... But Resistance Is Character-Forming Might Be My Favorite Mind Name

"In all the human societies we have ever reviewed, in every age and in every state, there has seldom if ever been a shortage of eager young males prepared to kill and die to preserve the security, comfort and prejudices of their elders, and what you call heroism is just an expression of this fact; there is never a scarcity of idiots."
-Iain M. Banks

It's time for an ode to another of my favorite Sci-fi authors, Iain M. Banks. The above quote is from one of his novels, Use Of Weapons. What's great about Iain is his use of politics and social structures in front of an unusually intriguing hard sci-fi backdrop. He believes that in space, a form of Anarchistic society is not only desirable, but inevitable and necessary for survival, and to that end he's created a series of novels about a Galactic humanoid race known as The Culture. Rather than boring you with any further descriptions of The Culture, I suggest you follow the link to read a fascinating biography on them, if you care about such things. It's long, but entertaining.

I first discovered him while living in Germany; He's a Scottish author and until recently, his books were relatively unavailable or at least unknown in the US, so I had been surprised to find such a well-regarded sci-fi author with such a large body of work that I hadn't yet heard of. I picked up a book called Excession in the Englischer Book Shop in Munich by the University, and proceeded to be blown away. The main characters are not so much the humans as the spaceships that carried them, which are equipped with Artificial Intelligences known as Minds and are vastly superior to the human minds in both intelligence and humor, with distinct personalities of their own and have names such as Fate Amenable To Change, It's Character Forming, Unacceptable Behaviour, Shoot Them Later, Just Another Victim Of The Ambient Morality, A Series Of Unlikely Explanations, Well I Was In The Neighbourhood, We Haven't Met But You're A Great Fan Of Mine, Inappropriate Response, Experiencing A Significant Gravitas Shortfall, Lapsed Pacifist, You May Not Be The Coolest Person Here, Demented But Determined, Charming But Irrational, Hand Me The Gun And Ask Me Again, Another Fine Product From The Nonsense Factory, Ravished By The Sheer Implausibility Of That Last Statement, All Through With This Niceness And Negotiation Stuff, God Told Me To Do It, and many others of similar ilk. (Actually, some of those names are characters in other Culture books, but I love them.) The humans are essentially benignly looked upon by the ships that carry them in the same way as we look upon our blood cells; part of us and necessary, and we encourage them to be healthy and lead meaningful lives, but we don't let them tell us where to go or what to do, at least not without a vote... Ok there are subtle differences in the two relationships, but you get my meaning. The book was about the discovery of a Trillion-year-old Sun, in a 15 Billion-year-old Universe.

If you're intrigued enough to give him a try, you should start with Consider Phlebas however, which is the first in The Culture sequence and is equally astonishing. See that funnel-looking thing appearing to come off of the planet on the book cover? That's actually part of the planet. Strictly speaking, it's not a planet but a 'ringworld', which concept Iain freely admits to having lifted and adapted from Larry Niven, but it's the adaptation that makes all the difference.

For anyone who is into those 'Halo' video games, apparently it's fairly obvious that they in turn stole quite a few ideas from Iain's books and simply renamed them, without any real original adaptation, but whatever. I've never seen those games, myself, but I understand that they are essentially shoot-em-up games for people who enjoy blowing up aliens. And with that in mind, I'll close with another fabulous quote from Mr. Banks:

"To fully appreciate the beauty of a weapon was to admit to a kind of shortsightedness close to blindness, to confess to a sort of stupidity. The weapon was not itself; nothing was solely itself. The weapon, like anything else, could only finally be judged by the effect it had on others, by the consequences it produced in some outside context, by it's place in the rest of the universe. By this measure the love, or just the appreciation, of weapons was a kind of tragedy."
-from Excession by Iain M. Banks

Comments

[Gary]

why do people call the Culture books a "space opera?" Is there singing? hahaha

Did you read the Dune series? I liked that a lot. Based on that would these appeal to me?

