THE MT VOID
Mt. Holz Science Fiction Society
08/24/01 -- Vol. 20, No. 8
Big Cheese: Mark Leeper, mleeper@optonline.net
Little Cheese: Evelyn Leeper, evelyn.leeper@excite.com
Back issues at http://www.geocities.com/evelynleeper
All material copyright by author unless otherwise noted.
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Topics:
Sir Fred Hoyle (obituary)
Atlantis (comments)
Animal Rights (comments)
MIDNIGHT ROBBER (book review)
Quote of the Week
===================================================================
TOPIC: Sir Fred Hoyle
Fred Hoyle, physicist, astronomer, and science fiction author, died
August 21 at the age of 86. Best known in astronomy for naming
the Big Bang and for being completely opposed to it (supporting
instead the Steady State theory), he was also the author of such
books as THE BLACK CLOUD and A FOR ANDROMEDA. He later wrote
several novels in collaboration with his son Geoffrey. The London
Times has a full obituary at
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0,,60-2001291637,00.html
[-ecl]
===================================================================
TOPIC: Atlantis (comments by Mark R. Leeper)
We were watching a documentary from the History Channel about the
legends of Atlantis and modern day investigations to try to
uncover the truth. What is the basis of the references to this
lost culture? There seem to be a lot of extent clues, but they
all pull in different directions. Supposedly the lost
civilization had very powerful forces, but they were unleashed
against themselves explosively in just a very short time. One day
the culture was there, the next it was gone. The Atlanteans are
associated with the Minoan civilization. The ultimate force of
the Minoans is associated with the symbol of the bull. The bull
symbolizes their ultimate destructive force. Add to this the
archeological finds made on the island of Bimini that seem
associated with the Atlantis culture. These all seem like
separate and unrelated clues, but they are all parts of the same
puzzle. There is a certain inexorable logic to all of this.
There are a lot of separate pieces. But they need not all be
separate. They all fit together to make a larger whole that
explains the Atlantis legends more clearly. Put them together and
what have you got? Bimini bomb in a bull!!!
===================================================================
TOPIC: Animal Rights (comments by Mark R. Leeper)
Perhaps the most hated philosopher in the world today is
Australian-born Peter Singer, currently of Princeton University.
One of the issues on which he has received a lot of criticism is
his championing of reasonable treatment of animals and his belief
than animals deserve some of the same protections under the law as
humans. Here is my take on this issue.
Everybody has a circle of people very close to them that they have
protected. Most people have loved and protected their families.
That instinct is probably a matter of pure biological necessity.
Humans have always protected people within their circle and
treated living things outside the circle far less mercifully. We
slaughter cows for food to feed our families. I suppose that in
primitive times our circles of consideration and protection were
not much larger than our own families. However, to get along in
society we have had to extend the circles to include more people.
Today, for most people, protecting our own families at the expense
of our communities is considered anti-social behavior. Different
people have had different sized circles of protection. In the
pre-Civil War South it was quite acceptable to not let into your
circle of fair play anyone not of the same race. Even in TO KILL
A MOCKINGBIRD, set, I believe, in the 1930s, not only are some
people incensed that a white lawyer would defend a black man.
Significantly they are even angrier that a black man might feel
pity for a white woman. In our day the greatest degree of
struggle is still at the racial and religious level, getting
people to treat people of other races and religions without
barbarity. But Peter Singer is a leading voice in extending the
circle to cover some animals also.
Perhaps umbrella would be a better metaphor than circle since an
open umbrella is really highest at the center and falls off toward
its outer rim. That is how this protection works. Nobody really
expects that someone should treat a stranger as well as he would
treat his own family. Even so in our society most people would
look negatively on someone who would say that it would be
reasonable to let ten Germans die to save one member of his own
family. HOWEVER, most people would be much more open about saying
that it is fair to let ten gorillas die to save one human. In
fact I suspect most people would say it would be acceptable to let
the entire species of gorilla die to save one human life.
