Thursday 3 August 2017

The Change

We enjoy reading about SM Stirling's Change, when high technology stopped working, but would anyone want such an event to occur? Yes:

"...I think Norman wanted to wipe out the remains of a world he hated. Maybe one man in a hundred thousand welcomed the Change, knowing full well what it was and what it would do. And they were the ones who did best."
-SM Stirling, The Tears Of The Sun (New York, 2012), Chapter Eighteen, p. 603.

Norman Arminger, a brutal post-Change dictator, had skyscrapers pulled down for material to build (a lot of) castles. Tiphaine thinks that Norman not only wanted to build feudalism but also hated and wanted to destroy every trace of pre-Change society. Maybe one man in a hundred thousand would think like this just as some, a few, would willingly cooperate with HG Wells' Martians, Poul Anderson's Merseians or Larry Niven's kzinti. There are no heights to which we cannot aspire and also no depths to which we cannot sink.

3 comments:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

And, like you, I would disagree with persons like Norman Arminger. However beneficial some ACCIDENTS results of the Change were, the Change itself was nothing but a horrible disaster and anyone who would WANT the Changer or cooperate with the Merseians in exterminating mankind has gone beyond all bounds of decency. And I certainly agree with your last sentence!

Sean

David Birr said...

Paul and Sean:
"Maybe one man in a hundred thousand welcomed the Change, knowing full well what it was and what it would do. And they were the ones who did best."

That is to say, EVIL people.

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, DAVID!

Exactly! And far more concisely put than my comment!

Sean