Star Trek Insurrection

A Movie Review

Movie Poster

This is a review I did shortly after the film Star Trek Insurrection (1998) came out. As you will read I was less than impressed.

Time Trap

The Canonical Planet of the Apes films 



Scene from The Planet of the Apes 

MASSIVE SPOILERS

AHEAD

One of the most successful bits of popular culture of the late 20^th century in the west was the Planet of the Apes film franchise and to this day it has seeped into our popular consciousness to such an extent that parodies and references to it are instantly recognizable. 

This is your Brain on Star Trek

Cast of S.T.T.N.G.

The following is several numbered, humorous, lists regarding Star Trek. I found them on my computer and I think I've been carrying them around in my data files for over ten years. I'm not sure if they are still available on the web. So I'm putting them up here. They are in some cases a bit dated but still funny.

Enjoy.

Going Backwards

Book Cover

 SPOILERS AHEAD

You’ve been Warned!!

In the last generation, in North America, the graphic novel as come of age. In Europe graphic novels have long been a mainstay of publishing and the adult market for “comics” has always been huge. And of course in Japan we have the omnipresence of manga. The graphic novel has led itself quite well to both Science Fiction and quirky ideas. An example of this is the graphic novel The Man Who Grew Young.1

Ender

Meets Hamlet

Book Cover

This is one of those WTF!1 discoveries that make life interesting and annoying at the same time. In this case the WTF moment was brought to us by Orson Scott Card (1951- ),2 Science Fiction and Fantasy writer.

 The Archaeology

Of an Ending

Book Cover

THIS REVIEW

CONTAINS SPOILERS!!

Science Fiction books about Archaeology are frankly rather rare. Despite the romance of popular versions of Archaeology, the discipline is plain hard work and very unromantic. One of its chief characteristics is the sheer hard work and tedium involved in doing a dig and classifying and analysing what you find. Very little of archaeology is King Tut’s tomb, or Indiana Jones style grave robbing.

As an aside here Indiana Jones as an archaeologist is a pretty bad one. He is frankly nothing better than a grave robber and treasure hunter and not very good at it either. But of course Indiana Jones is great fun to watch for a bit a mindless popcorn fluff to while away a dull afternoon. As an introduction to archaeology he and the movies the character is stuck in are nonsense.

Since real archaeology is from most peoples perspectives a lot of drudgery and tedium it is rather hard to make it exciting and at the same time preserve some level of connection with the real thing. This brings us to the book I’m reviewing.

The book is John Brunner’s Total Eclipse.1 The book combines two interests of mine Science Fiction and Archaeology.

 Alternatives For the Aztecs 



Book Cover



 Spoilers!

You've been warned!!

The above novel The Other Time1 combines two interests of mine, Science Fiction and Pre-Columbian America. So of course I wanted it.

I originally came across it in a used bookstore in Ottawa c. 1984. I didn’t buy it at the time although I remembered it. I subsequently was never able to find it. I encountered it again in 1991 at what was then called The Spaced Out Library2 of the City of Toronto Public Library system. I then finally read it all the way through. I found that it was out of print and rather hard to find. It wasn’t until last few years that I was able to obtain a copy through the Internet. (Yeah Amazon!)

Killing your Grandfather is the least of your problems

Some notes on Time Travel

The Time Machine from the 1960 movie

The Time Machine

Time travel into the past although it is a stable of much Science Fiction and Fantasy writing does have certain problems.

Worlds in Collision
An Annotation on Selected Quotes and Sections
Part I
Two planets colliding

Immanuel Velikovsky, 1895-1979, was one of the most well known, to the public, of modern martyrs to the contemporary “inquisition”. Unfortunately or fortunately depending on your point of view this has served to distract attention from Velikovsky’s theories.

The following is a annotated list of quotes and references from Velikovsky’s Worlds in Collision, Macmillan and Co, New York, 1950. All quotes are in italics, references are in caps.

p. vii, “Harmony or stability in the celestial and terrestrial spheres is the point of departure of the present day concept of the world as expressed in the celestial mechanics of Newton and the theory of Evolution of Darwin. If those two men of science are sacrosanct, this book is heresy.”

Thus does Velikovsky stake his ground, nothing less than the overthrow of Newton and Darwin and by implication all the science directly or indirectly based on them. It is noted that although Velikovsky did write a work “refuting” quite unsuccessfully, Newton he never got around to a theory replacing Darwin.1

p. vii, “However modern physics, of atoms and quantum theory, describes drastic changes in the microcosm the atom – the prototype of the solar system; a theory, then that envisages not dissimilar events in the macrocosm – the solar system – brings the modern concept of physics to the celestial sphere…”

This is quite simply wrong. Quantum mechanics does not envision the parts of the atom as physical entities. Further the position of an electron in orbit around a nucleus is one of probabilities. No modern day quantum Physicist uses quantum mechanics to describe anything above the subatomic. Neither is there any evidence to support the idea that an atom and the solar system are smaller and larger versions of the same thing.2

p. vii, “If, occasionally, historical evidence does not square with formulated laws, it should be remembered that a law is but a deduction from experience and experiment, and therefore laws must conform with historical facts, not facts with laws”.

Given that Velikovsky must interpret and stretch many texts to construct his “historical facts” and given his concept of mass “amnesia” to explain the obvious fact that mankind did not clearly remember these alleged “historical facts”, why these laws must be modified in accordance with these “historical facts” is dubious. Further if extensive experimentation has indicated that the universe behaves in a certain way the simple fact that something different is reported may all too likely means that the report is in error not the law. Velikovsky seems to have forgotten about the dangers of eyewitness testimony of the “unusual”.3

p. viii “Worlds in Collision comprises only the last two acts of the Cosmic drama. A few earlier acts – one of them known as the Deluge – will be the subject of another volume of natural history.”

Velikovsky never published those works in his lifetime. This was probably fortunate because adding a few more cosmic collisions would have made his cosmic scenario even more dubious.4

p. 5, THE SUN AS NINE PLANETS. NEPTUNE AND PLUTO MAY HAVE SATELLITES.

This is rather picky but firstly Pluto is no longer considered a planet. At least that was what a bunch of astronomers did a few years ago. The statement that Neptune and Pluto may have more satellites that have not been observed yet implies that all known satellites have been found to the other planets. Well with Jupiter having at 15+ and Saturn having 20+ this is simply wrong.5

p. 6, “Mars has a transparent atmosphere…composition unknown.”

Even though scientists at the time weren’t sure what the composition of Mar’s atmosphere was at the time Velikovsky wrote this the general opinion was that it was probably largely carbon dioxide. Velikovsky makes comments later in the book indicating he expects carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.6

p. 6, “The inertia or persistence of motion implanted in planets and satellites was postulated by Newton, but he did not explain how or when the initial pull or push occurred.”

This is incredible. Gravity is an innate property of matter it does not need to be “implanted”. Basically matter by its presence bends space and the bend of space is gravity. More massive objects bend space more than smaller objects which tends to cause smaller objects to fall around more massive objects and under certain circumstances crash into larger objects. Further Newton postulated that objects move until they encounter sufficient resistance to stop them. Velikovsky seems to deny the idea of the inertia. Further given that gravity is an innate property of matter there is no need for the initial “push” or “pull” that Velikovsky seems to want to exist.7

p. 8, “But why should the satellites of Uranus revolve perpendicularly to that plane and some of the moons of Jupiter and Saturn in reverse direction?”

Well first of all Uranus rotates on its side and the moons orbit to that unusual plane. Leaving aside why Uranus rotates in this fashion, (the bottom line is we do not know), the 9 moons orbit in nearly circular orbits would seem to indicate that this occurred a very long time ago. Regarding the reverse orbits of some of Jupiter’s and Saturn’s moons how about simple capture of formerly free orbiting bodies.8

p. 11, “…according to all existing theories; the angular velocity of the revolution of a satellite must be lower than the velocity of rotation of its parent. But the inner satellite of Mars revolves more rapidly than Mars rotates.”