In this age the umbrella of consideration has expanded to the
boundaries of our species for most people, but then falls off
precipitously. We accept there is value to the life of a Kenyan,
a Frenchman, or a Thai that is somehow comparable to the value of
a family member. There would be at least social disapproval to
someone letting ten Thai people die to save a family member,
though I am not sure there are not a lot of people who if it had
to be decided on those terms would choose the life of their family
member. But few people would be willing to say there is any
number of gorillas could balance off the value of a life of a
loved one. The criteria should be the degree of self- awareness,
the capacity to feel pain, and the degree of determination to
avoid pain and continue living. And I think that is what Singer
has been arguing. I have to agree with Singer that if a human
irretrievably loses the ability to feel pain and to be aware of
himself, he has little to lose by death. His life is less
valuable than that of a healthy gorilla in the wild. I do not
believe the human life is intrinsically of more value just because
it is human regardless of how far that life is made useless. This
seems to me to be just what Singer is saying.
I will continue this discussion next week. [-mrl]
===================================================================
TOPIC: MIDNIGHT ROBBER by Nalo Hopkinson (copyright 2000, Aspect
Science Fiction, $13.95 Trade Paperback, 329 pp, ISBN
0-446-67560-1) (a book review by Joe Karpierz):
I'm not quite sure what to make of Nalo Hopkinson's MIDNIGHT
ROBBER. Much has been made of the style in which the novel has
been written. Hopkinson wrote it in Creole/Carribean style,
which makes for a difficult read at times. But since the idea
was not just to throw the language in, but make the culture an
integral part of the story, it made for an interesting read at the
same time that it was difficult to get through.
The story begins on the planet of Toussaint, which has obviously
been settled by people of Caribbean descent. At the same time
there is a mirror planet, New Half Way Tree, which serves as a
prison/exile planet for those who commit heinous crimes.
Additionally, each native of the planet is plugged into a network
of sort by having some nanotechnology implanted at birth - they
are "connected", if you will. Exile to New Half Way Tree gets
you disconnected, a very disconcerting thing, to be sure.
But I get ahead of myself.
Antonio is the local mayor, an unscrupulous power hungry man.
His wife is unfaithful to him, and he knows it. It's Carnival
time, and Antonio challenges his wife's latest lover to a duel.
He commissions a mild poison that is supposed to weaken his
opponent, but instead it kills him. Antonio is banished to New
Half Way Tree, and takes his daughter Tan Tan with him. The mode
of transport is a transdimensional gizmo, near as I can tell, and
they arrive on New Half Way Tree disconnected, alone, and with
nothing.
They are befriended by Chichibud, one of the locals who resembles
a creature from the lore of Toussaint. Chichibud takes them to
the nearest human settlement, wherein Antonio reverts to his old
ways. And worse.
The remainder of the novel tells the story of Tan Tan and how she
adapts and becomes part of the culture and lore of New Half Way
Tree. It is at times a fascinating story, as the natives have
some surprises up their collective sleeves. It is at times a
frustrating story, as the reader trips over the language used to
tell the story.
But ultimately, it was unsatisfying. The story really didn't go
anywhere in the end. It seemed like a small part of a larger
story about Tan Tan, maybe just the beginning. Or maybe it was
just that it seemed like it was looking at a part of her life
without really resolving anything. To me, a good novel needs a
decent climax, a sort of topping to the rest of it. This one
didn't have it. This is one novel that I wouldn't have read if
it wasn't a Hugo nominee.
********
So you might guess that I was unsatisfied with the Hugo nominees
that I read this year. You'd be right. I read four of the five,
and I probably would have only read three of them if I had known
ahead of time that THE SKY ROAD was part of a larger series. I
also didn't read the George R. R. Martin novel--yet another book
in yet another series. I feel this was the weakest field in
many, many years. So, how did I vote the four? Here's how:
1) CALCULATING GOD
2) MIDNIGHT ROBBER
3) THE SKY ROAD
4) HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE
Two things stand out:
1) I thought CALCULATING GOD was weaker than most Sawyer novels,
but it was definitely the best of this bunch.
2) I think I should have voted No Award number 1, and left the
rest blank!
Until next time... [-jak]
===================================================================
Mark Leeper
mleeper@optonline.net
Religion is a monumental chapter in the history of human
egotism.
--William James
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