tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16659850.post3096655152932182548..comments2024-03-17T03:42:21.277-05:00Comments on LEARNING CURVE ON THE ECLIPTIC: Variations on a Theme: Mankind's Further EvolutionTwilighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14138621610593773784noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16659850.post-50389192198007095822012-12-09T14:14:16.192-06:002012-12-09T14:14:16.192-06:00Chomp ~~~ Oh - you've given me some more books...Chomp ~~~ Oh - you've given me some more books/stories to seek out! Thank you! Those are all new titles to me.<br /><br />Yes, I think dystopian stories have a more authentic "feel" than much science fiction nowadays. Science fiction proper must be tricky to write successfully now.<br /><br />Isn't it strange that there are so few stories set in a utopian future, and so many in a dystopian one? We must be a pessimistic species at our core! Still, some dystopian tales do have happy-ish endings. The struggle to overcome obstacles and the drawing out of courage is key, I guess.<br />:-)Twilighthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14138621610593773784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16659850.post-50941375837034366412012-12-09T14:08:02.064-06:002012-12-09T14:08:02.064-06:00James Higham ~~ "Other side" - what oth...James Higham ~~ "Other side" - what other side is that? Because he was Persian? I don't see that as "the other side" - much of our civilisation arose from that direction, they were way ahead of us long, long ago.<br /><br />But anyway, James, he's mentioned in the post in relation to the theme of a novel about a scientist's scheme to bring forth a better version of mankind, an idea possibly inspired by a German philosopher's insights. So sides aren't relevant.Twilighthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14138621610593773784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16659850.post-64024328028963915642012-12-09T12:53:24.976-06:002012-12-09T12:53:24.976-06:00Oh ol’ Mister Nietzsche... Thank you for the thoug...Oh ol’ Mister Nietzsche... Thank you for the thought. Allow me to express my opinion about sci-fi/distopia topic (well knowing that today world is a sort of distopia, the “Distopia Realized” as I call it...) and say that sometimes the distopia sub-genre of science fiction reaches some peaks of interest, by my own point of view... <br /><br />What to say of P. Dick’s “Man in High Catle” or of R. Harris’ “Fatherland” or, perhaps far less known and surely far rougher but not less interesting and/or intriguing, N. Spinrad’s “The Iron Dream” ... <br /><br />So let me say, that it may be that in Distopias that science fiction sometimes reached its peak of interest and/or focus... <br /><br />Chompnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16659850.post-81838634141084377212012-12-09T08:58:45.827-06:002012-12-09T08:58:45.827-06:00Zarathustra, of course, batted for the other side....Zarathustra, of course, batted for the other side.James Highamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14525082702330365464noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16659850.post-28018249333366811562012-12-09T08:49:36.120-06:002012-12-09T08:49:36.120-06:00Wisewebwoman ~~ I like the idea of Gaia, it helps...Wisewebwoman ~~ I like the idea of Gaia, it helps make sense of things - sometimes. I had a quote at the bottom of the blog page recently which I like, it's by Alan Wilson Watts:<br /><br /><i>You are a function of what the whole universe is doing in the same way that a wave is a function of what the whole ocean is doing.</i><br /><br />By "reveal" I took Mike to mean a hope that we'll find out when we eventually shuffle off the mortal coil what it was all about - rather than just descend into nothingness.<br />Maybe you took it more as the biblical Revelation? I don't think that's going to happen at all.<br />:-)<br /><br />Twilighthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14138621610593773784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16659850.post-44300224797716449522012-12-09T08:41:50.649-06:002012-12-09T08:41:50.649-06:00Anonymous ~~ Hi there! I'm glad of lurkers - ...Anonymous ~~ Hi there! I'm glad of lurkers - it's good to know there's at least one! :-) I'm pleased to know you enjoy the blog contents - and the comments - thanks for letting me know that.<br /><br />I shall add the Sheri Tepper to my list of books to seek out - looked at the Wiki description - it sounds almost as scary as <i>Handmaid's Tale,</i> but reversed, gender-wise.