I used to love Bruce Sterling's fiction. Now I find him unbearably tendentious and self-satisfied. Case in point. The Speculist is back from a refit and presents us with this tired, pointless column from Wired Magazine. It annoyed me when I first read it, and it annoys me now. I guess he just got too cool for me.

More likely yet, we live in a dull, self-satisfied, squalid eddy in history, blundering around with no concept of progress and no sense of direction. We have no idea what we really want from our own lives or from society.

Well, I guess the squalid part might apply, but as for the rest, gimme a break. Like we needed more windy ruminations on how unpleasant it all is. Damn. I blame Bush.

On a lighter note, The Speculist points us at this development. Go Navy.