DNA:
Well, I've been working away on a book which is now extremely
late... it's called "The Salmon of Doubt." I'm always a little reluctant to say
too much about a work that's in progress because what inevitably happens is any
idea you discuss drops out of the book. Because I am aware of that, I've been
telling everybody that it's a Dirk Gently book.
Host:
Douglas, I'm having host problems and can't get to the guests
questions at the moment...In the meantime: Would you tell us about your new
multimedia interactive company "Digital Village?"
DNA:
This is also taking up quite a lot of my time and energy in
the last few months. It probably won't be up and functioning until sometime next
year. It's a multimedia company that consists of me and a bunch of friends
mostly from British TV but also one of the founding members of "Wired," and we
are aiming to do-- starting at the traditional end, tv programs, also cd roms,
and most importantly, as far as I'm concerned, online publishing. Which I think
is the most exciting new area to be working in. It's rather like being in the
film industry in about 1905. When the whole industry is actually being invented
around you, and every idea you have is a new one.
Host:
I hear you have ambitions in the rock music world....and
recently played guitar with Pink Floyd. Please tell us about it.
DNA:
That's right...well, this ws a birthday present to me. I had a
very significant birthday last year, I was 42, and one of the guests at the
party was David Gilmour, and one of his presents to me-- a considerable
surprise-- was an invitation to play a couple of numbers on guitar at the Earl's
Court. It's a big venue in London. There's a story about that, actually. I had a
letter from somebody who was in the audience that night who relayed the
following conversation to me. One person asked, "is that Douglas Adams up there
playing?" And they said, "Which one?" They said, "Well, he's the slightly
overweight balding middle-aged guy with the guitar." And they said, "Yes, but
which one." It was a very extraordinary experience actually and it confirmed for
me the strong desire I've had for a long time, to be a rockstar.
Host:
I've had a request that you type in a little more before
hitting the return...the messages are a bit choppy...Thanks! Ok, next question
coming up
Question: When will we here in the US be able to see another on your books put to movie?
DNA:
I don't know why you say another because I haven't had one
made into a movie yet. "Hitchhiker's Guide" was made into a television series.
Host:
I think that's "another OF your movies"
DNA:
The Dirk Gently books are currently in development as a
television series. The "Hitchhiker's Guide" is currently under development. I'm
very confident that it will actually go into production any decade now. When...
I want to know when too.
Shell_Bryson:
Does Douglas think that printed media is going to get
replaced with soft media: Published [exclusively] on the net?
DNA:
In the long run, I think that may well happen but that's very
much in the long run, it's not imminent. The death of print media has been
predicted for a very, very long time. For instance, it was first predicted when
computers began seriously to arrive 15 years ago. What has actually happened is
that there are whole extra sections in bookstores devoted to computers. Going
back to the Digital Village, one of the major things we will be setting up in
the next few months is a very large scale web site, parts of which will be
devoted to "Hitchhiker's Guide" and Dirk Gently and there will be tons of
opportunities to interact. It will be a growing repository of anything having to
do with Hitchhiker.
MarkFielder:
Douglas, back in 1990, you presented a TV documentary
on multimedia called Hyperland. Looking back, how do you think things have
shaped up, compared to what was shown & predicted in the film.
DNA:
I can't remember the film that well... But... I think that
what we end up with will be both better and worse than what was suggested in the
film, which is a safe answer because I can't remember precisely what the film
predicted. I will make one point, actually... people talk a lot about
interactive television, and indeed I talked about interactive tv a lot in that
program, but I have a feeling that the medium we use for communication and
entertainment will not be an extension of the television model but will be an
extension of the computer model. In that I think the computer will gradually
embrace all the things we currently expect from tv rather than vice versa, but
that's just a guess. Here's an example of what I mean. We hear a lot about what
the promises or pitfalls of video on demand may be, but as far as I can see,
most of the experiments that are being conducted in that field have produced
disappointing results. I think that's because it's an extension of the old couch
potato model. On the other hand, the Internet is growing and growing at an
astonishing rate, and we already have radio on demand, audio on demand, which is
just something that somebody dreamed up and put on the Net, and it works. It's
not hugely high quality yet, but the thing is, it does work. I think that a
little bit further down the line when people have much faster higher bandwidth
access to the Net, video on demand will just arrive one day amidst hundreds of
other ideas that we haven't even thought of yet.
