Wednesday, 13 September 2017

A Contrast

The First Two Instalments of Poul Anderson's Psychotechnic History

"Marius"
1964, ruined Strasbourg. See here.

"Un-Man," I
2004, Illinois.
Midwest Agricultural reaches beyond the horizon;
land green with corn and clumps of trees;
occasional old highways;
airboats very high overhead;
a two-mile long, 300-storey apartment building stands in the trees and gardens of its own park and hums like an organism;
apartments have screened balconies and landing flanges for airboats.

A different world, four decades later. The apartment building is not in a city but is described as "...a city in its own right." (p. 32) Now that the Wars are over, what conflicts remain? A lot, of course. But meanwhile let us vicariously enjoy the view from a high storey of the building or, better still, from an airboat. We will soon rejoin human conflicts.

3 comments:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

Besides enjoying the view from this massive skyscraper, let's contemplate "airboats." I really like the idea of airboats or flying cars! I admit to being tired of such 19th century technology as four wheeled automobiles!

Sean

S.M. Stirling said...

I'm willing to wait for thoroughly automated vehicles before we get flying cars. The thought of the average human driver with three dimensions to screw up in... shudder!

Sean M. Brooks said...

Dear Mr. Stirling,

Actually, I agree with you! Any practical, economical flying cars will need to be accompanied by a reliable, automated, computerized system controlling the flying of air cars. We do see such systems in some of Anderson's series, such as the Technic History.

Sean