I've heard this argument quite often, and the logical answer to it is
another question: What happened to Socrates' society? -- See, exactly.
Now, I'm not arguing in favor of such statements in general. Whatever you
complain about in today's society -- just look back ~2k years and then say,
with a straight face, people have been more caring and less violent back then.
Still, there's enough societies which _did_ go to hell in a handbasket. So
there really might have been members of them predicting exactly what was
going to happen, although I free admit most of these societies could bring
up the excuse that they fell victim to adverse circumstances (whether those
were climate changes, more barbaric, or more civilized people in their
vicinity).
Schobi
(who's so sick of the election thread, he just had to start his own)
2065 years ago our society where women had rights, babies; the infirm
(in either body or mind) and the old, were (by law) looked after - was
over run by a state that considered women to be goods, and those who
could not look after themselves to be rubbish to be thrown away if
desired, killed or left to die. They also indulged in ritual killing of
people (as entertainment) and other acts of inhumanity. However, they
wrote things down and since our society did not we there the Barbarians.
Socrates culture was also over run by the same forces, but now we
consider the Roman Empire to have been "the good old days".
--
Reader in Invisible Writings
Something to Ponder on!
Societies change. It's a law or an old charter or something. A society
that doesn't change dies.
But, and there is always a but, which society do you mean?
In the UK we have city societies under surveillance from CCTV 24/7 and
we have rural societies which aren't. The two societies don't like each
other and each tends to keep to their own, otherwise conflict arises.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hot_Fuzz
So which one is going to hell in a handbasket? Quiet rural communities
where people will help you work out where to go, or cities where nobody
will give you the time of day?
Cities live on electronic information being sent around, rural societies
tend to rely on word of mouth as in "That Josh he's a good plumber and
his lad's a fair roofer"
The cities will die before the rural areas do. Good Riddance says I.
<challenge>
There is a quote from a sci fi author which says
"A large number of animals packed into too small a place will go insane.
Mankind is the only animal that does that to himself"
But I can't remember who or from which book - takers?
</challenge>
I've a feeling that it's from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_World_Inside
but I can't find my copy to be sure.
Damn, just did find my copy[1] and it's a different quote although the
above challenge still stands and the feelings are the same. The quote
at the front of 'The World Inside is:
"Of all animals, men are the least fitted to live in herds. If they
were crowded together as sheep are they would all perish in a short
time. The breath of man is fatal to his fellows.
Jean-Jacques Rouseau."
gary
[1]I was looking for something else and practically tripped over it.
You try finding one book out of over 1K.[2]
[2]It's the SO's fault - she tried to tidy up and organise things. Now
we don't know where anything is!
--
"Send Lawyers, Guns and Money. The shit has hit the fan"
Warren Zevon
> Damn, just did find my copy[1] and it's a different quote although the
> above challenge still stands and the feelings are the same. The quote
> at the front of 'The World Inside is:
>
> "Of all animals, men are the least fitted to live in herds. If they
> were crowded together as sheep are they would all perish in a short
> time. The breath of man is fatal to his fellows.
> Jean-Jacques Rouseau."
>
>
I'm not sure what science that Rouseau's opinions were based on,
considering the state of anthropology and neurobiology at his time.
There's a well considered counter-argument in:
Mother Nature: A History of Mothers, Infants, and Natural Selection by
Sarah Blaffer Hrdy (1999) Pantheon Books
> On 10/4/11 5:30 AM, Hendrik Schober wrote:
> You are the most likely person here to be able to tell me how to
> approach pronouncing the last name of Sarah Blaffer Hrdy.
Isarah Buffy Hurdy Gurdy the teenage vampire slayer and organ grinder?
Do I win?
gary
Urk. What particular meaning of organ grinder would that be? :-)
I rather meant the primatologist, etc:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Blaffer_Hrdy .
(snip)
><challenge>
>There is a quote from a sci fi author which says
>"A large number of animals packed into too small a place will go insane.
