apathy maybe
21st November 2003, 05:31
I have started an essay on some books which I think are a must read. Each describes one possible future. We have been warned.
I need help to polish it off. If you see a paragraph you don't like PM your version and I will modify this copy. (and your name will go one the bottom of the post :D). Here goes.
Predictions of a World gone Mad. By Michael Harris. Copywrite 2003. (released as FreeText)
Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify the text of all the materials in this post under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, with no Front-Cover Texts, and with no Back-Cover Texts. http://en2.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Te...ntation_License (http://en2.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Text_of_the_GNU_Free_Documentation_Licen se) and http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html
There are 5 possible futures described in books famous in their genres. These are; The Time Traveler by H.G. Wells; Brave New World by A. Huxley; 1984 by G. Orwell (E.A. Blair); A Clockwork Orange by A. Burges and Neuromancer by W. Gibson. Each predicts a future from when it was written, each is a warning to the people of the time to act or else. Each was written so that we could prevent what the authors saw coming.
The first, The Time Traveler, didn't predict any technological advances (I
don't think). Wells merely takes the level of technology of the time and
follows the society through to a logical if unlikely conclusion. This does
not mean that Wells could not predict technical changes by any means, he
predicted the tank many years before its first use in 1916, but rather that
he didn't intend for the book to be anything but a social commentary. He
disproved of the society in which he lived and saw that if it didn't change
what he predicted might well come about. He possible future is even less
likely now then it was when The Time Traveler was written, even 20 years
after it was written the world had changed an enormous amount, but still we
must still be prepared that the events that lead to the extinction of the
human race as we know it do not emerge.
In 1932 Brave New World was published and another dark future was presented. Huxley, like Wells, saw the human race as we know it today disappearing but rather then two he saw five types of human being. These would not
however, be drasticly geneticly different from each other, the differences being mainly in the upbringing. In this distopia children are conceived and brought to term in bottles. They are then raised in groups which
eventualy produces five main types, Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta and Epsilon. Each suited to a particular jobs. The Alpha were the leaders, the world controlers and the directors. While the Epsilons were the manual workers,
the almost sub-humans who could be trusted to push buttons but not much else. They were stunted not only mentaly but also physically. But none of the people in these groups are un-happy because they have been conditioned
from before birth to like what they do and not want anything more.
"'And that', put in the Director sententiously, 'that is the secret of happiness and virue--liking what your've got to do. All conditioning aims at that : making people like their un-escapanle social destiny.'"
And if by some chance they are un-happy why they could just pop a gramme of soma. The wonder drug that kept everyone high but had no side-effects.
George Orwell (Eric Blair) wrote the next on this list of books. 1984 was written in the period 1948-1949, but Orwell had been thinking of the themes since 1941. He forsaw the tactics used in Nazi Germany and Stalin's USSR coming to England - and he didn't like it. This book 'a mirror for our times' predicted that the world would be divided into 3 armed and hostile camps. Gradually a self perpetuating clique came to power in at least one of these 3 camps (we don't get to view life in the other two) and was personified by 'Big Brother', of course there was also an arch enemy of society and the people in the form of '____'. This man was constantly killed and yet always seemed to be alive to be a thorn in Big Brothers side.
"Who controls the present controls the past, who controls the past controls the future" so ran the slogan of the party. And they lived by it too. The Ministry of Truth was dedicated to re-writting history so that Big Brother was always right. So that Oceania 'had always been at war with Eurasia' despite Winston remembering otherwise. ________ . . .
Even though 1984, has come and gone there is still a chance that this future will come about. Despite the collapse of Nazi Germany and the USSR, there are still brutal police states. Even the USA and the United Kingdom are in danger of becoming like the the world portrayed in 1984. Admittilly it has become more unlikly the world predicted will come about exactly as Orwell said it might, but there are still two super-powers in the world (China and the USA). And while there is an external threat and voter apathy it remains a possible outcome.
A Clockwork Orange is Anothany Burges' prediction of a violent future. First published in 1962 this is a future where there is little law. The police are corrupt and brain-washing is used as a political play. There are still "free elections" but the oppersisition is usless. Technology has moved on in this book, to the point where the brain-washing technique is perfected.
This future is already a reality in some states around the world. The oppersisiton are in name only and the police are sourced from gangs and beat up people they don't like the look of. ... ... ... ____________
The last book is Neuromancar by William Gibson. AI has reached such a leval that computers can do almost anything people can do and better. People can join them in simulated universes or Matrixes. Countries and national boundries all still exist in this not to distante future but they count for little to mulinational companies and the underworld.
