A majority of recent postings have to do with either our dire political landscape or else updates on many aspects of science that show how wondrous it is to be part of a real civilization, looking ahead to the future.
Which of course is always pioneered by science fiction! And so, with the Seattle World Science Fiction Convention looming in August... and COMICON even sooner (!)... let's dive into that pioneering realm. Starting with this acceptance speech by deservedly installed SFWA Grand Master Nicola Griffith, in which she relates how SF -- always more enlightened in any decade than other genres of a given time -- persuaded her that ancient injustices can be overcome.
... And leading off the same recording, Nebulas MC Erin Roberts amazed with perspectives that were passionate, amusing, unpolemical and insightful. She's the real deal that's needed now, more than ever.
Though speaking of the real deal, amazing rising star Martha Wells will be Author Guest of Honor at the Seattle Worldcon. A genuine Kwizats Haderach... in the best interpretation of the term.
...though maybe I shouldn't apply DUNE references so blithely! Because wow. Damien Walter offers a fantastic video exploring implications and messages of DUNE. And how Frank Herbert’s message - against dark age feudalism - got buried under Frank’s spectacular mastery of point-of-view, resulting in millions actually yearning for one of the most oppressive and nasty societies ever depicted in a human mythology. This is one of the best pod-videos I've seen all year and hugely important for our time.
Though maybe I am biased.
And now we veer into my own corner....
== News from the Briniverse ==
Long-awaited! My 1st novel -SUNDIVER - never had a hardcover edition, till now!
Phantasia Press has issued a special, limited edition, finely-bound with interiors and gorgeous cover, all by the epic artist Jim Burns! Not cheap. But if you want a lovely edition with quality to survive several geological epochs...;-)
And more terrific sci fi news! A Thrilling new Time-Travel Adventure from Amazing Selects - an imprint of Amazing Stories… Boondoggle by Tom Easton and Torion Oey.
The year 2340 was looking pretty good—by 2346, not so much. Saboteurs are running wild on a distant space station, threatening a fragile interstellar alliance. To stop them, Project Hourglass reaches back through time to assemble an unlikely team of problem solvers.
Meet 14-year-old Artie Conan Doyle, snatched from 1879 before he ever dreams up Sherlock Holmes. Irene Kennealy, pulled from 2025 in the middle of her science fair project. Twins Siondra and Tony Pantala, yanked from 2029—along with, by accident, three teenage roughnecks and a fearless beagle pup named Tuffy. Their mission? Uncover the truth behind the sabotage, navigate whispers of alien conspiracies, and survive as members of their team start disappearing. Can a band of time-traveling teens (and one scrappy dog) prevent an all-out war?
The game is afoot, and the future is at stake!
== More sci fi news! ==
Of course this movie ‘trailer for STARTIDE RISING is amateurish, but still way-fun.
We already made (much more impressive and fun) 'trailers' for EXISTENCE, Glory Season, Heart of the Comet, Life Eaters, Otherness and others. These could be given AI animation and voices pretty easily. See them on my website. Now? Working with my agent etc. on animated storyboards for KILN PEOPLE and 'The Tumbledowns'!
The gorgeous collector's hardcover of DUNE, by Earthling Publications, features my - well - perspicacious introduction.
And a new, special hardcover edition of the 1959 classic novel about nuclear aftermath ALAS BABYLON has been published by Centipede Press, with a new introduction by yours truly. Only 50 of 500 copies remain.
And Centipede will soon publish a magnificent edition of GOD EMPEROR OF DUNE, also with an extensive introduction by yours, truly.
From The Portalist: The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the 1990s. "The '90s were a special time for speculative fiction." Earth made the list, along with Snowcrash, The Difference Engine and Doomsday Book.
== And more news? ==
One some of you cited THE UPLIFT WAR, in sending in this news! Field workers had long reported on chimps seeking and sharing slightly fermented/alcoholic fruit in the wild. Lubricating social interactions with a slight buzz. Anyone recall my character Fiben and the dance-party scene in The Uplift War? ;-) Which BTW is a Hugo winner.
We just watched on Netflix an animated miniseries by my brilliant colleague Ken Liu – Pantheon. It posits that AI – the current fad – will be superseded by UI – Uploaded human minds. Good writing and layered. With some of the nuance about uploading that are in Robin Hanson’s nonfiction (sort of) book THE AGE OF EM.
Astronomer Andrew Fraknoi penned an interesting and well-written story about asteroid miners encountering a ‘lurker’ alien probe in the Belt. If you’d like a cool scenario totally consistent with my novel EXISTENCE.
And finally... the best for last... see inteviewed one of the finest young scholars of sci fi, having resurrected from obscurity one of the greatest technology storyists of the 1880s, for everyone to enjoy once more.
"Astronomer Andrew Fraknoi penned an interesting and well-written story about asteroid miners encountering a ‘lurker’ alien probe in the Belt."
ReplyDeleteLink redirects to this blog article, not the story.
Oger thanks. fixed.
ReplyDeleteSince the topic is science fiction, I think the guy who did the Dune video OGH linked to last time is trying to rewrite Dune.
ReplyDeleteThe Dune universe is a horrible place and Paul and Leto II do horrible things, he got it wrong. His interpretation requires that the author, Frank Herbert, has lied to us, not just that the author wrote characters that lied to us. There is nothing anywhere in any of Frank Herbert's Dune novels that reveals that the prescience capabilities of Paul and Leto II are not legitimate, while at the same time there is tons of stuff that reveal that they are.
The Dune universe is a horrible place
DeleteThen again, almost all sci fi universes are, from a certain point of view ... or at least outside the borders of utopia...
Shadam IV/Baron Harkonnen: Military Might is Power.
DeleteThe Navigator's Guild: Spice is Power.
The Bene Gesserit: Religion and Superstition are power.
The Fremen: Survival is Power.
Duke Leto: Alliances are Power.
Paul Attreides: Thank you all for your power.
Cersei Lannister: Power is Power (as she then demonstrated to Littlefinger)
DeleteVladimir Putin: I agree with Cersei, just ask any of the oligarchs I am killing and confiscating their wealth.
Leto II: Thank you for all the fish.
ReplyDeleteOr perhaps...?
