I discussed a passage before and skipped over its pathetic fallacy as if that were of no account:
"The liturgy went on. Drums and whistles joined in. The people began to sway and stamp their feet.
"The voice grew shrill. '...bring down the falsehoods of the Biosophists...'
"A carnivore screamed, somewhere off in the dark. Zeyd wondered how serene Earth really was and how long its peace could endure."
-Poul Anderson, Starfarers (New York, 1999), Chapter 48, p. 461.
Earth is at peace but Anderson wants Zeyd and us to wonder how deep the peace is. He has four ways to do this:
the liturgical chant becomes shrill;
heretics are denounced;
simultaneously, a carnivore screams;
the scream is "...off in the dark...," away from the light.
Life is not all peace and light. There are carnivores and darkness as well. Are the carnivore and the darkness, the "protean enemy" of Anderson's Psychotechnic History, still within? Yes, if heretics are still being shrilly denounced.
11 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
Aha, yes, this was a skillful way for Anderson to hint to alert readers that not all is well on Seladorian Earth. And who or what were the Biosophists?
Sean
Sean,
"Lovers of life." Yet another unanswered question of Poul Anderson's future histories.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
ALL I can deduce for sure about the Biosophists is that somehow they were in opposition to Selador's philosophy, or thought to be.
Sean
I have enormous faith in the human capacity to screw up the most perfect of paradises -- it's an endearing trait, really.
Dear Mr. Stirling,
Human foolishness and bungling are ENDEARING? Well, as long you and I are not the ones being ground to pulp in the gears! (Smiles grimly)
Sean
Yes, but think how boring people would be if they could be easily organized into someone's idea of paradise!
I think that, if we build world peace, it will be a massive collective effort that will not be based on any one person's or one small group's ideas. And, of course, a peaceful world will have to be dynamic, not static. Imagine resources released from weapons production deployed for positive, peaceful and productive purposes. We are collectively holding ourselves back right now.
Dear Mr. Stirling and Paul,
Mr. Stirling: A good point. It's precisely the quarrelsomeness and contrariness of so many human beings which helps to prevent some accursed ideological fanatic from permanently forcing a one size fits all, to heck with square pegs not fitting into round holes, strait jacket on all mankind!
Paul: Alas, I don't share your optimism. NOTHING I've seen in human behavior, past and present, makes me think anything like what you hope for will come to pass anytime soon! And I certainly don't expect this "massive collective effort" to bring it about.
One reason why mankind needs to break out into the Solar System and then the stars is because that would make it impossible for any ideological despot to force on them, against their wishes, a "perfect" social order.
Sean
Kaor, Sean!
I remember that line; I took the Biosophists (I think that means "Knowers of life" or "Those wise about life") to be a rival Seladoran sub-sect. We don't have Anderson to tell us just what he intended.
Best Regards,
Nicholas D. Rosen
Kaor, Nicholas!
For all we know the Biosophists might have been a late survival of Aristotelian/Scholastic philosophy!
Regards! Sean
Not "lovers of life," like I said. "Wise about life," like Nicholas said.
Post a Comment