Flash Crowd
Encyclopedia
"Flash Crowd" is a 1973
English language
novella
by science fiction author Larry Niven
, one of a series about the social consequence of inventing an instantaneous, practically free transfer booth that could take one anywhere on Earth
in milliseconds.
One consequence not foreseen by the builders of the system was that with the almost instantaneous reporting of newsworthy events, tens of thousands of people worldwide — along with criminals — would flock to the scene of anything interesting, hoping to experience or exploit the instant, thus disorder and confusion be created. The plot centers around a television journalist who, after being fired for his inadvertent role in inciting a post-robbery riot in Los Angeles, seeks to independently investigate the teleportation system for the flaws in its design allowing for such spontaneous riots to occur. His investigation takes him to destinations and people around the world within the matter of less than 12 hours before he gets his chance to plead his case on television, and he encounters the wide-ranging effects of displacements upon aspects of human behavior such as settlement, crime, natural resources, agriculture, waste management and tourism.
, Niven suggests that easy transportation might be disruptive to traditional behavior and open the way for new forms of parties, spontaneous congregations, or shopping trips around the world. The central character in Ringworld, celebrating his birthday, teleports across time-zones to "lengthen" his birthday multiple times (particularly notable since the first edition had the error of the character heading the wrong direction, increasing that edition's value).
Niven's essay "Exercise in Speculation: The Theory and Practice of Teleportation" was published in the collection All the Myriad Ways
In it he discusses the ideas that underlie his teleportation stories.
, a similar phenomenon can occur, when a web site catches the attention of a large number of people, and gets an unexpected and overloading surge of traffic. This usage was first coined by John Pettitt of Beyond.com in 1996. Multiple other terms for the phenomenon exist, often coming from the name of a particular prominent, high-traffic site whose normal base of viewers can constitute a flash crowd when directed to a less famous website. Notorious examples include the "Slashdot effect
", the "Instalanche" (when a smaller site gets links by the extremely popular blog Instapundit
), or a website being "Fark
ed" (where the target site is crashed due to the large number of hits in a short time).
An episode of CSI: Miami
, "Murder in a Flash" centers on a flash mob
which is a very similar idea, albeit produced by standard transportation. A large group of people are gathered together by e-mails and text messages in a place identified by GPS coordinates.
1973 in literature
The year 1973 in literature involved several significant events and the writing of many notable books.-Events:*September 25 - The funeral of Chilean poet Pablo Neruda becomes a focus for protests against the new government of Augusto Pinochet...
English language
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
novella
Novella
A novella is a written, fictional, prose narrative usually longer than a novelette but shorter than a novel. The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America Nebula Awards for science fiction define the novella as having a word count between 17,500 and 40,000...
by science fiction author Larry Niven
Larry Niven
Laurence van Cott Niven / ˈlæri ˈnɪvən/ is an American science fiction author. His best-known work is Ringworld , which received Hugo, Locus, Ditmar, and Nebula awards. His work is primarily hard science fiction, using big science concepts and theoretical physics...
, one of a series about the social consequence of inventing an instantaneous, practically free transfer booth that could take one anywhere on Earth
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...
in milliseconds.
One consequence not foreseen by the builders of the system was that with the almost instantaneous reporting of newsworthy events, tens of thousands of people worldwide — along with criminals — would flock to the scene of anything interesting, hoping to experience or exploit the instant, thus disorder and confusion be created. The plot centers around a television journalist who, after being fired for his inadvertent role in inciting a post-robbery riot in Los Angeles, seeks to independently investigate the teleportation system for the flaws in its design allowing for such spontaneous riots to occur. His investigation takes him to destinations and people around the world within the matter of less than 12 hours before he gets his chance to plead his case on television, and he encounters the wide-ranging effects of displacements upon aspects of human behavior such as settlement, crime, natural resources, agriculture, waste management and tourism.
characters
- Barry Jerome "Jerryberry" Jansen - "newstaper" (television correspondent and cameraman) for Central Broadcasting Association (CBA). Father Eric brought the family to ruin when attempting to participate in the massive investment rush for the then-burgeoning stock in displacement booths.
- George Lincoln Bailey - CBA editor
- Wash Evans - host for CBA's Tonight Show flagship news program
- Janice Wolfe - friend of Jerryberry
- Nils Kjerulf - manager of Los Angeles International, now far from the major depot of mass transit of yesteryear due to the decrease in need for air transport
- Gregory Scheffer - customs guard.
