I must mentally readjust back from a weekend spent discussing the state of the world to the fiction of Poul and Karen Anderson's
The King of Ys. (Also physically tired from travel.)
To compare the present state of the world to Andersonian fiction:
In terms of the Technic History, the Chaos is accelerating. Resources from space are not being used to rescue the ecology and a new, Technic, civilization is not emerging to replace Western civilization.
The Psychotechnic History: World War III did not happen on schedule but might still happen and meanwhile global warming is destroying the environment. No new science of society has been discovered. The Solar System has not yet been colonized.
Flying Mountains: Gyrogravitics have not yet been discovered to facilitate asteroid colonization.
The King of Ys: Lir returns as sea levels rise at the end of the Age of the Fish? Also other demons?
On another note, I want to draw attention to two passages in The King of Ys. First:
"While he still had much to do, most of it of his own making, Gratillonius began discovering time for himself."
-Poul and Karen Anderson, Roma Mater (London, 1989), XX, 2, p. 351.
A page lists his activities:
visiting around town
sailing in the royal yacht
hunting or exploring on horseback beyond the Ysan frontier
sports
reading
passive leisure
drinking and talking late into the night
his own workshop - furniture and other gifts from the King
Secondly:
"The months wheeled onward, through winter and spring and again to summer."
My current point is that these passages present plenty of time for additional narratives to be written about the lives of Gratillonius and others in Ys. A short story collection could fit in here.
33 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
For signs of hope as regards getting off this rock I suggest sometimes dropping by Elon Musk's SpaceX's website, to see news about his efforts for getting to the Moon and Mars. Once that happens resources off Earth will be exploited, to make the new colonies self supporting--which will then repercussions affecting us on Earth.
Longer term, of course, the founding of off Earth colonies and new nations will lead to the rise of a new civilization.
I would dismiss Asimovian fantasies of "a new science of society," as Anderson had done!
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
I think that there is a conflict between the schedule for interplanetary colonization and the timetable of imminent irreversible ecological catastrophe on Earth.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
Maybe, maybe not. AT the very least the founding of off Earth bases and colonies would no longer mean the human race foolishly keeping all its eggs only one basket!
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
I agree with getting all the eggs out of one basket but I think that your comments lack the sense of urgency and emergency that is necessary right now. The ecological catastrophe is happening and intensifying now.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
At least I invested some of my own money in one of Musk's business enterprises. And I support the Republican party, the only political force in the US with halfway reasonable ideas which has a chance of gaining power. I even sometimes email my House rep, however futile it is trying to argue with a leftist.
NEITHER of us is a king, president, PM, or cabinet minister--which means anything we do will have very little impact on the US or UK. So what is the point of being "urgent"?
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
Any point in being urgent when we are all under an imminent threat? We have to influence our representatives and rulers.
Is it possible to argue with a rightist?
How effectively did Republican-run Southern States in the US respond to Coronavirus?
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
And I do my bit, however small I know that to be!
My belief is that conservatives are much more reasonable and realistic than hard line leftists or the crazed woke types.
And my view remains the GOP run states did a much better job at handling Covid than did the Democrats, who succumbed to hysteria, denial of scientific facts or likelihoods, coercive bureaucratic overreach, bullying, waste, corruption, etc.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
There cannot be that big a difference between Democrats (hysterical, bullying, wasteful, corrupt) and Republicans (much better)! They are all professional American politicians! A party where Trump has so much support cannot be all reasonable and realistic.
Paul.
BTW, in addition to crazed wokes, there are also crazed "patriots" who stormed the Capitol. Let's have some perspective. Anyone reading such a one-sided account would have no suspicion that there are crazies and other problems at the Republican end of the spectrum.
Kaor, Paul!
Is January 6 the only example of "conservative" extremism you can think of? That is not much when I think of how, for DECADES, I've seen only arrogance, fanaticism, sneering condescension, denial or minimizing of leftist violence from the Democrats and their media lackeys. However wrong, unfortunate, deserving of condemnation, etc., what impresses me about January 6 was how patient so many Americans have been, despite their anger and frustration with the Democrats. But it also shows how thin that patience can be, under prolonged provocation!
Which makes it all the more desirable for a new leader to emerge from the GOP, to lead the party and channel the energies and passions of its supporters into legal, workable, and constructive ways and means of opposing the catastrophic policies of the left.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
An attack on the Capitol causing five deaths is not much?
Paul.
Not sure if I've got this right. Jan 6 was impressive because so many people exercised patience and did not join in the attack? Please! Never forget that the purpose of the attack was to overthrow an election result. It should not even be necessary to have any sort of argument on this issue.
Everything done by Democrats/leftists is terrible whereas anything done by Republicans/conservatives is not so bad? Looked at from the outside, this just looks like one big dreadful mess full of one-sided partisan polemic.
Sean, one other thought. If you hand out so much contempt (!), then maybe you have to get used to receiving some of it back, hopefully not from me but certainly from all those sneering Democrats.