ReplyDeleteLeto II: All the power, and thanks for all the fish. ;)
Just for laughs, one of my newest acquisitions has the seriously silly name of "Lesbians in Space." It's an anthology that one of my old writing homies has a story is, so I'm giving it a read. Naturally I read hers first. "Building a Home" is hardly an earth-shattering sociological epic, but a wonderfully-written, moving tale of interpersonal angst. I'm only half way through the collection, and so far no references to Miss Piggy, but it's been enjoyable and creative.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.amazon.com/Lesbians-Space-Where-Gone-Before-ebook/dp/B0F77CLMFD/ref=sr_1_1?crid=15MHB7V8BHVYT&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.VwOotYmjRj4WxOCuuc0FFXRiiwNg9Kf-uuOwXMgS3--q-w_N_1tED2-gXYdWyPqhbxW8qbw8uzdBV_-ygssTX8Ad-YeswoCMxRWY3tRdW_4.E8xDSeJv7vfjj8zfnbNXNGyEH028jiGmTY_9TotqR48&dib_tag=se&keywords=lesbians+in+space+where+no+man+has+gone+before&qid=1752521204&sprefix=lesbians+in+space%2Caps%2C346&sr=8-1
Paul SB
Paul, does the anthology have "The Day They Tested the Rec Room"?
ReplyDeleteI’m afraid not, but the editors said that they got so many wonderful submissions that they are already working on volume two, so maybe?
ReplyDeleteAs Damien Walter suggested, Herbert was maybe forced to make the woo-woo ever more real and threatening to scare us out of our romanticism - although it may have had the opposite effect.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Walter that the Butlerian Jihad parable was used by the powerful to subjugate the masses. And the modern debate over regulation of A.I. is a total red herring*. LLMs are *NOT* A.I. - they're BNW-level soma hits that induce docility, servitude, religiosity, and brain rot. They (Silicon Gulch Techbros) are trying to slip 'Generative' in to replace 'General' in the term AGI, a scammy goalpost migration. My God - it's full of tulips (apologies to Keir Dullea). I also agree about the tragedy of feudalism elbowing out enlightenment. Perhaps more modestly and specifically, there's an urgent need for widespread numeracy and computational thinking. A Butler Paradox?
* It's a Br're Rabbit move to increase the gravitas of LLMs
Today is Bastille Day. Felicitations to French friends and allies and thanks for helping shore up the Enlightenment as its central pillar teeters. Everyone study the stanzas of La Marseilles! Allons enfants de la partie...!
ReplyDelete...Bastille Day.
DeleteMy first protest sign back in April read: "1789: Constitution or Revolution?"
A thought occurred to me. Actually connecting several past thoughts. Elsewhere I've shown how the deepest mental schism in American life -- between pro- and anti-modernity impulses -- goes back all the way to 1778, when Cornwallis went south knowing he would find more romantic/nostalgics who would hence be loyal to the King. A trait that manifested during the Calhoun Tarriff Tiff and then when a million poor southern whites marched and fought and many died to defend the feudal privileges of plantation slaver lords... and again when Gone With The Wind cultural waves romantically extolled the Olde South...
ReplyDelete...and now, bilious anti-modernism that manifests (with much geographic overlap) across the same confederate hearland, as spite toward universities and all-out war vs ALL fact using professions, from science and teaching, medicine and law and civil service to the heroes of the FBI/Intel/Military officer corps who won the Cold War and the War on terror.
In earlier missives I laid out the varied PHASES OF THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR... and the current one - phase 8 or maybe 9... is nasty.
Civil War Phases - CONTRARY BRIN - http://davidbrin.blogspot.com/2014/09/phases-of-american-civil-war.html
and
http://davidbrin.blogspot.com/2013/02/past-keeping-faith-with-future-and-day.html
But a commonality just occurred to me.
Among the travesties that led to the worst episode (so far) -- the 1860s 'Civil War' - was the Fugitive Slave Act, supported by the John Roberts of the 1850s - Roger Taney, cursed be his name and memory and honor. After which, bands of often-masked irregular southern cavalry began rampaging and raiding across northern states, smashing into homes and workplaces, snatching neighbors and ignoring victims who waved documents proving they were free persons, and not 'illegals.'
Sound familiar? Has anyone else made the parallel with today's monstrous ICE depredations? Because those slave-catcher raids had deeper effects than merely a run for the Canadian border. They RADICALIZED northerners, who would never have voted for Lincoln had they not been fiercely -offended by such nasty aggression and oppression. Another major result? Northern states began re-activating their dormant militias. And hundreds of thousands of brave True Americans were thus almost ready, when Lincoln called for volunteers.
Almost. Bull Run was a calimity but those who stood up, stayed up and stepped up again. Till the Union found its generals.
Newsom/AOC in 28.
"It wasn't Hitler or Himmler who abducted me and beat me up, or shot my parents. It was the shoemaker, the milkman or the neighbour who got an uniform and believed they were the Herrentasse." -Karl Stoika, Roma Porajmos survivor.
DeleteHerrenrasse, not Herrentasse.
Delete"It wasn't Hitler or Himmler who abducted me and beat me up, or shot my parents...
DeleteOne of the big Trump promoters--Tucker Carlson or Stephen Miller perhaps?--tried to use that early on in order to redeem the image of Hitler, but also of dictators in general. Paraphrasing, "Hitler didn't put people in gas chambers. The deep state did."
...when Cornwallis went south knowing he would find more romantic/nostalgics who would hence be loyal to the King.
DeleteAccording to comedian Hal Sparks, who was born in rural Kentucky but grew up in the "Breakfast Club" suburbs of Chicago, there's a saying that "In the north, adults make children. In the south, children make adults."
In other words, northerners grow up and then decide it's time to raise children. In the south, getting pregnant (or getting her pregnant) is what forces one to enter adulthood, ready or not.
My Dad - a journalist who covered 1930s Chicago gang wars and the RFK assassination and Nazi trials - used to take us boys to the printing plant where Linotype machine operators pounded keys to mold lines-of-type out of molten lead... a smell like no other. Here's an interesting mini documentary on an important transitional technology.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nv1I7eA3zSs
The comparison between The Fugitive Slave Act and today’s Trumpstapo is kung-fu. I’ll be sure to use this one on FacePalm and Quorel soon
ReplyDeleteWith respect to Dune, weirdly enough I've been thinking about Frank Herbert's epic while rewatching season 2 of Foundation on Apple+. I came across a powerful scene where General Bel Riose talks about seeing parts of the Empire that have fallen into lawlessness.
ReplyDeleteHe says, "The weak are objects, the rapists are Kings, and the poor are slaves."
The inference is that as ugly as it may be, order has massive benefits for the average citizen of the Empire. And that you need to think long and hard before trying to break that order.
Really was a phenomenal scene, and absolutely pertinent to our times, even though Foundation relies on personal action as opposed to what Isaac Asimov wrote in the early segments of his classic trilogy.
Really has a nice depiction of a gay relationship. I must confess I have a hetero bias and have been influenced by the culture of my youth in that I generally don't like to watch gay romance stories. This one was extremely well done.