[messiestobjects]

Well, they're the same in that they are both sci-fi with really neat backdrops. They're different in that Dune is based on a quasi-religious theme with a grand overall drama.

The Culture is a fundamentally rational culture in space, based on atheistic and anarchistic principals with lots of self-deprecating humor and at the same time some incredibly fascinating ideas. So it looks like it's probably right up your alley... You should follow that link I posted which describes the Culture in further detail.

There is no singing in either. Tra La.

[Gary]

Does it help if you don't like people?

Also does it have anything to do with Zappa, Ween or Pat Condell? Because those are the only things I like. Those things + Dune = awesome. And not liking people.

[messiestobjects]

Well, reading is generally considered an anti-social unpatriotic activity, so not liking people probably helps, yes.

There is no Zappa, Ween, or Pat Condell. But Humans of the Culture can control their own brain chemicals, auto-inducing any kind of high they want and turning it off at will, and they can also change their sex at will, using similar methods but which take about a year to accomplish. Sex from both sides of the sex coin. I think Zappa would approve.

[Gary]

I'm sorry. I just get crazy when Julie thinks she has me so pegged. Her and her damn personality theory. I think if she could see what a loving father I am she'd feel differently about me. Though I'd probably have to be around people for that to happen so forget that idea.

[messiestobjects]

I don't think she thinks she has you pegged... :)

Yeah, she and I have had our run-ins over MBTI before... that's why she's the MBTI KRAKEN!!!

But the question is, is she wrong...?

[Gary]

Of course she's wrong.

[Miss Luongo]

Hold on...Gary, I thought you said that, generally speaking, you dislike people. But if you say you like them, I believe you. And I never doubted that you're a loving father. I mean, I certainly hope you are. If not, well then, kid two was a big mistake. Plus, all of that care taking you do must be a real drag. I don't really think anything besides what I'm told. And I gave up trying to type you months ago after you took my friend's test.

[Gary]

I don't remember saying that but I say lots of stuff on the infranets.

I guess if I generally dislike people, out of 6 billion people you and Michael must be REALLY special hahahaha!

What care-taking? Raising my son? Best thing that's ever happened to me. If any part of it is a drag, the great parts so outweigh it that it's next to nothing. I'm having more fun now, with my son, than I can remember having since I was a kid.

[Miss Luongo]

Yeah, by care taking I meant raising your son. It's cool to hear from someone who spends all day raising a little person and isn't bitching about it.

In the world of Iain M. Banks (according to MO, the expert source) apparently having and raising a kid is something everyone wants to do because in his future world people aren't burdened by egos or hang-ups or existential angst or addictions or identity crises, so they're just seeking as many meaningful experiences as possible. A compelling argument for having children if ever I heard one.

[Gary]

I just ordered Consider Phlebas and White Light by Rudy Rucker. I hope I'm nerdy enough for these.

I think single parents should be the only ones allowed to bitch about how hard it is to raise a child. I honestly don't know how they do it.

[messiestobjects]

Awesome! I'm sure you're nerdy enough for those books Gary... you'll have to let me know how you like them. White Light is particularly delicious, but it's been a long time since I actually read an Iain M. Banks Novel and I'm about to go back and go through them again.

[Sissy]

Oooooo. I liked those excerpts. And I'm heading to barnes and noodle this afternoon. I will check them out.

I'm always saying that I don't like people. Everyday, due to so much interaction with them, I am presented with new reasons to bitch about them. I end my days in disgust with the human race on all levels.

And like Julie, I use tools to better understand why people do the things they do. Mostly, I write about them and through tragedy they either find their way into my light, or stand desolate among the debris of actions that delivered them to a bitter end.

I want there to be something beneath the skin of every asshole that proves my opinions wrong. It's a small triumph to unearth a human heart, but it is one that moves me in forward motion and breeds faith in the fact that not all actions are driven by the fabric of which we are made.

[messiestobjects]

Groovy, Sissy! But keep in mind that those quotes are from the rare moments when Iain addresses his readers almost directly with his opinions. Mostly he expresses his thoughts through the actions of his characters, and he writes a fairly hard level of sci-fi, so you have to like sci-fi.

