"The dependency scares you, as a needy lover's demands scare you, for it suggests a bottomless pit of giving that will devour you if you give in just slightly and allow yourself to care."
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Callousness
Anand Giridharadas in India Calling on why its so easy to harden yourself to the misery around you
Friday, February 25, 2011
Orson Scott Card: The Homecoming Series
Long, preachy, repetitive and unsatisfying. A shadow of Ender.
I just finished reading the The Homecoming Saga by Orson Scott Card. It consists of 5 books, and is a bit preachy and biblical. Biblical should not be surprising as the books is heavily influenced by the Book of Mormon. The story is set in far future on a planet called Harmony. The humans on earth had killed each other some 40 million ago and made the planet inhabitable. The last remnant humans had migrated to Harmony, and set up a computer, called Oversoul, to rule over them, and make sure they do not kill each other again. The computer rules by making people stupid when they think of some technologies that might lead to planet wide wars. Its an interesting thought, the community has computers but no wheels. By all accounts, it was a good idea, humans on Harmony have lasted 40 million years, while humans on Earth only lasted 8000. In any case, the computer is now wearing down, and wants to go back to Earth, and recruits a family to make this happen.
The plot of the story revolves on the members of this family, some are "good", and some are "evil", and continuously working against each other and trying to subvert the will of the Oversoul. This is the theme through the 5 books, how the evil stays evil and and tries to subvert the good, and how good prevails against. There is an interesting twist provided by "Keeper of the Earth" which is like oversoul, but on Earth, and an order of magnitude more powerful. The first four books deal with the original family, and the recurring theme is the repeated cycle of jealousy and anger and bitterness, yes I get it that people are bad, I really do not need four books to get the point. The fifth promises to be more interesting, since the Keeper of the Earth is putting humanity to a final test, but the final denouement left me unsatisfied. Yes it solved the immediate crisis, but there was no lasting change to humanity, nothing to indicate that humanity can live in harmony for next 40 million (or even 100 years) in peace.
The series is classic Card. It has a lot of themes from the Enders saga. The same all powerful God-like computer, the nature of God, human will, control. How is a genetic change that makes you susceptible to commands of a computer any different from the same behavior caused by an innate faith in God. I just wish he made his point in three books rather than five.
I just finished reading the The Homecoming Saga by Orson Scott Card. It consists of 5 books, and is a bit preachy and biblical. Biblical should not be surprising as the books is heavily influenced by the Book of Mormon. The story is set in far future on a planet called Harmony. The humans on earth had killed each other some 40 million ago and made the planet inhabitable. The last remnant humans had migrated to Harmony, and set up a computer, called Oversoul, to rule over them, and make sure they do not kill each other again. The computer rules by making people stupid when they think of some technologies that might lead to planet wide wars. Its an interesting thought, the community has computers but no wheels. By all accounts, it was a good idea, humans on Harmony have lasted 40 million years, while humans on Earth only lasted 8000. In any case, the computer is now wearing down, and wants to go back to Earth, and recruits a family to make this happen.
The plot of the story revolves on the members of this family, some are "good", and some are "evil", and continuously working against each other and trying to subvert the will of the Oversoul. This is the theme through the 5 books, how the evil stays evil and and tries to subvert the good, and how good prevails against. There is an interesting twist provided by "Keeper of the Earth" which is like oversoul, but on Earth, and an order of magnitude more powerful. The first four books deal with the original family, and the recurring theme is the repeated cycle of jealousy and anger and bitterness, yes I get it that people are bad, I really do not need four books to get the point. The fifth promises to be more interesting, since the Keeper of the Earth is putting humanity to a final test, but the final denouement left me unsatisfied. Yes it solved the immediate crisis, but there was no lasting change to humanity, nothing to indicate that humanity can live in harmony for next 40 million (or even 100 years) in peace.
The series is classic Card. It has a lot of themes from the Enders saga. The same all powerful God-like computer, the nature of God, human will, control. How is a genetic change that makes you susceptible to commands of a computer any different from the same behavior caused by an innate faith in God. I just wish he made his point in three books rather than five.
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