The recent Dune movies do recognize that Herbert didn't see Paul as a hero. When I was 15, I did read it that way because I wanted to see a 15yo galactic hero (which is the age Paul was when Dune started). Later I recognized it was essentially a Greek tragedy and that Paul really wasn't a hero.
Paul had created a monster he couldn't stop, which really blew up ideas of what being an emperor (or top person "in charge" of an organization) was all about.
The other thought floating through my mind as I rewatch Foundation is recent theories about the Neanderthal. There's growing evidence Neanderthals were smarter and better organized than scientists previously believed. One thought now floating among culutral anthropoligists is that homo sapiens society survived while the Neanderthal order collapsed is human religion.
My thought on this, is building on Bel Riose's powerful scene, religion might have help provide just enough order and "justice" in a social system that made people willing to preserve it, which lead to the weak force that group selection likely is in biology (weaker than Dawkins' selfish gene theory).
I've long wanted to write a post here about my thoughts about religion's role in human civilization. While a lot of it is nowhere near original, where I go with it is somewhat interesting.
In the end, I would argue that the modern indvidualized income tax has largely replaced the role that religion used to play, which is why religious power is waning in many societies today. The tax code is a much more precise tool that's completely under the state's control.
What effect does AI have on this analysis? Right now, it seems the information tech revolution of the last couple of generations is now being used to create more effective control mechanisms for authoritarians, after an intial phase of enabling freedom.
"Why? Why would the Empire accept those horrible things?" Sanja Moheen asked in disbelieve.
ReplyDeleteDroman Nikolavi closed his remaining eye, and furrowed his brows.
"Professor Moheen, if you had to say in a few words why the Oldearthers left the Sol System, what would be your answer?"
"There were multiple reasons ..." she paused, thought. "Survival as a species."
Nikolavi nodded. "Now, professor, what are the core tenets of the Grand Charter of the Empire? Tell me as if I were a first-grader."
"The charter ... allows the worlds to govern themselves as they see it fit, whereas Space is governed by the Empire. The Empire is only allowed to intervene if asked, or if a World poses a threat to other Charter Worlds or Humanity as a whole."
"You can have your worlds, but the stars belong to us", Nikolaev cited a line from a poem written two hundred years ago, with a soft voice yet full of inner strength that surprised Moheen.
"Grahm Arto, court poet of Emperor Tilian IV, if I am not mistaken. From the Odes To The Light .
But still, what you are aiming at, Commander?"
"The Empire covers a territory of thousands of cubic parsecs. We have catalogued millions of star systems, and settled on a small percentage of them. Of these, only half survive their first century, but once they pass this threshold, most of them grow and grow until they reach a population of a few billions. But they also grow more stagnant, more rigid, more ... despotic every year. We have a few outliers like your homeworld Ballerophan, but most become a form of dictatorship or oppressive oligarchy anyway.
This suits us - the Empire - in various ways ... First, since every citizen wishing to join the empire we get generations of people as recruits for the Imperial Arms and the Merchant Fleets. Second, we gain a large number of Exiles to form new colonies to push the borders of the Empire ever further. Third, we stabilize these worlds politically by removing the rebellious elements, thus, can avoid having to wage messy guerillia wars once the regular government asks the Emperor for aid - in the end, most do if it comes to this point. We are a pressure valve and ensure the survival of our species by utilizing the human drives to create tyrannies, and to free itself from it by running away.
And this is why we accept it - the alternatives would mean more violence, more cruelty, and maybe, in the long run, endanger humanity as a whole.
"It did not work on Nuregon, or Saardis, recently."
"Yes, and that troubles me, professor. Normally, we fail only once in a decade or so. But these two plus the troubles we have now on Massaad all happened during two years. We have certain reports that indicate that our usual strategies to avoid bloody civil wars and revolutions do not work. There are also signs, indicators ... for widespread subversion in the Empire itself."
Sania looked consternated.
Nikolavi wanted to continue, but was suddenly interrupted by a klaxon on his wrist communicator. He studied the information, then muttered, "Understood, on my way."
"Professor, I heard you served in the 112st Imperial Marine Corps Brigade before you started a career as an historian and teacher?" "Yes, sir, eight years..." "Then you better remember your old skills soon, Gunny. We are approached by non-identified and likely hostile vessels."
A second later, the general battle alarm roared through the ships speakers.
(This is just a bit of a writing excercise .. and an unfinished story in my head. Feel free to ignore or bash it.)
DeleteHas anyone else made the parallel with today's monstrous ICE depredations [and the Fugitive Slave Act]?
ReplyDeleteI don't remember exactly, but as the only person here who lives in a city with progressive talk radio, I'm sure I have heard the comparison made.
Newsom/AOC in 28.
Also Jasmine Crockett, and Illinois governor J.B. Pritzker.
I suggest creating a multitude of candidate pairs like this in case the regime chooses the Erdogan or Putin routes of dealing with opposition candidates. I'd even be very open with the suspicion that the regime will be at some point so desperate that they might try to arrest or murder them.
DeleteNot science fiction, but scary dystopian nonetheless: https://theconversation.com/so-you-want-to-be-an-autocrat-heres-the-10-point-checklist-125908
ReplyDeleteI don’t read SF any more and don’t have much interest, but speaking of RFK, I’m reading a historical novel about his assassination right now. I didn’t realize how many questions there are about the official narrative. We’ve heard so much about the JFK case, but this one doesn’t seem to get much attention. The author says he spoke to RFK Jr. and he raised many of the same issues the author incorporates into his fictional conspiracy (involving the CIA, the mafia, hypnosis, etc.). Was this a big story at one time? Did your father talk about it?
ReplyDeleteThe Rude Pundit agrees with me:
ReplyDeletehttps://bsky.app/profile/rudepundit.bsky.social
No, I do not want your AI to summarize the two-sentence email I received. I don’t want it to summarize anything. I want it to fuck off.
...
Yeah.
Enshittification - Cory's word and Aldous's prophecy.
Delete'Ainshittification': "It just keeps spreading, doesn't it?"
DeleteOger your passage is pretty intereting! Ideed it relates in some ways to my crafted Asimovian empire in FOUNDATION'S TRIUMPH in which robots strve hard to keep humanity placid and largely ignorant lest episodes of 'chaos' break out.
ReplyDeleteTB: My father knew RFK and was 3 ft away that awful night But he was not in an inner orbit or much in-the-know. '68 was a horrible year, any WEEK of which would exhaust any human. Tho 2025 is giving it a run,,, with much worse music
Must agree on the music, as bad as my Father thought sixties music was.
DeleteMJ Lenderman and the Wind, Wednesday, and Wet Leg all disprove the music gripes. All three bands are doing genius-level work this year. .
DeleteLarry Hart said...
