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	Subtopic	Started By	Posts
	Archive through May 26, 1999 Last Post: Aug 28, 2002, 10:30 pm		20

Posted By: anonymous2, the other one, Jun 04, 1999 - 05:21 am

from the other anonymous (second one):
what's up ? would be a pity to let this good thread of Anonymous (number 1) got down the drain

Did you see The Matrix? what do you think?

even more interesting if you compare comments, for instance from Santosha Tantra
(at:
www.jps.net/sheis/webpage/waking/matrix.htm

with your ideas, no? and did you red some of Triana Hill's writings?
(at:
www.mauigateway.com/link

well, hope you'll come back over the week-end!

Posted By: abso Sep 22, 1999 - 10:52 am

One point not made is of the persistance of a one god religion throughout our history for so long it desrves some credibility. Chances are it will be with us forever. What of other races? Well I'm sure if they exist they to see the light as good and the dark as evil. Hence a galactic religion followed by all races (even those not in contact with any other.) Followers of the Light is a reality in my book of which I have just sent Appendix A to the Master for approval. It was mentioned that Dune reflected the view of politics at the time. Funny so does mine, I guess it's a reoccuring avenue for ideas. What the hell, mankind and his civilized toys are the greatest show on Terra.

Posted By: The Master Sep 26, 1999 - 06:19 pm

I don't think you can attribute light=good and dark=evil to a alien race. Those concepts are rather aribitrary. What if the alien race in question inhabits a planet with a weaker star? Or orbits farther out? Or has a different atmosphere that filters more light out? For them, bright light may be considered evil.

Posted By: Seeker Nov 12, 2000 - 12:03 am

Has anyone read Joseph Campbell's Hero With A Thousand Faces? It reads like stereo instructions, but it has some very good theories. The main idea is that all stories that can be told have been told and that every story in that has ever been told is really just a variation on one universal story (i.e., names, places, events and faces change, but the same plot progression is followed). This applies to all stories, whether it be the myths of ancient Greece and Rome, Native American folk tales, the modern Star Wars trilogy, or even stories that lack the traditional Adventure motiff, such as Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar or Jack Kerouac's On the Road. Like I said, the plot is universal.

Posted By: jubal Aug 28, 2002 - 10:30 pm

For pragmatic examples of speculative human based philosophies from a true futurist I suggest reading the later works of Robert A Heinlein. Examples are too numerous to mention and even the early works are insiteful, but for a taste "the universe as fictons" is an example that modern physics is starting to lean torward.

Posted By: ECMcCready Jan 17, 2003 - 06:22 pm

Posted By: ECMcCready Jan 17, 2003 - 06:22 pm

I am certain that I have achieved a technological cohesion that corresponds with spacetime, string theory where the vacuum of the nonlinear probability with the game theory will coordinate and combine through its permutation with trillions amount of datum, sythesizing and defining perpetual existence indefinitely, on a horizon, as a polarity and slicing into the dark matter pie with absence. I am just beginning, so I am certain to make some misgivings along the way, but boldly adventure I will, strategically, logically and with infinite passion and devout purpose.

Edward Charles Mc Cready

[link deleted. Bmat]


[Advertising other sites is not permitted at Speculative Vision.

If you'd like to elaborate on your theories you would be welcome to do so, and you could place your website in your profile. Bmat]

Posted By: Hyperion Jan 18, 2003 - 04:06 am

Hello
Ahh string theory , blessid is the new wave of thought.
Regards Hyperion

PS:- I think the best book I have read on the that particular theory was without question, Michio Kaku's Book Hyperspace. It really did explain it to me in a way that got through to me.
I had been quite ignorant of such theories up untill I spotted the book in Waterstones.

Posted By: MrBlofeldt Mar 09, 2004 - 10:10 am

I've read some of the books mentioned here, and many others, some Sci-fi, some fantasy (in the traditional sense such as Tolkien), I've read political thrillers (Clancy), Court room Dramas (Grisham), horror (King, Barker), the list is virtually endless, however, the issue of symbolism rarely crops up when I'm reading a particular book, and to an extent, I think thats true of the Authors, when their tapping away on their keyboards.

It seems unlikely to me that Stephen King was trying to make some form of symbolic reference when writing... oh say ... Salems Lot. Now I'm not for one moment suggesting that all Authors are like this, I just think that symbolism is an unintentional afterthought, usually picked up by the reader in an effort to try and make sense of the work or to relate that work to some part of their own lives.... Just a theory

MrB

Posted By: gypsychic Mar 09, 2004 - 11:44 am

I'm not sure I agree with that. I think it depends on the author, even in scifi-fantasy. For instance, "something wicked this way comes" is full of symbolism that I think must be intentional. However, it's a good story whether anyone actually picks up on the symbolism or not. I can think of a number of authors that I suspect use symbolism purposefully in scifi/fantasy. I'm not familiar with Salem's Lot specifically, though.

