tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post8869365166555156823..comments2024-03-29T06:22:47.638-07:00Comments on CONTRARY BRIN: There is Madness on the Other Side Too: The Left's War on OptimismDavid Brinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comBlogger85125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-37608227012926634762012-04-30T16:53:49.621-07:002012-04-30T16:53:49.621-07:00Paul451, your take on Avatar sequels is deeply dis...Paul451, your take on Avatar sequels is deeply disturbing. While one can critique the romanticization of early cultures, coming up with sci-fi storylines like yours that effectively just switch things around to justify genocide is a horrible thing. What has not been mentioned was that the people of earth messed their own planet up. Earth was dying because human beings allowed it to. What if alien creatures came to earth? Should we be required to trade with them? Let's say they were hugely technologically advanced, but we did not like their culture or their moral system? While I agree that we need more complex storylines, if what we're advocating is storylines that essentially say the deaths of native people are not as "real" or as "valuable" as technologically advanced people then I am not on board and I am deeply, deeply concerned that this is something that would be considered great and so much more complex than the current storylines. It's simply a kneejerk reaction that puts us on the opposite side. It doesn't take us to the rich complexity of these questions. Here's the thing: when native people die they are really DEAD. Let's deal with it and then tell that story of how we negotiate the clash of cultures.John57noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-76529019547805996332012-04-11T15:13:58.037-07:002012-04-11T15:13:58.037-07:00In what way is "Hunger Games" science-fi...In what way is "Hunger Games" science-fiction? It isn't about the impact of science or technology on life, it's about the effect of totalitarianism and big government on life.<br /><br />Just like "1984" and "Animal Farm".<br /><br />I think one commentor gets it right: "... we send our children to war in part for the news orgs to report something next to an ad."<br /><br />Except that we don't send children. We send young warriors.ZZMikehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16913899667726940233noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-18431088665599311202012-04-11T14:23:37.483-07:002012-04-11T14:23:37.483-07:00LarryHart wrote, about the movie Avatar:
Also, th...LarryHart wrote, about the movie <i>Avatar</i>:<br /><br /><i>Also, the evil military commander ended up reduced to a horror movie cliche--the monster who just keeps on coming no matter what is thrown at it until some deux ex machina at the end FINALLY finishes it off--after one last "surprise" comeback, of course.</i><br /><br />To put it mildly, Larry. What's more, he was remarkably similar to the paranoid military character Coffey in Cameron's 1989 movie <i>The Abyss</i>, who attempts to destroy an underwater alien civilization with a nuclear bomb. Cameron's attitudes haven't evolved much.CJnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-60749969356394039692012-04-10T17:37:54.399-07:002012-04-10T17:37:54.399-07:00I'll answer in the next comments section...
...I'll answer in the next comments section...<br /><br /><br />onwardDavid Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-15386875770431871012012-04-10T16:49:47.170-07:002012-04-10T16:49:47.170-07:00Brave New World also has the claim "we tried ...Brave New World also has the claim "we tried a pure Alpha society, and it went boom"; thus AuthorFiat closes out the most obvious ideal alternative.<br /><br />That said, even with a friendly hedonistic view, the society seems rather tawdry.<br /><br />Also, shades of _Cyteen_.<br /><br /><br />As for environmentalism and the left and optimism and whatnot... sustainability may not take dictatorship, but it seems clear to me that it takes strong governance, whether by a formal government or very strong social norms. And there's a basic conflict with market libertarianism, as you have to make sure externalities are accounted for with taxes and regulation -- and be able to cope with your probable failure to get them all up front -- as well as to counteract our tendency to discount the future. You can still have markets -- heck, my first act as dictator would be raising fossil carbon and water and pollution taxes while relaxing the more onerous regulations about specific usage -- but you need a government.