ReplyDeleteThe Rude Pundit agrees with me:
https://bsky.app/profile/rudepundit.bsky.social
"No, I do not want your AI to summarize the two-sentence email I received. I don’t want it to summarize anything. I want it to fuck off."
...
Yeah.
Having just unboxed and setup a new desktop pc to replace our 12 year old one that recently died, I can really, really relate. Took way too long because I couldn't hardly get a key stroke in without being interrupted by the setup assistant hawking some feature that Microsoft really wanted me to enable or add. I fantasized about hunting down those responsible, tying them up, taping their eyelids open and forcing them to binge watch Barney the Purple Dinosaur episodes continuously for a year.
John Viril:
ReplyDeleteThe recent Dune movies do recognize that Herbert didn't see Paul as a hero. When I was 15, I did read it that way because I wanted to see a 15yo galactic hero (which is the age Paul was when Dune started). Later I recognized it was essentially a Greek tragedy and that Paul really wasn't a hero.
I first read Dune after having already seen Star Wars, so my image of Paul was influenced by that of Luke Skywalker. And as I was a teenager for both readings/viewings, it did not occur to me to look beyond the character as being the youngster overcoming adversity and destined for greatness.
Another parallel between the two stories is that I'm a much, MUCH bigger fan of the original novel/movie than I am of their extended sagas. So when thinking about Paul as hero or something else, I'm not thinking too much about what came later, but just in terms of the novel titled Dune. In that book, I did read Paul as a hero until the very last paragraphs when he and Jessica both suddenly out of the blue eschewed their separate path for the rigors of imperial protocol.
That must be what Steve Bannon feels like if he really did say, "Trump is the deep state now."
Or to quote A. Hamilton in the musical of his name, "We fought a war; what was it all for?"
"I'm a much, MUCH bigger fan of the original novel/movie than I am of their extended sagas"
DeleteThe best book was Children of Dune.
Hated hated hated God Emperor - just a 3,000 emo whining and naval gazing.
Best character was ugly old Gurney Halleck, never liked pretty boy Duncan Idaho.
Still to this day not exactly sure what Leto II's Golden Path was.
The best book was Children of Dune.
DeleteChildren of Dune made a good superhero adventure story, but I wasn't invested in the plot.
My typos may be getting worse. My father was 30 feet from Bobby that night, maybe 40. Not 3 feet. That'd be different.
ReplyDeleteThat moment had a profound effect up here (my mom cried for a day). The quintessential Toronto band, Blue Rodeo, did a song about his son David, that was just as tragic.
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Il1DXn40_4
Celt, the "Golden path" ensured Humanities dispersal into the multiverse, at great personal cost to Leto II.
ReplyDeletebah. The new special edition of GOD EMPEROR has an intro by yours truly. And that rationalization is blatantly the fact-free raving of a madman.
DeleteThe "Golden Path" was simply the path that Leto II, and Paul for that matter, saw through the landscape of future possibilities they perceived via their prescient abilities that led to a future in which humanity did not become extinct.
ReplyDeleteSome think that Paul and Leto II lied about all that prescience stuff and did all that they did merely because they were monsters. Having read the books that's either ridiculous or Herbert intentionally mislead readers, because there is nothing in any of his Dune books that suggests that their prescient visions were lies, or even inaccurate, and much to support that they were not. I interpret such interpretations of the story as complaints that Herbert's story is too implausible, human behavior-wise, to believe.
That's not to say that Paul and Leto II didn't do dreadfully horrible things. Herbert clearly showed them doing lots of such things. I certainly don't take prescriptions from this story and think that anybody that does is maybe a couple of sandwiches short of a picnic. Well, except for the Amtal Rule. That actually seems pretty accurate to me.
Darrell E:
ReplyDeleteThe "Golden Path" was simply the path that Leto II, and Paul for that matter, saw through the landscape of future possibilities they perceived via their prescient abilities that led to a future in which humanity did not become extinct.
Hmmmm.
Repeating my caveat that I've hardly studied or memorized the novels beyond the first one, I'm tempted to call BS on this sort of claim.
It's barely acceptable in a Marvel movie to have 14 million possible paths and only one of them be good. In something that's supposed to be more realistic (in the sense of prediction), I can't imagine that there aren't many possible paths which proceed satisfactorally.
Also, just as everybody eventually dies, every species will eventually go extinct at some point in the future. If I had the sort of predictive power and motivation that these characters supposedly do, I would be trying to find a best path for the lifetime of humanity to experience, not some vain attempt at avoiding extinction forever. Sounds like a mug's game.
(And yes, I know the "multiverse" was mentioned here, but that only prolongs the game. It doesn't keep it from ending ever.)
What we consider a 'species' may go extinct, but their descendants often live on. That is presumably what Leto II was aiming for. I agree that 'only one way' is unrealistic, and smacks of monotheism.
DeleteNiven was driving at a similar point with his depiction of the Pak Protectors. These were the 'grandparent' phase of the original hominid stock, endowed with superhuman strength and intelligence. They established an isolated colony on Earth, but were unable to maintain the Protector phase, so humans bred and multiplied, and evolved without guidance (this sound familiar to Uplift?).
The 'intelligence' of Protectors, while profound, was instinctual: focussed obsessively on ensuring the survival of an individual Protector's offspring. Yes, solving problems of foresight came readily to them, but the solution *always* had that proviso. Human protectors, drawing on a greater starting intelligence and experience in the parental phase, were at least able to perceive this shortcoming, and could sometimes offset it.
While I can't imagine a Protector 'doing the worm', the parallels to Leto's 'golden path' seem clear.
Just to let you know, there’s a name for that: if a species goes extinct as in they all died, that’s called extinction without issue. If a species goes extinct because it’s progeny (its issue) has undergone enough mutation that they are no longer inter fertile, that’s extinction with issue. So the saurischian dinosaurs are extinct without issue, but the ornithischian dinosaurs speciated into birds.
DeleteSpeciation may sometimes result in an interesting phenomenon called a 'ring' species, where the geographical extremes of a population can no longer interbreed, although they *can* do so with more local individuals (thinking about it, a 'torc' species would be a more apt monicker). The classic example being the Larus gull of the Northern Hemisphere. It demonstrates the 'species' is a somewhat nebulous term.
DeleteLarry, I don't think there's anything wrong with your take there, but that falls into the category I mentioned. You're complaining that what Herbert wrote isn't plausible. I agree. But that's different from claiming that Herbert didn't write what he in fact did write, and that's the category that irritates me. Sort of analogous to rewriting history that so many do in service to their cherished views.
ReplyDeleteAnd to be clearer, the extinction in question was not "ever," as in trying to make humanity extinction proof. It was a specific upcoming extinction that had already started.
