The Awakening

The sound of clattering instruments broke the silence of the lab. The table, which, except for the chair, was the only piece of furniture in the sparse room, had toppled and fallen, spilling the instruments on the floor. The scientist tried unsuccessfully to steady his shaking body by gripping the chair. Even as he steadied himself, his chest for the second time exploded with searing pain.

He fumbled for the medicine in his pockets. The search seemed agonizingly long to him, even though it took barely few seconds to locate the medicine. He swallowed the medicine, desperate gesture of a dying man. For he knew that he was dying. He suffered from a rare congenital heart condition, in any other time he could not have expected to survive infancy, but the advances in medical sciences meant that he had made to late twenties.

However even science had its limits and now he lay on the cold floor gasping for the breath, losing his consciousness. All of a sudden, just as candle burns brightly before extinguishing, the fog of pain lifted over him lifted. He admitted that he had failed.  For his whole life, he had pursued the mystery of universe, hoping to unlock it, but in the end death had defeated him. A sudden despondency gripped him, he could not bear the thought of dying without unraveling the unknown. It was then that he had a conversion. He, who had rejected God as ancient superstition his whole life, became a believer in the last throes of his life. In sheer desperation he begged for God. 


Slowly darkness enveloped him.


Slowly he regained consciousness, of course strictly speaking this was not true, as he didn't possess any material body, his existed, for lack of better word, as an Idea. The new sensations were strange to him, he could sense the physical world, but in the same way we normally watch TV, he was not part of it any longer. He, again for lack of better word,felt detached. Finally he was free of emotions which bind and prod men. 


Gradually he grew comfortable with his new surroundings. Although he didn't posses any sensory organs, his sensory perception was beyond what biology could device or mind can imagine. Tentatively he started to explore. He found that he could observe any phenomena irrespective of its location in the universe or the physical scale at which it took place. He could simultaneously investigate the nebulae and the subatomic particles. And yet even he had limitations, he was not detached from the material realm, he was bound both by time, logic and more importantly existence.


Many eons passed, after he had observed, investigated and deduced everything he could, he grew restless. He dimly remembered when he belonged to material world, he had prayed for an answer, yet the answer still eluded him. Space time undulated through what was his ethereal manifestation in a pattern which if he was still human would have been recognizable as brooding. 


He was in this mood for some time before he became aware of another presence. That other being had been there for quite some time, but until them he had missed him. He sensed that the other was very similar to him. He kept observing the other for some time. The other remained still.


Finally he spoke to the other (he could do this by warping space time continuum), "Who are you", he added hopefully, "Are you God". The other replied, with amusement, "If that's what you wish to call me", "What do you mean", He was confused, ""Where am I", and after a pause, "What am I". The other explained, "Since you prayed for me, you begot me". He asked not convinced, "What if I hadn't prayed for God"."I don't know". "How can the God not know", He was incredulous. The other was patient, " Is it that incredible! I, The God, am the manifestation of your act of believing, I can not fathom what non-belief could have brought forth. Suddenly he understood. He asked plaintively, "Do you have the answer". The other ruefully replied, "No, I don't have, countless time I have appeared, only to dissolve without knowing what lies behind it all". 


And for the second time, he begged in sheer desperation. He begged and begged for an answer.


Slowly darkness enveloped him for the second time.


And for the second time He regained consciousness. It seemed as if He had been dreaming for a long time. Though it didn't make sense, for now not only He transcended physical world, but also boundaries of time and logic. He knew what had happened since the beginning of universe, the big bang, but beyond that the truth was hidden from Him. He started thinking.


After many eons had passed, He came out of his reverie, now He had a way to find the answer. But for that, the universe as it existed didn't fit. He knew what He had to do. Almost instantaneously the space time continuum encompassing the universe folded. Universe ceased to exist. There was nothing but Him. 


Now He had to begin again. He was not sure what He will do next. But that was OK. He was patient, for time had no meaning for Him. He will think of something.


Shamelessly plagiarized from Clarke, Asimov, and Heinlein

Combinations you like

You know what tastes really good ?  Black Currant. Hey wait, Rum n Raisins is wonderful too. A bit of dilemma, isn't it? You know what, go ahead take a double scoop, 'cos you deserve that.

Now 'spose there is a special place in your heart for sci-fi, but wait you also are a sucker for western. Well if that be the case Firefly is just what you need. It is awesome and it is double scoop. Now why the heck was it cancelled!

Dune

You know what will be cool. Re-writing Dune with Sikh history. Muad'Dib can be replaced by character based on Guru Gobind Singh, Fremens can be recast as Khalsa, Duke Leto Atreides I will then be Guru Teg Bahadur Singh and Baron Vladimir Harkonnen will be Aurangzeb

Man

A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.* 

RIP

Michael Crichton (October 23, 1942 – November 4, 2008)

Your cautionary tales are well remembered, Sir.