<br /><br />And for world sustainability, you need world governance. We managed it with CFCs and the ozone layer, so we can do it. But it's sure not easy.<br /><br />And of course large democracies are very recent, so any past example of sustained environmental policies is probably going to have to be authoritarian, because that and near anarchy were the only games around.Damien Sullivanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13321329197063620556noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-37404863004954068832012-04-10T16:01:06.989-07:002012-04-10T16:01:06.989-07:00To return to our ealier discussion about parasites...To return to our ealier discussion about parasites that alter their host's behaviour:<br /><br />Researchers have identified variants of the genes for receptors for the hormones Oxycotin and Vasopressin that appear to predispose people to being "nice".<br /><br />http://www.buffalo.edu/news/13340 <br /><br />The key wrod is "predispose" since as the researchers point out experiences can override that predisposition.<br /><br />Now, imagine drugs or a virus that alter the expression of the genes in question.Ianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01739671401151990700noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-34228206492669281922012-04-10T15:35:24.850-07:002012-04-10T15:35:24.850-07:00onward....onward....David Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-20861921778120197592012-04-10T13:23:40.715-07:002012-04-10T13:23:40.715-07:00Dr Brin:
Larryhart, Brave New World is a queer be...Dr Brin:<br /><i><br />Larryhart, Brave New World is a queer beast. A disgusting world, by our standards... and not immoral or stupid, by theirs. The hyper-alphas are raised without conditioning and free to argue any point they want. If they became abrasive or provocative in their argumentation, they are sent to islands where they can continue arguing and even do small social experiments. <br /><br />It is a pain-free society that is capable of changing its mind, later on, and probably will. That makes it the diametric opposite of 1984...<br /></i><br /><br />I read both books in high school, already knowing they had similar themes. Because I read "1984" first, my reaction to "Brave New World" was along the lines of "What's so bad about THAT world?"<br /><br />As I get older, I have more sympathy for the view that it sucks the soul out of individuals. Human beings as unflagging cogs in a world-machine is not really a utopia. Yet the book is quite nuanced in its presentation of why things are that way. Mustapha Mond is no chortling James Bond villain. One of the early chapters (I believe it is chapter 4 but it might be something else close to that) is from Mond's point of view, describing how the earth's population has grown from 1 billion to (gasp!) 2 billion since the beginnings of the industrial revolution--"since the wheels began turning"--and how the wheels may never stop or even falter without killing a billion people.<br /><br />In fact, I put Mustapha Mond right up there with your Holnists in the category of "realistically-developed three-dimensional villains." And having read "Sundiver" twice, I already knew you have a bit of respect for Huxley's world.LarryHartnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-56335275698491960942012-04-10T11:49:26.145-07:002012-04-10T11:49:26.145-07:00Paul451 - I absolutely love your notion for AVATAR...Paul451 - I absolutely love your notion for AVATAR sequels! It makes perfect sense... it is dramatic and yet mind-expanding... and there's no way Cameron will do it. ALAs! But may I store it and possibly use in in that long delayed article? you could email me your real name for attribution, via http://www.davidbrin.com<br /><br />===<br /><br />Tacitus welcome back... have you seen the three stooges flick? How was your journey?David Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-51812337469318052702012-04-10T11:49:14.932-07:002012-04-10T11:49:14.932-07:00Guys! Spread the word that we'd love to help ...Guys! Spread the word that we'd love to help a young chemical engineer (Sociotard) get a great job! Geez. What kind of nation wouldn't be bursting with opportunities for that kind of guy.