>Mankind is the only animal that does that to himself"
>But I can't remember who or from which book - takers?
></challenge>
That sounds like Heinlein, possibly from the Notebooks of Lazarus
Long...
<sounds of rummaging in the library>
Yes, here it is: "Animals can be driven crazy by placing too many in
too small a pen. Homo sapiens is the only animal that voluntarily does
this to himself."
-Chris Zakes
Texas
--
or 1945 and argue the opposite?
> Still, there's enough societies which _did_ go to hell in a handbasket.
> So there really might have been members of them predicting exactly what
> was going to happen, although I free admit most of these societies could
> bring up the excuse that they fell victim to adverse circumstances
> (whether those were climate changes, more barbaric, or more civilized
> people in their vicinity).
>
> Schobi
> (who's so sick of the election thread, he just had to start his own)
Possibly, hell is a direction and not a destination?
--
E. O. Wilson noted, “As a species we are endowed with
Paleolithic emotions, medieval institutions, and
near-godlike technological capacity.”
> On 10 Apr 2011 12:25:50 GMT, an orbital mind-control laser caused
> GaryN <ga...@scaryriders.com> to write:
>
> (snip)
>
>><challenge>
>>There is a quote from a sci fi author which says
>>"A large number of animals packed into too small a place will go
>>insane. Mankind is the only animal that does that to himself"
>>But I can't remember who or from which book - takers?
>></challenge>
>
> That sounds like Heinlein, possibly from the Notebooks of Lazarus
> Long...
>
> <sounds of rummaging in the library>
>
> Yes, here it is: "Animals can be driven crazy by placing too many in
> too small a pen. Homo sapiens is the only animal that voluntarily does
> this to himself."
>
> -Chris Zakes
> Texas
Dat der bunny! Cheers Chris, it would have annoyed me for days until I
could remember. For some reason I thought it was in either Soylent
Green or Harrison's "Make Room, Make Room" upon which the film was
loosely based.
Unfortunately the sounds of me rummaging through the (distributed)
library involve the sounds of running up and down the stairs here trying
to remember which room anything might be in, getting a bus to the SO's
place to check my stuff there and then getting a coach to Lincolnshire
[1] just in case it's in the stash of stuff I've left there. That's
just if I know what I'm looking for!
I was looking for my copy of "The Bone Pedlar" the other day and only
found it when I carelessly smacked my head on the shelf at the top of
the stairs thereby dislodging one of the many books stacked thereon
which bounced off my head. Guess which one - serendipity?
gary
[1]160 miles which is nothing by USian standards but if you've ever
travelled in UKia you'll know that's quite a trek.
We're more fortunate in that regard. Our daughter's former bedroom has
been turned it into the library--five sets of custom-built bookcases,
each 6 feet high and 4 feet wide. We haven't *quite* filled them all
up yet. (And when we do, I'll build another bookcase.)
The books are alphabetized by author's name, and then sorted either
alphabetically by title (for most of them) or chronologically if that
makes more sense (like the Pratchett books.) So if I need to look
something up, it's a matter of walking ten feet from the computer to
the library to grab the book.
Oh ours are all grouped by author so all the Pratchett stuff is
together, all the Morgan stuff is together, all four copies of The
Stainless Steel Rat (The earliest dating back to 1966)[1] are together
with the other Harrison stuff, etc. Most of the first edition hardbacks
are within two steps from the computer. But, and it's a big but, we
have similar bookshelves to yours spread through 3 rooms of this house
with the overflow going to the SO's place and some older stuff stored at
the Old Dear's place.
It wasn't planned that way but what I find is that if I'm wandering
around muttering "I know I've got a copy of it somewhere"[2] there are
multiple possible locations. This goes particularly for books bought
from charity shops because "That looks interesting", they just get
shoved into the 'readable for amusement when you're bored' lowest shelf
on the computer bookshelf or the shelf at the top of the stairs.