Warm body democracy

"A perfect democracy, a 'warm body' democracy in which every adult may vote and all votes count equally has no internal feedback for self correction. It depends solely on the wisdom and self-restraint of citizens...which is opposed by the folly and lack of self-restraint of other citizens. What is supposed to happen in a democracy is that each sovereign citizen will always vote in the public interest for the safety and welfare of all. But what does happen is that he votes his own self-interest as he sees it...which for the majority translates as 'Bread and Circuses'

"Bread and Circuses is the cancer of democracy, the fatal disease for which there is no cure. Democracy often works beautifully at first. But once a state extends the franchise to every warm body, be he producer or parasite, that day marks the beginning of the end of the state. For when the plebs discover that they can vote themselves bread and circuses without limit and that the productive members of the body politic cannot stop them, they will do so, until the state bleeds to death, or in its weakened condition the state succumbs to an invader--the barbarians enter Rome."

To Sail Beyond the Sunset

Question On Asimov.

This post by Megan McArdle on American urban spaces reminds me of Earth and Spacer series*. Now I have always thought that when Asimov wrote about Spacers he was actually talking about Americans what with their preoccupation with privacy and personal space. My question is whom did the Earthmen represent ? Generic third worlders ? Chinese ? Indians ? **

* Wiki classifies the trilogy as Robot Series, I don't agree. Story wise, the trilogy can be better seen as precursor to Empire/Foundation series. Of course that was accomplished by  writing  two of the lamest books of Foundation series, which just goes on to prove that Asimov sold his soul to the Man of Publishing House.


** It can't be Russians for sure as Asimov visualized the future with Americans and Russians as under united.
And for the record, I don't think it could have been Indians either, I doubt Asimov (or for that matter Heinlein) thought much of Indians.

Reading E-Books

1. I discovered to my chagrin is very exhausting for me. This is surprising, as I finished Heinlein on my laptop, back in 2006.

2. I was reading collection of short stories by Arthur C Clarke. The collection caught me by suprise because of its dark and mostly apocalyptic tones. My repertoire of Clarke is pretty limited (just 2001: A Space Odyssey and its sequels), but I thought he was the more optimistic of big three. Hell he scared me with his poeish touch (though I admit I am easily scared owing to over active imagination, my nerves are still wrought due to disturbed sleep).

3. It is remarkable how neither Asimov nor Clarke foresaw demise of Communism. Though I like science fiction, I have to reluctantly admit that this is a serious flaw of its most famous works. Of course people can argue that it is unfair criticism against sci-fi, but in my opinion it is not, because prediction of evolution of human society and its institutions plays a predominant part in the sci-fi genre. Heinlein ofcourse played the rugged individualist to the hilt, but even he never came close to predicting the future of communism.

4. Preceding observation brings me to an important conclusion. That sci-fi failed to foresee demise of communism was no accident. Indeed it is difficult to realize this now but the end of second world war saw the emergence of consensus in intellectual circles of two things one that conservatism was dead, killed by electoral dominance of new deal coalition on one hand, and the defeat of national identity in the hands of internationalism, result of second world war. Other was permanent ascendancy of liberalism (or new liberalism) which was to be the beacon of hope for future generations. This consensus is best exemplified by following quote.

In the United States at this time liberalism is not only the dominant but even the sole intellectual tradition. For it is the plain fact that nowadays there are no conservative or reactionary ideas in general circulation...the conservative impulse and the reactionary impulse do not...express themselves in ideas but only...in irritable mental gestures which seek to resemble ideas. *

Lionel Trilling (In liberal imagination)

It was in those dark days that disparate elements fought a futile (as seemed at that time) battle.National Review and its founder William F. Buckley was part of it, as were Milton Friedman, Friedrich Hayek and though fringe (lunatic fringe in my opinion) Ayn Rand.

Therefore as much as I loathe fanboyish fawning that one witnesses in libertarian circles, the acknowledgment must be given where it is due.

PS. I said this to Sriram, but it applies to everyone, so I thought I will post it here. If any of you want to post on secularism  or any other interesting topic and don't feel like posting on your blog (because you don't have one, for instance), you are most welcome to guest blog here.

PPS. I have decided. Being benevolent dictator is no fun. Instead from now on I am the philosophical dictator. Prasannaji would approve, as would Plato. 

RIP

Arthur C Clarke (1917 - 2008)

He will think of something... (2001: A Space Odyssey)

Robot ?

Is Robot going to be a rip off of The Bicentennial Man? Well there is Shahrukh Khan. Someday we will have Starship Troopers too, hopefully genuine not the risible distortion.