Says who? First of all this refers to stable orbits only. Secondly Phobos is gradually spiralling down and will eventually crash into Mars. Much like Triton which orbits Neptune. The price of such an orbit is probable eventual destruction and inherent instability of the orbit. Such an orbit is generally thought of as very good evidence that the moon in question was captured and not formed around the planet it orbits. Note Phobos is composed of quite different material than Mars.9

p. 12, “It is estimated that besides the comets of short periods several hundred thousand comets visit the solar system.”

Here Velikovsky starts his Venus = Comet. Two facts escape Velikovsky in this equation. First Comets are small, 50 Kilometres in diameter and under in size. Second Comets are largely dirty ice and have a very low density. Venus is 81% the size of earth and its average density is slightly less than Earth which has a high density (5.5gm). Velikovsky’s continual comparison of what Comets can do and what “Comet” Venus allegedly did simply ignored this. Note the present idea is that in the outer Solar System outside the orbit of Pluto are Billions of Comets and Comet like bodies. So that millions of Comets have probably visited the inner solar system in the about 4.5 billion years since the earth formed.10

p. 12-15, THE ORIGIN OF COMETS. VELIKOVSKY CLAIMS THAT THE ORIGIN OF COMETS IS UNKNOWN. LOOKS AT IDEA THEY CAME FROM THE SUN OR EMERGED FROM THE GIANT PLANETS.

p. 13, “Another theory of the comets supposes their origin to have been the sun.”

Comets probably are nothing more than the icy remnant debris of the formation of the solar system. Given that Comets are icy rocky bodies their origin from eruptions of the sun or from the giant planets is very dubious, the heat of ejection would have totally vaporized them. In fairness to Velikovsky he regarded the origin from the sun has unlikely.11

p. 16, “…the shell is estimated to be only 60 miles thick…”

p. 16, “The presence of iron in the shell or the migration of heavy metals from the core to the shell has not been sufficiently explained.”

Well, Velikovsky does not explain what he means by “shell”. If he means crust the thickness is usually given as about 30 miles on the continental plates and much thinner on the ocean bed. As for iron, when the earth was being formed iron was present through out the material that formed the earth. In the process of forming the materials tended to separate by weight leaving only remnants of iron in the earth crust. There is no need to postulate a migration from the core to the surface to explain iron in the earth crust.12

1. Even the collection of Velikovsky’s unpublished writings contains little of it. See The Velikovsky Archive Here.

2. See Wikipedia Quantum Mechanics Here.

3. See Loftus, Elizabeth, & Ketcham, Katherine, The Myth of Repressed Memory, St. Martin’s Griffen, New York, 1994, Crews, Fredwerick, Follies of the Wise, Shoemaker Hoard, Emeryville CA, 2006, pp. 200-216.

4. For more absurd Cosmic Collisions see No. 1.

5. See Wikipedia Moons of Jupitor Here, Moons of Saturn Here, Moons of Neptune Here, Pluto Here.

6. Weart, Spencer, Venus and Mars, Here.

7. See Wikipedia, Gravitation Here.

8. See Wikipedia Uranus Here, and Moons of Uranus Here.

9. See Wikipedia Phobos (Moon) Here).

10. See Wikipedia Venus here, Earth Here, Comet Here.

11. IBID, Comet.

12. Wikipedia Crust (geology) Here.

Pierre Cloutier

Reading List for a Young Friend I

A Early Book

The following list of books is a reading list for a friend of mine who asked me a few months ago for a list of books I could recommend that he read to help him develop as a writer and enlarge his mind and vision.

The following list is a list of books which I think will do that. The choices are mine and reflect my own personal preferences and prejudices. Have divided them into various area of interest such as Philosophy, Novels, History etc. although I vouch for the quality of my selections I do not by any stretch of the imagination claim that this list is comprehensive or complete. I have made an effort to avoid the more conventional choices.

Philosophy.

The Faith of a Heretic, (1962 C.E.) Walter Kaufmann. A book that outlines the importance of thinking outside the box.

The Analects, (6th century B.C.E.) Confucius. A rational approach to human life.

Ecce Homo, (1890 C.E.) Friedrich Nietzsche. Philosophy as the gateway to madness.

The Consolation of Philosophy, (c. 520 C.E.) Boethius. Basically an excellent summing up of classical philosophy.

Mo-zi, (c. 450 B. C.E.)Mo-zi. A clever argument that universal love is logical, practical, useful and in everyone’s self interest.

The Upanishads, (c. 1000 B.C.E – 200 C.E.) Anonymous. Philosophical documents at the fine line between philosophy and religion.

The Age of Reason, (c. 1800 C.E.) Thomas Paine. An effective polemic on the usefulness and primacy of Reason in Human life.

Discourse on Method, (c. 1650 C.E.) Descartes, How to know what to know.

Why I am not a Christian, (c. 1925 C.E.) Bertrand Russell. How reason can be comforting and supportive.

Fear and Trembling, (c. 1855 C.E.) Soren Kierkegaard. The foundation basis for all modern Existential thought.

Religion.

Popul Vuh, (c. 1000-1550 C.E.) Anonymous. The sacred book of the Quiche Maya an exploration into a very different religious mind set.

Tao Te Ching, (c. 600-300 B.C.E.) attributed to Lao Tzu. A Rorschach test of book you find in what you want to find in it to help you.

A Diatribe or Sermon concerning Free Will, Erasmus. A classic short account written in a humble spirit concerning God’s power and man’s freedom.

The Egyptian Book of the Dead, (c. 1500-500 B.C.E.) Anonymous. An engaging look at a very different mindset.

Poetry.

The Epic of Gilgamesh, (c. 1200-1100 B.C.E.) attributed to Sin-liqe-unninni. One of the earliest of the great works of literature and its focus is on death.

The Homeric Hymns, (c. 800-400 B.C.E.) Anonymous. A view of the ancient Greeks.

The Gods, (c. 1980 C.E.) Dennis Lee. Interesting poems about what “really” matters.

The Circle Game, (1966 C.E.) Margaret Atwood. Very good poems.

Spice Box of Earth, (c. 1955 C.E.) Leonard Cohen. Classical Leonard Cohen.

The Pill versus the Springhill Mine Disaster, (1968 C.E.) Richard Brautigan. Very good and a great deal of fun.

The Poetry of Li-Po, (c. 700-800 C.E.) Li Po. Excellent poetry by a man who lived for the good times.

Poems, (1st century B.C.E.) Catullus. A collection of excellent poems about love and loss.

Poems, (late 19th early 20th century) Rabindranath Tagore. Jewel like poems.

The Cursed Poets, (late 19th Century) Paul Verlaine et al. Poetry as a way of challenging societies precepts.

Flowers of Evil, (1857 C.E.) Charles Baudelaire. Pushing the envelope with some purpose.

The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, (c. 1100 C.E.) Omar Khayyam. Crystal clear poetry about the fleeting nature of life.

The New Life, (c. 1300 C.E.) Dante, Romantic poem about poetry and romance.

The Waste Land, T. S. Eliot. A caustic view of modern life.

Novels.

Lady Susan, (c. 1792 C.E.) Jane Austen. Austen being nasty; really nasty!!

Grendel, (1971 C.E.) John Gardner. Beowulf from the monster’s point of view.

The Source, (1962 C.E.) James Michener. Not a great novelist or a great novel by a long shot however the section called The Law is deeply human and moving.

The Ten Peg, (1978 C.E.) Aritha van Herk. A biblical story retold and transformed.

I Claudius, (1934 C.E.) &

Claudius the God, (1934), Robert Graves. Perhaps the best English historical novels of the twentieth century.

Gulliver’s Travels, (1727 C.E.) Jonathan Swift. A lacerating satire by a man who loved people but hated mankind.