<br /><br />Larryhart, Brave New World is a queer beast. A disgusting world, by our standards... and not immoral or stupid, by theirs. The hyper-alphas are raised without conditioning and free to argue any point they want. If they became abrasive or provocative in their argumentation, they are sent to islands where they can continue arguing and even do small social experiments. <br /><br /> It is a pain-free society that is capable of changing its mind, later on, and probably will. That makes it the diametric opposite of 1984. A loathsome opposite! A point that I would make in both societies. In one I would vanish within five minutes. In the other I'd spend 50 years surfing and writing and gradually winning converts to a better way.<br /><br />Oh, ask the EARTH which it would prefer, Huxley or Orwell.<br /><br />MADLibrarian" It its "Dancing with very very very very very very tall smurfs."<br /><br />I think I left out some "verys".David Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-55272814228696030782012-04-10T11:48:58.297-07:002012-04-10T11:48:58.297-07:00Duncan, Don Kingsbury is a great (if quirky) guy w...Duncan, Don Kingsbury is a great (if quirky) guy whose writing is a bit dense, but rewarding to the intellectual & patient.<br /><br />Of course people should read Lafferty. I knew him. Strange & amazing fellow. "Nine Million Grandmothers" proves that he wrote straight out of his dreams... and ours.<br /><br />A RIFF ON MASLOWE'S HIERARCHY OF NEEDS<br /><br />"One of the clearest descriptions is Maslow's 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow%27s_hierarchy_of_needs<br /><br />I agree... though with cavils that add sophistication to Maslow. Movement along his slope requires certain conditions... not only SATIATION of lower level needs and desires, but also PREDICTABLE PERSISTENCE of satiation... in other words, a firm inner confidence that lower level crises won't recur. <br /><br />If you starved often as a kid, it may be hard - even 50 years later - to take American abundance for granted, Hoarding by such elderly immigrants can even get worse with time. When you are eighty, your memories from 70 years ago can be more vivid than those from breakfast.<br /><br />Another requirement is CULTURE that is friendly to movement along the Maslovian slope. A culture that despises curiosity and innovation may make it difficult to rise up to the "novelty" plateau. <br /><br />Moreover, both cultures and individuals vary widely in the trait of SATIABILITY which is a whole different factor. How easily you can say "enough"... which is also related to your likelihood to suffer from an addiction.<br /><br />My own contribution has been to relate Maslovian levels to HORIZONS of time, threat, curiosity, inclusion, exogamy etc. These horizons tend to spread outward as fear levels decline. Especially inclusion, as former "others" get included in the firelight of being considered fellow tribesman or human beings. <br /><br />This process of horizon expansion is one of the defining traits of liberalism... and when it becomes an obsession, preached with ranting fury, then you get today's modern version of manic left-ism. (The left wasn't always hyper-inclusional!)<br /><br />Today, the manic left's PC message is <i>"expand your inclusion horizons relentlessly or I'll denounce you as an awful person!"</i><br /><br />One defining trait of the right - beside being the depressive side of political bipolar disease, and focusing on three of Haidt's morality imperatives (purity and authority and in-group loyalty) - is that conservatives fear and despise the left's relentless hectoring! Their guilt tripping shouts to <i>"expand your inclusion horizons relentlessly or I'll denounce you as an awful person!"</i><br /><br />The left would have us denounce and reject all the old loyalties and former maslovian drives and make inclusion the sole priority! Race, gender, Earth, poorpeople, animals...<br /><br />The right clings to old assurances and horizons. MY race, MY town, MY old ways... and FUCK those hippies trying to guilt trip me!<br /><br />Liberals wince over both manias. They are loyal to the gradual, but relentless expansion of horizons while remaining firmly rooted in those older loyalties and institutions that proved healthy and supportive of our climb up Maslowe's hierarchy of needs.David Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-32331655446624455852012-04-10T10:18:06.535-07:002012-04-10T10:18:06.535-07:00Rob:
"Star Wars: The Clone Wars" has th...Rob:<br /><i><br />"Star Wars: The Clone Wars" has the beneficial side effect of properly contextualizing Star Wars. <br /><br />It's a cartoon for kids, folks...<br /></i><br /><br />My daughter was maybe five years old when she insisted on seeing the film in the theater. Now, at twice that age, she remembers none of it. But every once in a while, she and her cousins still play a game they call "Two-year-old Master", without a clue as to what the reference is.<br /><br />:)LarryHartnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-2071847257759774292012-04-10T09:36:41.851-07:002012-04-10T09:36:41.851-07:00"Star Wars: The Clone Wars" has the bene..."Star Wars: The Clone Wars" has the beneficial side effect of properly contextualizing Star Wars. <br /><br />It's a cartoon for kids, folks, enjoyable only at that level (and very enjoyable *at* that level). Nothing else to see here, move on...Robhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07541997928359883625noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-87294080016273348842012-04-10T09:23:29.887-07:002012-04-10T09:23:29.887-07:00Tacitus2,
Thank GOD she seems totally unintereste...Tacitus2,<br /><br />Thank GOD she seems totally uninterested in seeing the new Stooges movie. I'm not a fan of the Stooges anyway, but even so I can see (by the trailers) that they're going to do the concept great injustice.<br /><br />Because of my daughter, I also had to sit through "Yogi Bear" and "Chipwrecked". On the other hand, had it not been for her, I would never have gone to the delightful Pixar film "Up" or "Star Wars: The Clone Wars", or for that matter "Mulan" and "Aladdin". All of those were much better experiences than I had been dreading...I mean expecting. So sometimes, it evens out.LarryHartnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-73518357475029226392012-04-10T08:12:16.075-07:002012-04-10T08:12:16.075-07:00"Because I have a daughter of the right age, ..."Because I have a daughter of the right age, I've been forced to sit through the new "Smurfs" movie as well as the new "Muppets" movie."<br /><br />LarryH..so sorry to hear that. Nobody should have to endure the NewSmurfs, and the Muppets were a pale shadow of themselves. For the well being of your soul, avoid the new Three Stooges flick.<br /><br />Ah, but the things we do for our children are many. You are a good dad.<br /><br />TacitusTacitushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17007086196578740689noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-91813986786642818732012-04-10T06:55:46.123-07:002012-04-10T06:55:46.123-07:00Hmmm, so to save Avatar, the Na'vi must be a p...Hmmm, so to save Avatar, the Na'vi must be a post-singularity society? And the goddess "Eywa" is an AI...<br /><br />Which makes Unobtainium a form of technology, a component or remnant of the singularity. Beyond nano-tech; pico-tech, atto-tech. Which is why it's found nowhere else. And the Na'vi, the smurfs, are the child stage of the immortal post-singularity "Adults" (collectively, Eywa). Tribal because that's the most fun/educational kind of society. The rituals, the sacred tree, the fighting, even the worship of Eywa, all just unstructured play that children engage in to explore ideas of fairness and empathy and loss. The humans are just a group of new children visiting, creating a new game: interplanetary war.<br /><br />We, the audience, don't know this yet. So the second film has Sully learning to use Pandora's eco-magic, raising a child, and being frustrated by the Na'vi's refusal to develop advanced weapons (from captured human equipment) to prepare for the inevitable return of the humans. Meanwhile, on decaying Earth, political and eventually physical battles rage between the pro-mining faction and the protect-the-poor-Na'vi faction.<br /><br />The third film reaches its three-way climactic battle, the two human factions and the Na'vi. Sully discovers a method of using the Pandoran magic to destroy the entire human fleet, but he has the growing realisation that the Na'vi don't really die; some of the previously killed come back. Explaining this to Sully (and the audience) leads the Na'vi "children" to realise that humans <i>can't</i> come back. Death is permanent. The Na'vi's loses were pretend, "bang! you're dead!", but the losses they <i>caused</i> were real. And Sully realises that had he understood the true nature of the Na'vi, he would have been able to do what he was sent to do, negotiate for the Unobtainium needed by Earth. And everyone is suitably appalled.