- Dr. Robin "Robbie" Whyte - inventor of the displacement booth
- Harry McCord - former Los Angeles Police DepartmentLos Angeles Police DepartmentThe Los Angeles Police Department is the police department of the city of Los Angeles, California. With just under 10,000 officers and more than 3,000 civilian staff, covering an area of with a population of more than 4.1 million people, it is the third largest local law enforcement agency in...
Chief. - Tahitian ticket-taker - formerly owned a house until squatters drove him and his family out and moved in
Use in other works
In various other books, for example RingworldRingworld
Ringworld is a Hugo, Nebula, and Locus award-winning 1970 science fiction novel by Larry Niven, set in his Known Space universe and considered a classic of science fiction literature. It is followed by three sequels, and preceded by four prequels, and ties into numerous other books set in Known Space...
, Niven suggests that easy transportation might be disruptive to traditional behavior and open the way for new forms of parties, spontaneous congregations, or shopping trips around the world. The central character in Ringworld, celebrating his birthday, teleports across time-zones to "lengthen" his birthday multiple times (particularly notable since the first edition had the error of the character heading the wrong direction, increasing that edition's value).
Niven's essay "Exercise in Speculation: The Theory and Practice of Teleportation" was published in the collection All the Myriad Ways
All the Myriad Ways
All the Myriad Ways is a collection of 14 short stories and essays by science fiction author Larry Niven, originally published in 1971.-Contents:* "All the Myriad Ways"* "Passerby"* "For a Foggy Night"* "Wait it Out"* "The Jigsaw Man"...
In it he discusses the ideas that underlie his teleportation stories.
Other reading
- "Flash Crowd" is included in the short story collection The Flight of the Horse. The story (or parts of it) was originally published as "Flash Crowd" in Three Trips in Time and Space, by Robert Silverberg, ed.
- "The Last Days of the Permanent Floating Riot Club" is included in the short story collection A Hole in SpaceA Hole in SpaceA Hole in Space is a collection of science fiction short stories by Larry Niven, published in 1974. It contains:* "Rammer" * "The Alibi Machine"...
- Other stories in this series are in these two books and in All the Myriad WaysAll the Myriad WaysAll the Myriad Ways is a collection of 14 short stories and essays by science fiction author Larry Niven, originally published in 1971.-Contents:* "All the Myriad Ways"* "Passerby"* "For a Foggy Night"* "Wait it Out"* "The Jigsaw Man"...
.
Similar References
On the World Wide WebWorld Wide Web
The World Wide Web is a system of interlinked hypertext documents accessed via the Internet...
, a similar phenomenon can occur, when a web site catches the attention of a large number of people, and gets an unexpected and overloading surge of traffic. This usage was first coined by John Pettitt of Beyond.com in 1996. Multiple other terms for the phenomenon exist, often coming from the name of a particular prominent, high-traffic site whose normal base of viewers can constitute a flash crowd when directed to a less famous website. Notorious examples include the "Slashdot effect
Slashdot effect
The Slashdot effect, also known as slashdotting, occurs when a popular website links to a smaller site, causing a massive increase in traffic. This overloads the smaller site, causing it to slow down or even temporarily close. The name stems from the huge influx of web traffic that results from...
", the "Instalanche" (when a smaller site gets links by the extremely popular blog Instapundit
Instapundit
Instapundit is a United States political blog produced by Glenn Reynolds, a law professor at the University of Tennessee. The blog began in August 2001 as an experiment, and a part of Reynolds' class on Internet law...
), or a website being "Fark
Fark
Fark is a community website created by Drew Curtis that allows members to comment on a daily batch of news articles and other items from various websites. As of June 2009, the site boasts approximately four million unique visitors per month, which puts it among the top 100 English language websites...
ed" (where the target site is crashed due to the large number of hits in a short time).
An episode of CSI: Miami
CSI: Miami
CSI: Miami is an American police procedural television series, which premiered on September 23, 2002 on CBS. The series is a spin-off of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation....
, "Murder in a Flash" centers on a flash mob
Flash mob
A flash mob is a group of people who assemble suddenly in a public place, perform an unusual and sometimes seemingly pointless act for a brief time, then disperse, often for the purposes of entertainment, satire, artistic expression...
which is a very similar idea, albeit produced by standard transportation. A large group of people are gathered together by e-mails and text messages in a place identified by GPS coordinates.