I'd hate to be the Librarian who had to catalogue this lot, a lot of the
Sci Fi paperbacks are older than me!
gary
[1]The book made a great impression on me and I can't resist buying old
copies when they turn up. [2]The equivalent of the
"Matches,matches,matches" Mantra.
Me?! How's that?
I certainly never heard of her, but Hrdy seems Czech to me. The Czechs use H
(written and spoken) where their Indo-European neighbors (be they Slavic or
Germanic) usually use G[1], so this would account for the strange consonant
combination "hr": it's similar to our "gr". They also often don't use
consonants where we would. But except for the names of places we have our
own names for, I think they are still mostly pronounced the way the Czecks
do themselves (which I know very little about), so I would probably attempt
to pronounce "Hrdy" exactly the way it's written, with the "r" rolling and
the "y" somewhere between the German "ü" and "i".
Mhmm. Now you got me curious.
<rumages through google>
Wikipedia claims she got that name from her husband, but has nothing on him.
The names here <http://www.facebook.com/family/Hrdy/1>, where not
American[3], seem mainly Czech to me[4], and the few I clicked on definitely
were so.
And this <http://discovermagazine.com/2003/mar/feathrdy> says her last name
rhymes with "birdie", which seems close enough to my ideas.
HTH,
Schobi
[1] "Praha" vs. English "Prague" or German "Prag"
[2] as in "Brno" vs. "Brünn" in German (I don't know whether it has an
English name as well)
[3] "Schober", though definitely German in origin, finds more Americans
there, too, so I feel confident to dismiss America as the source of "Hrdy"
despite seemingly contrary evidence.
[4] Stanislav, Marek, Jaroslav, Brnd, Yana, Jozef...
Note that I didn't argue that it ever was a smooth curve gently moving
upwards. There's always been dramatic oscillations. (Nevertheless, if you
put the numbers in perspective to the amount of people living at the
respective time, some cases of genocide might have been as bad back than as
the Nazis did.)
>> Still, there's enough societies which _did_ go to hell in a handbasket.
>> So there really might have been members of them predicting exactly what
>> was going to happen, although I free admit most of these societies could
>> bring up the excuse that they fell victim to adverse circumstances
>> (whether those were climate changes, more barbaric, or more civilized
>> people in their vicinity).
>
> Possibly, hell is a direction and not a destination?
Maybe. Yet, I wouldn't want to live in any society of the past, and see
those wanting to base this mainly on romanticized ideas that have little
grounding in the facts - which to me seems to indicate that hell lies the
other way.
Schobi
I wouldn't put too much faith in the old Germanic tribes being so much
better than the Romans who did (not[1]) overrun them. Here, Indo-Germanic
people made their weapon the main law, with the sentence mainly being death
to you and yours (unless mercy had the upper hand, in which case yours
weren't killed alongside you, but made into slaves instead). And the few
generally accepted laws that existed here are considered barbaric by even
our most backwards standards. (Debt slavery, anyone?)
And I don't think any Indo-Germanic tribe had a matriarchal society.
Schobi
[1] From where I am sitting (Berlin), the Romans were behind the border.
OTOH, given a time machine , there's nowhen in the future (beyond my
natural lifespan,) that I'd want to be dropped either.
"If we are not happy and joyous at this season, for what other season
shall we wait and for what other time shall we look? "
<snip>
> OTOH, given a time machine , there's nowhen in the future (beyond my
> natural lifespan,) that I'd want to be dropped either.
>
> "If we are not happy and joyous at this season, for what other season
> shall we wait and for what other time shall we look? "
I go with Larry on this one. I'm in my mid forties and I've had the highs
and the lows. But I have *LIVED* my life. I didn't just take up space
like another good little drone, I hope I never will.
I'm not in a position to change much of the 'Now' but the little I can
change I do (charity stuff). I'm already an anachronism in my own time,
why bother becoming even more so in the future?
The past got on alright without me and the future can do the same.
gary
One of the contributory factors to the clinical Depression (see, Lesley?