I the Supreme, (1986 C.E.) Augusto Roa Bastos. A novel about political madness.

Hard Times, (c. 1855 C.E.) Charles Dickens. Dickens under control is excellent.

The Sorrows of Young Werther, (c. 1785 C.E.)Goethe. Life sucks when your young and in love with a married woman.

Funeral Games, Mary Renault. The aftermath of Alexander the Great's death was pretty dramatic.

The Tale of Genji, (c. 1020 C.E.) Lady Murasaki Shikibu. Probably the worlds first true novel.

The Story of the Stone, also called The Dream of the Red Chamber, (18th Century C.E.) Cao Xueqin and Gao E. Rise and fall of a Chinese Mandarin family. The great masterpiece of Chinese prose writing.

The Carpetbaggers, (1965 C.E.) Harold Robbins. Probably the worst English language novel of the twentieth century should be read to find out how NOT to write.

Life Before Man, (1978 C.E.) Margaret Atwood. Yep a novel that faces up to the fact the human race could become extinct.

The Temptations of Big Bear, (1972 C.E.) Ruby Wiebe. A look at another point of view.

Beautiful Losers, (1966 C.E.) Leonard Cohen. A look about how nasty we can be and how beautiful we can be.

The Idiot, (1869) &

The Brothers Karamazov, (1881) Fyodor Dostoyevsky. Brilliant insights into the human condition and of course The Brothers Karamazov brought us the story of the Grand Inquisitor.

Against Nature, (1884 C.E.) J. K. Husymans. A very strange novel about a very strange man.

Live from Golgotha, (c. 1992 C.E.) Gore Vidal. Bizarre and very funny.

The Master and Margarita, (written in the 1930’s C.E.) Mikhail Bulgakov. Probably the supreme magic realism novel.

As for Me and My House, (1941 C.E.) Sinclair Ross. A novel about how loves blinds and enables one to see.

The Tin Drum, (1964 C.E.) Gunter Grass. A brilliant parody of twentieth century Germany.

Science Fiction.

Foundation Trilogy, (1950-1953 C.E.) &

I Robot, (1951 C.E.) Isaac Asimov. Some of the Best Science Fiction ever.

We, (1921 C.E.) Yevgeny Zamyatin. The first great dystopian novel.

The Last Man on Earth, (1830 C.E.) Mary Shelly. Little read today and yet has had enormous influence on the end of the world novel.

A Boy and his Dog, (1969 C.E.) Harlan Ellison. Profoundly unsettling and funny.

Ape and Essence, (1948 C.E.) Aldous Huxley. A hate letter to the human race with a hopeful ending.

The War of the Worlds, (1898 C.E.) H. G. Wells. The baseline for the alien invasion story.

The Dispossessed, (1974 C.E.) Ursula Le Guin. A novel about the interaction between a Utopian world and a non Utopian world. The subtitle says it all “An Ambiguous Utopia”.

Lest Darkness Fall, (1939 C.E.) L. Sprague de Camp. A time travel story that involves changing history; much imitated but not improved upon.

Paris in the mid Twentieth Century, (c. 1855 C.E.) Jules Verne. An almost incredibly accurate prediction of what life would be like in the late twentieth century written in the mid 19th.

Two Misc. items.

The Letters of Vincent Van Gogh, (1876-1890 C.E.). The letter of Vincent to his brother Theo, moving, and a brilliant insight into the mind of an artist.

The 120 Days of Sodom, (c. 1785 C.E.) Marquis de Sade. Not for the squeamish or delicate of stomach but definitely a frightening portrayal of evil.

That is it for the time being later on I may add to the list.

Pierre Cloutier

Asimov’s Mule

SPOILER WARNING!!!!

Isaac Asimov
Isaac Asimov (1920-1992) was one of the most gifted Science Fiction writers of the twentieth century. He is mainly known for his Science Fiction although the majority of what he wrote was a huge mass of non-fiction, mainly popularized books about Science and various other areas of interest. In fact among Asimov’s efforts were a two volume Asimov’s Guide to the Bible, a guide to Gilbert and Sullivan, and a history of the Byzantine Empire! Asimov was probably the most wide ranging Science Popularizer of the twentieth century. When he died Asimov had published more than 400 books in his lifetime. Some were reprints of previously published material but more than 300 were not. Very few authors in history have matched this level of productivity.1

Despite this output, (which included mysteries and one Sex help book parody2); Asimov will probably be best known for his Science Fiction. This includes his Robot stories and novels. Several have been made into movies.3 Among his Science Fiction work perhaps the best known is his Foundation novels. Originally they started as stories for the Science Fiction magazine Astounding Stories. They were later collected into three books and published as such in the early 1950’s. Asimov then shelved the idea for c. 30 years and then wrote four more Foundation novels and decided to tie in his Robot novels and stories with his Foundation material.4

In 1966 Asimov’s three initial Foundation Novels were given the Hugo award for being the best Science Fiction series of all time.5 From all this it appears that the Foundation novels have a pretty high reputation. Well they do and they deserve it.

The story in the novels is relatively simple. The galaxy is governed by a huge galactic empire, centered on the single city world of Trantor, headed by an Emperor. There is in the galaxy no other forms of intelligent life but humans, who inhabit in the galaxy millions of worlds. For more than 2000 years the galaxy has been at peace under a Pax Galactica; however all is not quite what it seems. The empire is falling. A Scientist named Hari Seldon has through the development of Psychohistory, i.e., the application of statistical mathematics to human behaviour calculated that with a few centuries the empire will fall leaving behind chaos and Barbarism and that it will take 30,000 years for order to emerge from the barbarism. Hari Seldon figures out he cannot stop the fall of the empire but he can shorten the period of Barbarism considerably. Hari Seldon and his associates engineer the establishment of two Foundations at either end of the galaxy and so engineer the initial set up that in 1000 years a new empire will be ruling the galaxy.

One Foundation is found on the planet Terminus on the outer periphery of the galaxy, where it faces repeated challenges, which it overcomes in crises that force it to choose one and only one solution, as mapped out by Hari Seldon’s psychohistory. The Foundation defeats the initial attempt by the newly independent break away states to annex the Foundation. Then it cements its domination over them through its technical and scientific expertise. Then it defeats both internal and external threats from the remaining states in the periphery. Then the Foundation faces the threat of the dying Empire, and it beats that one off also. So far it has faced four crises and threats and as beaten them all off. Now it is facing its fifth crisis when the Mule enters the picture. The Second Foundation remains mysterious and unknown.

The Mule is Asimov’s wrench in the system; something unexpected. The fifth crisis is supposed to be a combination of internal crisis, brought on by corrupt hereditary rule within the Foundation and external attack. The Mule mucks it up.6

It is pretty obvious that Asimov’s model for his series of stories is the fall of the Roman Empire. In this case the Foundations take the place of the Church as centers for new civilization and order.

Into Hari Seldon’s scheme for the eventual working out of a new order it is assumed that certain things would stay the same. It was thought by Hari Seldon that the sheer mass of humans in the galaxy, trillions of them, would cancel out the effects of any single human being, so his scheme would work.

The Mule changes everything because he is a mutant and a singularly unique one. Physically he is nothing impressive:

His thin face drew together in front into a nose of generous planes and fleshy tip that seemed all but prehensile. His long, lean limbs and spidery body, accentuated by his costume, moved easily and with grace, but with just a suggestion of having been thrown together at random.7

For all his absurd looks the Mule has one frightening talent that is at once subtle and very hard to beat. To quote:

‘…You see- he is capable of adjusting the emotional balance of human beings. It sounds like a little trick, but it’s quite unbeatable.’ Bayta broke in, ‘The emotional balance?’ She frowned, ‘Won’t you explain that? I don’t quite understand.’

