A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer
I love Neal Stephenson a lot. Except for Joyce, he is my favorite author, and Cryptonomicon my ultimate favorite book. But I like The Diamond Age too, Stephenson's paen to futurist nanotechnology. And my favorite literary device in Diamond Age is the Primer.The Young Lady's Illustrated Primer is a sort of magickal interactive book, capable of delivering an unlimited series of what the guys in my group at work like to call "growth experiences".
The Runcible Program, the design for the Primer, is contrived by a man called John Percival Hackworth, an artifax (or sort of super-engineer) in the Bespoke Division of Machine Phase Systems. Only the very finest engineers wind up in Bespoke, and most of them have had "interesting lives". Runcible becomes a sort of design for giving a young lady the rawmaterial for an interesting life.
Lord Finkle-McGraw couldn't prevent his granddaughter Elizabeth's parents from sending her to the very schools for which he had lost all respect; he had no right to interfere. It was his role as a grandparent to indulge and give gifts. But why not give her a gift that would supply the
ingredient missing in all those schools?
It sounds ingenious, Hackworth had said, startled by Finkle-McGraw's offhanded naughtiness. But what is that ingredient?
I don't exactly know, Finkle-McGraw had said, but as a starting point, I would like you to go home and ponder the meaning of the word subversive.
I think the interstitials between the big blogs in the internet are very like the Leased Territories. Big blogs like daily kos and lgf protect their integrity with dog pod grids and immunomites-- but in the blogverse, these immunomites aren't nanomachines, but memes.
Several times as they rode through the streets of the Leased Territories, Judge Fang made a peculiar gesture; He curled the fingers of his right hand into a cylinder, as though grasping an invisible stalk of bamboo. He cupped his other hand beneath, forming a dark enclosed cavity, and then peeked into it with one eye. When he stared into the pocket of air thus formed, he saw the darkness filled with coruscating light--something like staring into a cavern filled with fireflies, except that these lights came in all colors, and all of the colors were as pure and clear as jewels.The blogverse is filled with tiny sparkling memes instead of nanomites, and we have toner wars and memetic surf, just like the L.T. And I think the Web is my Primer. In the year I've been here, I've conversed with gods and demons, seen monsters and fell trolls, weathered blogbursts and opinion storms. I can help myself to pubmed articles, or the Physics Review Section D. I can view great works of art, listen to music, read poetry. Read in other languages, meet and enjoy people from all around the world, read the philosophy and analysis of the greatest minds of the 21st century. The Internet is my Primer, with all its rich variety and dense information. And is it working? Am I having an "interesting life"?
Famous Belmont Clubber Buddy Larsen said this about me on this thread.
"you're good--and fun to read. If a bit subversive. ;-)"
That just may be the finest complement I have ever received.
posted by jinnderella at 9:00 AM
11 Comments:
Oh come on now.
Surely this was the finest compliment you ever received. Comment number 2 on that thread was priceless.
:-)
If not I must try harder.
Dan! You delight me! And that was a fine compliment.
But if you have not read the book you cannot appreciate how important it is to be subversive. ;)
Alright, I'll just go away and sulk for a while.
Then I'll try to think up some more great compliments.
;)
If he'd seen that photo, he'd have said, "you're good--and fun and one hot-looking chick." ;)
Hi Jinn. I have read some of your posts on a few of these blogs. This isn't the correct one but somewhere you were writing about SF conceptual handling of long-lived citizens. I heartily recommend "Last Legends of Earth" by A.A. Attanasio...longevity isn't a central theme but is dealt with in various capacities in a unique and interesting way. Really it's my favorite SciFi book for a number of reasons.
Personally I think when humans are able to extend their lives greatly (or indefinitely) they will also have access to technology that will allow them to exist in a number of different environments: ocean's surface or depths, elsewhere in the solar system, etc. But if history is any guide then such solutions tend to emerge only when there is sufficient pressure or economic incentive, which of course will only arise when there are enough people...chicken or egg?
Continuing Jason's OT comment -- In 1950, in Against the Fall of Night (updated much later to become The City and the Stars, which IMHO was not as good ), Arthur C. Clarke wrote about human longevity of such indefinite extension that people were, for all practical purposes, immortal.
In the novel (set a billion years in the future), humanity has dwindled, and has retreated from a galactic civilization to a single city on the earth. People live for millions of years, and the main character, Alvin, is the first child born for millenia.
The dramatic tension in the story comes from the discovery of an enclave of mortals, people who have voluntarily surrendered longevity to live normal lifespans. They breed and grow old and die, and their little society is full of life and meaning and energy compared with the enervated and jaded old folks in the city.
It's food for thought, and worth a read. Though very hard to find a copy nowadays.
Baron! We meet again, and I am here to tell you of that wonderful book again--Einstein's Dreams.
I bring it up because this OT discussion reminds me of a chapter (a dream, actually) where people live forever. Since they do, society splits into the Laters and the Nows, and they are both right. With infinite time, the Laters can do everything later, and simply take pleasure in the present. With infinite time, the Nows can accomplish all that they can imagine.
Unfortunately, both are affected by the fact that parents, grandparents, great grandparents and back never die and are always there to offer advice. In fact, parents consult their parents, and decisions are tentative, as they involve an infinitely recursive feedback loop.
I like the last paragraph in this chapter so much, I will bore you all with it:
Such is the cost of immortality. No person is whole. No person is free. Over time, some have determined that the only way to live is to die. In death, a man or a woman is free of the weight of the past. These few souls, with their dear relatives looking on, dive into Lake Constance or hurl themselves from Monte Lema, ending their infinite lives. In this way, the finite has conquered the infinite, millions of autumns have yielded to no autumns, millions of snowfalls have yielded to no snowfalls, millions of admonitions have yielded to none.
koa, you have convinced me: I must find the book and read it.
Jason, excellent comment, thanks. i think you're referring to my "Live Forever" post at Gene Expression scifi. And I've read your reccommend! ;)
I think increasing longevity and exploitation of new environments si and interleaved biofeedback cycle-- crowding will lead us to new environments, like island building and the "Drummers" in Diamond Age.
Artifical islands are already being built. Behold 'The World'!
http://www.theworld.ae/
Pretty wacky.
Artifical islands are already being built.
By Imperial Techtonics?
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