"'Earth is dead."
-After Doomsday, 1, p. 5 -
- comes straight to the point.
In Poul Anderson's World Without Stars, Chapter I is narrated in the third person from the point of view of an inhabitant of a planetary system between galaxies before the human first person narrator comes on-stage in the opening sentence of Chapter II. We must read on in order to understand much of what we have read in I: God rising in the West, downdevils from the sea depths etc.
In the unentitled opening passage of Anderson's The Rebel Worlds, Didonian Feet, Wings and Hands make oneness before the human action begins in CHAPTER ONE. That opening passage is incomprehensible on first reading.
In the italicized and unentitled opening passage of Anderson's A Knight Of Ghosts And Shadows, an unidentified Dennitzan wonders how to tell the tale of Bodin's raid which will not occur until the climax of the novel.
On rereading, we can skip past these introductory passages.
Kaor, Paul!
ReplyDeleteAs you may recall I also like the opening paragraphs of the first chapters of A CIRCUS OF HELLS and HUNTERS OF THE SKY CAVE.
Ad astra! Sean
Note that the "human race" after the end of Earth will be very different from the human race before it.
ReplyDeleteThere's a hell of a genetic bottleneck.
The male and female 'proginators' of the new human race are carefully selected for physical toughness and mental acuity.
Even with reversion to the mean, they'll have supercharged children and the average IQ will go from 100 to about 125-130. They'll be physically more formidable too.
We need a sequel.
ReplyDeleteKaor, Mr. Stirling!
ReplyDeleteBut I am skeptical about how long such an average increase in "mental acuity" will last as numbers increase.
Also, mere intelligence alone is no guarantee that follies, blunders, stupidities will always be avoided. Lots of brainy people were/are idiots.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean: yeah, smart people make grander mistakes! But the average IQ would take a jump, long-term, because all the people ancestral to the future population would be substantially above average.
ReplyDeleteKaor, Mr. Stirling!
ReplyDeleteGranted, but the potential for those grander blunders will continue to exist.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean: yup. It will take time for numbers to build up, of course. It's fortunate that they have high tech, because highly intelligent people tend to be borded by repetitive work.
ReplyDeleteKaor, Mr. Stirling!
ReplyDeleteIt might be better if the human survivors had to do some boring, repetitive work. Keep them from getting too smug.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean: for example, Ashkenazic Jews have an average IQ of about 115. I think this is due to the 'rabbinical student' phenomenon -- bright boys were carefully educated, married off to the daughters of rich merchants, and encouraged to have enormous families. That happened for a long, long time.
ReplyDeleteKaor, Mr. Stirling!
ReplyDeleteI like that! More people should do as the Ashkenazim have done. Esp. in the West.
Ad astra! Sean