[Gary]

Are there women that like sci-fi? There must be a few...

I hope I become really obsessed with these books and have to read everything. I'm going to be mad at Michael if I don't. See this is why you should never recommend stuff to people.

[messiestobjects]

Do you have to want to become obsessed with something in order to read it? Hmmm... there's another peg on you for Julie's personality theory... :)

[Gary]

No I don't, but I just hope that I'll want to continue with it since the Banks books are apart of a series, right?

For instance, I loved Dune so much that I couldn't wait to get my hands on the next one - and that one also kicked much ass and so on. So I was totally into it for the time that I was reading them. If I'm going to start a series I just hope that it's that compelling for me. And if it's not I'll want you to give me 10 dollars. :)

[messiestobjects]

Strictly speaking, it's not a series as in serial. The Culture is a unifying theme, but the Culture consists of trillions of citizens, human and non-human, spanning the entire galaxy. Iain writes about different characters and different incidents in every book. The main Character is the Culture itself so, it's a bit wider in scope; It remains to be seen if that's your cup of tea or not.

If it's not, well... it's still really good storytelling, and besides, you'll still have Rucker, so I've got a 50/50 shot.

[Sissy]

"Do you have to want to become obsessed with something in order to read it?"

Actually, I do. It has consume me. Although I've never been so consumed as I was while reading The Poisonwood Bible. Keyser heard a lot of, "Hold my calls. I'm going to the Congo this afternoon."

[messiestobjects]

Huh. So, you can't just read a book and be sort of generally interested, or mildly amused, or curiously piqued?

Right now I'm reading a Nicola Tesla biography. Now, I'm not obsessed, but he was a damned interesting person, with many astonishing incidents in his life. He would routinely perform electrical feats which still baffle people today as to how exactly he did them. He knew how to set up a wireless electrical power grid. Get that? No power cords, no outlets. The government confiscated many of his papers after he died, and to this day they have not been released to the public.

I am profoundly curious about this guy, but obsessed? No way, not me.

[Miss Luongo]

I like sci-fi. I hate Victorian literature. But I've read some of it. Oh, have I ever. I didn't finish that horrible Benjamin Disraeli novel, if you can call it that. I can't believe anyone likes that guy. I think it's a joke that he's still in print. Someone somewhere is laughing.

[messiestobjects]

Oh I don't know... there's such a thing as great Victorian era sci-fi... One of the greatest (and earliest) sci-fi novels of all time was written in 1884. Some people wouldn't agree of course, but Flatland is awesome.

[capricorn1966]

Happy New Year, Michael.

[messiestobjects]

Happy New Year to you too Cappy!

[Sissy]

"So, you can't just read a book and be sort of generally interested, or mildly amused, or curiously piqued?"

Sorry to say, but no, I can't. I've tried. I have a fine collection of unfinished reading sitting in side-table drawers and bathroom cabinets in the hopes that strategically positioning the books will encourage me to continue reading them.

If I can't feel the surroundings or taste the air or be the characters, I don't have an interest to continue. I also find that if the story is too close to home, I pitch it in the name of, "I could have written this shit."

I'm finishing Dan Brown's "Deception Point" right now. I loved "Angels and Demons," and "Deception Point" didn't let me down until tonight when a passage describing the dismemberment of a Delta spy guy came out of nowhere. The read has been intriguing and intelligent. And then I get thrown into highly-descriptive blood and gore, which I don't mind unless is misplaced, as in this case. I'll finish the book, but will wonder why Brown felt the need to stain the otherwise grabbing tale of politics, science, and ultimate levels of deception.

[messiestobjects]

Wow. Dan Brown, the most hackneyed pop writer around, huh? :) Don't get me wrong, Da Vinci Code was intriguing, and nobody's denying that he tells an exciting story, but his actual writing abilities, character descriptions, dialogue... yeesh. He's awful.