We have been warned. We have no excuse to let our future go the way of these books. Each is not one that would benifit the majority of people and each ...
I need help to polish it off. If you see a paragraph you don't like PM your version and I will modify this copy. (and your name will go one the bottom of the post :D). Here goes.
Predictions of a World gone Mad. By Michael Harris. Copywrite 2003. (released as FreeText)
Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify the text of all the materials in this post under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, with no Front-Cover Texts, and with no Back-Cover Texts. http://en2.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Te...ntation_License (http://en2.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Text_of_the_GNU_Free_Documentation_Licen se) and http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html
There are 5 possible futures described in books famous in their genres. These are; The Time Traveler by H.G. Wells; Brave New World by A. Huxley; 1984 by G. Orwell (E.A. Blair); A Clockwork Orange by A. Burges and Neuromancer by W. Gibson. Each predicts a future from when it was written, each is a warning to the people of the time to act or else. Each was written so that we could prevent what the authors saw coming.
The first, The Time Traveler, didn't predict any technological advances (I
don't think). Wells merely takes the level of technology of the time and
follows the society through to a logical if unlikely conclusion. This does
not mean that Wells could not predict technical changes by any means, he
predicted the tank many years before its first use in 1916, but rather that
he didn't intend for the book to be anything but a social commentary. He
disproved of the society in which he lived and saw that if it didn't change
what he predicted might well come about. He possible future is even less
likely now then it was when The Time Traveler was written, even 20 years
after it was written the world had changed an enormous amount, but still we
must still be prepared that the events that lead to the extinction of the
human race as we know it do not emerge.
In 1932 Brave New World was published and another dark future was presented. Huxley, like Wells, saw the human race as we know it today disappearing but rather then two he saw five types of human being. These would not
however, be drasticly geneticly different from each other, the differences being mainly in the upbringing. In this distopia children are conceived and brought to term in bottles. They are then raised in groups which
eventualy produces five main types, Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta and Epsilon. Each suited to a particular jobs. The Alpha were the leaders, the world controlers and the directors. While the Epsilons were the manual workers,
the almost sub-humans who could be trusted to push buttons but not much else. They were stunted not only mentaly but also physically. But none of the people in these groups are un-happy because they have been conditioned
from before birth to like what they do and not want anything more.
"'And that', put in the Director sententiously, 'that is the secret of happiness and virue--liking what your've got to do. All conditioning aims at that : making people like their un-escapanle social destiny.'"
And if by some chance they are un-happy why they could just pop a gramme of soma. The wonder drug that kept everyone high but had no side-effects.
George Orwell (Eric Blair) wrote the next on this list of books. 1984 was written in the period 1948-1949, but Orwell had been thinking of the themes since 1941. He forsaw the tactics used in Nazi Germany and Stalin's USSR coming to England - and he didn't like it. This book 'a mirror for our times' predicted that the world would be divided into 3 armed and hostile camps. Gradually a self perpetuating clique came to power in at least one of these 3 camps (we don't get to view life in the other two) and was personified by 'Big Brother', of course there was also an arch enemy of society and the people in the form of '____'. This man was constantly killed and yet always seemed to be alive to be a thorn in Big Brothers side.
"Who controls the present controls the past, who controls the past controls the future" so ran the slogan of the party. And they lived by it too. The Ministry of Truth was dedicated to re-writting history so that Big Brother was always right. So that Oceania 'had always been at war with Eurasia' despite Winston remembering otherwise. ________ . . .
Even though 1984, has come and gone there is still a chance that this future will come about. Despite the collapse of Nazi Germany and the USSR, there are still brutal police states. Even the USA and the United Kingdom are in danger of becoming like the the world portrayed in 1984. Admittilly it has become more unlikly the world predicted will come about exactly as Orwell said it might, but there are still two super-powers in the world (China and the USA). And while there is an external threat and voter apathy it remains a possible outcome.
A Clockwork Orange is Anothany Burges' prediction of a violent future. First published in 1962 this is a future where there is little law. The police are corrupt and brain-washing is used as a political play. There are still "free elections" but the oppersisition is usless. Technology has moved on in this book, to the point where the brain-washing technique is perfected.
This future is already a reality in some states around the world. The oppersisiton are in name only and the police are sourced from gangs and beat up people they don't like the look of. ... ... ... ____________
The last book is Neuromancar by William Gibson. AI has reached such a leval that computers can do almost anything people can do and better. People can join them in simulated universes or Matrixes. Countries and national boundries all still exist in this not to distante future but they count for little to mulinational companies and the underworld.
We have been warned. We have no excuse to let our future go the way of these books. Each is not one that would benifit the majority of people and each ...