Using the capital letter now!) with which I was recently diagnosed is
the realisation that I am forty nine in a few weeks and have achieved
precisely fsck-all in my life. I don't mean 'achieve' as in 'become
greatest living novelist' achieve, or 'make huge 'succes d'estime'
album' achieve; just the standard achievements of having done things at
all - even those things which one can look back on with a rueful smile
or a not-entirely-un-self-regarding wince of embarrassment.
I have lived a 'risk-averse' life (1) due to a combination of fear of
looking foolish, fear of making mistakes and fear of being punished for
either looking foolish, making mistakes or both; as a consequence I feel
that I have let all those chances slip by - even the chances to make
mistakes.
I have a couple of relatives in their early-mid-teens and, if they were
ever arsed enough to ask me, I would strongly counsel them to go out and
make their mistakes (so long as they are not catastrophic ones for them
or for others), because they will only get one go around the roundabout.
Generally speaking (I would advise them), and with some obvious
exceptions, it is far better to regret one or two of the things you
*have* done than to sit in middle age regretting all the things you did
*not* do. That sort of regret *lasts*.
(1) Apart from a few months leading up to my Finals, when I played Risk
nearly every night.
--
Regards
Nigel Stapley
<reply-to will bounce>
Good to know.
>[2] as in "Brno" vs. "Brünn" in German (I don't know whether it has an
>English name as well)
I've never seen anything but Brno, and English is generally pretty
aggressive at inventing its own spelling of any town over 12 years old.
>[3] "Schober", though definitely German in origin, finds more Americans
>there, too, so I feel confident to dismiss America as the source of "Hrdy"
>despite seemingly contrary evidence.
Heh. If you think there are a lot of Central European names in America,
try Irish names. The vast majority of Irish names are found this side of
the Atlantic.
>[4] Stanislav, Marek, Jaroslav, Brnd, Yana, Jozef...
Looks good to me.
Bloody serendipity again. Finding a book ("Hammers Slammers" by David
Drake) on the lowest shelf at the SO's place and then trying to stand up
again my bad leg gave way and I fell against the radiator - hard and at a
bad angle. Think I may have broken another rib or two and redislocated my
shoulder so it's
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5vJGPpAqKk
again tomorrow.
I've been accident prone since I learned to walk but there are times when
it gets ridiculous. Thank any available deity that I have an understanding
SO who will half carry me when I need to move.
gary
I'd tell you to just lie down in the middle of the floor and STAY THERE, but
the ceiling would probably fall on you. This sounds like rotten luck of
almost Jewish proportions, so Rabbi Sammy will have a Talk with the One
supposedly in charge; he's good at that.
Seriously, here's hoping that you recover quickly and that the accidents go
away.
Given a time machine, I don't think I'd want to be permanently dropped
anywhere except the present, but there *are* places I'd like to visit,
specifically late 16th century England.
But I'd settle for a time-travelling omniscope, I don't have to
physically be there.
-Chris Zakes
Texas
--
Performing spectacular stunts may simply not be for you. On the other
hand, big steps that are liable to happen in any ordinary life may be
better taken than not.
Agreed. What's the SF story about the misuse of the omniscope, though?
For one thing, modern people wanting to live in Olden Tymes usually
don't have a very clear idea as to which particular time and place they
mean. For another, they always imagine themselves as belonging to the
upper strata of society, for whom life has never been too bad, rather
than to the far larger lower orders, for whom life was Hell at all times
and places up to about 100 years ago. Although there's still plenty of
room for improvement in the lives of regular people, we now enjoy
conditions far superior to those even the aristocrats managed until
recently. In this culture, anyway.
Lesley.
--
This address is real, but to reach me use leswes att shaw dott ca
Still, I would like to know how various things turn out. A time machine
that let me pay short visits would be nice.
<snip>
>>> Maybe. Yet, I wouldn't want to live in any society of the past, and see
>>> those wanting to base this mainly on romanticized ideas that have little
>>> grounding in the facts - which to me seems to indicate that hell lies
>>> the other way.
