If civilization is destroyed, might the environment and a fragment of humanity survive? Unlikely. One Nuclear Winter scenario has radioactive clouds indefinitely encircling the Earth, blocking out all sunlight and killing every blade of grass. One Climate Change prediction has critical ecosystems collapsing in our lifetimes.
Poul Anderson and SM Stirling have written novels assuming a "Yes" answer to both these questions.
If the environment and a fragment of humanity survive, might the survivors and their descendants find a different way to act on nature? Yes: unlikely that ours is the only way.
Might one of the different ways be such that it would seem magical or supernatural to us? SM Stirling's Snowbrother seems to assume a "Yes" answer although I will have to read further.
We recognize terms that recur in later Stirling works:
"'...the Sky-Blue Wolves...'" (Chapter 7, p. 82)
"'...Eater...'" (Chapter 8, p. 98)
Peoples and their pantheons, gods of earth and sky, are in conflict. Sky-god worshipers regard their enemies' rituals as witchcraft.
5 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
I'm trying to recall which of Anderson's stories has both mankind and Earth being destroyed, and none really comes to mind except the thought experiment called "In Memoriam" and possibly "Murphy's Hall." And I interpreted the latter story as showing us what Anderson believed would be fatal results if the human race retreated from space, refused to leave Earth.
AFTER DOOMSDAY does not count because that story shows Earth being destroyed by hostile aliens, and with remnants of mankind surviving.
GENESIS also does not count because Earth is not destroyed in that book. And mankind became extinct from despair and a sense of living a pointless life after an AI took over all the real responsibility and POWER.
And I don't recall any of Stirling's stories showing us both Earth and mankind being destroyed. If I'm wrong, some specific examples from the works of both Anderson and Stirling would have helped.
And my view remains that of Anderson, as set out in his "Commentary," a brief essay included in SPACE FOLK. The real future of mankind lies in getting off this rock, of discovering and developing the possibilities and resources in space and other worlds.
Sean
Sean,
PA and SMS have both written works which answer "Yes" to:
Might our civilization destroy itself?
Might the environment and a fragment of humanity survive the destruction of civilization?
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
Yes, but I was trying to think of specific examples from the works of Anderson and Stirling of your proposition.
And I would answer "yes" to your two questions. Altho, in his bleaker moments, Anderson suspected mankind might survive only as peasants ruled by brigands. And it wouldn't matter if the brigands retained some high technology. An example from Anderson's works being his story "Welcome."
Sean
Sean,
Our civilization destroys itself but the environment and a fragment of humanity survive in SNOWBROTHER, TWILIGHT WORLD, the Maurai History and VAULT OF THE AGES.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
I agree with these examples. And I'm esp. interested in rereading SNOWBROTHER after I finish Julian May's THE MANY COLORED LAND.
But, I would argue we only see Earth being granted a few decades of survival after the nuclear WW III we see mentioned in TWILIGHT WORLD. Just long enough to enable a colony being founded on Mars by the mutated remnants of mankind.
Sean
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