Reason, moderation, tolerance and patience have become popular. There is much caution and little passion. Arts are stylized. Religion, national sovereignty and once-valued governmental forms are mocked. The Psychotechnic Institute has a "'...neat equation...'" for this "'...semantic condition.'" (p. 124) ("Semantics" again.)
There are many worthwhile activities like:
the sciences;
interplanetary colonization;
social improvement.
However, "Actionists" want to commit to something conceived as bigger than any such concrete secular goals even though, unfortunately, there is no longer any overarching Church or State to satisfy their need for a sense of belonging:
"'In short, you can't stand on your own psychic feet. You can't face the truth that man is a lonely creature and that his purpose must come from within himself.'" (p. 124)
Again, any new external antagonist - the gang, the Actionists - is seen as expressing a problem that is within us. But the Actionists are a hangover, followers with a directionless Leader. Transcendent goals in the arts, sciences and spirituality should emerge in the new society. However, we know that that is not how the Psychotechnic History develops. Anderson's truly transcendent work is Brain Wave.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
And the atomized anomie discussed in this quote you gave is not natural or even desirable for human beings. And it can't last before a widespread rebellion begins against it. And, unfortunately, this revulsion can take deadly dangerous forms. One real world example I've thought of being fanatical Muslim jihadism.
While I agree with what you said about BRAIN WAVE, it should not be taken as Anderson's final word on human self transcendence. In different ways we see him skeptically examining such notions in the HARVEST OF STARS books, STARFARERS, and GENESIS.
Ad astra! Sean
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