- Email: [email protected]
Fate worse than death
519
Science fiction Fate worse than death Dennis
Livingston
Millennium John Varley 249 pages, $7.95 (New York, Berkley Books, 1983)
The Golden Space Pamela Sargent 249 pages, $2.95 (New York, Pocket Books/ Timescape,
1983)
The theme of redemption, for both individuals and humanity as a whole, is not commonly found in science fiction, but it is at the core of two recent novels. Varley has always been one of the handful of authors able to combine breadth of vision, realistic characterization, and great story-telling power. For the most part, these qualities are present in Millennium, which begins with the ringing of an alarm and never lets go. The book expands on the audacious plot of Varley’s short story, “Air Raid”. Some 50000 years in the future, the human race has reached the end of its tether. Constant wars and accumulated ecological disasters have reduced humanity to a desperate, disease-ridden remnant on the verge of extinction. One source of hope remains. Through the ‘Gate’, a time travel device, snatch teams from the future enter events, such as pending plane crashes, in which history records no survivors, kidnap the individuals involved, and leave lifelike organic duplicates to be found by any rescue parties. In this manner, no paradoxes are involved-the stolen Dennis Livingston, Issues Management,MA 02146, USA.
Strategic Forecasting and 14 Elm Street, Brookline,
FUTURES December 1983
people were about to die anyway-and the time travellers gain a stock of healthy individuals from around our own era who will eventually be used to start things over on another, healthier world. It is a terrific idea, which Varley milks for every nuance. The story swings back and forth between the points of view of the wisecracking, cynical woman who leads the snatch crew and the man heading an investigative team from the National Safety Transportation Board looking into a particularly nasty air crash. As certain anomolies about this disaster become increasingly apparent to the investigator, the future people engage in a frantic attempt to head off the creation of a paradox which could have catastrophic effects. The humour and verve which lace the novel make it great fun to read, but the qualities which linger are the quiet heroism and will to survive shown by all sides, even in the face of pending doom. All the more unfortunate, then, that Varley concludes the story almost as if he were in a hurry to end it. Technological razzle-dazzle and a twist ending totally out of character with the tone of the rest of the book take the place of the confrontation between present and future one expects. Threat of immortality A more problematical redemption awaits the characters in Sargent’s tale. In this ambitious story which spans a time of several centuries, beginning 400 years from now, Sargent tackles the possible impact of genetic manipulation
520
Scimce~fiction/Books
of human evolution and immortality on the fate of humanity. The supreme irony and provocative thesis here is that the biologist’s gift of indefinite life for the individual portends the curse of stagnation and purposeless existence for the human race as a whole. While sweeping events lie in the background of the plot, they are only referred to in passing. It is the nature of the characters and their interaction over decades of time that reveal the vast gulf in values and behaviour between ourselves and those who will follow us. The novel is slow and deliberate, echoing the lives of the immortals. Death, to them, is an obscenity. To preserve the time span which is theirs they retreat into increasingly isolated enclaves, protected against any experience or encounter which could threaten accidental harm. As a consequence, creativity itself, whether in the form of art or science, ebbs from the world. The purpose of life becomes mere existence itself. Tension in the novel is provided by
the efforts of various biologists to reintroduce the element of change in human affairs, and to test out alternative paths toward more satisfying long lives, by creating new forms of human stock. One is a race of hermaphrodites, designed, like a gaggle of Doctor Specks, not to let emotion interfere with rationality; another is a group of people whose brain hemispheres have been physically separated. Whether or not there are any lessons to be learned from such beings, the extent to which humans as we know them may be unsuited for immortality, prospects for cultural change under conditions of a technological utopia, all are major elements in the unfolding of the story. A note of hope is raised at the end that humanity might find some way out of its morass, but just how that can be done remains open. This thoughtful piece deserves reading by anyone who enjoys tracing the unfolding of long range trends, as they are evoked in the everyday lives of individuals.
BOOKS Blinkered optimism for a new age Ken Green The Wealth of Information: a Profile of the Post-Industrial Economy Tom Stonier 224 pages, f4.95 p/b, (London, Thames Methuen, 1983) Tom Stonier, Professor of Science and Society at the University of Bradford, UK, has been arguing the message of this book since 1978, that the major Ken Green is professor in the Department of Science and Technology Policy, Manchester University, Manchester Ml3 9PL, UK.