<br /><br />The Na'vi children decide to "withdraw" (physically die) back to the AI collective, to allow the humans to have Pandora and the Unobtainium. Neytiri is angry with Sully, "You made us murderers". Neytiri's mother (several "lives" older and wiser), reassures Sully that she will forgive him eventually. The "Adults", Eywa, wanted the Na'vi to discover their mistake on their own, to experience real loss. However, Sully cannot join them for now, nor remain a smurf; he is expelled back to his (recreated) human body. He is being sent back to Earth to uplift the rest of humanity, and the third film ends with him back on Earth teaching a group of humans (some of the anti-mining faction) how to use the unobtainium as the Na'vi use it.<br /><br />Does that work?Paul451https://www.blogger.com/profile/12119086761190994938noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-40041930422656292142012-04-10T06:08:52.169-07:002012-04-10T06:08:52.169-07:00I think the standing joke was in referring to Avat...<i><br />I think the standing joke was in referring to Avatar as Dances with Smurfs.<br /></i><br /><br />Because I have a daughter of the right age, I've been forced to sit through the new "Smurfs" movie as well as the new "Muppets" movie. As an adult who lived through the years when both concepts were popular, I find these films so depressing that they make "Avatar" look optimistic in comparison.<br /><br />As kiddie concepts, both "The Muppet Show" and "The Smurfs" were supposed to be fun. Both movies make the point that their respective concepts no longer work in the real world. And they make you sit through a feature-length movie whose theme is that such a feature-length movie is pointless.LarryHartnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-89596639641625364542012-04-10T01:34:11.680-07:002012-04-10T01:34:11.680-07:00I think the standing joke was in referring to Avat...I think the standing joke was in referring to Avatar as Dances with Smurfs.<br /><br />TheMadLibrarian<br /><br />ecurr offou: French tripe curryTheMadLibrariannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-27677977069265983112012-04-09T23:57:16.376-07:002012-04-09T23:57:16.376-07:00sociotard:
I lost my job and it makes me grouchy....sociotard:<br /><i><br />I lost my job and it makes me grouchy. If you know a spot for an entry level chemical engineer I'd be obliged.<br /></i><br /><br />Sorry to hear that. I mentioned before that I was outsourced, and I ended up taking (essentially) my old job from the outsourcing company. I didn't especially want to do it that way, and a very vocal part of me feels as if I failed a character test by not taking an obvious hint from the universe to move on. <br /><br />But they offered a surprisingly-good compensation package (I was expecting to be lowballed) and I was not in a position (family-wise) to say "no" to continued employment and health coverage in this economy.LarryHartnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-62811906977094262732012-04-09T23:48:14.722-07:002012-04-09T23:48:14.722-07:00Dr Brin:
"Can't think of any examples fr...Dr Brin:<br /><i><br />"Can't think of any examples from the fourth quadrant, which would have to be stories where we're rooting against the enlightenment side but they win anyway."<br /><br />That might be Dances With Wolves, right? Little Big Man? Almost any modern Injun Pitcha<br /></i><br /><br />Hmmmm, I'll have to think about that one. DWW as a version of "Avatar" where the military-industrial complex side gets their way? Ok, it looks as if you have something there.<br /><br />Are DWW and its ilk also adjacent to the "1984" quadrant? In "1984", Winston has an enlightenment sensibility and he's crushed by the evil "We're an empire now" government. To be "fourth quadrant", we'd still be rooting for Winston, but he'd be the romanticist savage and Oceania would be recognizable as our own civilization. That does seem to fit "Dances With Wolves". It also seems that this is where "Brave New World" fits into the picture, at least if one considers the Savage as the protagonist to root for and the one who loses. The recognized protagonist of that book, Bernard Marx, seems motivated mainly from cowardice, therefore bypassing both enlightenment-ism and romanticism. And the government of "Brave New World" may not have looked like "us" when the book was written, but it sure does now. So I wasn't sure where that book fell in my four quadrant system.LarryHartnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-51030529415064372942012-04-09T22:57:26.064-07:002012-04-09T22:57:26.064-07:00Sociotard you are taking your turn as top cynic.
