About Me

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Australian philosopher, literary critic, legal scholar, and professional writer. Based in Newcastle, NSW. My latest books are THE TYRANNY OF OPINION: CONFORMITY AND THE FUTURE OF LIBERALISM (2019); AT THE DAWN OF A GREAT TRANSITION: THE QUESTION OF RADICAL ENHANCEMENT (2021); and HOW WE BECAME POST-LIBERAL: THE RISE AND FALL OF TOLERATION (2024).

Wednesday, November 05, 2008

There and back again

I've just returned to Melbourne from a quick trip to the United Kingdom, where I spoke last Thursday at a symposium in Liverpool, held at the Foundation for Art and Creative Technology (FACT). This was in honour of the new book Human Futures: Art in an Age of Uncertainty, edited by Andy Miah and published by Liverpool University Press. The FACT symposium went brilliantly, and the book looks like it will be a beautiful production - though copies were not available in time for the symposium, alas.

A couple of days later I also had a chance to sample the BBC Free Thinking Festival, also held at FACT. I had a great time all round, met many wonderful people, had some long and absorbing conversations, and was well looked after throughout. Thanks to all who were so kind and helpful.

It's nice to be home, though, and I'm hoping my life (and this poor, neglected blog) will now settle down for a while into something more like normality.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey Russell I just checked here for the first time but haven't missed anything! Haha, well, I just wanted to ask you about "Terminator: the Sarah Conner Chronicles". I noticed it was renewed again (Good for Sci Fi, but I couldn't really get into it) but I remembered you were curious if anything had been 'sourced' from your trilogy. Have you seen much of it/is this so?

Russell Blackford said...

Hi, Stuart - yes, I followed the first season of the Sarah Connor Chronicles pretty closely (and liked it); and no, I can't say anything was specifically sourced from anything I wrote. The idea of having John as a teenager - with a powerful teenage girl character opposite him - is common to both. But, really, this thought kind of suggests itself. The Sarah Connor Chronicles give John a Terminator friend who looks like a teenager; I gave him as love interest a genetically-engineered Terminator-fighting warrior from the future (the character Jade in The New John Connor Chronicles). Both ideas work, but I still prefer mine.