You're complaining that what Herbert wrote isn't plausible.
DeleteA little more subtle than that. I'm complaining that Herbert quite plausibly wrote a character whose self-justification doesn't seem plausible to me.
It's not you or Herbert that I would argue with, but the character himself.
Larry,
ReplyDeleteForgot to cover the case in which you think my interpretation is BS. I'll be generous and assume you mean by that I'm wrong rather than actually bullshitting, for what reason you may think I'd be motivated to that I can't imagine. In any case, I invite you to reread the first book, and to read Messiah and Children. No need to read further, but reading further will only further validate my "claim." I say that confidently because it's clear enough, so many words spent on it, the central thing to the story, that it's not really interpretation. It's very close to simple reading comprehension.
@Darrell E.
DeleteChill, please. I wasn't calling BS in you, but on the character justifying something like insanity as required for survival.
I guess it makes more sense if there was a possible extinction already in progress which had to be halted. Still, it comes off (to me) as having to make humanity suck in order to save it.
I leave you for the night with this one:
ReplyDeletehttps://bsky.app/profile/rexhuppke.bsky.social/post/3lu3tjxwxq224
Today, Trump has called supporters who want the Epstein files released "weaklings" and "stupid," which means a subset of MAGA loyalists will be wearing Trump-branded "I'M A STUPID WEAKLING!" T-shirts by tomorrow morning.
It's funny because it's true. Good night, all.
A crushed snake mutters "I... *told* you... not to.. step on... me!"
DeleteLOL. My take on :Leto II's "Golden Path" was that not only would humanity spread throughout the Galaxy, it would also become invisible to prescience. A huge part of the later novels was that perfect prescience was STAGNATION. Humanity wouldn't develop.
ReplyDeleteAs I alluded to earlier, 'stagnation' was the human conclusion when exposed to the Protector mode of deep analytical thinking: only one solution ever presented itself.
DeleteMust reading
ReplyDeletehttps://www.milwaukeeindependent.com/editorial/faith-hijacked-hate-maga-christians-cult-power-disguised-religion/
A faith hijacked by hate: Why MAGA Christians are a cult of power disguised as religion
In their world, Christianity is not a message of love but a weapon of division. It is not a call to serve the poor, embrace the stranger, or turn the other cheek. Instead, it has become a banner under which they justify their anger toward immigrants, LGBTQ individuals, racial minorities, and anyone who challenges the dominance of the “White” race.
Their leader is not Christ, but a political figure who represents the opposite of everything Christianity was meant to stand for. A man defined by greed, vengeance, and self-interest has become the moral standard for a movement that still insists on calling itself Christian. What should have been a religion of humility and sacrifice has transformed into an ideology of conquest and resentment in America.
The transformation was not accidental. It is the product of decades of deliberate manipulation, where the language of faith was twisted into a justification for power and cruelty. The question is not whether these people are truly Christians — by every biblical standard, they are not. The real question is why they have so eagerly embraced a version of Christianity so utterly divorced from its core teachings. The answer reveals the dark reality of what American Christianity has become.
(cont.)
ReplyDeleteA NON-SECULAR FAITH HIJACKED BY SECULAR WHITE NATIONALISM
MAGA Christianity does not exist to spread the gospel or bring people closer to Christ. It exists to consolidate power, embedded in hate. Over the last several decades, Christianity in the United States has undergone a radical transformation, merging with White Nationalism to create an entirely new belief system. This new religion is not defined by scripture, but by the idea that America is a divinely chosen nation under threat from outsiders, secularists, and non-believers.
The Christian nationalist movement thrives on the belief that Christianity must dominate the government, the courts, and public life. The Constitution—once a document designed to protect religious freedom—has been reframed as a weapon to enforce religious rule. Any policy that does not conform to their vision of a Christian theocracy is seen as an attack on their faith. This paranoia fuels their hatred. It is not enough for them to practice their own religion freely—they demand control over everyone else’s beliefs, behaviors, and identities.
The Jesus they claim to follow bears no resemblance to the historical figure who preached against greed, warned about the corrupting nature of power, and condemned religious leaders who placed burdens on the people while exempting themselves. Instead, they have fashioned a new Christ — one who looks more like a warrior than a peacemaker. Their version of Jesus carries a rifle, waves an American flag, and seeks vengeance against political enemies.
In their pursuit of power, they have abandoned every central tenet of Christianity. Love has been replaced by conquest. Mercy has been abandoned for retribution. Humility has been discarded in favor of supremacy. They do not seek salvation but control, and they wield the name of Christ as a tool to justify their pursuit of domination.
THE POLITICS OF RESENTMENT AND AN OBSESSION WITH REVENGE
MAGA Christianity is not driven by faith. It is driven by resentment. The movement is defined not by love, forgiveness, or service to others, but by an unrelenting belief that they are the victims of an America that no longer belongs to them. This grievance mindset has become the core of their identity, shaping every aspect of their toxic worldview.
For decades, conservative Christians have been told they are under siege. They have been fed a steady diet of fear, convincing them that they are being persecuted simply because their dominance over society is eroding. In reality, no one is taking away their right to worship, to believe, or to practice their faith.
What they resent is that they can no longer impose their will on others without resistance. This sense of victimhood has led to an obsession with revenge.
Instead of following Christ’s call to love their enemies, they have embraced a culture of perpetual conflict. Any policy that expands rights for marginalized communities is seen as an attack on their own freedom. Any effort to create a more inclusive society is met with rage. They do not fight for religious liberty — they fight to maintain an America where their form of Christianity is the only one that holds power.
This resentment has made them willing to overlook any moral failing in their leaders. They support a man whose life is defined by cruelty, dishonesty, and corruption because they believe he will punish those fellow Americans who they have been conditioned to hate. Their faith is no longer about salvation or spiritual growth. It is about ensuring that those they view as enemies suffer defeat, humiliation, and exclusion.
(cont.)
ReplyDeleteSELECTIVE MORALITY AND THE ABANDONMENT OF CHRIST’S TEACHINGS
MAGA Christianity operates under a system of selective morality. It holds others to impossible standards while excusing any sin within its own ranks. This hypocrisy is not incidental — it is central to how the movement maintains power.
The same people who demand moral purity from their political opponents have no issue supporting a leader who has been married multiple times, engaged in financial corruption, and built his career on deception. They claim to stand for “family values” while excusing infidelity, dishonesty, and even criminal behavior when it benefits them politically. Their morality is not rooted in scripture — it is weaponized to target anyone who does not conform to their ideology.
