You must read “When Sysadmins Ruled the Earth” (link to full story text), a fantastic, and scary, and grab-you-by-the-throat, and not-want-to-let-it-until-it’s-over story authored by Cory Doctorow. As Cory writes in his site, he started writing the story just as London was being bombed by terrorists in July 2005. The story chronicles a doomsday scenario of end-of-the-world apocalypse, with massive attacks and counterattacks (everyone against everyone else) and the attempt of Toronto based sysadmins to keep their servers up and running in the midst of the attack. The rebuilding of the democratic process, the first cyber elections, the restoration of life are all blended together. The story earned the 2007 Locus Award for best novelette.
My favorite excerpt:
“I’ve got a 486 downstairs with over five years of uptime. It’s going to break my heart to reboot it.”
“What the everlasting shit do you use a 486 for?”
“Nothing. But who shuts down a machine with five years uptime? That’s like euthanizing your grandmother.”
Please visit and read the story.
I.
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