>>>
>>> Schobi
>>
>>
>> OTOH, given a time machine , there's nowhen in the future (beyond my
>> natural lifespan,) that I'd want to be dropped either.
>
> Given a time machine, I don't think I'd want to be permanently dropped
> anywhere except the present, but there *are* places I'd like to visit,
> specifically late 16th century England.
>
> But I'd settle for a time-travelling omniscope, I don't have to
> physically be there.
Yes that would do fine for seeing how things shall have gone. I'm just
curious.
> For one thing, modern people wanting to live in Olden Tymes usually
> don't have a very clear idea as to which particular time and place they
> mean. For another, they always imagine themselves as belonging to the
> upper strata of society, for whom life has never been too bad, rather
> than to the far larger lower orders, for whom life was Hell at all times
> and places up to about 100 years ago.
Someone once remarked to Isaac Asimov how nice it would be if one
lived in the old days when it was easy to get servants. Asimov's
response?
"It would be horrible. We'd be the servants."
Dave
It's not too late. I don't mean that you should rush out and climb
Everest or give away everything you have and live on whatever gets put
into your begging bowl while you work on achieving Nirvana. Or even that
you should start volunteering for charities, learning to play an
instrument, running marathons or whatever, unless something actually
appeals to you. I mean just that age doesn't really come into it;
anybody at any age can start to do things or reflect on the things they
have or have not done, and it counts just as much as sailing solo round
the world at fourteen or writing /Bonjour Tristesse/ in your teens.
And a life well-lived includes doing no harm, being liked by colleagues
and neighbours, writing entertaining posts on afp to amuse a few
friends, and other small achievements. I don't see the need for
grandiose gestures, whether they succeed or fail.
>
> I have a couple of relatives in their early-mid-teens and, if they were
> ever arsed enough to ask me, I would strongly counsel them to go out and
> make their mistakes (so long as they are not catastrophic ones for them
> or for others), because they will only get one go around the roundabout.
> Generally speaking (I would advise them), and with some obvious
> exceptions, it is far better to regret one or two of the things you
> *have* done than to sit in middle age regretting all the things you did
> *not* do. That sort of regret *lasts*.
All regrets last. The realisation that it's a one-way journey comes
hard, I agree, but it comes to us all eventually. It's not easy to deal
with, but it is possible to come to terms with it and just continue
enjoying the small things that are good about any life. I like St.
David's suggestion: 'Gwnewch y pethau bychain mewn bywyd' [1]. I know he
was talking about religion, but it's still a good basis for conducting
one's life, along with his other exhortations: "Keep the faith" (broadly
interpreted) and "Be joyful".
[1] I hope that's right? Wiki translates it as: 'Do the little things in
life'.
"The Dead Past", Isaac Asimov, is one such.
Tha's the bunny I was thinking of. Thanks.
To next week and get the lottery numbers.
>Lesley.
>
--
Kev Wells http://riscos.kevsoft.co.uk/
http://kevsoft.co.uk/ http://kevsoft.co.uk/AleQuest/
ICQ 238580561
More flick able than a bogie during double maths
Why settle for servants just get slaves instead.
>"It would be horrible. We'd be the servants."
Or in my case slave.
>
>Dave
--
Kev Wells http://riscos.kevsoft.co.uk/
http://kevsoft.co.uk/ http://kevsoft.co.uk/AleQuest/
ICQ 238580561
Bring me my bow of burning gold!
>> I have lived a 'risk-averse' life (1) due to a combination of fear of
>> looking foolish, fear of making mistakes and fear of being punished for
>> either looking foolish, making mistakes or both; as a consequence I feel
>> that I have let all those chances slip by - even the chances to make
>> mistakes.
>
> It's not too late. I don't mean that you should rush out and climb
> Everest or give away everything you have and live on whatever gets put
> into your begging bowl while you work on achieving Nirvana. Or even that
> you should start volunteering for charities, learning to play an
> instrument, running marathons or whatever, unless something actually
> appeals to you.
