Futuristic sf comments on the period in which it is written. Discussing art, Skip says:
"'You know what absolute garbage-pit bottom we hit in the middle twentieth-century, don't you?'" (IX, p. 78)
See also The Relevance Of SF and Old Days And Silence.
Fiction set in any period also comments on people fairly timelessly. Skip tells Yvonne that, despite her recent celebrity, she will not be recognized in public because:
"'The sensation's died of old age. Your picture hasn't been on a screen for two or three weeks. Ninety-nine percent of the population has lousy memory...'" (X, p. 96)
Similarly, despite having been "Wanted for Murder" for an extended period, Lisbeth Salander:
"...was surprised that nobody at the ticket desk or at the check-in counter seemed to recognize her or react to her name."
-Stieg Larsson, The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest (London, 2010), CHAPTER 29. p. 688.
We can pass from being well-known to back again. "This too will pass" etc.
5 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
I agree with Skip. I think most of what passes for "art" in the past 60 years are just chunks of solid fecal matter.
Ad astra! Sean
Fairly soon facial recognition software will be ubiquitous. (It already is in China.)
This means that 'wanted' people will be spotted whenever they go into public unless they're masked.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
Which might be why many of those vile antisemitic demonstrators in the US wore masks, to avoid being recognized by that kind of tech.
Ad astra! Sean
How many anti-semitic demonstrators?
I participate in pro-Palestinian marches and rallies and am supporting a student peace camp and vouch that these activities are not anti-semitic.
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