Post-mortem sounds prejudicial, so lets say reflexions, instead.

I told my daughters, growing up, that, “if everyone in your life is an asshole, it’s you.” So I am really trying here. From Thursday evening, wandering over to the Chattanoogan Convention Center to get my bearings, I found the Registration table and asked if I could check in. This is not unusual for cons as it helps to lessen the crush for Fridays. I was told by a hipster Tribesman that they’d be open tomorrow around eleven. “So, ten thirty? Eleven thirty?” I asked. “I said eleven!” “No, you said around eleven and I was seeking clarification. Thank you.” As I walked away, my wife heard (I’ve some hearing loss), “You’re fucking welcome.” This was not an auspicious beginning.

After getting checked in the next day, I had about thirty minutes before my first panel, “How to Elevator Pitch Your Game.” I wanted to learn how to do that with a book, but that panel was Sunday at 1400, so I dropped in. The panelists were Bill Fawcett and Steve Jackson; yes, that Steve Jackson. I explained my situation and Fawcett said, fine, you’ve got thirty seconds. I started in on Machine Civilization and he stopped me after one sentence. I tried again and made it to the second sentence. He stopped me again at “demi-human”: NO JARGON. Deep breath. I made it three sentences and he said good enough. That’s why I go to panels: I’m ignorant and want to learn. I want harsh, constructive criticism. We were both dicks but he make me older and I appreciate him for it.

The other panel which clicked was QED, Quantum Electrodynamics, by Hans Schantz. It was very professionally done and also hilarious. We have enough information for electrical engineers to build the tech world we live in but it seems all, ALL, of the underpinning math is either guesswork or wrong. So much for science.

Which led to the Quantum Brain panel. Given what I write about, the nature of intelligence is of interest to me. It was semi-adversarial, with Robert Hampson taking the wetwork approach and Travis Taylor a more theoretical. Very interesting. Until the end. I didn’t have the chance to ask my question, so I stopped Taylor on his way out. “Are you familiar with the works of Julian Jaynes and the bicameral mind? That consciousness might be very recent in humans and even now not widespread?” “Are you saying most people are NPCs?” he laughed. “Yes, I am. So you are familiar with the idea?” He turned on his heel and walked away from me. Fuck that guy.

The other panels were, well, here goes my objectivism, like the con, overrun by Boomers. At 56, I was one of the youngest people there. And the panels on Self-publishing, Marketing, ChatGPT/AI, were all off the rails in minutes. I’ve given many lectures and have run many panels in very different environments. I allow short questions while I’m talking but reserve most to the end. These panels were hijacked and ruined by, “well, back in the 70’s, the law says…” It’s not the fucking 70’s, you old fool. That world is dead and the only law comes from the barrel of gun.

The only publisher of note in the so-called Dealers Room was Three Ravens, a good company, in my opinion. I didn’t stay to chat as I’ll see them in a month at Imaginarium.

Saying all that to say this: I’m happy my wife got to play tourist and visit the Tennessee Aquarium, Rock City, and other places while I watched my life burn. I have no intention of ever going back to LibertyCon.