They rail against policies that provide food, shelter, and medical care to the poor, despite Christ’s explicit commands to care for the needy. They preach about protecting children while defending policies that strip away their healthcare and safety. They claim to oppose oppression while cheering laws that restrict voting rights, bodily autonomy, and personal freedoms.
There is no consistency, and no ethical framework guiding their beliefs. Their version of Christianity does not demand personal integrity. It demands loyalty. As long as someone aligns with their political ideology, they are absolved of any wrongdoing. But those who stand against them, no matter how moral or ethical, are cast as villains. This is not faith. It is a cult of power disguised as religion.
Trump’s reelection has only solidified this reality. The movement has become more emboldened in its demands, more aggressive in its rhetoric, and more willing to discard even the appearance of Christian values in pursuit of power. The question is not whether this movement is sustainable, it is not. Hate does not build lasting institutions. Resentment is not a foundation for faith.
The real question is how much destruction will be wrought before it collapses. Because while MAGA Christianity may call itself a faith, it is nothing more than a machine built for control. And like all such movements before it, it will eventually crumble under the weight of its own hypocrisy. The tragedy is how much suffering it will cause before that happens.
(cont.)
ReplyDeleteWHY MAGA CHRISTIANITY WILL NOT FADE QUIETLY
It is too deeply entrenched in American political and cultural life, too invested in its own mythology, and too dependent on the structures of power it has co-opted to crumble overnight. The movement’s leaders have spent decades indoctrinating their followers into believing that any challenge to their dominance is an existential threat. That paranoia will drive them to escalate their tactics, ensuring that the next chapter of American life is defined by deeper divisions, greater cruelty, and a continued rejection of Christian principles in favor of political conquest.
The 2024 election was not simply a political victory for Trump, it was a confirmation for his followers that their movement is divinely sanctioned. They believe God has placed him in power to carry out their vision of America, and they will act accordingly. With renewed control over government institutions, they will push for policies designed to codify their dominance, from rolling back civil rights protections to imposing religious laws under the guise of “restoring Christian values.” Their goal is not to coexist with a diverse and pluralistic society, it is to utterly erase it.
But even as they consolidate power, the foundation beneath them is already crumbling. The younger generations are walking away from organized religion at historic rates, rejecting a faith that has become synonymous with bigotry and hypocrisy. The more MAGA Christianity attempts to enforce itself through coercion, the faster its moral credibility erodes.
It will not disappear anytime soon. But the future does not belong to a movement built on fear and hatred. The only question left is how much damage it will do before it becomes nothing more than a bitter footnote in history.
John Viril:
ReplyDeleteA huge part of the later novels was that perfect prescience was STAGNATION. Humanity wouldn't develop.
In my view, that theory makes a kind of sense, but confuses cause and effect.
Perfect prescience implies stagnation, not the other way around. In the sense that if perfect prediction is possible, then there really is only one, inevitable future. And if there really is only one, inevitable future, then that is true whether or not anyone has the power to see it.
Re: Dune:
ReplyDeleteOne aspect that isn't often discussed here is the aspects of self-improvement through meditation and physical training even without genetic tampering and psychoactive substances. I am not rooting for rejection of technology, but I do ask myself If we see the first steps of stupidification of humanity through the constant use of certain progresses we have made.
Another aspect of the Dune world I find at least worth considering is the concept of Kanlee: campaigns of targeted assassinations against leaders and symbolic persons of interest to avoid the full horrors of war. Israel hast shown us recently how this could work, with the pagers and the decapitation strikes against the Iranian generals.
DeletePaul Krugman (in a newsletter) agrees with me:
ReplyDeleteFor what it’s worth, I’m not fully sold on AI’s potential. As far as I can tell, large language models — which we are, misleadingly, calling artificial intelligence — are still, essentially, a souped-up version of autocorrect.
On the other hand, there are a lot of jobs, some of them highly paid, that could also be described as souped-up autocorrect, so AI may have large economic impacts.
Paragraph break added by me to separate thoughts. Both seem true to me.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeletereposted for formatting...
ReplyDeleteThis is a post on Stonekettle's Threads:
https://www.threads.com/@stonekettle/post/DMNUkFYxTpf
Trump: (furiously stabbing the Bring-Me-A-Diet-Coke button) Stab! Stab!
Servant: (brings Diet Coke)
Trump: (puckered sipping from 2-handed grip) Mmmmmmm. They should make this with real sugar.
Servant: Uh huh
(moments later)
Trump: I TALKED TO COKE AND THEY'RE GONNA MAKE COKE WITH REAL SUGAR NOW ALSO WHOEVER APPOINTED THAT JEROME POWELL GUY TO THE FED IS AN IDIOT!
Ok, it's mildly funny as a typical bit of Trump snark, which I originally thought was just fiction. Now, I'm seeing on other sites, that Trump really is trying to bully the Coca Cola company into using real sugar instead of corn syrup.
But I think Jim missed the funnier punchline, which is how I originally read the post. That Trump is demanding DIET Coke be made with real sugar.
Tony,
ReplyDeleteA fascinating but perfectly predictable step in the process of speciation, if you think about it. Over time the ring species eventually splits, though not always into two. Sometimes you get an intermediate species in the geographic middle. This may be a big contributor to an adaptive radiation.
Paul SB
Dawkins notes, as you say, that it must be a very common phase of speciation, but that it is unlikely to last long before an intermediate population fizzles out and the two groups go their separate ways. Thus, present day examples are rare.
DeleteI always deemed the Pak Protectors to be Larry’s finest (among many!) insight-innovations in speculative fiction. As for Leto II’s ‘golden path’ – it was so sparse on ANY plausible justifications for how narrowing humanity down to feudal stupidity, uniformity, lobotomization, rigidity and cauterized science was supposed to help prepare it for a looming crisis.
ReplyDeleteIn fact, the ‘golden path’ is remarkably similar to Isaac Asimov’s Daneel-robots channeling humanity down (a gentler) feudalism toward “Gaia/Galaxia” – a narrow mono-mind – with the lame rationalization that ‘something may be coming.’
It's remarkable that I got to have input into both universes. Very effectively in FOUNDATION’S TRIUMPH but at least in a formal intro to the latest GOD EMPEROR OF DUNE. So maybe some AI will get it.
The “prescience’ thing was so laughable because it is what a meddling alien or AI would channel into a gullible leader’s mind while carrying out other meddlings. So that predicted events would seem to ‘come true.’
Oger the notion of replacing AI with human augmentation is definitely interesting in Dune Universe. Though it winds up not being shared with humanity as a whole but used by a narrow elite to oppress and control. As Vernor chillingly portrayed in A DEEPNESS IN THE SKY.
Speciation in Uplift. Feral dolphins are left alone as in Heinlein’s “control naturals’ in BEYOND THIS HORIZON… citizens who are state subsidized to have natural babies and not enhanced.
