Despite its being a pulp magazine short story, Anderson's "The Star Beast" is proving to be more complicated a text than I want to continue rereading this late into the evening. An extended passage without dialogue recounts the experience of a man who has become a forest-dwelling tiger through a summer and into a winter. Then the matter of an attempted military conquest of Earth has to be addressed. And finally the story will culminate not in a conventional victory but in an unresolved dilemma... This is not just "pulp" fiction and will be returned to with refreshed attention at a later date.
Regular blog readers know by now what else I read in the evenings that I do not have to blog about and, of course, it is also advisable to catch up with the madness of Earth Real on the TV news.
Every fictional future had a turbulent twenty-first century in its past and we will have a future, hopefully.
12 comments:
Yes, it's an indication of how subtle Poul would be in the future.
Kaor, Paul and Mr. Stirling!
Paul: That madness we see in Earth Real exist because IWHBD, being Fallen, quarrelsome and strife prone, something that can, at best, be only managed, not solved.
Mr. Stirling: Then perhaps I was too critical about this story in the comment I left in "The Future History in THE STAR BEAST."
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
Disagree.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
I believe divine revelation, the harsh facts of real life, real history, and millions of years of evolution forever invalidate the views of those who deny the innate imperfection of human beings.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
I know you do!
We evolved so we have risen from animality, not "Fallen" out of a Garden.
We have completely transformed our natural and social environments and have transformed ourselves from upright apes into a rational, linguistic species in the process.
The perceptions, understanding, assumptions, expectations and life-choices of modern human beings are completely different from those of our earliest human, let alone animal, ancestors.
Nothing is innate because everything changes.
We now have the potential (unfortunately only the potential at present) to use advanced technology to transform our environments and ourselves much further: no longer any need for economic competition; dynamic, not static, interactions with the universe and with each other.
Society is relationships between people and completely changing the relationships means completely changing the lives of the individuals who will be born, will grow up, will be educated and prepared for life within a completely transformed set of relationships unlike anything that has existed before.
The way things have been is not the way things will always be.
This is a realistic interpretation of real life, real history, evolution, society, humanity and technology. It invalidates the views of those who insist on an innate imperfection of human beings.
I did not want to go through all this again. I see no point in going through it all again. Please let's not go through it all again!
Paul.
Sean: I would say "innate nature" rather than "imperfect". We're very well adapted to be tribal hunter-gatherers.
But we are also capable of changing and adapting our behaviour in response to changing conditions. Hence, we became agriculturalists, city-dwellers, clerical workers, managers, merchants, technologists etc. Our tribe can become the human race. That identity is growing. Universal religions replacing tribal religions was an early start but we have come a long way since then. And obviously have not gone all the way yet. But (assuming survival) we have a lot of time ahead of us.
Kaor, Paul and Mr. Stirling!
Paul: But the way human beings have always been is the way to bet they will continue to be. That's another reason why I don't believe in all these "cans"
you insist on.
Mr. Stirling: Actually, I agree, we have abilities enabling our forebears to be efficient hunter/gatherers. I was thinking more in theological/moral terms, we humans are also innately prone to being violent and quarrelsome, which are some of the consequences of the Fall.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
I know you don't believe them! There is no point in repeatedly saying this. If every species continued to be the way it had always been, then there would be no evolution. I insist on "cans" because everything CAN and does change.
We are violent and quarrelsome in some circumstances but not in others. We did not Fall.
Paul.
Sean,
I get the impression that you think that I think that some day, without any discernible cause or explanation and while everything else remains completely unchanged, a large number of human beings will undergo an inexplicable, unaccountable psychological and motivational transformation, suddenly becoming cooperative instead of competitive and non-violent instead of violent. I do not think that.
When I realize that someone is completely misunderstanding what I am saying, I also realize that communication is completely failing.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
I have never insisted that was how I thought you believed. Since you brought it up that make s me wonder if SOME who think as you do hope that is what will happen. And of course it won't.
Cooperation takes many forms, including the competitive. And cooperative competition can be either violent or peaceful. A baker peacefully competes against other bakers to satisfy his customers so well they'll buy his breads, pastries, cakes, etc., over those of other bakers.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
But you seem to think that I expect people just to change without any cause or explanation. Of course you are right to say that that will not happen. I don't know if anyone thinks that society changes in that way but of course it does not.
We have said all that about cooperation and competition before. Economic competition will be unnecessary when technologically produced wealth is abundant and when everyone has equal access to it. When those conditions exist, every aspect of human life and consciousness will be different just as life now is completely different from what it was like in the earliest ages of humanity. That cannot be denied.
Paul.
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