When Sysadmins Ruled the EarthCory Doctorow
When Sysadmins Ruled the Earth
by Cory Doctorow · first published 2015
16mentions
9recommended by
16HN commenters
2009–2025first – last mentioned
56% recommend44% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Short story about sysadmins who take control of infrastructure after a crisis, cited as a thoughtful take on society's dependence on network and IT systems; suits readers of speculative fiction about technology.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
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Relevant short story: "When Sysadmins Ruled the Earth" http://craphound.com/overclocked/Cory_Doctorow_-_Overclocked...
on “When everything else fails, amateur radio will still be there and thriving” ↗…international trade might well yield a situation where a theoretical 2020s United States would have a more difficult time recovering than a 1980s US. At least as far as the 'net stuff goes, the short story "When Sysadmins Ruled the Earth" by Doctorow is maybe one of the only ones that treats the tech angle seriously in a modern light.
on “Why a Post-Nuclear World Would Look Nothing Like “Mad Max”” ↗Cory Doctorow's "Overclocked" has a great little story in it called "When Sysadmins Ruled the Earth" that always comes to mind when I read headlines like this: http://craphound.com/overclocked/Cory_Doctorow_-_Overclocked...
on “Cyber armies are gearing up in the cold war of the web” ↗From their manifesto: Dear Init-Freedom lovers, The Veteran Unix Admin collective salutes you. Does this group expect to be taken seriously? Read Cory Doctorow's "When Sysadmins Ruled the Earth" and get over it.
on “Don't panic and keep forking Debian” ↗Makes me think of Doctorow's When Sysadmins Ruled the Earth. http://craphound.com/overclocked/2014/01/14/when-sysadmins-r...
on ““A spambot barfed its post recipe on my blog”” ↗You might find the short story 'When Sysadmins Ruled the Earth' interesting. https://craphound.com/overclocked/Cory_Doctorow_-_Overclocke...
on “What would happen to the internet in a zombie apocalypse?” ↗You just read When Sysadmins Ruled the Earth, didn't you? http://craphound.com/?p=1678
on “Ponder HN: if the Earth suddenly went arwy, how would we build an Internet?” ↗I think now is an appropriate time to mention "When Sysadmins Ruled the Earth": http://baens-universe.com/articles/when_sysadmins_ruled_the_...
on “Inside the Fortified, Nuke-Proof Bunker that's Now Hosting Wikileaks” ↗When Sysadmins Ruled the Earth
on “Ask HN: What fiction/non-fiction book should everyone read on the topic of CS?” ↗T'was a nice story! I finished reading "When Sysadmins Ruled the Earth" by Cory Doctorow yesteray. Looks like this weekend gonna be Sci-Fi short stories weekend.
on “Hardware Guy – A short story (2010)” ↗The part about camping out in the Apple Store reminded me of "When Sysadmins Ruled the Earth" by Cory Doctorow. http://baens-universe.com/articles/when_sysadmins_ruled_the_...
on “Apple's Role in Japan during the Tohoku Earthquake” ↗Cory Doctorow's When Sysadmins Ruled the Earth touches on this - what happens to the internet activity during a global crisis? http://craphound.com/overclocked/Cory_Doctorow_-_Overclocked...
on “AWS S3 Outage” ↗This reminds me, for some reason, of When Sysadmins Ruled The Earth: https://craphound.com/overclocked/Cory_Doctorow_-_Overclocke...
on “Forgotten Employee (2002)” ↗Data center distaster plans always remind me of the Cory Doctorow story, When Sysadmins Ruled the Earth. Long story short: a data center might be a good place to be in a disaster.
on “California's other drought: a major earthquake is overdue” ↗I was recently listening to the short story "When Sysadmins Ruled the Earth" by cory doctorow. This came up and I started crying. I have no nostalgia for this time period (I was less than 5 yo when this was written) but I do have nostalgia for this sentiment. Due to the technology…
on “A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace (1996)” ↗