‘I mean that it is an easy matter for him to instill into a capable general say, the emotional of utter loyalty to the Mule and complete belief in the Mule’s victory. His general are emotionally controlled. They cannot betray him; they cannot weaken – and the control is permanent. His most capable enemies become his most faithful subordinates. The warlord of Kalgan surrenders his planet and becomes his viceroy for the Foundation.8

Later another character says the same thing.

‘Forgotten to tell us what?’ put in Toran, quickly.

“About the Mule’s mutation, of course. He tampers with emotions. Emotional control! I haven’t told you?

…
‘But there was a second assumption, a far more subtle one! Seldon assumed that human reaction to stimuli would remain constant. Granted that the first assumption held true, then the second must have broken down! Some factor must be twisting and distorting the emotional response of human beings or Seldon couldn’t have failed and the Foundation couldn’t have fallen. And what factor but the Mule?9

Later in the story the Mule describes his talent as follows:

To me, men’s minds are dials, with pointers that indicate the prevailing emotion. It is a poor picture, but how else can I explain it? Slowly, I learned that I could reach into those minds and turn the pointer to the spot I wished, that I could nail it there forever. And then it took even longer to realize that others couldn’t.10

This talent is added to the mix of a profoundly wounded psyche as the Mule says:

My mother died before she saw me. I do not know my father. I grew up haphazard; wounded and tortured in mind, full of self-pity and hatred of others. I was known then as a queer child. All avoided me; most out of dislike; some out of fear.11

The Mule further says:

“but the consciousness of power came, and with it, the desire to make up for the miserable position of my earlier life. Maybe you can understand it. Maybe you can try to understand it. It isn’t easy to be a freak – to have a mind and an understanding and be a freak. Laughter and cruelty! To be different! To be an outsider!

“You’ve never been through it!”

…
“ But I eventually did learn, and I decided that the Galaxy and I could take turns. Come, they had had their innings, and I had been patient about it – for twenty-two years. My turn! It would be up to the rest of you to take it! And the odds would be fair for the Galaxy. One of me! Trillions of them!”12

Later the Mule is confronted by an antagonist who says concerning the Mule’s mental state:

We didn’t foresee that you were not merely a mutant, but a sterile mutant and the added psychic distortion due to your inferiority complex passed us by. We allowed only for megalomania – not for an intensely psychopathic paranoia as well.13

The Mule however does have some interesting characteristics. He is, for example, a musician who enjoys playing and composing on a musical instrument called a Visi-Sonor. This remarkable instrument enables the player to create a combination of sound and sight for the listener / viewer.

The Music crashed in twenty cymbals, and before her an area flamed up in a spout and cascaded down invisible steps into Bayta’s lap, where it spilled over and flowed in rapid current, raising the fiery sparkle to her waist, while across her lap was a rainbow bridge and upon it little figures -...14

Also the Mule wants people to understand him:

He said, tolerantly, “Seat yourselves, Go ahead; you might as well sprawl out and make yourself comfortable. The game’s over, and I’d like to tell you a story. It’s a weakness of mine – I want people to understand me.”15

The Mule is also capable of sincere affection and friendship which he demonstrates in this story.16

He is in other words a complicated villain; evil but not wholly so. Basically warped and twisted by an unusual mutant talent, bad biology combined with a truly horrible upbringing. He is of course eventually defeated but read the novels to find out how.

The Mule is probably Asimov’s most interesting character and a bit of a surprise. In that Asimov tended to be an idea person, characterization was never his forte. In fact Asimov’s characters tended to be two-dimensional, while his ideas overwhelmed characters in his stories.

As for the source of the Mule character? My personal belief is that the source is Adolf Hitler. Not only did Asimov create the story that introduced the Mule just after World War II,17 but the Mule has certain similarities with Hitler.

Aside from the rather unpleasant upbringing, megalomania and inferiority complex that Hitler clearly had. There were also rumours that Hitler was sterile. The main contention is emotional manipulation. Hitler was a gifted orator who could manipulate individuals and audiences through the power of his oratory. To quote one author.

Hitler responds to the vibration of the human heart with the delicacy of a seismograph, or perhaps of a wireless receiving set, enabling him, with a certainty with which no conscious gift could endow him, to act as a loudspeaker proclaiming the most secret desires, the least admissible instincts, the suffering, and personal revolts of a whole nation…I have been asked many times what is the secret of Hitler’s extraordinary power as a speaker. I can only attribute it to his uncanny intuition, which infallibly diagnoses the ills from which his audience is suffering.

…
Adolf Hitler enters a hall, he sniffs the air. For a minute he gropes, feels his way, senses the atmosphere. Suddenly he bursts forth. His words go like an arrow to their target, he touches each private wound on the raw, liberating the mass unconscious, expressing its innermost aspirations, telling it what it most wants to hear.18

Like Hitler the Mule is able to manipulate, juggle human emotions and like the Mule Hitler appeared for a time to be able to subject history to his personal desires.

In several other respects the Mule is like Hitler, in that he kills millions. There in one of the books a planetary slaughter ordered by the Mule that kills millions. Although it does appear that unlike Hitler the Mule is not a genocidal madman.

All in all an interesting villain and a fascinating character.

An Artists conception of the Mule

1. A List of Isaac Asimov’s Books, Here.

2. Asimov, Isaac, The Sensuous Dirty Old Man, Walker, New York, 1971.

3. Two examples are Fantastic Voyage, 1966 and I Robot, 2004.

4. Asimov, Isaac, There’s Nothing like a Good Foundation in Asimov on Science Fiction, Avon Books, New York, 1981, pp. 281-285.

5. Isaac Asimov in Wikipedia, Here.

6. Asimov, Isaac, Foundation and Empire, Avon Books, New York, 1952, Part II, The Mule, pp. 83-224, Second Foundation, Avon Books, New York, 1953, Prologue, pp. Vii-viii.

7. Asimov, 1952, p. 106.

8. IBID, p. 201.

9. IBID. pp. 206-207.

10. IBID. p. 219.

11, IBID, pp. 219.

12. IBID, pp. 219-20.

13. Asimov, 1953, p. 67.

14. Asimov, 1952, p. 140.

15. IBID, p. 219.

16. See the ending of Asimov, 1952.

17. The story The Mule was published in the November and December 1945 issues of Astounding Science Fiction See Foundation and Empire, in Wikipedia, Here.

18. Bullock, Alan, Hitler a Study in Tyranny, Revised Edition, Harper & Row, New York, 1964, pp. 368-369. Quoting former Nazi Otto Strasser.

Pierre Cloutier

Avatar:
Some Thoughts

Warning the following contains lots of Spoilers!!!

Scene from the movie Avatar

Over the Christmas holidays I went and saw the movie Avatar and I must say I greatly enjoyed it. I, however, cannot say that I was impressed by the level of critical commentary on the film much of which showed a truly embarrassing level of knowledge concerning Science Fiction and an inability to see beyond the typical pop culture tropes and perceive the roots of the film.

Before I go into what I consider to be the roots of the film I will give a synopsis of the plot of the movie

In the story Humans are in the process of mining a mineral called Unobtainium on a planet called Pandora, filled with a very poisonous, for humans, atmosphere, gigantic trees, dense forest and very lethal animal and plant life. The world Pandora is a moon that orbits a huge gas giant of a planet that orbits a star many light years from earth. The native inhabitants of Pandora are called the Na’Vi and are about twice the height of humans.

A company has mining rights on Pandora for Unobtainium and views the natives as simple obstacles in the way of getting this precious metal.

This story is takes place about a century from now and concerns Jake a crippled marine sent to Pandora as part of mission to manipulate the natives to get the metal.

In order to further the manipulation of the natives the company as set up a school, tried to give medical aid etc., but the natives seeing their world getting dug up are now very angry and things are on the verge of serious bloodshed.

The Na’Vi worship a sort of mother goddess called Eywa, who they connect to through tendrils in their hair. The thing is Eywa is a sort of planetary spirit or linked mind consisting of all the trees and life on Pandora. In other words Eywa is for real.

