"...the old forms of government would be no more important than the difference between Homoousian and Homoiousian." (p. 90)
We search the blog to find out whether we have posted about these terms before. We have, but not in relation to Brain Wave. See Historical And Science Fiction. So Poul Anderson made this historical theological reference twice (at least) and it has taken this blog over eleven years to link the two references.
Glancing ahead to the end to check the page count - we are almost at the mid-point of the novel -, we spot something that we recognize as an Andersonian motif:
"'Have you come far?'
"'From New York City.' There was a small shiver in her, and he wondered what had happened there. Or maybe it was just the cold. The wind piped bitterly now." (21, p. 189)
Much had happened in New York. Sheila shivers and the wind pipes in sympathy. When Archie and Sheila approach the shelter of the house, they have:
"...the dog and the wind at their heels..." (ibid.)
Canine support counterposes the potentially hostile external world.
6 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
I disagree with what the narrator said, both about forms of gov't and the importance of theological terms.
Ad astra! Sean
I suspect super-intelligent human beings would simply be more effective at doing irrationally-based things.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
Exactly, which is why I am so skeptical about Utopian dreams.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
I don't see how that follows. "Utopian dreams," as you denigrate them, do not depend on a general rise in intelligence. People as they are now are capable of reorganizing society and using the vast potentials of technology socially instead of destructively. But I think that, when society has been reorganized on a better basis, general intelligence will then rise.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
Except why should real people in the here and now ever change from what we actually are, a mix of bad or good (with some being very bad or good)? And, of course, they will have different and opposing ideas on how any society should be "reorganized on a better basis." Iow, the contentious politics we have in the real world. It's far more likely advances in technology will enable one power or alliance of powers to reorganize the world the way they want it done. Nor do I believe that will lead to a "general rise in intelligence."
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
It won't automatically lead to a general rise in intelligence. But social conditions affect how people think. Right now people are fed misinformation and prejudice. They often think at a very impoverished level.
Of course people have different ideas and of course this currently leads to conflict but there are underlying conflicts of material interests that underlie those disagreements. Better democratic structures can incorporate mere differences of opinion about matters of policy when the conflicts of material interest no longer exist, when vast wealth is no longer competitively accumulated and fought for but benefits everyone.
Why should people change? People and their circumstances are changing all the time. We can discuss how to change them for the better. For example, stop encouraging and supporting racial and social divisions.
Paul.
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