The WELL

For the eleventh time, Inkwell rings in the New Year with a visit from Well member Bruce Sterling, to address the State of the World and Things Various and Sundry. Bruce used to write novels when there were bookstores, and used to write for magazines and newspapers when magazines and newspapers existed. Nowadays he travels a lot when trains are running and when airports aren't clogged by security theater.

Once again, Bruce's interlocutory partner is Jon Lebkowsky. Jon writes about culture, society, technology. He is an Internet pioneer and thought leader immersed in contemporary social technologies, with expertise in digital communication and collaboration. An early online community moderator on The Well, and a founder of Fringeware, Inc., Jon has been a direct participant in the formative conversations that generated our contemporary global digital society. He's worked with bOING bOING, HotWired, The Whole Earth Catalog, Electric Minds, Whole Foods Market, and many other web and cyberculture projects and endeavors during the World Wide Web***s first decade. With Mitch Ratcliffe, Jon co-edited the book Extreme Democracy, and he was one of the web***s first bloggers, having blogged regularly since 2000.

Gentlemen, the turning of the calendar finds me vacationing in Times Square. Where are you, and what's on your minds? Is it me, or is there a lot to talk about this time around? [Read entire topic]

We are so very fortunate to have our own Emily Gertz as our guest in the Inkwell.vue for the next two weeks. Emily is a freelance writer and just now (early Monday morning) back from the Climate talks in Copenhagen. She is here to share with us her unique perspective on this historical event. Here on The WELL, Emily is the host of the Science Fiction Television conference. Emily also can also be found around www.worldchanging.com. Who, when, what, wha?, at: www.secretmuseum.com on the Internet.

Leading our discussion is Jacques Leslie.

Jacques Leslie started his journalism career as a foreign correspondent, covering the Vietnam War for the Los Angeles Times. For the last decade he has written narrative nonfiction on environmental issues, focusing on water. His 2004 book, Deep Water: The Epic Struggle Over Dams, Displaced People, and the Environment, won the J. Anthony Lukas Work-in-Progress Award and was named one of the top science books of the year by Discover Magazine. His last major magazine piece, a Mother Jones cover story on the international environmental impacts of China's economic growth, won three awards. He has attended one Kyoto Protocol climate change conference, in Buenos Aires in 2004.

Thank you both for being here. [Read entire topic]

Charlie Haas, author of "The Enthusiast," is our next guest in Inkwell.vue.

Charlie Haas was born in Brooklyn, New York, and now lives in Oakland, California. He's written for a few dozen magazines, including New West, Esquire, Outside, Mother Jones, and Wet: The Magazine of Gourmet Bathing. His screenwriting credits include Over the Edge, Gremlins 2, and Matinee. His novel "The Enthusiast" was published by Harper Perennial in May of 2009.

Leading our discussion will be Ed Ward.

Ed Ward has been reading since he can remember and writing professionally since he was 16, largely for magazines and newspapers, most of which are now out of business. He's also been "rock and roll historian" for NPR's Fresh Air with Terry Gross since the show's inception. He lives in Montpellier, France and is working on a memoir of his 15 years in Berlin.

Thank you both for being here. [Read entire topic]