When Jake arrives he learns that the Scientists in order to interact with the Na’Vi have created Avatars, living alien bodies that they connect too and through so that they can interact with the Na’Vi. Jake interacts with the Na’Vi at their home tree an immense tree that is hundreds of meters high. Now the Scientists generally are sympathetic to the Na’Vi, but the company and its military helpers want to find ways to remove the Na’Vi to get at the minerals.

Well Jake is recruited to spy on the Scientists and the Na’Vi to find out about them and report to the company.

Our hero, however, falls in love with a Na’Vi girl, Neytiri, and is won over to the Na’Vi. The turning point comes when Jake tries to convince the Na’Vi to move their settlement away from the home tree which is over an immense unobtainium deposit. Jake fails and the company and its military allies using their immensely superior firepower drive the Na’Vi out and destroy the home tree.

The company arrests Jake and the Scientists. They escape with the assistance of a pissed off military officer who is just sick of the whole thing. They decide to help the Na’Vi resist the company.

Too make a long story short The climatic battle takes place in an area where human technological instruments are useless due to unusual fields of force and the planet itself or at least its interconnected web of life, Eywa directly intervenes and the company and its military allies are defeated.

The remaining humans are forced to leave with only a few exceptions. Jake abandons his human body to be forever in his Avatar. Presumably everyone lives happily ever after.

Now that is the basic plot of the movie a few people have pointed out the alleged similarity with the movies Dances with Wolves and Pocahontas. Those comments only go to show how deeply ignorant so many people are about Science Fiction.

For example the idea of human beings occupying some another body and being linked to it via electronic neural circuitry is actually fairly common in Science Fiction. For example the Ben Bova novel The Winds of Altair1 has a researcher using an electronic implant to control and perceive through the body of an alien life form. Further the novel is about an attempt to colonize and terraform a planet Altair VI for human colonization By then the Earth is a dying planet much like the earth referred to in the movie Avatar. The problem is that this colonization would involve the annihilation of all the native life on Altair VI including a sentient species, which is an immense six legged cat like creature. It does have certain similarities with Avatar.

Cover of The Winds of Altair
The most obvious similarities are with two Science Fiction works from the 1970’s. The first is Ursula Le Guin’s The Word for World is Forest.2 In the novel Humans are in the process of colonizing the world of the Hilf, a native humanoid creature, about ½ the height of humans and greenish in colouration. Human’s are interested in colonization and in harvesting the worlds massive abundance of trees, for virtually the entire world is covered in an immense forest of dense trees and vegetation.

Earth is apparently badly damaged world and wood is very prized and in high demand so the forests of the Hilf world are, well very valuable for greedy humans. The Hilf are mere obstacles in the way they are brushed aside and killed almost casually and sometimes used as slave labour.

The Hilf live in villages mainly by hunting and gathering although they do practice certain features of primitive agriculture. They have no idea or concept concerning murder. It is the destruction of their forest that infuriates the Hilf. For the Hilf view the forest as alive and are seeing it in their view killed. A Hilf male named Selver is captured and put to use. He eventually learns enough of the Human language to converse. Further he learns that the humans are divided many of whom want to stop the casual, brutal exploitation of the Hilf and their world. Well Selver uses his knowledge gained to unite the Hilf and engages in a massacre of a human settlement. The humans retaliate and meantime the humans engage in mutual recriminations and in fighting. Several humans help the Hilf. In the end the Humans agree to confine themselves to several small areas of the world and to stop destroying the forest.

Cover of The Word for World is Forest
The second work is Alan Dean Foster’s Midworld.3 This is probably the novel that contains the most similarities to Avatar. In it a company is trying to exploit a vast forest covered world; that has trees more than a kilometre tall, divided into many levels; depending on how much sunlight gets through. On this world the usual division between plant and animal life has broken down and many animals have plant features and vice versa. The forest trees are linked together in a vast system like the interlocking neurons of a brain. It functions so that life continues to flourish on Midworld.

Now this world is deadly and lethal. Several centuries before our story a human colony ship, that was off course, crashed on Midworld. The forest mind; called they who keep, has modified the humans extensively making them smaller, giving them long fingers and toes, along with wood coloured skin. Each human has on this world a companion, the green furred three eyed furcots, who are at least partially plants. The furcots are sentient and have learned human speech.

In to this beautiful but dangerous world comes the company seeking wealth in the form of the unique biology of the world. The company finds it in an unusual bur on trees that creates an extract that massively prolongs life.

In the story a shuttle crashes on the world and a hunter named Born and his furcot Ruumahum save the two humans, and after many other adventures, repeatedly saving the two company employees from danger and death over and over again, Born and Ruumahum return them to their research station. There Born learns about their extraction of the extract and he is furious. The reason is simple. After death a human and his furcot are buried inside a tree and the forest mind incorporates them into itself giving the dead human a sort of immortality. The company is not simply planning to plunder and destroy the forest it is engaged in grave robbing.

Born, Ruumahum and another hunter and his furcot proceed to use the plants and animals of Midworld to destroy the station.

Cover of Midworld

In the movie Avatar the item that takes the place of the extract is unobtainium which is a slangy term used by geologists and metallurgists for a metal that would do certain things and therefore solve certain problems which does not exist.

To me it is obvious that at least the last three stories mentioned had an influence on the movie Avatar. Another obvious influence is the idea of Gaia. The notion that all life on earth is in some ways a super-organism that functions in some way to keep the Earth in an optimal state for life.

Also of course is the ecological fairy tale of the need to live in balance with nature; or nature, somehow strikes back. There are also the rather sad tales of indigenous peoples all over the world brushed aside in order to advance “progress”.

Whatever the movie’s deficiencies in terms of plot and acting, for example the final battle is a bit too much like the battle on Endor in Return of the Jedi, despite Cameron’s efforts to make it believable, it is actually about things that happen on earth and a cautionary speculative tale.

1. Bova, Ben, The Winds of Altair, Tor Books, New York, 1988, (Original pub. 1972).

2. Le Guin, Ursula K., The Word for World is Forest, in Again Dangerous Visions, Edited by Ellison, Harlan, Signet Books, New York, 1972, pp. 35-126. Note: I am relying on the version published by Ellison it is my understanding that the later published version, (1976), is longer and has certain differences from this version.

3. Foster, Alan Dean, Midworld, Del Rey, New York, 1975.

Pierre Cloutier

Cloning and Boring
Capsule reviews of three Star Wars flicks

Movie Poster

Last year I saw the latest Star Wars flick. The aptly named Star Wars: The Clone Wars. George Lucas' surrender of what little is left of his integrity continues. The movie sucks on so many levels, but one is especially annoying. The Teenage sidekick with attitude. Please see Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull for why such adolescent abortions should indeed be aborted before they are born and terminated by infanticide if they are born. Basically George Lucas has surrendered integrity for cash, which is why his movies now reek with clichés, and stereotypes. He wants his movies to make piles of money so banal clichés now submerge his films in a stew of mediocrity, catering for the lowest common denominator. Hence the saccharine Ewoks, (chosen because they were more merchandisable than the Wookies for the third film), having the dis-improvement of Solo shooting Greedo after Greedo tries to shot him. (Thus making Solo a more "acceptable" "goody goody" hero. This of course also explains the abomination of Jar Jar Binks, and young Anakin's vile and evil mop top hair cut. (Proof positive of a complete surrender of all artistic integrity).

The Film is indeed a clone, with has much feeling as a clone and has much integrity has a clone. In other words none at all. The movie is designed to feed George's huge bank account by catering to the lowest common denominator of banalities and cliché. The lack of originality, the sheer idiocy of the script are breath taking. This is to movie making what cold MacDonald's food is. BORING!!!

Movie Poster

When I saw Revenge of the Sith, and I must say that there was some things to like and much to dislike.

