Finished PoG a couple of days ago - very good - highly recommended.
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The first third of the book was relatively slow IMO. One thing that I didn't
see in the other two IMB books I've read was the touch of humor here that I
found very enjoyable. The antics of the drone had me laughing several times.
One thing. I question the idea that a regime as brutal as the empire could
advance as far as they did, especially in that roughly a third of their number
were disenfranchised. The Emperor tells Gergeh, though he is on the verge of
being defeated at his own game and removed from power as a result that:
" 'Repulsive' is barely adequate for what I feel for your precious Culture,
Gurgeh. I'm not sure I posses the words to explain to you what I feel for
your....Culture. You know no glory, no pride, no worship. You have power;
I've seen that; I know what you can do...but you're still impotent. You always
will be. The meek, the pathetic, the frightened and cowed...they can only
last so long, now matter how terrible and awesome the machinery they crawl
around within. In the end you will fall; all your glittering machinery wont
save you. The strong survive. That's what life teaches us, Gurgeh, that's
what the game shows us. Struggle to prevail; fight to prove worth. These are
no hollow phrases; they are truth!"
Gurgeh's unspoken reply:
"What, anyway, was he t say? That intelligence could surpass and excel the
blind force of evolution, with it's emphasis on mutation, struggle and death?
That conscious cooperation was more efficient than feral competition? That
Azad could be so much more than a mere battle, if it was used to articulate,
to communicate, to define...?"
Exactly! Would we be where we are today if the Hitlers and the Stalins, the
Pol Pots and Sadams and Milosavics - the dominant males of the species had
triumphed consistently? No, of course not. We have managed to eclipse
evolution and forge our own path using all our mental and physical resources
from the brilliant brain in a crippled body that is Stephen Hawking to the
strong young people that are willing to stand up and defend ideas and
principals like freedom, and equality.
But we haven't quite escaped evolution yet have we? We've often discussed the
merits of Capitalism (or lack thereof) in this forum with some of us
registering thier belief that Capitalism is the superior system and posit the
fact that it works so well as proof positive. I agree, capitalism seems to
work fairly well at this point in time. But is that due to the inherent
superiority of the system, or does it perhaps have something to do with the
vestiges of evolution? We have civilized ourselves, but we still want to
fight to gain the top of the hill. We still want to compete for power and
privilege. We have begun to funnel these emotions into other venues - sports,
games and the like, but there is much desire still to assert our superiority
over others. And Capitalism is a system that provides us with a non (or at
least less) violent way to do this.
I do think that capitalism helps to stimulate the species, it helps, through
competition and its system of rewards to drive us towards bigger and better
things, but I also think that it has many inherent problems. It can be
wasteful and very counterproductive in many circumstances. But we're not
ready for the Culture. The rather pitiful attempts at communism are ample
proof of that. I really wonder if we will get to the point where
"intelligence surpasses the blind force of evolution" and "conscious
cooperation" annihilates "feral competition."
Anyway, (stepping down from the soap box). Good book.
Doug
