I think a more interesting analysis of Tolkien (since his anti-industrialism has been done to death) would be to explore the consequences of his "pro-tech" side. I think he has one, but the "tech" is dressed up as craft. There are the Valar who explore creation in its great and small bits, learning all there is to learn about how to understand, communicate with, and create life after a fasion (not beings with souls, but lesser creatures). There are the high Elves, crafting weapons strong enough to harm Morgoth, balrogs, and dragons while inventing things like Silmarils and other devices of surpassing beauty. Even the latter-day elves have craft that allows them to live in a kind of natural harmony enhancing nature while they harness it instead of destroying it.
One consequence of Tolkien's nostalgia for old ways (that never existed, since he had to invent them) at the expense of the new is that he draws a comparison between clumsy tech and graceful tech. One can imagine the human race, once it has suffiently advanced its technology and also brought birthrates and population under control, achieving a kind of Elvish peace and contentment. Wouldn't you rather live in Rivendell than a cookie-cutter tract home in the suburbs? The Elves really aren't much different from the very advanced races seen in other SF authors, the kinds of races on the verge of retiring from the galaxies or subliming into a new mode of being. Marvin Long Austin, Texas Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Poindexter & Ashcroft, LLP (Formerly the USA) http://www.breakyourchains.org/john_poindexter.htm _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