Like:

a), The "Emperor", his carpet chewing over the top performance was wonderful, like that in Return of the Jedi, (One of the few saving graces of that shit fest).

b) The "birth" of Darth Vader. Yeah!! With the Voice!!

c), The Wookies!!

Dislike:

a), Anakin as "misunderstood", and "well meaning". His performance was cloying and saccharine. I thought he was performance was one long whine. "I want my mommy!!"

b), Lucas once again thinks that effects can compensate for serious defects like:

c), Bad script. People say the dumbest things!

d), Acting generally Space Opera bad.

e), Finally Yoda. "Conceited, self satisfied jerk is he". Terminally annoying and the way he talks is no longer amusing the millionth time you hear his backwards shtick. After hearing his stupidities in the other two movies of the second trilogy I was so hoping not to see or hear him.

Movie Poster
The Return of the Jedi, is indisputably the worst Star Wars flick of the first three (of course Revenge of the Sith of the three prequels is certainly worst, one can argue about the other two) for it has the following idiocies.

A) The Ewoks, a saccharine creation designed quite coldly to sell merchandise, unlike the non cute Wookies. Ewoks remain in desperate need of extermination.

B) The battle on Endor. One of the stupidest battle scenes ever. I note the almost total absence of Ewok dead, the reams of Storm Trooper dead. I further note that this battle scene is believable only if you think that !Kung Bushmen armed with spears can destroy a Nazi Panzer Division, and about has believable.

C) The we're the good guys so we will win by sheer dumb luck crap. Our Heroes walk into a trap, being totally out smarted by the Emperor but they still win! It never occurs to anyone to have a plan B. An OLD, OLD!! bit of cliché crud.

This film coasts to its relatively high status, in my opinion entirely on the coat tails of the other films in itself it is badly acted, badly scripted etc., aside from the three criminal errors noted above.

Pierre Cloutier

Ape and Essence
A forgotten Masterpiece

Book Cover

In 1948 inspired by the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi Aldous Huxley, who wrote Brave New World, wrote Ape and Essence1 a thoroughly pessimistic and dark view of humanity.

The first part of the story relates how two Hollywood producers, on the day of Gandhi’s assassination, found a discarded script in the trash and sought out the writer only to find out that the writer, named William Tallis, had died a few weeks earlier. On a white board in front of his house is the following sign:

The Leech’s kiss, the squids embrace,
The prurient ape’s defiling touch:
And do you like the human race?
No, not much.

THIS MEANS YOU, KEEP OUT.2

Sort of indicates what a misanthrope William Tallis is.

After this short introduction the script that Mr. Tallis wrote is printed. It is divided into two sections. One is a collage of images and texts designed to set up the story the other is the story itself.

In this collage of images we see repeatedly the image of an ape / baboon indicating what the author thinks is the essence of humanity that of primitive primal urges that enslave science and learning. Thus:

…we see a bosomy young female baboon, in a shell-pink evening gown, her mouth painted purple, her muzzle powdered mauve, her fiery eyes ringed with mascara.

…

Behind her, on all fours and secured by a light steel chain attached to a dog collar, come Michael Faraday.3

As for science this is what is said:

Today, thanks to that Higher Ignorance which is our knowledge, man’s stature has increased to such an extent that the least among us is now a baboon, the greatest an orang-utan or even, if he ranks as a Saviour of Society, a true Gorilla.4

After some more montage shots and narration about all men being if not apes at least baboons we get the narrator saying:

Surely it’s obvious.
Doesn’t every schoolboy know it?
Ends are ape-chosen; only the means are man’s.
Papio’s procurer, bursar to baboons,
Reason comes running, eager to ratify;
Comes a catch-fart, with philosophy, truckling to
Tyrants;
Comes, a pimp for Prussia, With Hegel's Patent His-
tory;
Comes with Medicine to administer the Ape-King’s
aphrodisiac;
Comes, Rhyming and with Rhetoric, to write his ora-
tions;
Comes with Calculus to aim his rockets
Accurately at the orphanage across the ocean;
Comes, having aimed, with incense to impetrate
Our Lady devoutly for a direct hit.

…

Church and state
Greed and Hate:-
Two Baboon-Persons in one Supreme Gorilla.

Omnes
Amen, amen.5

A couple of Einsteins, slaves to the Apes eventually die in a world wide nuclear war, complete with terrible chemical and biological weapons.

It is now the year 2108 and an expedition sent from New Zealand is approaching Los Angles. New Zealand survived because it was considered not important enough to bomb, chemically asphyxiate or biologically assault. The result is New Zealand sends an expedition to North America to see what happened and investigate now that the radiation levels are down. Our hero is a Dr. Alfred Poole a botanist with an expertise in plants and agriculture.

He is captured by the natives of the area who have reverted to barbarism. They mine libraries for books to burn as fuel. They worship Satan, calling him Belial. They call the war “the thing”. Deformed babies are sacrificed to Belial each year. The war as changed the biology of most humans so that they go into heat once a year and are basically out of control for two weeks.

Dr. Poole meets Loola who becomes his love interest even though she is wearing a costume saying NO NO NO all over it and refers to herself as a “Vessel of the unholy Spirit”.6

Dr. Poole’s nemesis in the book is the Arch-Vicar who is the head of this Satanic Church. Some of the beau-mots of this faith are as follows:

“Question: To what fate is Man predestined? Answer: Belial has, out of his mere good pleasure, from all eternity elected all now living to everlasting perdition.”

…

“Belial has perverted and corrupted us in all the parts of our being. Therefore, we are, merely on account of that corruption, deservedly condemned by Belial”

The Teacher nods approvingly.

“Such” he squeaks unctuously, “is the inscrutable justice of the Lord of the Flies.”7

In the book there is a long section about the ceremony by which the deformed children are sacrificed with the following being chanted.

Semichorus I

Whence, after much wallowing,

Semichorus II

After many long draughts of the swill,

Semichorus I

Mother emerging nine months later,

Semichorus II

Bears this mockery of a man.

Semichorus I

How then shall there be atonement?

Semichorus II

By Blood.

Semichorus I

How shall Belial be propitiated?

Semichorus II

Only by blood.8

Our hero, Dr. Poole faints from seeing the rather bloody sacrifices of infants. When he wakes up he meets the Arch-Vicar who explains how things got to this in which Belial overturned the order of things and created this hell:

The overcrowding of the planet. Five hundred, eight hundred, sometimes as many as two thousand people to a square mile of food-producing land –and the land in the process of being ruined by bad farming. Everywhere erosion, everywhere the leaching out of minerals. And the deserts spreading, the forests dwindling.

…

-And remember this," he adds: "even without synthetic glanders, even without the atomic bomb, Belial could have achieved all His purposes. A little more slowly, perhaps, but just as surely, men would have destroyed themselves by destroying the world they lived in. They couldn't escape. He had them skewered on both His horns. If they managed to wriggle off the horn of total war, they would find themselves impaled on starvation. And if they were starving, they would be tempted to resort to war. And just in case they should try to find a peaceful and rational way out of their dilemma, He had another subtler horn of self-destruction all ready for them. From the very beginning of the industrial revolution He foresaw -that men would be made so over-weeningly bumptious by the miracles of their own technology that they would soon lose all sense of reality. And that's precisely what happened. These wretched slaves of wheels and ledgers began to congratulate themselves on being the Conquerors of Nature. Conquerors of Nature, indeed! In actual fact, of course, they had. merely upset the equilibrium of Nature and were about to suffer the-consequences. just consider what they were up to during the century and a half before the Thing. Fouling —the rivers, killing off the wild animals, destroying the forests, washing the topsoil into the sea, burning up an ocean of petroleum, squandering the minerals it had taken the whole of geological time to deposit. An orgy of criminal imbecility. And they called it Progress. Progress," he repeats, "Progress! I tell you, that was to rare an invention to have been the product of any merely human mind-too fiendishly ironical!9.

After discussing the ideas of progress and nationalism. The Arch-Vicar concludes that these two notions, both absurd and fatal where adopted because humanity allowed itself to be possessed by Belial.