A Member of Parliament near here is called Morris. Someone started a campaign of publicly asking, "Where's Morris?" (Implying that he is never around when he should be.) He complained to the police that he was being harassed. The police looked into it and said, "That's just normal political discourse."
Unfortunately, a lot of politics is vituperative but let's try just to address the issues.
Sea levels were probably high in the last century BC and up to the third century, then fell -- the climate was warmer than now in the 'Rpman Warm Perios', then fell sharply.
Kaor, Paul!
Ever since at least FDR's time the left in the US has been treating their opponents with more and more hostility and contempt, so it's no surprise they are finally getting some back! I've not forgotten how Barack Obama sneeringly called conservatives people who "clung" to their guns and Bibles. Or how Hillary Clinton called conservatives "deplorables."
Leftists are reaping what they sowed!
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
Leftists are to blame for the attack on the Capitol?
Paul.
Let's discuss the issues, not emotional reactions to loaded language.
Sean: people with strong political disagreements always treat their opponents with hostility and contempt.
This is because (in the absence of an enforced consensus) politics is a -fight-.
Interludes when there -is- a consensus successfully enforced are deceptive. It's not 'agreement', it's a behind-the-scenes application of fists to faces.
Sean's perception is that all the hostility has originated on side A and now side B is justifiably retaliating whereas in fact it has been daggers drawn on both sides for a long time. Both our countries had civil wars.
Paul: what -prevents- civil wars is usually that there's no prospect of -winning- one, so people don't think about it seriously.
You're most likely to get civil war when factions are fairly evenly balanced, and one or both feel an 'appeal to arms' stands a good chance of winning; particularly when combined with a sense of possible permanent loss otherwise.
The closest that I have come to the feeling (no more than that) of a civil war was the British Miner's Strike, 1984-'85.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
I agree politics is fight by other than the naked use of force. But the anger and resentment on both sides seems to have become esp. bad since 2000. Republicans perceive that the left, in both the Democrats and their media lackeys, are increasingly unwilling to play by the rules if that means admitting they lost elections. And that all dirty tricks are allowed if that will make the Democrats win. That inevitably provokes anger among Republicans, if they see the deck being maliciously stacked against them.
The Democrats have a long history of hypocrisy, graft, and corruption. I also recall how Anderson, in one of his letters to me, stating that he believed the Pres. election of 1960 was probably stolen from the Republicans.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
Trump is the main blatant denier of an election result and he has massive Republican support.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
And the Democrats have themselves to blame, with their false accusations of elections being stolen from them, starting in 2000.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
The Democrats are to blame for Trump denying an election result? Can't you see how one-sided you are being?
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
No, you are being one-sided, with this obsession you have for Trump. I've detested the Democrat party for decades before I ever heard of him.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
I am not obsessed with Trump! I can't get an acknowledgement of the publicly known facts that he has consistently denied an election result, that he alone started all the "Stop the Steal!" nonsense, that he asked a governor to find more votes for him, that he instigated the attack on the Capitol in which five people were killed (imagine the outcome if the deaths had included even one of the politicians that the rioters were looking for), that his Secret Service bodyguards had to prevent him from joining the riot, that all the legal challenges to the election result failed, that he sexually assaulted a woman and defamed her, that his response to the jury's verdict was to defame her again!, that he consistently denigrates every prosecutor or judge involved in a case against him, that I am repeating all this not because I am obsessed but because it is all being denied, downplayed or ignored! Can we move on?
Paul.
I left out that he praises Jan 6 and wants to pardon the perpetrators yet still has a large following in the Republican Party instead of being expelled as an enemy of democracy. I would not have believed that any of this was possible.
Kaor, Paul!
You still don't understand. E.g., the First Amendment to the US Constitution guarantees the right of citizens to freedom of speech. So Trump can say any false or stupid thing he likes. I, and many others, just shrug off his nonsense.
I have repeatedly said I don't want Trump to be President again, preferring others I believe would be better GOP candidates: Gov. DeSantis or Sen. Tim Scott. Trump is probably the only GOP candidate that corrupt dotard, "Josip," could beat!
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
What am I not understanding? Trump has done more than say false or stupid things. He has tried to overturn an election result and has instigated and approved of violence and has assaulted a woman and continued to defame her. If we can agree that he has done all these things and should be brought to account for them (as should any Democrats guilty of comparable offenses), then there will no longer be any disagreement but just to say that he should not be the GOP candidate is nowhere near enough. If he is the candidate, then the US electorate will have to reject him overwhelmingly. Anything less than that will mean an even more horribly polarized society.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
And reelecting the corrupt, discredited, and senescent "Josip" will be just as polarizing.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
But you do not need to counterbalance accusations of Trump with accusations of Biden. I am not defending Biden! If he is really as guilty as Trump, then we need to see the evidence - which is blatant in the case of Trump.
Paul.
Sean,
After all these red herrings about Biden, do you finally agree that Trump is as bad as I say he is or do you still think that he is just this guy with baggage who says stupid and false things and who would not make the best candidate next time?
Paul.
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