Hey, I just recently stumbled across the Alan Dean Foster "Star Trek Log" books which are adaptations of the Animated Star Trek episodes from 50 years ago. I read the books in high school and just started perusing some of them again.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure TAS is considered canon any more, but there was a time when it was.
One piece of technology I had forgotten about which was specifically in the animated series was life support belts. Did those ever show up in later incarnations of the series?
According to Memory Beta , not really, only in novels and FASA's Star Trek RPG.
DeleteInteresting justification in that Memory Beta article:
DeleteEventually the belts were discontinued on the notion that any belt failure could kill its wearer, whereas a puncture to an environmental suit would give the wearer time to repair it or retreat to safety. (DTI novel: Forgotten History)
When I first read Dune, 10 or 12 years old, I found it fascinating though pretty awful. Within a few more years I read Messiah and then Children, which I found pretty hard to read. Grimmer and duller, very dry. Never really liked them, though I liked Dune well enough to read it half a dozen times in my life. By the last reading, just a few years ago and the first in decades, it hadn't ages very well for me.
ReplyDeleteWhen it came out I sort of felt obligated to read God Emperor. I had to force myself to finish it. Leto II's Golden Path is unremittingly dismal and awful, and ridiculously implausible in many different ways. At least it seems so to me. To this day I pretty much can't stand dystopian science fiction.
DeleteI found it [Dune] fascinating though pretty awful.
...
though I liked Dune well enough to read it half a dozen times in my life.
Interesting juxtaposition.
Season 3 of FOUNDATION is very pleasing to my eye. The focus is on psychohistory, with lots of math and echoes of Asimov. It seems to be drifting back towards the original trilogy - though it's early.
ReplyDeleteAll the Prime Radiant stuff is great. I see hints of Symbolic Regression, reviving my GOFAI hopes. This is real A.I., not snake oil mimicry. Lots of gardens, but no tulips.
Psychohistory is silliness. We can’t predict the weather a week or two from now, you think we can predict how human societies will evolve across thousands of years? What you’re looking for is prophecy and magic, not science and math.
DeleteSo much of science fiction is like that: fantasy stories full of magic powers, dressed up in scientific drag—Dune and Star Trek being prime examples. I’d rather read something like Lord of the Rings that doesn’t pretend it’s anything but fantasy, yet somehow is far more realistic than Star Trek or Foundation.
Deletefantasy stories full of magic powers, dressed up in scientific drag—Dune and Star Trek being prime examples.
Dune has sci-fi and fantasy elements to it. The prescience and magic water effects are more fantasy. The space travel, weaponry, and sandworms are more science-y. And the plot is good old fashioned political intrigue that doesn't require either a sci-fi or fantasy setting.
Your complaints about Star Trek seem more appropriate to Star Wars, which I would agree is something else in sci-fi drag. I don't see that in Trek, though. Your issue with Trek and with Foundation seems to be that their premises are far-fetched. Neither was written to be an accurate prediction of humanity's future. They were meant to be fun adventure stories. Which might be what you don't like about them. Not nihilistic enough for you.
The Golden Path was a deliberate closing of opportunities - a squishing of the human spirit - with the intention of priming the explosive expansion that happenned directly afterwards
ReplyDeleteI'm not convinced that people work like that but the idea was that stopping humans from expanding would lead to a massive urge to expand
Humanity was already largely stopped from expanding before Leto II. Can't have wild populations without responsible dukes and barons ruling them.
DeleteI saw the golden path as a deliberate pruning of options that lead to near-term extinction AND created the pressure you describe. Diaspora was the intended result trading the risk of extinction for speciation.
Not awful in the sense of a bad story, awful in the sense of the "universe" depicted was an awful place.
ReplyDelete"Oh, that's very different. Nevermind."
DeleteI recently came across a quote from comedian LIly Tomlin that's just too good not to share:
ReplyDelete"No matter how cynical you get, it's not enough to keep up."
I've never been a Tomlin fan. She had her largest impact during my youth, and I simply wasn't in a place in my life that enabled me to appreciate the comedic talent of physically unattractive lesbians.
This is yet another "brick" of evidence showing how sex appeal is a poor way to judge a person's social value. Tomlin's quote is PERFECT for today, where Donald Trump's wild public gyrations trying to justify deep-sixing the Epstein files is providing some comedy gold.
It's yet another incident that strongly suggest OGH has it right: all KINDS of poltical power brokers are run by blackmail. In not so sure it means that TRUMP is necessarily implicated. The RW argument that "if Biden's DOJ or FBI had solid evidence linking Trump to Epstein's sex trafficking, they would have leaked it when polls started to turn against them," seems like a valid point to me.
Perhaps someone else here might have an explanation that I've missed. However, CLEARLY someone Trump is beholden too REALLY REALLY wants the whole Epstein thing to disappear in to mist.
...comedian LIly Tomlin...
DeleteOn Stephanie Miller's radio show, I heard a line from a different Laugh-In era comedienne, Ruth Buzzy.
"They laughed at me when I said I wanted to be a comedian, but they're not laughing now!
Heh.
Duh, to answer my own question, I suddenly recall TRUMP was president when Epstein got convicted and committed suicide. This, it was TRUMP's DOJ under Barr which had first crack at sanitizing Epstein evidence
ReplyDeleteFunny how DJT tried to say the fEpatein files could have been tampered with by Hillary and Comey
Trump practically ran on the fact that Democrats are all groomers and pedophiles, with the tease that prominent Democrats would be implicated in the Epstein case.
DeleteNow, he's trying to say that the whole Epstein affair is a(nother) "hoax" cooked up by Democrats. As if Epstein himself and Ghislaine Maxwell should never have even been charged with a crime.
He really does think his base is ridiculously gullible. He can make them renounce Jesus and respect for the rule of law, but I'm not sure he can make Q-Anon believers renounce their antipathy toward pedophilia.
Well, Larry to be fair, it was SDNY that prosecuted and should have at least some of Epstein's personal data. BUT, it think the raid on Epstein's island would be a federal matter, such that the FBI would have jurisdiction.
DeleteThe whole Pam Bondi theatre with the social media influences looked like a play at trying to aim public attention at SDNY for "hiding" Epstein files (which didn't work).
Then, Trump floated the idea of blaming Pam Bondi using RW mouthpeices Megan Kelly and Ben Shapiro. It's interesting which influencers ended up carrying the administration's water. Wonder what they were promised.
A lot of other RW people like Candace Owens and Dave Rubin have been blasting that idea of scapegoating Bondi, b/c the wild gyrations of the Trump administration on this issue clearly run throughout the entirety of Trump's political servants and came straight from DJT's mouth on many occasions.