[Gary]

did this blog always shift comments over to another page after a certain number? I don't remember it doing that before and certainly you've gotten more comments on some other topics... hmmmm

[Sissy]

Oh, right. I forgot to mention what a completely shitty writer he is. I agree 100%. I actually edit him as I read him. I didn't enjoy the Code so much as I loved Angels & Demons. Quantum physics, the Catholic Church, and a code to crack? It was like racing through an obstacle course. So, he has a good mind. Just doesn't know how to write.

And, yes, what's up with the comments? It took me a whole three minutes to find you guys.

[messiestobjects]

Yeah, I don't know what that's about. Typepad seems to have just started doing that, and I can't figure out how to turn it off.

[messiestobjects]

There, got it. All it took was a little elbow grease.

[Sissy]

Dude, I keep coming over here to check things out, and when I see that nothing is going on, I leave. But his time I'm here to give you the following topics for new blog posts:

1.

Get to work.

[messiestobjects]

Hey, you're one to talk!

Anyway, I have some posts I want to write, but I only feel like sitting down and writing about once a week or so... What can I say? I'm a busy guy.

[Sissy]

Good to be in the know so that when I've exhausted my resources on the current post, I have a timeline to work from.

It's better for everyone involved that I'm not posting the stuff I'm writing right now. BORRRRR-RINGGGGGGGGGG. I meant to get hell bent on gay marriage, and then forgot. And there's a thread I'd like to throw together on global warming. But everything else is gymnastics right now, and I clearly know how boring that is for everyone else. It would be like making people read about a pirate radio station or a lost love or gunned down U.S. immigrants.

[messiestobjects]

"It would be like making people read about a pirate radio station or a lost love or gunned down U.S. immigrants."

Who writes about boring junk like that? Did you just make that up? :)

But yeah, writing about your personal life tends to bore people, it's true. That's why, after over two years of blogging, I finally got around to taking the "messy life" out of my blog title and from now on will only write about things that happen not in my life... now if only I can figure out exactly how to properly do that second part, I'll be good to go.

[Gary]

that's it - Sissy's blocked

[messiestobjects]

Why, did she take Immodium?

...
Sorry. I couldn't help myself. It's a problem. Sometimes, even when I know better, I go and open my mouth and make a dumbfunny joke, and I just shouldn't have. I think I have a new disease named Apropos Tourette's Syndrome.

[Miss Luongo]

Apropos Tourette's Syndrome? Ha! I have wordplay glee.

Hmmm...so, uh, I kind-of like reading personal stories on blogs. What I mean is, I find that when I get into a stranger's blog, it's because s/he's telling personal stories ... or posting cool stuff I can steal and put on the private forum I'm a member of so those guys think I'm cool (thanks, Gary - especially for that one freaky video with kids and the jewels and the creepy sprite).

Naturally, the personal stories have to be really great or weird. The cranky ex-heroin addict CNN news producer? He's good.

Who am I kidding? I'm too fickle to keep up with anyone's blog consistently. See you all next week (if I remember to stop by).

[Miss Luongo]

Um...that's your cue to beg me to come back.

[messiestobjects]

Oh the snark, the snark!

[messiestobjects]

My favorite Gary find is still that Washington video. And the banana theory of God. That was awesome. I'm going to use that one in a future post.

[Miss Luongo]

Where's the begging?

[Gary]

The Washington video is genius. If I ever do anything half as great I'll be pretty happy. It should have won some kind of award for most awesome video ever. Basically, if you don't like that video I don't want to know you and I hope you die. And yeah Sissy needs some ex-lax now. She's all blocked up and I think it's backing up on her.

I apologize for my boring blog posts as of late. Just let me know and I'll block you like sissy and then you won't have to read about pirate radio and me trying out ebay - which is actually really exciting now!

[messiestobjects]

Please, Julie, PLEEEAAASSESE come back! Don't go! My blog is nothing without you!

Actually, pirate radio is hella cool. Happy Harry Hard-On, anyone?