technological developments of the past 25 years add up to such profound in economic that changes activity developed countries need to strike out in radically new directions to make the best of the ‘information and communicative age’ that is upon us. To quote the conclusion of the book: In late industrial society we stopped worrying about food. In late communicative society we will stop worrying about all material resources. And just as the industrial economy eliminated slavery, famine and pestilence, so will the post-industrial
FUTURES December 1993
Science fiction Fate worse than death Dennis
Livingston
Millennium John Varley 249 pages, $7.95 (New York, Berkley Books, 1983)
The Golden Space Pamela Sargent 249 pages, $2.95 (New York, Pocket Books/ Timescape,
1983)
The theme of redemption, for both individuals and humanity as a whole, is not commonly found in science fiction, but it is at the core of two recent novels. Varley has always been one of the handful of authors able to combine breadth of vision, realistic characterization, and great story-telling power. For the most part, these qualities are present in Millennium, which begins with the ringing of an alarm and never lets go. The book expands on the audacious plot of Varley’s short story, “Air Raid”. Some 50000 years in the future, the human race has reached the end of its tether. Constant wars and accumulated ecological disasters have reduced humanity to a desperate, disease-ridden remnant on the verge of extinction. One source of hope remains. Through the ‘Gate’, a time travel device, snatch teams from the future enter events, such as pending plane crashes, in which history records no survivors, kidnap the individuals involved, and leave lifelike organic duplicates to be found by any rescue parties. In this manner, no paradoxes are involved-the stolen Dennis Livingston, Issues Management,MA 02146, USA.
Strategic Forecasting and 14 Elm Street, Brookline,
FUTURES December 1983
people were about to die anyway-and the time travellers gain a stock of healthy individuals from around our own era who will eventually be used to start things over on another, healthier world. It is a terrific idea, which Varley milks for every nuance. The story swings back and forth between the points of view of the wisecracking, cynical woman who leads the snatch crew and the man heading an investigative team from the National Safety Transportation Board looking into a particularly nasty air crash. As certain anomolies about this disaster become increasingly apparent to the investigator, the future people engage in a frantic attempt to head off the creation of a paradox which could have catastrophic effects. The humour and verve which lace the novel make it great fun to read, but the qualities which linger are the quiet heroism and will to survive shown by all sides, even in the face of pending doom. All the more unfortunate, then, that Varley concludes the story almost as if he were in a hurry to end it. Technological razzle-dazzle and a twist ending totally out of character with the tone of the rest of the book take the place of the confrontation between present and future one expects. Threat of immortality A more problematical redemption awaits the characters in Sargent’s tale. In this ambitious story which spans a time of several centuries, beginning 400 years from now, Sargent tackles the possible impact of genetic manipulation
520
Scimce~fiction/Books
of human evolution and immortality on the fate of humanity. The supreme irony and provocative thesis here is that the biologist’s gift of indefinite life for the individual portends the curse of stagnation and purposeless existence for the human race as a whole. While sweeping events lie in the background of the plot, they are only referred to in passing. It is the nature of the characters and their interaction over decades of time that reveal the vast gulf in values and behaviour between ourselves and those who will follow us. The novel is slow and deliberate, echoing the lives of the immortals. Death, to them, is an obscenity. To preserve the time span which is theirs they retreat into increasingly isolated enclaves, protected against any experience or encounter which could threaten accidental harm. As a consequence, creativity itself, whether in the form of art or science, ebbs from the world. The purpose of life becomes mere existence itself. Tension in the novel is provided by
the efforts of various biologists to reintroduce the element of change in human affairs, and to test out alternative paths toward more satisfying long lives, by creating new forms of human stock. One is a race of hermaphrodites, designed, like a gaggle of Doctor Specks, not to let emotion interfere with rationality; another is a group of people whose brain hemispheres have been physically separated. Whether or not there are any lessons to be learned from such beings, the extent to which humans as we know them may be unsuited for immortality, prospects for cultural change under conditions of a technological utopia, all are major elements in the unfolding of the story. A note of hope is raised at the end that humanity might find some way out of its morass, but just how that can be done remains open. This thoughtful piece deserves reading by anyone who enjoys tracing the unfolding of long range trends, as they are evoked in the everyday lives of individuals.
BOOKS Blinkered optimism for a new age Ken Green The Wealth of Information: a Profile of the Post-Industrial Economy Tom Stonier 224 pages, f4.95 p/b, (London, Thames Methuen, 1983) Tom Stonier, Professor of Science and Society at the University of Bradford, UK, has been arguing the message of this book since 1978, that the major Ken Green is professor in the Department of Science and Technology Policy, Manchester University, Manchester Ml3 9PL, UK.
technological developments of the past 25 years add up to such profound in economic that changes activity developed countries need to strike out in radically new directions to make the best of the ‘information and communicative age’ that is upon us. To quote the conclusion of the book: In late industrial society we stopped worrying about food. In late communicative society we will stop worrying about all material resources. And just as the industrial economy eliminated slavery, famine and pestilence, so will the post-industrial
FUTURES December 1993