Two colleagues once wondered what it might be like to write other than
as a functionary. The problem is related to Lee's pondering on music
rights and illegal downloading. The problem of not being a
functionary is that there is no 'money' in it. Even writing something
for Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy online (free to users) could
be regarded as 'money connected' - there would be certain 'credits'
for an academic career.
I find myself wondering how we might establish something free of our
early twenty-first century plight. I see some answers in future
memories, perhaps ones in which we write from the perspective of the
current plight having destroyed itself. I catch glimpses of a world
where much we now take seriously is so old hat it could only be part
of a ridiculous history (like Blackadder). One of these worlds has us
genuinely trying to leave Earth with the technology to do so. I
posted recently on what I believe the case for space-time travel is.
Essentially, the equations (sadly based on currently inadequate data
on exotic substances like 'dark energy') tell us that travelling at
acceleration acceptable to our bodies, we could reach the 'expansion
horizon' (edge of the universe) in what we would experience as 30
years in 'planet of the apes time'. We could not come back, in the
sense that all we left behind would be gone, except a bleak, dark
place - as 'here' would have experienced eons of 'time'.
In some sense, my questions are about the 'freedom' such a trip
involves. We get the freedom to roam space-time vastness, but
presumably need to arrive somewhere in which we can enjoy something
similar to Earth that has not undergone 'eon decay'. If possible,
great questions about what we are leaving behind arise, as well as
what we would be seeking to do. A myriad of 'Mayflowers' becomes a
possibility. No doubt some sect of 'believers' might well stay behind
for the 'second coming' at the time of the heat death of the sun.
Much that we value, like family, friendship, neighbourliness and so is
challenged in this experiment, as well as much of the moral circling
we do. In my science fiction, I'm concerned with what such a future
does to philosophy (I take this from Popper). What would a woman in
such times regard childbirth as? What would we consider 'natural'.
In another post, Chris and I are wandering back from Europa, already
substantially changed by genetic splicing (he, in fact, is a 'built
man' not born of woman - so no change there mate as I plagiarise
MacBeth!), unaware in early chapters a new lifeform has entered
symbiosis with us from Europa's underground ocean). We made the
mistake of running out of whiskey and cactus juice and drank the
water. Earth is recovering from war and asteroid catastrophe and
survivors are focusing on relativity travel (there are new worlds out
there to royally screw-up!). Would 'morality' at such a time be to
sabotage the space-time travel to save the universe from humanity?
I've been on the fringes of a few physics symposia ('pose' being the
key term) at which such stuff is trolled out over too much beer and
too little female company (sort of Mind's Eye plus beer?). My own
science isn't good enough to know who is talking rot or not really.
What I'm on about, should anyone have survived this far, is changing
the 'black boxes' of philosophy to see if we can open up free space.
One could imagine in the novel, that when Chris attacks me with a
knife, he understands I had always really accepted his view of gun-
control as he looks down the barrel of the cocked .38 Magnum I've just
raised from under the table. Or one could wonder, accepting that the
science works, just how daft our current values are, being little more
than the good intentions that lined the path to Hell (two more world
wars precede the time of the novel). My plan is a genre of
deconstruction-reconstruction (of mice and men). Those in the know
may suspect I am somewhat shackled by 'strategic scenario building'
here, but I hope there is no return of managerial desire and I'm more
concerned with the impact on knowledge of where is knows it 'has' to
go, and that we can cut through that straitjacket. Relativity travel
can remain a fantasy and still provide some direction on how we might
better await future generations pass into entropy. Those who think
religion has no part to play might reflect that such a future moment
might well be the triumph of the Cathars (the return to nothingness
and final defeat of the material devil).
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