With "Drumph!" and his fellow travelers, every accusation is a confession.
ReplyDeleteTreebeard does not surprise me. while his assessment of psychohistory is generally correct, he pays no heed to how Isaac kept trying to concoct ways the robots might 'herd or guide' humanity's 'gas molecules' into behaving down paths they deemed best for us. I dealt with all of that in FOUNDATION'S TRIUMPH and hewed close to verifiable science, as inm EARTH etc...
ReplyDelete...and ent knows that 90%of anything is crap and ignores deliberately the thousands of times science fiction either accurately predicted or else helped to prevent.
None of which is what controls his reaction, which is simply ... reactionary. Preferring 6000 years of fantasy and romanticism and feudalism is the choice tht then controlse tste and not the other way around. Alas, unlike Ted Kaczynski, ent hypocritically wallows in all the techs and pleasures, while a glowering ingrate.
At least Ted K wasn't a hypocrite.
Trump practically ran on the fact that Democrats are all groomers and pedophiles...
ReplyDelete"By their projections shall ye know them."
... with the tease that prominent Democrats would be implicated in the Epstein case.
Yes, well... possibly one prominent Democrat (Epstein cast a wide net). Still, as OGH keeps pointing out, it's the ratios.
Dr Brin:
ReplyDelete...while his assessment of psychohistory is generally correct, he pays no heed to how Isaac kept trying to concoct ways the robots might 'herd or guide' humanity's 'gas molecules' into behaving down paths they deemed best for us.
Entirely beside the point, IMHO. A sci-fi story isn't meant to be judged on the accuracy of its premise, but by how well it follows from that premise. I refer to my perennial example of Kafka's Metamorphosis. Not once in the story does it attempt to explain the mechanism by which Gregor became a giant bug.
Treebeard's complaint, your defense, and the reading of many others here treat the Foundation novels as speculative fiction as if Asimov had attempted to predict the real life future of humanity. That's not what he was doing, at least in the 40s and 50s. He had created a futuristic setting for (essentially) boys' adventure stories of a type that most of y'all have apparently outgrown, but I never did. Yes, the books might seem juvenile to me if I were reading them for the first time now, but I can remember them for what they were at first exposure, just as with the Adam West Batman tv show.
The fun is in seeing how the established rules of the setting shape the plot, not in how accurate to reality the setting itself is.
Alfred Differ on Dune:
ReplyDelete...Can't have wild populations without responsible dukes and barons ruling them.
As I recall, every specific noble mentioned had a different title. Duke Leto. Count Fenrig. Baron Harkonnen. Is there any rhyme or reason to the differences between the titles, or was that just to make the characters more distinguishable?
All three of those titles are normal European noble ranks. There are five in all. In order, high to low, they are Duke, Marquess, Earl (or Count), Viscount and Baron. That's not to say that Herbert may indeed have chosen them for those characters to make them more distinguishable.
ReplyDeleteIf I recall correctly in the early days of European nobility Dukedoms were only conferred on members of the ruling royal house, but that changed eventually. I seem to recall that in the story the Atreides were pretty close in line to the throne, number six or so.
It could perhaps be a little confusing that the Harkonnens seem to have been so powerful compared to the Atreides, at least it seemed so to me. But aside from rank there is also wealth, and the Harkonnens were very wealthy.
All three of those titles are normal European noble ranks.
DeleteI just wondered why they were all different. As opposed to other Dukes or Barons in the story. I wondered if there were different in-story meanings for the different titles, but only in passing, not obsessively.
I seem to recall that in the story the Atreides were pretty close in line to the throne, number six or so.
Yes, wasn't the emperor at least nominally concerned about the disposition of his royal cousin? Something about "If they can do that to a Duke, no noble is safe"?
It could perhaps be a little confusing that the Harkonnens seem to have been so powerful compared to the Atreides, at least it seemed so to me. But aside from rank there is also wealth, and the Harkonnens were very wealthy.
That sounds right. Duke Leto was a true noble, but the Baron had to buy his rank with filthy lucre.
MAGAs abandoning Trump? They'll be back. Putin's blackmail ensures the GOPpers in Congress and the S.Court will toe the line. And average MAGAs NEED the food that Trump cooks and that Fox serves... to enrage and upset all of the nerdy fact professionals*.
ReplyDeleteWhat Epstein MIGHT accomplish is:
1- A couple of not-blackmailed GOPpers in Congress might get fed up enough to make Hakeem Jeffries Speaker. But we've seen no sign of such guts.
2- Enough of our Republican neighbors are decent people that the GOP would crash in the next election... but that assumes there is a next election, after red states purge their voter rolls and disband neutral poll workers.
3. If DT is ejected, all it means is that Peter Thiel then owns the USA, becoming senior partner over Putin. Vlad won't like that. But he'll still use his KGB kompromat to support Thiel and his Vance puppet.
*This is NOT primarily about racism! It's this: A cult waging open war against every fact-using profession. From science & civil service to the FBI/intel/military officer corps who used to* catch KGB spies and who won the Cold War and the War on Terror.
A cult now pouring hate on the magnificent universities that were the pride and joy of the WWII Greatest Generation (who adored FDR), that made generations socially mobile, spurred entrepreneurship and invention and that for 80 years truly made America Great.
That won't stop, even if DT eases out for health reasons.
They'll be back.
DeleteMaybe. Past performance sure suggests so.
But there seems to be something different this time. Could it be that the whole "pedo" thing isn't just an excuse to hate on Democrats and liberals? That they (rank and file Trump voters) really don't like pedophilia?
Stephanie Miller's radio show just mentioned that Republican officials aren't scared of Trump the man, they're scared of his violent followers. But his violent followers are the ones who want the Epstein files released.
Re: psychohistory
ReplyDeleteI actually agree about the 'fantasy' of future prediction, but for a very concrete Bayesian reason (that I have explained repeatedly). My own interest in psychohistory is only archaeological/anthropological. And I'm encouraged by Treebeard's ridicule of romanticism. Although elves, orcs, and hobbits don't seem more realistic than spaceflight and computers.
Re: Dune nobility titles:
ReplyDeleteI wanted to write an answer about the origins of titles and the complexity of the European feudal systems, then I noticed that in that universe, the highest title is that of a Padishah-Emperor, implying having it's roots in the Persian feudalism, of which I know nothing.
But having read a bit about Pahlevi and his domestic policies, I wonder if Herbert foretold what could happen?
There was most certainly a Middle-Eastern feel to Arrakis. The desert alone was obvious, but also terms like "Mahdi" and "Hajj" were in there. I haven't quite figured out whether the Fremen were supposed to be analogous to Arabs or Jews.
Delete