Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Questions for Cory Doctorow

Please submit your questions for Cory Doctorow on this blog post. Please submit only thoughtful, well constructed questions. :)As soon as questions are chosen, I will let you know who will be speaking to the author.

63 comments:

  1. Is there any connection between Emma Goldman in Little Brother to Goldstein in 1984?
    -Lauren A.

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  2. The notorious hack group Anonymous has previously recommended Little Brother as a "great read". What is your personal opinion of Anonymous and other self-proclaimed "hactivists"? What do you think of the parallels between current events such as SOPA and Little Brother?

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  3. Are the characters in your story truthfully stacked upon your own life story? If not, what drove the inspiration of the creation of these characters?

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  4. Throughout the story the relationship between Ange and Marcus is very chaotic and unstable. Did Van have any affect on this?

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  5. During the past couple months, a lot of the events that occured in Little Brother have also come to fruition in the real world, through SOPA, PIPA, and the hacking group Anonymous. When you wrote Little Brother, did you think that your predictions would come true, and so soon?

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  6. Other than Orwell's 1984, what were your literary inspirations for Little Brother?

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  7. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  8. How much of yourself do you see in Marcus? And were the characters in the book such as Van and Jolu based off of anyone in your life?

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  9. Very recently many of your predictions in Little Brother have become very apparent. How do you feel about the new laws in place and the new protections on school issued home use computers and iPad.
    Gabe Suszynski

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    1. Was there anything going on in the world at the time that inspired the events in your book?

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  10. Do you believe that our society could actually turn into the society in Little Brother?

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  11. Marcus in Little Brother is overly smart in techonolgy. Did you have to do a lot of research to learn about all the technology yourself or did you already know parts of it?

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  12. What character from Little Brother do you feel you connect with the most?

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  13. How do you feel about the SOPA and PIPA acts going through congress now? The governmental control and access the government could have is very similar to what's happening in Little Brother.
    What affects on us and our society could these acts have?

    -Rick Zieser

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  14. Is there a connection between Julia in 1894 and Ange in Little Brother? If so, how would they relate to each other in the sense of the relationships that they are in?

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    1. Sorry I meant to say Lauren Tew not just Lauren.

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  15. Was it Goldstein's book that inspired you to write yours?

    What gave you the idea to have Marcus fight against the DHS using technology?

    How much did you have to research technology? Did you already have this knowledge? The way you described these technological ideas was quite detailed.

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  16. What parts of this book connect specifically to your life? What do you want your readers to get out of this novel at the end?

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  17. What do you think of a the current events with Anonymous attacking the FBI following the shutdown of Megaupload, in relation to the events in Little Brother?

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  18. -In society today, many of the events that have happened in your book "Little Brother" have been extremely similar to what is going on now. Did you predict this to such an extent?
    -What do you think about what is going on today in society with SOPA and the "security" systems that we have in place today?

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  19. - What are your thoughts regarding America's advances in technology and security since Little Brother was written?

    -Do you think that America will eventually become the opressive government that was described in both 1984 and Little Brother? Why or why not?

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  20. Was Little Brother meant to be a modern day 1984 or was it meant to be a foil to 1984?

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  21. Little Brother is extremely centered around using and manipulating technology. Have you ever tried any of this manipulation and what research did you have to do to get good information for the book and Marcus' character?

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    1. What reaction were you trying to provoke out of the reader by setting this book in our current society?

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  22. How did you get all of the information about technology for your book? What kind of research did you have to do?
    - Baergen Schultz

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  23. When reading this book our class noticed multiple similarities between this book and 1984, when writing Little Brother did you think to your self, " Who can I have to be a Julia and a Goldstein or O'Brian" or did you just write the book and the similarites were almost coincidecence that the charecters were so simmilar to the ones in 1984.

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  24. What is your opinion on current events such as SOPA or Anonymous? They seem to reflect many themes that occured in Little Brother.

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  25. I saw that you were born in Canada and now live in London. Why did you decide to make "Little Brother" take place in San Fransisco? Also, why did you decide to base "Little Brother" off of "1984"? Was there any particular part of "1984" that caught your attention and made you want to write "Little Brother"?