He wanted [Belial] forced migrations and mass pauperization. He wanted concentration camps and gas chambers and cremation ovens.10

The Arch-Vicar concludes:

“you’d hardly think he[Belial] could have produced us without a miracle,” the Arch-Vicar thoughtfully continues, “But He did, He did. By purely natural means, using human beings and their science as His instruments, he created an entirely new race of men, with deformity in their blood, with squalor all around them and ahead in the future, no prospects but of more squalor, worse deformity and finally complete extinction. Yes, it’s a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living evil.”11

Then the Church takes over for the time period of when humans mate during their “heat” which was another “gift” of the atomic bomb.

Our hero Dr. Poole and Loola find that they are in love and what is worst that they are both “Hots” and are not tied to a hormonal cycle like the rest.

Further our Dr. Poole is enlisted by the locals to try to improve crop yields and he speedily finds out that virtually all crops have been attacked by a whole legion of biological weapons that significantly reduce yields and make raising crops very difficult.

The Arch-Vicar comments that this further indicates how possessed by Belial all these people were before the war to design such weapons.

Because Dr. Poole sexual urges might get him into trouble the Arch-Vicar suggests that he join the Satanic Church and get castrated. Because of that and because he is in love with Loola both of them flee to San Francisco.

On the way there Dr. Poole and Loola pass by William Tallis’ grave and read the inscription.12

This is in many respects a savage novel. Its contempt for politicians and human self satisfaction is almost suffocating but that is at least partially balanced by a positive view of the virtues of human love.

In many respects Huxley’s vision of a possible future wreaked by human devastation of the planet is rather prophetic and certainly his predictions that in a nuclear war that the devastation wrought by chemical and biological weapons might be even worse than that of the bombs is unsettling to say the least. Certainly it is not surprising that a film was not made in the 40’s with this script.

In the end Ape and Essence is a savage attack on humanity or at least our less positive attributes.

To quote the baboon-girl:

Love, Love, love-
Love’s the very essence
Of everything I think, of everything I do.
Give me, Give me,
Give me detumescence.
That means you.13

Aldous Huxley

1. Huxley, Aldous, Ape and Essence, Harper and Row Pub., 1948.

2. IBID. p. 15.

3. IBID. pp. 26-27.

4. IBID. p. 27.

5. IBID. p. 34.

6. IBID. p. 63.

7. IBID. pp. 69-70.

8. IBID. p. 85.

9. IBID. pp. 93-94.

10. IBID. p. 97.

11. IBID. p. 99.

12. I won’t quote it I will let you find it in the novel, pp. 151-152.

13. IBID. pp. 27-28.

Pierre Cloutier

Notes on 1984

1984 is more of a cultural phenomena than a work of great literature, but since a generation has past since the actual 1984 perhaps it can be examined without political / mythological blinders.

I can remember that when 1984, the year, arrived we were treated to a deluge of books and articles, TV specials etc., about the book and the phenomena, and it had been steadily growing for years. I can remember when 1984 references were much more common than they are now. The year has come and gone and it lost its “cachet” so to speak. In fact I took the novel in High School, (Grade 12)!

Still from 1954 BBC Film of 1984

There are not very many critiques of 1984 from the point of view of Science Fiction, but there are a myriad of critiques from a political point of view.

To get this out of the way first. It is a wearying, but basically an omnipresent view that Orwell’s novel is an attack on Socialism. This view is of course has been and is very “Politically Correct”, and depends on a studied, deliberate and willful effort to ignore what Orwell said about his novel. The mental discipline required to hold this opinion is quite formidable and depends on a carefully cultivated ignorance into which contrary facts may not intrude. For example:

1984, like Animal Farm, was a deep embarrassment to
leftists. Orwell, a socialist disgusted and disillusioned by the excesses of Stalin's regime, wrote both works in protest. Despite many attempts to re-spin 1984 as being "really about the alienation in all modern societies," the references to socialism in 1984 are pervasive. Oceania (the Americas and British Empire) is ruled by a system called Ingsoc (English Socialism), and Eurasia (Russia and Europe) is ruled by Neo-Bolshevism. The lessons of 1984 might be applicable to any totalitarian system, but the novel is first, last, and foremost about socialism.1

No doubt what Orwell had to say is irrelevant since our quoted writer “knows” that the “the novel is first, last, and foremost about socialism”. No doubt hoping that by repeated emphatic, statements to convince himself and his readers. Our author forgets that Orwell died a convinced Socialist. Would it not be more accurate to say that “the novel is first, last, and foremost about Stalinism”? One of the reasons that the novel is a “deep embarrassment to leftists” is that certain intellectuals insisted and still insist that it is a deep embarrassment to the entire left of the political spectrum, but of course deny that Nazism and such novels as The Iron Heel are a “deep embarrassment” to the right of the political spectrum, or to capitalism. This is obviously pure polemics, and its use is to score debating points.

Orwell’s comments in the novel about systems of exploitation and ruling classes in the past are of course ignored, including the rather frightening idea that to Orwell the society of 1984 is the “perfect” class rule, in which the ruling class has apparently found a “perfect” way to stay in power forever. O’Brien seems to be almost frighteningly clear eyed about what this new society is actually trying to do. Just how is that “Socialist”?

I’m referring to all that stuff about staying in power, the endless crushing of people; boot in the face forever stuff. Sounds not very “Socialist”, but has certain affinities to Fascist ideas about endless struggle, and only struggle making life worth while.

In 1949 in a letter to the New York Times about his novel Orwell said:

"My recent novel [1984] is NOT intended as an attack on Socialism or on the British Labour Party (of which I am a supporter) but as a show-up of the perversions ... which have already been partly realized in Communism and Fascism. ...The scene of the book is laid in Britain in order to emphasize that the English-speaking races are not innately better than anyone else and that totalitarianism, if not fought against, could triumph anywhere.”2

But then Orwell’s novel, like his work Animal Farm, served an extremely useful purpose in the Cold War of being used not just to attack Stalinism but the “left” in general, (which could include anyone to the left of extreme conservatives). That Orwell was less than enamored with capitalism was of course forgotten down the memory hole. (How Orwellian!)3

A side issue is why Orwell named the novel 1984. One story is that Orwell originally was going to call it 1948 but was talked into calling it 1984 to give it an less immediate and more prophetic tone. Another story was that Orwell was debating whether to call the novel The Last Man in Europe or 1984 and was told to go with what was then considered a more marketable title. Its also possible that the title was a tribute to the Jack London novel The Iron Heel, which is about a Fascist like movement taking power, in 1984!, and delaying the onset of a Socialist world for centuries. Which casts an interesting light on the supposed anti-socialism of Orwell’s novel.4

Regarding the prophetic value of 1984. Well let’s just say 1984 is not very prophetic. The society described in 1984, with its run down buildings, shortages of everything, like razor blades, shoelaces, and its dreadful gin and tobacco is obviously modeled on a view of Stalinist Russia, although it also carries more than a small resemblance to ration ridden Britain of the war and post war period. So much for seeing what the real 1984 would be like.

As Isaac Asimov said in a review of 1984:

Orwell had no feel for the future, and the displacement of the story is so much more geographical than temporal. The London in which the story is placed is not so much moved 35 years forward in time, from 1949 to 1984, as it is moved a thousand miles east in space to Moscow.5

The story in the novel is a repeat of the Russian Revolution, with Big Brother having a moustache like Stalin, and Emmanuel Goldstein not just being a version of Leon Trotsky but looking like him complete with goatee. In fact Orwell has a real difficulty imagining a realistic future, in this case everything is always breaking down and everything including electricity is intermittent and rationed. And there is an omnipresent black market, shades of not just Stalinist Russia but wartime and post war Britain. In other words it is indeed 1948 and its Stalin’s Russia.