Posted By: Aldan Mar 09, 2004 - 01:18 pm

Also, don't forget that some authors are very much intent upon inserting such things into their work. Poets are a fine example. Really, for a poem to have any depth, then the author really needs to have at least ONE extra layer to his/her poem that can be delved. The better ones tend to have a few layers, even though not ALL of those layers are necessarily intentionally placed. I know that when I'm writing, I tend to have a few goals for my book/poem: I want to tell a coherent story/relay a coherent message with my writing, I want to match my writing style to the things I'm trying to do (if I'm trying to frighten, then I'll use short words and short sentences, with lots of tension communicated through this and my word choice), and I want to be able to connect with the reader to (hopefully) tell the underlying story to them (IF they're willing to 'listen' to it).
Read my poems on the Poetry page to see what I mean. What people get out of my writing is up to them, BUT not entirely (if they read it, of course), since those tools I previously mentioned will tend to be communicated on a subconscious level, whether the reader wills it or not.

Posted By: horatio neutron Mar 10, 2004 - 07:47 am

On religion, remember Kurt Vonnegut Jr.'s 'The Church of God the Utterly Indifferent' in THE SIRENS OF TITAN. Built on collective guilt and luckless equality, where everyone had to handicap himself to avoid undo advantage over others. Its major tenet was that man does not need, neither will he receive, any help from God… Its worldview was that everyone is a victim of a series of random accidents… A religion founded on chaos theory!

Posted By: iamume Mar 10, 2004 - 07:49 pm

Three cheers to Kurt.

Symbolism is crucial. And it is best to give serious consideration to whatever we say.

Sometimes it is also best to just flow and see what will emerge.

Posted By: Green Drazi Sep 14, 2004 - 03:54 am

I think that dystopian novels, which may count as SF, tend to be the most philosophical of novels in the genre, and have plenty to teach us.

Dystopian novels speculate about a politics or culture gone horribly wrong. Some of the best known examples, which I have personally read, are:

1984 and Animal Farm, by George Orwell
Anthem and Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand
Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury
Player Piano, by Kurt Vonnegut
We, by Yevgeny Zamyatin
Ecotopia, by Ernest Callenbach

I highly recommend all of them, which isn't to say that I agree completely with all of the philosophical ideas of all of the authors listed -- the authors certainly wouldn't agree with each other -- but I think all of these books are worth pondering.

Dystopian novels may explore the influence of science or technology on society, however they typically concentrate on exploring the influence of ideas on society, which may mean that while these novels may have SF elements, they are perhaps better called "Philosophical Fiction" or "Speculative Fiction".

Posted By: Phoenix Nov 04, 2004 - 09:42 am

I feel science-fiction and fantasy allow the writer more freedom to touch a variety of phylosophical subjects. In real-life subject, the story is directly orented towards the issue while fantasy transposes daily issues into another setting. Which I find moure fun, because you have to read between the lines to discover the writer's phylosiphy.

Concerning the issue of light and dark, attributed to good and evil, I am one of those who hate when people do that. Magic is not white or black, it is good or ill depending its use.

I attribute light and dark to the obvious and the hidden. Yes, cloaked knowledge is more suttle and mysterious, and perhaps frightening for those who fear the unknown, but it does not make it evil.

Posted By: Axzazz De`Nyde Nov 04, 2004 - 12:42 pm

Light is cold and analytical whereas dark is warm and emotional. Light is the sky above and the unknown future ahead, dark is the comfortable earth below and the remembered past behind. Light is fast but fleeting. Dark is slow but steady. Light is power, but dark is strength. Together they are...yin and yang.

Or something.

Posted By: Magus Nov 04, 2004 - 01:39 pm

I've read both Animal Farm and Fahrenheit 451. They were both awsome dystopian novels as well as satire, the former political and the latter social. I preferred Fahrenheit 451, as I usually seem to prefer social satire to political.

Another awsome social satire is Needful Things by Stephen King. I rank it as number 2 or 3 on the scale of everythig I've ever read, beneath / tied with The Lord of the Rings and Jurassic Park. It takles a surreal and supernatural spin on the topic of Consumerism and, more specifically, materialism. It shows its point perfectly in the most entertaining manner one could assume.

Please never watch the movie. It's not close, not even close, to what the book is (in plot, characters, developement, events, message or anything else, for that matter).

Posted By: Axzazz De`Nyde Nov 05, 2004 - 03:59 pm

I've read 1984 twice. Listening to the Animal Farm audiobook at nights now. Orwell has a real way of presenting things such that they're not realistic, yet seem even more real because of it.

I want to get to Atlas Shrugged and Brave New World soon.

As a side note, my fiancee and I had a long car trip, so we decided to check out an audiobook from the library. She let me pick, so I picked Another Fine Myth by Robert Asprin. We both loved it. The reader was very good, putting a variety of funny voices to the characters. When we got back, we checked out the second one in the series and didn't bother with another car trip, just sat in the living room and listened to it in the evenings instead of inane TV noise. It's so nice.

Unfortunately, only three of the Myth series were made into books on tape (there's at least 13 in the series now). But there are a lot of others. The library has lots of Stephen Kings and they have Atlas Shrugged and some Kurt Vonnegut. Some of the short books are only a few hours long, but others are 20 hours or more.

Posted By: Magus Nov 05, 2004 - 09:46 pm

I implore you, read Needful Things at your nearest convienience. You will never regret it if you do!