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  26. Who or what was your insporation for Van? I see alot of connections between "1984" and "Little Brother" characters, except with Van.

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  27. While writing "Little Brother" did you think that the things the government are doing in the book were going to happen, already happening, or did you just write the government as a creative standpoint?

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  28. Whoops, nevermind. I didn't know the acts where dead. I still like my last question, what affects on our society could increased government access and control have on our soicety?

    -Rick Zieser

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  29. When you wrote this book, did you think that events similar to this were going to start to happen in the near future? Or was the book just a figment of your imagination meant to spark thought?

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  30. What character or part of the book is most personal to you and why? Are there certain parts of the book that are representations of what you have experienced in your own life?

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  31. "1984", although an interesting read, was a political commentary on the current events happening in the world at the time, namely WWII. Was "Little Brother" simply a modern interpretation of "1984", or were there certain elements from the time it was written, political or otherwise, that affected the writing of it?

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  32. What in the outside world influenced your desicion to write "Little Brother"? I know with "1984" Orwell was living during WW2 and that could have affected his book, what influenced yours?

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  33. How much research was required to write Little Brother, and did you start to become paranoid? (While writing about all of the technology that can be used to track a person.)

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  34. OUt of all the events that occured in Little Brother, which one did you relate more to?

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  35. Are there certain events in your life that led to the writing of this book or putting in the events that you did?

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  36. How did you learn and get interested in modern technology and incorporate it into your book?

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  37. What do you want people to do about the problems you bring up in Little Brother?
    -Paige

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  38. Who is your favorite character and why?
    ~Taylor Ogborn

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  39. Did you feel that the events that happened in the book have a possiblilty to happen in real life.

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  40. Did something major happen in your life to inspire you to write this book, or did your life experiences effect the outcome of the book in some way?

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  41. If the attack on the Bay Bridge actually occurred, how far do you think it would be necessary/appropriate for the DHS to take security measures?

    -Emma Y.

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  42. Do you believe the events in Little Brother are happening in our government today? If so, would a teenager like Marcus really be able to challenge the government, or would there have to be some one with much more power have to be the motivator for change?

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  43. Did you base the characters Marcus and Ange off of the characters from 1984, Winston and Julia?

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  44. Do you believe that tracking someone without a warrant is a violation of rights, even if they are a bad person?

    Was Little Brother a prediction of your? What are your thoughts on the SOPA bill?

    What kind of rights do you have in England? In Little Brother, Marcus said something about British people not having rights like we do in America. Is something like the SOPA bill a norm in England?

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  45. When titling the book did you intend to establish a connection with the book 1984?

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  46. Do you trust the Department of Homeland Security in real life?

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  47. If this is the modern day 1984 with more of a personal warning to people today, why did you write such a different ending to the book?

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  48. Of the technology described in Little Brother, like key exchanging and coding, did you already know about it before you wrote it? Or did you research it for the purpose of the book?

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  49. What do you think of all the new security since 9/11 and other terrorist attacks and of PIPA and SOPA? (though those acts were voted down)

    -Colleen Richards

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  50. Why did you choose to put the book online for people to be able to change as much as they want? (Anne W)

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  51. Right now, there are events from this book that are actually happening now, how do you feel about that?

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  52. Is the way that the government is portrayed in "Little Brother" the way that the government actually seems to you?
    Kathleen

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  53. When you wrote little brother how were your feelings about Homeland security and the government? And has your feeling and views on our government, security, and rights changed from when you wrote Little brother compared to today?
    -Jayla Hodge

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  54. How did you learn all of the technology for the plot of Little Brother? Did you have any early professions that lead you to know all of it?

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  55. How do you feel about the advances of technology today?

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  56. How is Marcus similar and different to you as you were a teenager? Was his creation as a character truly reflecting you?

    Anna Zeek

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  57. Due to the rather realistic depiction of a teenage life, how did you make Marcus so believeable?
    Jack B

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  58. Were you always so tech savvy before you wrote the book? Did you know about all of the things you wrote about, such as the arphids and such?

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  59. How did you find out about the xnet and all the other systems and technology you mentioned in the book? Did you know about them before you started writing Little Brother?

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  60. Which other authors have influenced your own writing, and how?

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