A classic example of that is this from 1984:

Winston fitted the nib into the penholder and sucked it to get the grease off. The pen was an archaic instrument, seldom used even for signatures, and he had procured one, furtively and with some difficulty, simply because of a feeling that the beautiful creamy paper deserved to be written on with a real nib instead of being scratched with an ink pencil.6

This is of course the exact reverse of the truth. Old style pens scratch and the “ink pencil”, probably a ball point pen, does not! This passage does of course indicate a sort of nostalgia for the “good old days”.

Certain criticisms by Asimov do not work for example Asimov’s statement that no can be observing everyone through the two way telescreen at all times is irrelevant. The point is that at any one time someone COULD be observing you doing whatever and you can not be sure when you are being viewed or not viewed. So you would not need to be viewed all the time. So the argument that you would need c. five people to view each person and hence the system would be unworkable doesn't wash. All you would need is each person thinking that they might be being watched at any time. This would require a small group of watchers watching people randomly so that no one could be sure they wern't being watched at any particular time. Orwell was perfectly aware of this. This could potentially be very effective has a means of oppression.

As for Asimov’s criticism that having a system of volunteer spies not working because everyone would eventually report everyone is beside the point. The fact is Stalinist Russia had such a system and so did Nazi Germany and also the Stasi of former East Germany had something similar; so it can work. Asimov is right though in all those cases the system had a tendency to create an overwhelming amount of paperwork and files that tended to bog down the work of the secret police.

As for prophecy Orwell seems to be unable to conceive of computers for record keeping and the writing machines he does conceive of are rather crude for the real 1984. Orwell’s people use razor blades for example: electric razors don’t seem to exist.

Orwell doesn't seem to have been aware that such systems that he described in 1984 are by their very nature self destructive. For example it appears that corruption is rampant and everything either doesn't work or breaks down. Yet amazingly the telescreens work perfectly and the Thought Police and various ministries work without corruption. We now know that corruption, nepotism was very common and got increasingly common over time in the Communist party of Russia; indeed it got common in all Communist one party states to say nothing of regimes like Nazi Germany.

Orwell’s idea about Newspeak, a language that constricts meaning to the point of making heretical thought impossible is of interest. It is also extremely unlikely. Just how do you prevent the meaning of words being modified or changed over time? How would you for example prevent the technical vocabulary of Newspeak from bleeding into everyday words? Just how would you enforce rigid definitions of words and prevent modification through everyday use? It won’t work.

Then there is of course O’Brien’s fulminations. We are supposed to be awed by O’Brien’s statements and be terrified by their “awesome” implications.

For example:

When finally you surrender to us, it must be of your own free will.7

This after O’Brien has began to torture him and of course Winston afterwards “freely” converts after extensive hideous physical and mental torture. O’Brien thus proves that the possession of virtually unlimited power over someone provides an ample scope to inflict these sorts of intellectual stupidities on helpless victims.

Or another example:

O’Brien silenced him by a movement of the hand. “We control matter because we control the mind. Reality is inside the skull. You will learn by degrees, Winston. here is nothing that we could not do. Invisibility, levitation – anything. I could float off this floor like soap bubble if I wished to. I do not wish to, because the Party does not wish it. You must get rid of those nineteenth-century ideas about laws of nature. We make the laws of nature."

...

“Nonsense. The earth is as old as we are, no older. How could it be older? Nothing exists except through human consciousness”8

O’Brien has a whole string of similar stupidities all dependent on the fact that Winston is his helpless victim. Of course O’Brien cannot really believe his idiocies otherwise he would be insane with monomania. It is to be wondered at, if O’Brien really believes this nonsense why is he torturing Winston? If reality is all in the head, why bother?

O’Brien’s philosophical justification for his stupidities is the notion of doublethink the idea of holding two contradictory notions in your head at the same time. Of course people do that sort of thing all the time. But in extreme cases such contradictory thinking would produce disordered thinking even insanity. In O’Brien’s case he uses the notion of doublethink to excuse extreme disordered thinking i.e., willful stupidity. The fact that he has to torture Winston to make Winston accept his insane pontifications is proof that O’Brien’s idea of reality being all in your head is wrong. O’Brien is able to inflict such nonsense on Winston only because he has extreme coercive power over him, if O’Brien was the victim would he magically be able to wish the torture away has being all in his head? I think not! Of course O’Brien never explains how doublethink enables you to not just have two contradictory notions in your head at the same time; but how do you avoid tension between them? How do you avoid situations about having to choose one idea over the other?

O’Brien’s verbal vomit is only terrifying because he has power over another human being and is able to terrorize that human if he refuses to accept his ravings. Otherwise it is intellectually empty.

At the end after torturing Winston most hideously O’Brien breaks him, which is hardly surprising. O’Brien makes some idiot comment about Winston no longer being human because of the way he, Winston, looks physically. This is of course shoddy nonsense. It is O’Brien who has done this to Winston which of course means that O’Brien is less than human. It is fascinating that O’Brien continually says that Winston is responsible for what is happening to himself and that he, O’Brien, is carrying out the "Party's" will. What a fascinating evasion of responsibility. Why such cowardice? After all this is from a man who claims reality is all in the head.

It is curious that Orwell in his novel seemed to be unable to conceive of people being able to resist the tortures of the Thought Police even though the techniques used are very similar to techniques attributed to the NKVD and Gestapo,9 which some people were able to resist. Orwell seems to have a pretty negative view of people.

The aim of the Thought Police torture to convert the unbeliever seems to be similar to the arguments and ideas of the Moscow Show trials of the 30’s where the accused confessed their guilt and admitted their crimes and at the same time said they believed that the Party / Stalin was always right. Once again Orwell does not predict the future but recapitulates the recent past.

Of course Orwell didn't anticipate that after Stalin died the whole system would thaw. It appears that O’Brien’s vision of a boot stamping into a human face forever could not be maintained without tearing everything apart and generating to much instability. The systems rulers decided to turn down the pressure by several notches in order to have some stability instead of risking an explosion.

Its of interest that in Orwell’s novel the “Proles” are looked upon with barely disguised contempt by everyone including the author, yet they are left relatively, (at least compared to party members), “free”. This is obviously going to be a source of future conflict because given the continual terror in the “Party”, the rampant shortages and corruption to say nothing of the overall general decay just how is the emergence of some sort of “middle layer” to be avoided that would eventually challenge the “Party”. Despite O’Brien’s philosophical idiocies nothing he says indicates that the “Party” is immune to decay or that it can avoid presiding over a decaying and failing regime.

Regarding the idea that the regime needs war to burn up surplus production? Well building pyramids would do the same thing, to say nothing of a simple steady increase in population or another of a myriad of substitutes that are more easily controlled.

The idea that a society would need to endlessly rewrite history and spend enormous effort to do so is a simple waste of resources. It is of course simply not necessary people simply don’t require that degree of manipulation to be convinced. This of course owes itself to the Stalinist Russian practice of writing people out of history. For example removing Trotsky from photographs. However the massive continual effort portrayed in 1984 to rewrite history is a simple waste of time.

The fact is has Asimov says:

He [Orwell] did not have the science fictional knack of foreseeing a plausible future and, in actual fact, in almost all cases; the world of 1984 bears no relation to the real world of the 1980’s.10

1. Two Literary Non-Mysteries, Steven Dutch, Here

2. 1984, Wikipedia, Here

3. See The Cruel Peace, Fred Inglis, HarperCollins Pub., New York, 1991, pp. 103-106, for a overview of the Cold War uses of 1984.

4. Ibid. Footnote 2.

5. Asimov on Science Fiction, Isaac Asimov, Avon Books, New York, 1981, p. 249.

6. 1984, George Orwell, The New American Library, New York, 1949, pp. 9-10.

7. Ibid., p. 210.

8. Ibid., p. 218.

9. The Russian and German Secret Police during the Stalinist and Nazi eras.

10. Asimov, p. 259.

Pierre Cloutier