<br />I enjoy some Ursula Le Guin - will look for that story.<br /><br />I read <i>Canticle for Liebowitz</i> earlier this year. I enjoyed the first part a lot, 2nd part not much at all, final part a bit better. The story relied too much on Roman Catholicism for my taste, and didn't, as a whole, live up to its early promise. But I'm glad I read it.<br /><br /><i>Earth Abides"</i>by George R. Stewart is another very good dystopian novel. Also a little known one which first got me into the genre long ago:<i> Down to a Sunless Sea</i> by David Graham.Twilighthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14138621610593773784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16659850.post-88020548712853494162012-12-08T22:53:16.145-06:002012-12-08T22:53:16.145-06:00I am in Mike's camp when it comes to Gaia, we ...I am in Mike's camp when it comes to Gaia, we are all part of the whole.<br /><br />The concept of Reveal intrigues me but I somehow don't feel there's going to be one. We are too insignificant for that.<br /><br />Very interesting reading you're on there, T. Must explore your recommendations!<br /><br />XO<br />WWWWisewebwomanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15281689872840844191noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16659850.post-49366934734057128162012-12-08T17:52:24.165-06:002012-12-08T17:52:24.165-06:00A dystopian novel with a feminist slant is "T...A dystopian novel with a feminist slant is "The Gate to Women's Country" by Sheri Tepper, an old favorite of mine. Ursula le Guin wrote a short story "She Unnames Them" wherein Eve undoes Eden. Not sure if that would qualify as dystopia. :) Then there's "A Canticle for Liebowitz" (Miller) which questions whether humanity is inherently flawed to such an extent that it is doomed to repeat and repeat its horrendous mistakes. Tepper's story speculates an answer to that. <br /><br />Long time lurker, Twilight. I enjoy your wide range of interests and unique take on astrology.— the interesting discussions in the comments are nearly as good as your postings! Thank you for your blog.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16659850.post-70556800487982681132012-12-08T15:38:53.340-06:002012-12-08T15:38:53.340-06:00mike ~~ The idea of our being individual cells of ...mike ~~ The idea of our being individual cells of the greater consciousness of Gaia is (minus the Gaia aspect) more or less how <i>Childhood's End</i> finishes. consiousness of all the children of Earth is absorbed into the great Overmind which then helps to bring along evolution of other species elsewhere in the universe.<br /><br />Will we see any "reveal" - I don't know, but hope so too.<br /><br />Richard Dawkins is not a writer or speaker I admire. But he does well to describe himself as "self-important fluff" for he must be if he's human, according to his theory - he especially fits the self-important" bit!!! ;-)Twilighthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14138621610593773784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16659850.post-38589470925967179202012-12-08T10:31:21.794-06:002012-12-08T10:31:21.794-06:00Also..."The Selfish Gene", by Richard Da...Also..."The Selfish Gene", by Richard Dawkins, purports that living creatures on Earth are nothing more than suitcases for our genetic DNA...DNA is the real stuff...we are just the self-important fluff that carries it forward.mike (again)noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16659850.post-89768001341664834662012-12-08T10:15:50.017-06:002012-12-08T10:15:50.017-06:00We are all participants in something, that's f...We are all participants in something, that's for sure. We can take it purely at face-value or abstract our individual and collective experience to have a defined, purposeful end-point. I entertain the notion started by Isaac Asimov in "Foundation's Edge", the fourth in the Foundation series. We, meaning all sentient beings on Earth, are individual cells of the greater consiousness of Earth, called Gaia.<br /><br />There are similarities to the spiritual notions of some religious faiths that we are all one, or that we are all the eyes of God. The new physics supports a view that nothing is separate and everything is just a part of the whole...fractals, holographic, quantum-string theories, etc.<br /><br />I do hope that at some point I am allowed to view the big reveal. But, what if there isn't one? Saw a film a decade ago called "Waking Life", about a man continually going to sleep and waking to a new life...I think there is a book with the same theme, too. Existentialism!mikenoreply@blogger.com