I...<i>Sociotard you are taking your turn as top cynic.</i><br />I lost my job and it makes me grouchy. If you know a spot for an entry level chemical engineer I'd be obliged.<br /><br /><i>The Dutch and Japanese are more efficient that Americans by far and have NOT upped consumption to match. </i><br /><br />Both have other constraints on consumption. Heavy taxes on gas keep people from commute heavy lifestyles. High land prices keep people from buying bigger and bigger houses.<br /><br /><i>US cars ARE getting more efficient as driving has gone down. </i><br />Cars are not <a href="http://www.bts.gov/publications/national_transportation_statistics/html/table_04_23.html" rel="nofollow">gaining efficiency</a> as fast as <a href="http://www.randomuseless.info/gasprice/adjusted.txt" rel="nofollow">fuel prices are climbing</a>. (Passenger car 33.8 mpg vs 28.8 mpg 2011 to 2001, and $3.27/gal to $2.00 over the same frame. That gives 10.3 miles per dollar in 2011 and 14.4 miles per dollar in 2001)<br /><br />So yes, you can drive down consumption at the same time efficiency goes up if there are other factors (expanding population, fewer discoveries) that keep the price going up. All things being equal, efficiency will lead to greater consumption.sociotardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11697154298087412934noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-18271707046158220042012-04-09T22:44:59.941-07:002012-04-09T22:44:59.941-07:00Hi Sociotard
There has been a ton of work done on...Hi Sociotard<br /><br />There has been a ton of work done on satiability<br /><br />One of the clearest descriptions is Maslow's <br /><br />http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow%27s_hierarchy_of_needs<br /><br />And some recent work done on the insatiability of the "upper crust" <br /><br />Besides - more is only better for a while - coming from the UK I wanted some land to spread out on (small UK houses, small sections)<br /><br />I now have 7 acres - guess what its 6 acres too much!duncan cairncrossnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-35410731990655392612012-04-09T22:34:14.145-07:002012-04-09T22:34:14.145-07:00Locum said -
"Cycling from death to enlight...Locum said - <br /><br />"Cycling from death to enlightenment to darkness and rebirth,few writers have done a better job addressing the intrinsic connection that exists between civilization and dystopia than R. A. Lafferty did in 'Past Master', a tale of a golden utopian planet called Astrobe which hides a dark, corrupt and rotten core that can only produce seeds of golden light."<br /><br />Back to your ZERO SUM GAME<br /><br />In the real world some of us are working for positive sum games<br /><br />I hate the - if its going well there MUST be rot at the core attitude<br /><br />Was it Robert looking for Foundation Novels?<br /><br />I would recommend Donald Kingsbury's Psychohistorical Crisis<br /><br />In fact I would recommend everything he has writtenduncan cairncrossnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-32746795986380016122012-04-09T22:26:07.088-07:002012-04-09T22:26:07.088-07:00No, the majority of people do have a satiation lim...<i> No, the majority of people do have a satiation limit.</i><br /><br />Citation or it didn't happen.<br /><br />The only satiation I have observed comes clumped as economic strata; a person may be satisfied when they have successfully kept up with their neighbors (one reason insatiability seems more prevalent among the uber rich)<br /><br />However, the neighbor benchmark keeps moving. Look at home size! Average in the US was 983 in 1950, <a href="http://www.infoplease.com/askeds/us-home-size.html" rel="nofollow">1400 in 1970</a>, and 2700 in 2009. Just think of the energy savings if we lived in the same sized houses that were just fine for our grandfathers!<br /><br />Unfortunately, people can't be satisfied. Not in bulk, anyway. One person might be satisfied with their house, but their class will crave more as a herd, always pushing for moremoremore. Bigger house! More yard! More rural! (what, all those people moving out to the rural place made it less rural? move further!)<br /><br />Now we have some pushback. High gas prices are moving people back into smaller houses packed denser closer to the city. If we get better efficiency, watch it reverse.sociotardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11697154298087412934noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-13072255223238856212012-04-09T22:00:04.342-07:002012-04-09T22:00:04.342-07:00Cycling from death to enlightenment to darkness an...Cycling from death to enlightenment to darkness and rebirth,few writers have done a better job addressing the intrinsic connection that exists between civilization and dystopia than R. A. Lafferty did in 'Past Master', a tale of a golden utopian planet called Astrobe which hides a dark, corrupt and rotten core that can only produce seeds of golden light.<br /><br /><br />Lafferty was (is) one of the few great scifi authors who has dared to take the human heart where the enlightened mind has feared to go. Insightfully rude and elegantly mad, he possesses a wicked sense of humour. If you haven't read him, then your mind is poorer for it.<br /><br />And a mechanical mind is a terrible thing to taste.<br /><br />Best.locumranchnoreply@blogger.com