Damn Your Anti Robot Bias, Lewis!

[krinndnz]

But in general, take my advice, when you meet anything that's going to be Human and isn't yet, or used to be Human once and isn't now, or ought to be Human and isn't, you keep your eyes on it and feel for your hatchet.

- - The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
My emphasis. Gee thanks, Clive. I was just having a quick reread of the Narnia cycle (

Comments

[circuit_four]

*checks context*

Those are some big words for an anthropomorphic beaver. :)

I dunno. The good Dr. Lewis was the sort of guy who would've been telling people, "Please. There's not reason to raise your hatchets." Still, this counterpoint from one of his peers might make you feel better:

"[Lewis] is entitled to his beliefs, but they weaken his story, not only because they offend the average reader’s sense of probability but because in effect they decide the issue in advance. When one is told that God and the Devil are in conflict, one always knows which side is going to win. The whole drama of the struggle against evil lies in the fact that one does not have supernatural aid." -- George Orwell, in a review of That Hideous Strength.

This is a devastating point and particularly relevant to a defense of the transhuman -- because we don't believe anything is going to save us except ourselves. Not only aren't sophonts like you and me totally disinterested in whether something is "unnatural" or "sacrilegous" or "playing God"... we have

[relee]

I think the ultimate question in that regard is "Is it you, or is it your child." Of course its collary is, "Does it matter?"

It's still a wonder.

[krinndnz]

I'm not sure what you mean by that, sqrl?

[relee]

Well, when you dramatically alter yourself, sometimes you change too much and become a new thing you created, and you disappear, and thus, you are your child, and you died, but does that matter?

Games Workshop's Narnia 40k

[ff00ff]

IT IS THE 41st millennium. For more than a hundred

[masstreble]

Huh! You know I never would have made such an abstract and terrifying connection without group assistance. Good job everyone!

Re: Games Workshop's Narnia 40k

[circuit_four]

Deer stocks are up 50 points today in active trading. ♥

Re: Games Workshop's Narnia 40k

[ff00ff]

Glassy eyed cats are ... ... ... chewed on. Nom nom nom nom.

[silveradept]

Mmm. I hear you on the rereading of old classics once you're old enough to understand what the author was really getting at.

They were having trouble getting their heads around the concept that people with dark skin weren't automatically inferior people in need of salvation and "civilization". Transhumanism would be several steps further along the way, and so would be inconceivable.

As for those hatchet-raisers, there will be allies, too, against the Lewis alignment.

[krinndnz]

Yeah, I've started to get a little wary of rereading things. Still haven't written about the startling experience of finding a Maurice Sendak story in which a tiger consumes a petulant youth.

And - the people of the past varied as much as the people of today, I'm pretty sure, but the record-keeping and the lineage of documentation was different. It amuses me to think that of some particularly far-flung bits of human history, that because of the lack of context, we might be building lots of our perceptions on the period equivalent of timecube.

[silveradept]

Ooh, sounds fun. Taking on the tradition of Elijah's bear-calling, sort of.

You're right on our perception of the past - for all we know, they did it the opposite of what we think they did. Reminds me of the image of the person wearing the toilet seat as a chieftain's necklace.

[krinndnz]

Oh, I remember that! I can't remember the book, though. David Maculauy, I'm pretty sure.

Also, very related, "Body Ritual among the Nacirema" is still one of the best things ever.

[prickvixen]

But in general, take my advice, when you meet anything that's going to be Human and isn't yet, or used to be Human once and isn't now, or ought to be Human and isn't, you keep your eyes on it and feel for your hatchet.

Translation: Kill all young children, senile old people and the mentally impaired. Aslan macht frei!

[bossgoji]

Yeah, I really wonder how hard he was thinking about that one. Lots of uncomfortable interpretations there BEYOND the obvious anti-science ones.

I've had little respect for Lewis as an author ever since I realized all his scientist characters were absolute strawmen. "Oh, of course they can't see Narnia, they're so caught-up in their maths and learning that they can't perceive the magic!" Yeah, well, I don't believe that rainbows have a pot of gold at the end guarded by leprechauns and pixies, is that why I'm usually broke?

The general tenor of his books are anti-intellectual horseshit and someone like Lewis should've known fucking better than that. Look at what happened, in his time, to all the people who refused to question their beliefs...

[prickvixen]

I don't really have a strong opinion about him. I liked Narnia when I was a kid, but the Christian symbology went right over my head; I'd be analyzing it through that lens too much to enjoy it as a pure adventure now. I didn't much care for the ending, though. I suppose it's meant to stand for 'You can live forever with Jesus,' but at the time I thought it was just a way of saying that the characters are going to have more adventures that I won't get to read about... I felt the way I did when my 'friends' ditched me.

[krinndnz]

I can still pick out things to like about the books, but sadly they're kinda narrow. But hey - narrower means easier to steal for my Nefarious Purposes.

[sabotabby]

And now I'm envisioning cyberpunk Narnia. Which is kind of awesome. I'm surprised no one's done steampunk Narnia, given that one of the books is set in the Edwardian era.

Seriously, though, there's a lot problematic in those books. I love 'em dearly but they're very much a product of their time.

[krinndnz]

That's pretty much where I went with it, too. Especially if you splash a little Russian urban fantasy on it too.

I wish they were about 40 years older so that they could be past the Iron Curtain of US IP law and fair game for remix culture. Which, I mean, they are, but not in the legal sense.