However I can speak from experience and suggest that you do try some of
these, or something similar. BUT it's more important for you to achieve
success than to solve world hunger singlehanded. You need success in
small things to protect against failure in big things.
I mean just that age doesn't really come into it;
> anybody at any age can start to do things or reflect on the things they
> have or have not done, and it counts just as much as sailing solo round
> the world at fourteen or writing /Bonjour Tristesse/ in your teens.
>
> And a life well-lived includes doing no harm, being liked by
> colleagues and neighbours, writing entertaining posts on afp to amuse a
> few friends, and other small achievements. I don't see the need for
> grandiose gestures, whether they succeed or fail.
You need to start small so that you can develop being successful into a
habit.
--
Bernard Peek
b...@shrdlu.com
> And a life well-lived includes doing no harm,
I seem to have managed that on the whole.
> being liked by
> colleagues and neighbours,
Ditto (more or less).
> writing entertaining posts on afp to amuse a
> few friends,
I think the jury's still out on that one.
> and other small achievements. I don't see the need for
> grandiose gestures, whether they succeed or fail.
Ah, but *I'm* not talking about grandiose gestures either. I just mean
the sort of 'normal' acheivements which most people manage in terms of
having a fulfilled, well-rounded life.
>
> All regrets last. The realisation that it's a one-way journey comes
> hard, I agree, but it comes to us all eventually. It's not easy to deal
> with, but it is possible to come to terms with it and just continue
> enjoying the small things that are good about any life.
Yes, but if you feel - as I do - that the phrase "never fulfilled his
early promise" was designed specifically with me in mind, it makes for a
particularly poisonous sense of disillusionment.
I wish that someone had taken me gently by the throat at the age of
about fifteen and said, "The world does *not* owe you a response, and
the Universe will not simply drop into your lap. You have to get out
there and *do* it!". Realising this to be the case when it's *far* too
late to do anything substantial in that direction is...galling.
> I like St.
> David's suggestion: 'Gwnewch y pethau bychain mewn bywyd' [1].
>
> [1] I hope that's right? Wiki translates it as: 'Do the little things in
> life'.
Spot on.
No, it's nothing to do with "grandiose", however it may be defined.
I was quite clearly academically gifted from a very young age, but this
led to me believing, as it were, my own publicity. So I coasted - and
there's only one direction in which you can do that. Hence the following
paragraph.
>
>> I wish that someone had taken me gently by the throat at the age of
>> about fifteen and said, "The world does *not* owe you a response, and
>> the Universe will not simply drop into your lap. You have to get out
>> there and *do* it!". Realising this to be the case when it's *far* too
>> late to do anything substantial in that direction is...galling.
>
> Why is it too late? Are there laws or something in your road? If
> not, then what's stopping you? Unless something worse than 34
> years of age separates You15 from You49, I honestly can't imagine
> what could stop you doing today whatever you could have done
> then. Enlighten us?
On the whole I'd rather not, because I don't want to conduct a therapy
session online when *I'm* the patient. All I can say regarding it being
'too late' are:
(i) Many of these things you really *do* have to be young (i.e. under
35) to do
(ii) Limited time left before the grave (1)
(iii) Indifferent health
(iv) Lack of self-confidence
(v) Inertia
(1) I don't want anyone to worry about my using this phrase - I'm merely
being florid.
>On 11/4/11 10:51 PM, Chris Zakes wrote:
>> On Mon, 11 Apr 2011 14:11:32 -0400, an orbital mind-control laser
>> caused Larry Moore <shirleya...@gmail.com> to write:
(snip)
>>> OTOH, given a time machine , there's nowhen in the future (beyond my
>>> natural lifespan,) that I'd want to be dropped either.
>>
>> Given a time machine, I don't think I'd want to be permanently dropped
>> anywhere except the present, but there *are* places I'd like to visit,
>> specifically late 16th century England.
