I watch the ripples change their size
But never leave the stream
Of warm impermanence
And so the days float through my eyes
But still the days seem the same
And these children that you spit on
As they try to change their worlds
Are immune to your consultations
They're quite aware of what they're goin' through

Tuesday, August 16, 2016

Story Bone

The future of art forgery could be data forgery. The Hidden Brain podcast on forgery (youtube). And an NPR intro to the podcast (with text). Right now we have a for of this. After all, identity theft is a form of data forgery. Especially in those cases where people live as those they've taken an identity from (different than just stealing). And hacking is a form of data forgery. But here I'm talking masterpiece, history changing types of data forgery. Creating whole databases of information that you pass off as real in an attempt to gain something (changing history, proving you're the lost heir to whatever, altering the social fabric). So I think if you think big here, beyond the "simple con" there could be an interesting novel (from many sides, the forger, the victim, society, or the detective who is trying to prove the forgery).

There are so many facets to such a story. Credibly forging not only a database, the information and structure to possibly match an outdated piece of software, but generating the metadata needed for the provenance and proof. Plus the psychology of forgery, the insertion of time bombs, etc. Yes, I'm thinking this is a novel length work (although you could do it minority as a short story plot bunny).

1 comment:

Steve Buchheit said...

Wag the Dog was sorta this, but more concerned with the politics.