Pat-M:
Douglas: What do you think of such hard science fiction
writers such as Gregory Benford and his ideas?
DNA:
I don't think I've read any Benford. I have to say that I read
very little science fiction. I think that when I read I tend to read a great
deal of science fact, science nonfiction is another way of putting it. It seems
to me that there's no percentage in reading science fiction if you're a science
fiction writer. Because what happens is this: if you read a book and if it's not
as good as what you write, then it's boring and a waste of time -- if it's
better, than it makes you depressed. If it has an idea that you were thinking of
using, then you can't use it any more. There's little positive to be gained,
therefore, by reading science fiction.
DEstroff:
Have you found the images from NASA/Hubble of the earth,
satellites, galaxies etc stimulate him to think more about the universe of
"Hitchhikers Guide"?
DNA:
Particularly comedy science fiction... I really can't stand
it. I'm not... they don't necessarily make me think about "Hitchhiker's Guide"
very much, but they certainly stimulate thought.
TJinOhio:
Douglas, are there any media in which you still have not
published the HitchHiker's guide? And if yes, why not?
DNA:
Well, movie... why not? Simple answer, Hollywood.
Host:
The images you have online here in the "HOT" images
folder...what are they?
DNA:
They are puzzles, so the question... I would like basically to
send the question back to the questioner: what are they? The odd thing is that
people have spent 15 years digging around trying to find all sorts of
significances to the number 42, when I just meant it as a joke. Then when I did
this grid of spheres I designed for the illustrated edition of the Guide, I
decided I would build into it all sorts of hidden puzzles. As far as I can see,
no one has spotted one of them. So give it your best shot and send us mail if
you find something.
rivera:
What happened to Mark Cowardice and how are the animals
from Last Chance to See fairing?
DNA:
Mark Cowardice is doing well and working very very hard as a
zoologist and conservationist. I don't see him that often because he is usually
on the other side of the world in a tent. The news on the various animals, some
is good, some is not so good. The gorillas, particularly, are in terrible danger
at the moment, because of the political upheavals in Rwanda. The rhinos continue
to be under terrible threat because of the trade in rhino horn. The kakapo...
continues to experience problems brought about by its own inability to reproduce
properly.
Host:
Douglas, could you tell us more about that project? Do you
think your work with it helped ?
DNA:
I hope that it helped... certainly it has produced reactions
from a lot of people who would otherwise not have thought to sit and read a book
about conservation work. One of the nicest responses I had to it was from a
zoologist at Oxford University. He told me that he always used to have a problem
when people asked him why he was a zoologist. Now he says when people ask him
that question he just gives them a copy of "Last Chance to See." Then they get
it, he says.
heath:
Douglas - do you have any plans to revive Arthur, Ford,
Zaphod etc in another Hitchhiker story?
DNA:
No plans at the moment. In the past, I've made the mistake of
saying Yes, I will do another Hitchhiker book or no I won't do another one and
nearly always turn out to be wrong. Therefore I will make no firm predictions
but will only say I have no plans at present.
Shell_Bryson:
Douglas: Are there going to be any CD-ROM games
[based on your work]?
DNA:
A lot of people have complained that I killed all the
characters off at the end of "Mostly Harmless.... But there was a very good
reason why I did that, which was this: at the end of each of the previous books,
all of the characters were scattered all a around the galaxy so that when I came
to write the next one I would spend about the first 50 pages having to act not
so much as author but more as sheepdog rounding them all up. I felt that having
them all dead at the end of the book was much neater. At least you know where
they are! Yes, there will be CD roms. The first one will not be Hitchhiker one
though, probably not even the second, either. The first CD rom I do is an all
new story which is called "Starship Titanic." I will also probably do a CD rom
based on "The Meaning of Liff."
TJinOhio:
Douglas, what are the chances of Dr. Who being revived
soon and you writing another script for it?
