Martin-1-1
Rushing out to buy this book made me realize once again how different this program is from every other program with which I've been involved. I used to spend around $400 on books when I was in Computer Science. Criminal Justice was about half that. Now I'm only having to buy one book. And it only costs $17 new at the BSU bookstore. That is very nice.
As someone who really does want to become a successful writer, it kind of frustrates me to read about how there are only a limited number of stories that one can tell. I want to be innovative. I want to find a new story that's never been told. Yet every single person out there says that its impossible. And a lot of those people are way more creative and inventive than I am. I guess I just have to settle for being original within the boundaries of six paradigms. Its either that or wait for the Singularity and hope that it really mixes things up.
That does make me think. What stories will transhumans tell? Will they still be stuck with the six stories? Is there anything we can do to escape? Let's say we develop the technology for consciousness uploading. Will humans who exist outside their physical bodies, inside of a computer, have new ways of looking at things? Or am I just looking at the situation the wrong way? Maybe I shouldn't feel so confined.
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posted by Martin Ryder @ 5:32 PM
3 comments
3 Comments:
Now that I think about it, when talking about uploading, a more appropriate term might be "posthuman."
OK, this is not related to the book at all, but if you are interested in the whole posthuman slant that my entry took (what's up with that?) and/or you want to learn a bunch of news terms to impress and confound your friends, then you should read Must-know terms for the 21st Century intellectual: Redux. It's good stuff. And knowing this makes you better than other people who don't.
There are an infinite number of stories that can be told, but humans have this nasty habit of wanting to find patterns and familiarity and wanting to apply stories to their lives. It's disgusting, I know. What Simmons is doing is not limiting the stories you can tell, she is organizing them so that we can see the uses and downfalls of each one.
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