>>
>> But I'd settle for a time-travelling omniscope, I don't have to
>> physically be there.
>>
>> -Chris Zakes
>> Texas
>
>Agreed. What's the SF story about the misuse of the omniscope, though?
Was that the one about the fellow trying to find out why/how
Stonehenge was built, so he sends a video recorder back in time to the
site of Stonehenge multiple times, only to discover that Stonehenge
was built to comemmorate this weird thing that kept appearing and
disappearing.
Or are you thinking of something else? I'm sure there's lots of
stories along those lines.
-Chris Zakes
Texas
--
> In message <io1mhl$gu4$2...@mud.stack.nl>
> Lesley Weston <brightly_co...@yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
>
>>On 11-04-11 2:10 PM, GaryN wrote:
>>> Larry Moore<shirleya...@gmail.com> wrote in
>>> news:o4idneYlO4HU2T7Q...@wightman.ca:
>>>
>>> <snip>
>>>> OTOH, given a time machine , there's nowhen in the future (beyond my
>>>> natural lifespan,) that I'd want to be dropped either.
>>>>
>>>> "If we are not happy and joyous at this season, for what other season
>>>> shall we wait and for what other time shall we look? "
>>>
>>> I go with Larry on this one. I'm in my mid forties and I've had the
>>> highs
>>> and the lows. But I have *LIVED* my life. I didn't just take up space
>>> like another good little drone, I hope I never will.
>>>
>>> I'm not in a position to change much of the 'Now' but the little I can
>>> change I do (charity stuff). I'm already an anachronism in my own time,
>>> why bother becoming even more so in the future?
>>>
>>> The past got on alright without me and the future can do the same.
>>
>>Still, I would like to know how various things turn out. A time machine
>>that let me pay short visits would be nice.
>>
> To next week and get the lottery numbers.
This suggests a unique payment system for a commercial time-machine venture.
Time travel will likely be expensive, but a customer may have to sign an
agreement that the company will receive a certain percentage of any lottery
winnings as payment for the journey. Okay, so not every traveler will want
to check the winning numbers, but some certainly will - enough that you can
rake in enough dough to cover the cost of the non-players.
Of course, this would all lead to a swift collapse of the economy, but then
you have a similar problem with the SRO crowd at Calvary for the
Crucifixion.
As for me, I can think of a few lovely ladies that I'd like another -
*ahem* - crack at. Beyond that, time travel I could take or leave.
There's one short story from 1947 that I'd recommend - "E For Effort" by TL
Sherred. It's about someone who invents a time viewer that he uses to make
really accurate historical movies, until the viewer is discovered and
exploited by a Hollywood producer. It's a short leap to making REAL
political documentaries, and it all ends in the collapse of government and
nuclear war. I don't think the story has been reprinted for a long time, but
it's stuck with me all these years.
As you say, it's a reoccurring theme. Sounds like a grand tale though.
On a lighter note ("Laaaa!"), there's Harrison's "The Technicolor Time
Machine" (which is the only Harrison book I've ever found funny - "Bill
The Galactic Hero" isn't, despite what the OFIAH may think).
Yes, of course. Everybody should be trying new things all the time, but
only if they want to, and only things they think they'll enjoy. Loading
yourself down with yet more work because you feel you should, and then
having one more thing to worry about while getting no pleasure or sense
of achievement out of it isn't going to help.
>
>
> I mean just that age doesn't really come into it;
>> anybody at any age can start to do things or reflect on the things they
>> have or have not done, and it counts just as much as sailing solo round
>> the world at fourteen or writing /Bonjour Tristesse/ in your teens.
>>
>> And a life well-lived includes doing no harm, being liked by
>> colleagues and neighbours, writing entertaining posts on afp to amuse a
>> few friends, and other small achievements. I don't see the need for
>> grandiose gestures, whether they succeed or fail.
>
> You need to start small so that you can develop being successful into a
> habit.
>
Certainly! But it's more important to appreciate the small things in
their own right, not just as a preparation for being impressive later.