DNA:
No...I have no information about Dr. Who whatsoever. I worked
on the program when was it, nearly 20 years ago, and that was a whole other
stage of my life.
JordanG:
I think your theory about flying only being a matter of
missing the ground is brilliant (that and the 5th dimension being probability).
Totally unrelated, what do you think of the similarities between HHGTTG and Red
Dwarf?
DNA:
I don't know, I've never seen Red Dwarf. Refer to your
previous answer... That just came about because I regularly used to have the
flying dream, and it was so vivid to me that I wanted to find a way of capturing
it.
DEstroff:
My daughter wants to know: did you base your
"Hitchhikers" characters on friends/acquaintances? My kids have memorized the
radio shows- we play them in the car on long trips.
DNA:
One or two of the characters are based on real people,
particularly the character of Marvin was based on a friend of mine, though he
became a slightly less good friend as a result of it. It's interesting to point
out that Marvin is famously a very depressive character, and the person he was
based on was another comedy writer because we're all a bit like that.
Host:
As we are here in the 21st Century Auditorium...What is your
personal vision of the 21st Century?
DNA:
I think by and large it's quite an optimistic one, though it's
optimistic by choice rather than necessarily by conviction. I think it is
important to have an optimistic view of the future. If we all allow ourselves to
be hypnotized by the Bladerunner vision of the future, then that's what we'll
get. I would say that the 20th century is one in which physics has been the
queen of the sciences. I think that in the 21st century, biology will be the
queen of the sciences, and the thing that makes that crucial difference is the
emergence of the computer and the effect that has had on our understanding of
evolutionary science. I hope our perceptions and understanding of the world, our
philosophy, if you like, is based far more on profound understanding of the way
the world actually works rather than wishful thinking about it. I hope that just
as the technology we've had for the last couple of centuries has meant that we
have lived very heavily on the earth, I hope that in the 21st century the very
high technology we will have will allow us to live on the earth much more
lightly.
Steve_Burkholder:
The vehicle of the Internet provides as never
before the capability of co-operative story writing and story telling, possibly
with unlimited plot lines -- does any of this interest you?
DNA:
It doesn't particularly at the moment, because I haven't yet
seen the point of it. It may well be that I suddenly do see the point to it, in
which case I will. At one time, I didn't see the point of interactive fiction,
now I do. Collaborative fiction I'm not so sure about, but give me time.
Host:
Several people want to know if Dirk Gently will return (my
personal favorite!).
DNA:
Well, this is a complicated question. The first thing is
there's a tv series in development at the moment based on Dirk Gently. I can't
give you any dates other than to say that at this level of television just the
contract took a year to write. The other part of the answer has to do with the
book I'm working on at the moment. As I said earlier, I'm always nervous about
telling people about things I'm currently working on because anything I say
about it almost always turns out to be untrue. With this in mind, the only thing
I've told people about the current book, "The Salmon of Doubt," is that it's a
Dirk Gently book. That now turns out not to be true. I got rid of the character
of Dirk Gently from it only because I was getting very very held up with the
book. There was something somewhere that I couldn't get to work properly and
after I'd tried shifting one thing after another inside the book realized that
the thing that was actually causing the problem was Dirk himself, so I thought
why not write Dirk out, then see if it works, and lo and behold, it did! The
only thing I've told people about the book so far is the one thing about it that
is not true.
Host:
That seems to be a pattern for you! Can you tell us who will
be playing Dirk? Or anything else about the tv production?
DNA:
Not yet, no, I can't. One of the reasons for this is that I
don't know, but that's only one of the reasons.
Mark_FrmMgr:
Who are you favourite writers? Also which Scientists
do you find most inspiring...
DNA:
The scientists I find most inspiring are Richard Dawkins,
Richard Feinman, anybody called Richard, really.
Shell_Bryson:
Any advice for budding SF authors out here?
DNA:
Advice to people living in SF is basically keep on doing it.
It's one of the places I wouldn't mind living....
james_lord:
Douglas: Do you watch Star Trek TNG. What do you think
of the technical aspects??
DNA:
I've seen one or two episodes and I quite enjoyed it. I'm not
sure I have any particularly profound remarks to say about it. I think Patrick
Stewart does a very good job.
