Today? What? I get to present a number of things, all linked together…
Science Fiction, the speculation of difference, change and hope. Damn, did I just lapse into hopey changey? Or changey hopey? Sigh, live with it. There have been dystopias, sure, but even rip roarin space opera presupposes we get out there.
Libertarianism, the political philosophy of respect and consideration. And hope.
We also got graphic novels, not a major art form, but deserving respect. Some of them are pretty damn good.
And finally? Well, I remember my younger days, and sitting up one night to watch the inauguration of world wide satellite communications. Until then, if we wanted to see great or small events we had to be present, live within the television land broadcast area, or we had to wait for the film to be loaded onto a plane and delivered to a local station. That night, for the first time in my life, in all human history, we were able to watch a live and direct broadcast from the other side of the planet. That night we watched people on the Acropolis talking to people by Big Ben, congratulating people standing with the Statue of Liberty in the background. The pity was, at that age I really didn’t understand the scope of the revolution unfolding in front of my eyes.
Well, that’s not what I am showing today, what I want to celebrate is the steps beyond that. Do you really understand how mind boggling it is that I can just chat with people anywhere on the planet as easily as those up the street? It’s not even that I don’t have to book in advance to call a friend in New York; I no longer even have to turn on the television to watch a broadcast from London. I just sit at the keyboard and all the knowledge humanity has accumulated throughout history, wherever it is located, is available at my fingertips.
So, the Internet.
What do these things have in common? Well, they ALL combine to allow you ALL to read this, right now, wherever you are:
Ok, so it’s not great literature, but it is great civilisation; I would love to think it could be read by every kid who ever came in contact with a social worker…or Community Organizer.
Enjoy
Update: And here is another, courtesy of Baen Books; a short story set in a future America, a technologically advanced American Midwest lacking any government at all, at war with the Republic of New Mexico:
by Vernor Vinge
And anyone who likes good science fiction, by writers like Larry Niven, Fred Saberhagen, Keith Laumer, Jerry Pournelle, Andre Norton, Harry Turtledove and a whole lot more, fully legitimate and free of charge, should go here now.
Ah. L Neil Smith; all those glorious and gloriously simplistic libertarian alternative universes. I loved them!
Back in the day, it was a neck and neck thing for me whether he or F. Paul Wilson was the better libertarian yarner.
Why schlep? They’re still both fab, and if I’ve become crustier and more authoritarian in my dotage, the I can still enjoy them. And thanks again - the Adversary Cycle has a final novel.There goes September’s first few quid from the fun budget come next pay day.
And libby or Tory, Sci-Fi till I die…
[...] August, 2009 by landedunderclass Most grateful to Counting Cats for [...]
I like the “Probability Broach” - at least the orignal book (I have not seen the graphic novel version).
Also L. Neil Smith is a very practical man - that may seem an odd thing to say about an S.F. writer (although it is not odd - Heinlein and many others were practical people also), but it is true.
Smith really thinks about the details - for example the clear plastic coin with the bit of gold in it (because the gold would rub away if passed from hand to hand - and this matters with a very small denomination coin).
That got me.