in public every day, even if you di…”