DanStar:
Question: Do you think the rumor that AT&T buying out
MS is true.. and if so how much do you think it will affect the world of science
fiction.
DNA:
AT&T buying what?
tedbw:
AT&T is buying ziff interchange, not ms
DNA:
I hadn't heard that rumor. Good God! This sounds to me like a
very very wild rumor.
santosc:
Do you believe Earth will actually communicate with life
outside our solar system?
DNA:
I have no idea whether there is life out there or not--I'd
like to think there is, but the scientific view is that we don't know.
Richard_Bodor:
forget the media - what shoes are you wearing?
Sandals? Loafers? (needed for my thesis)
DNA:
At this precise moment, I am wearing some moccasins from Santa
Fe. Thanks for asking.
Meej:
You had mentioned (last year?) in your Internet newsgroup
that you were working on the Hitchhiker movie script. Unlike the TV series, you
have only two hours to work with. Will it still cover both HHGTTG and Restaurant
or just the first novel?
DNA:
It wouldn't be possible to do a movie that covered all that
ground because as anybody in the movie industry will tell you, the thing that
makes an ideal movie is a short story, not a whole book. I wouldn't say that the
movie was exactly based on the first book but HH fans will probably know what I
mean when I say that it is the first book that the movie specifically
contradicts.
heath:
What do you think of Win95 compared to your beloved
Macintoshes?
DNA:
Regarding WIN95 vis a vis Mac, people are saying now it's
almost as good as Macintosh. Well, that's fine for everybody that uses Windows
-- I've already got a Mac and I'm very happy with it. The problem I foresee
happening with it is this, if it really is as good as Mac where will they get
their ideas from?
rOOSTA:
What kind of guitar did you use when playing with Pink
Floyd?
DNA:
I used a Joe Jones copy of a Danelectro guitar when I played
with the Pink Floyd. I bought it at Route 66, which is a lefthanded guitar
store.
DanStar:
Do you think you will be involved in the Interactive Cable
TV?
DNA:
I think I will be involved in interactive network
entertainment. As I said earlier, I think that what grows out of the internet
promises more than what grows out of tv.
Meej:
Are the problems with getting a Hitchhiker movie off the
ground limited to the larger movie studios (didn't Ivan Reitman own the rights
for a time?) or have you had problems with independent studios as well?
DNA:
Ivan Reitman is out of the picture.
DNA:
The problem is that everybody loves it but wants it to be
different.
rlith:
How do you feel about censorship on the net? Do you worry
about congress censoring a book of yours online do to a blue word?
DNA:
I love that remark somebody made about the net that the
internet interprets censorship as damage and routes around it. And what is a
nice irony about that is the fact that the internet is able to behave in that
way. The structure was originally designed by the Rand Corporation, a right-wing
think tank... that's an irony I particularly enjoy.
Mark_FrmMgr:
DOuglas, when will the INTERNET become self aware..or
is it already.. if so will it develop Marvinesque tendencies!?
DNA:
I don't know if it will become self aware, but certainly it's
beginning to exhibit some of the...it's beginning to exhibit certain biological
forms of behavior. But a sponge exhibits biological forms of behavior, but none
that I have ever used are self aware...
rlith:
What sort of mindset do you get into when you write your
books?
DNA:
A mindset of wondering if it's time for another cup of coffee
yet.
rlith:
Hehehe Gotta love it... Peace be with you!
DNA:
Okay, got to go... you're all spectators again.
Host:
When will you be back?
DNA:
Let's shoot for September sometime.
jmw:
What do you prefer: The US or England?
Kevin_Ryan:
What's your favorite kind of tea?
DNA:
US VS England...Oh, it's a hard question, I mean there's stuff
I like and dislike about both. My favorite tea is Earl Grey. My favorite parts
of the States are the Bay area and New Mexico.
Host:
Thanks VERY much for being here with us tonight, Douglas!
DNA:
Cheers!
Host:
Tah!
Greg Wait @+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++@
+ Zooey aka Xang Woopy, 101010 +
+ Field Researcher for the Project Galactic Guide +
@+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++@