John Carmack returns to QuakeCon for first time in a decade: ‘I’m so happy I’m now welcome’

And his explanation here:

My comments on BasedCon

It is unfortunate that Rob has made BasedCon so intentionally provocative. I told him as much after the event last year – I felt a little uncomfortable. There is a demographic that welcomes the in-your-face posturing, but it drives away sympathetic people that would otherwise be happy to talk about craft, stories, and technology.

Even when someone gives you a clear signal, it is a mistake to extrapolate it to an entire constellation of beliefs and behaviors, and then to assume they are contagious by association. That shortchanges a lot of people.

I’m not a culture warrior, and I don’t want to strike blows against anyone. I don’t follow activists on either side, including Rob, because I tend to think that all the negativity and resentment is detrimental to both the author and target.

The back story:

I like hard science fiction stories with a bit of competent libertarian vibe. I have ever since Heinlein, but it isn’t a mainstream genre. People here on twitter introduced me to a few contemporary authors that scratch that itch, and I have happily read a half dozen new books in the last few years from authors I would have otherwise been unaware of. It is great to be able to get a recommendation, read a book, then drop the author a DM and say “Hey, I liked your book!”

One of those authors was Rob Kroese, who had started organizing a small gathering of authors and fans that fell a bit outside the mainstream of SF/fantasy. This is a tiny niche of a niche, but I had had Twitter conversations with three of the authors attending, and I was interested in the contrast with the big commercial SF/fantasy conventions I had attended.

I was initially going to just show up as a fan, but I wound up giving a talk about AI and sitting on panels about aerospace and fact checking novels. I met several more authors, and came back with a backpack full of new books to read. Politics didn’t come up once in my conversations.

https://twitter.com/ID_AA_Carmack/status/1659173689986883584

Meh, still annoying to me personally, his excuse that he likes libertarian sci-fi books so he went to see what it’s like vs “mainstream” cons, is pretty sus.

17 comments

John Carmack is a legend, but a fucken douche.
The man's a legend, but not without recent controversy:
https://www.pcgamer.com/doom-co-creator-john-carmack-is-headlining-a-toxic-and-proud-sci-fi-convention-that-rails-against-woke-propaganda/
- And his explanation here:
  My comments on BasedCon
  It is unfortunate that Rob has made BasedCon so intentionally provocative. I told him as much after the event last year – I felt a little uncomfortable. There is a demographic that welcomes the in-your-face posturing, but it drives away sympathetic people that would otherwise be happy to talk about craft, stories, and technology.
  Even when someone gives you a clear signal, it is a mistake to extrapolate it to an entire constellation of beliefs and behaviors, and then to assume they are contagious by association. That shortchanges a lot of people.
  I’m not a culture warrior, and I don’t want to strike blows against anyone. I don’t follow activists on either side, including Rob, because I tend to think that all the negativity and resentment is detrimental to both the author and target.
  The back story:
  I like hard science fiction stories with a bit of competent libertarian vibe. I have ever since Heinlein, but it isn’t a mainstream genre. People here on twitter introduced me to a few contemporary authors that scratch that itch, and I have happily read a half dozen new books in the last few years from authors I would have otherwise been unaware of. It is great to be able to get a recommendation, read a book, then drop the author a DM and say “Hey, I liked your book!”
  One of those authors was Rob Kroese, who had started organizing a small gathering of authors and fans that fell a bit outside the mainstream of SF/fantasy. This is a tiny niche of a niche, but I had had Twitter conversations with three of the authors attending, and I was interested in the contrast with the big commercial SF/fantasy conventions I had attended.
  I was initially going to just show up as a fan, but I wound up giving a talk about AI and sitting on panels about aerospace and fact checking novels. I met several more authors, and came back with a backpack full of new books to read. Politics didn’t come up once in my conversations.
  https://twitter.com/ID_AA_Carmack/status/1659173689986883584
  Meh, still annoying to me personally, his excuse that he likes libertarian sci-fi books so he went to see what it’s like vs “mainstream” cons, is pretty sus.
  
  Always interesting how "nerdy" successful dudes with money gravitate towards libertarianism. It usually boils down to not having to pay taxes or reinvest in the communities they extract value from.
- Well that's just painful to read. I wonder how political a conference could be named before he thinks even showing up is no longer the neutrality he thinks he is showing. "BasedCon" is by its definition a political name, and simply showing up shows you are at least receptive to the message, or willing to ignore it.
  I do get that he might be wanting to disassociate the Con from the craft, but if I take it further, would he go to PolPotCon? I doubt he would, even if the interest aligned.