"This would be the last time human eyes would ever look on Earth, and somehow Jorun felt that it should be more to him than just another psychotechnic job." (p. 199)
After four pages of text, at last a reference that might indicate that this story belongs in Poul Anderson's Psychotechnic History.
In Sandra Miesel's interstitial introduction to this story:
"By the uncertain dawn of the fifth millennium, Earth's far-flung children had all but forgotten her." (p. 194)
In the Chronology:
3200 The Third Dark Ages
after 4000 "The Chapter Ends"
In the text of the story:
"....the First Empire fell, fifty thousand years ago.'" (p. 202)
Has "fifty thousand" been confused with "fifth millennium"?
How long did the Third Dark Ages last? How long after that did the First Empire begin? How long did it last? Fifty thousand years after its fall, the events of "The Chapter Ends" occur.
8 comments:
The posts here always offer food for thought. I occasionally read about The Long Now Foundation and fostering extended thinking and policy making. One project we do in a class I teach is about long term technological effects. We try to design a warning symbol for things like nuclear waste containment sites. How would people in the far future interpret these?
I haven't heard of this story or truly far-future writings such as "StarFog" and "Genesis."
Thanks for the "new" read and the post.
Scott
Kaor, Paul and Mr. Russell!
Paul: But what did Jorun's and his colleagues job in "The Chapter End" really consist of? Merely an evacuation of the human residents from Earth. That seems a thin basis for calling it a "psychotechnic job."
Mr. Russell: Welcome to the combox! I am glad the PA blog and the combox discussions interests you. I have long wished more readers would leave comments. I could easily recommend many others of Anderson's works, but I won't dump too many titles on you.
As for the question of how to dispose of or store spent nuclear fuel, one thought I've had for years is that a selected location on the Moon would be a good place to store such material. After all, the space ships Elon Musk and his company are designing and building could, eventually, include a model specifically for handling radioactive materials and transporting them to a storage location on the Moon.
And it's not impossible that an entrepreneur or scientist might find practical new ways of reusing such material
Ad astra! Sean
Sean, thanks for the welcome and please call me Scott. I like the idea of storage on the Moon, as that seems like an eternal place to allow the material to decay until it is inert. Although, thoughts of Space 1999 come to mind, LOL. I read a thing years back about enclosing pellets of waste in a hardened glass-like material, then firing the pellets via a rail-gun into a hyperbolic orbit to either escape the Sun's gravity and fly off into interstellar space, or if not accelerated to that level, to actually fall into the Sun. Either way, big investments. I imagine some type of re-use might eventually occur, but well down the road.
It's interesting about the "far future" works of Anderson and others. I think far future fiction of this type removes some historical constraints from authors. So we get "Genesis" or "Tau Zero" or other works like "Dune." The "Warhammer" game might also be an example of an imaginative far future. The author doesn't need to explain how such a future came about, it is simply an established world. Anyway, it's all good stuff.
And also any recommends are always welcome. I've read a ton of Anderson, but am always delighted to come across something new (to me anyway) like his mystery writing.
Best, Scott
Scott,
Please let me add my belated welcome to Sean's.
Paul.
Thanks, Paul! Nice to meet you! I really enjoy the web site!
Scott
Kaor, Scptt!
I have come across suggestions like that: re how to dispose of spent nuclear fuel. On balance, tho, I would prefer to store such material in locations, such as the Moon, where it could be accessed if new uses for it is found.
One thing to remember about Anderson's far future stories is that he does not show the societies we see in them as "just happening." Rather they had pasts, histories, origins, etc. It is possible to see how they had links to past societies, including ours. And pf course we have to expect future societies to differ from ours, including in ways we might not like. To say nothing of how people in the future will not agree with everything we like.
If you have already many of Anderson's works, any suggestions I make will probably include items you have read. But here goes comes a few: from Anderson's early years as a writer, I would recommend either the first or the revised versions of THE BROKEN SWORD. From his early middle phase, I suggest THREE HEARTS AND THREE LIONS. And from the beginning of his late phase I recommend THE BOAT OF A MILLION YEARS.
Ad astra! Sean
Thanks Sean! I have not been up to date with Anderson's fantasy as much as his sci-fi. I read "A Midsummer's Tempest" last summer and it was a delightful surprise. Although maybe alt-history, I loved the tie-ins with Shakespeare. And it was all new which made it a gem.
When "Boat of a Million Years" came out in the early(??) 90s I remember being thrilled as several years earlier (I believe) "Analog" magazine ran a short story about these two immortals named Hanno and Rufus. Later in the book the short story served as the chapter where, after much searching, Hanno tracks down another immortal. But Rufus is not immediately what Hanno expects and the disappointment as described in the writing is palpable. I can't remember what the story was called. The characters and "What If?" scenario were classic Anderson.
I have not read "The Broken Sword" (I know, I know) but will definitely pick it up this summer. I have read other fantasy including "Three Hearts and Three Lions," "Mother of Kings," "War of the Gods," and "Hrolf Kraki's Saga." I love how some of his fiction ties in with history. One short story that stands out is "The Peat Bog." I also found "Murphy's Hall" to be haunting. I have not read the "King of Ys" series that he and Mrs. Anderson wrote but may do so this summer as well.
Thanks again for the recommends! Love talking about this and the works of other authors.
The Moon: it would make an interesting storage vault, and the need to store such waste would make an interesting driver to use it as a resource, explore, settle.
Ad Astra! Scott
Kaor, Scott!
Many thanks for your comments! I agree with what you said about A MIDSUMMER TEMPEST. And that story was linked by Anderson to his two OPERATION books and the Old Phoenix Inn stories
Like you, the first I read of anything that became THE BOAT OF A MILLION YEARS was the short story called "The Comrade" in ANALOG, later becoming a chapter in BOAT. Yes, Hanno the Tyrian was disappointed by Rufus. Frankly, he had wanted to find a woman who was an "immortal," not another male. And to top it off, Rufus was rather a coarse oaf!
Another chapter I liked in BOAT was "The Kitten and the Cardinal," showing us Anderson's sympathetic view of Cardinal Richelieu, which probably surprised some! Because of how often Cardinal Richelieu has been demonized by those with partisan axes to grind.
Fans debate which of the two versions of THE BROKEN SWORD is better. Thinking strictly from a technical POV, the 1971 edition is to be preferred, as Anderson explained in the Foreword. Because he cleared away a lot of what he considered needless "word brush" and repetitions from the 1954 version. I'm a bit undecided because I like both editions!
I too have read "The Peat Bog" and the other items you listed. And Paul and I often discuss other SF and F writers here, such as Robert Heinlein, H.G. Wells, James Blish, and S.M. Stirling. That last writer, Stirling, despite being so busy with his own writing, has often honored us by leaving comments here, sometimes very long comments!
I agree with what you said about the Moon. And I hope so much Elon Musk succeeds in getting mankind TRULY off this rock and into space!
Ad astra! Sean
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