h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Did you ever read The Demolished Man, by Alfred Bester? It's about the first one of your fears, exactly. As for the second, there's always one of my former favorite books: Ringworld, by Larry Niven.

Gee, thanks. I could do with some Science Fiction, I haven't read any for almost a year. Amazon here I come.

People get very freaked by the concept of the "right to commit a crime", but there seem to me to be crimes which are morally wrong (murder, theft, etc) and crimes which are criminal only because they are criminal - driving faster than 70 mph on a motorway, smoking cannabis, going to bed with a girl under 18, driving a car under the age of 17, all of which are legal in some places and illegal in others.

So who are these guys to say I can do this there and I can't do that there? And when those sorts of activities become impossible... that way comes the destruction of the soul. "The future is a boot stamping on a human face forever" (Geo Orwell, 1984).

The only drugs I do are cheesecake, and alcholol, and I am an occasional passive smoker. But I cannot help noticing that the drugs which are being used less and less in the West are alcohol and nicotine, and they are legal, taxed, regulated and about which there is a high degree of education; while the drugs which are being used more and more are illegal, untaxed, unregulated and where the education can be dismissed as propaganda. And a lot of the downsides of drug addiction comes from their illegality - bad stuff, dirty needles, and if you are breaking the law to do drugs, then why not break the law to pay for them? If they were legal, then a lot of these problems would be partially resolved. Plus there is the chance that in 20 or 30 years time the social pressures which apply to stop people drinking and smoking, will also apply to stop them injecting and snorting, too.

This isn't actually a drugs thing, but it goes right along with the "right to go to hell in your own way".

I guess I am just an anarchist at heart.

Thanks for the book tips, I'll get them next time I'm buying books.

I agree that the social positioning of so-called hard drugs is mostly to blame for the criminal activity called the drug trade. Dr. Funk (another H2G2 researcher) is putting together an entry on War On Drugs, if you have thoughts to contribute in that area.

The Bester novel (which is excellent, by the way) is about murder, of course, in a world where telepathy is used to identify criminals. Kind of like drug testing, except you leave your mind in the cup, and it's all the time.

Just ordered the books.

I cannot remember if I have read Ringworld or not; if I did it was over 20 years ago. I did read the Mote in God's eye about a year ago, and enjoyed it as good classic space fiction. The Bester one looks very good.

There is a fairly lightweight short story somewhere called "The Country of the Kind" which is about how a humane society might try to deal with inhuman criminals.

Any books that you'd recommend? I feel obliged to read some of your selections, since you've so graciously picked up on mine. I just finished this molasses-slow vampire novel, "Obsidian Butterfly" on a weekend train trip. I've never been a fan of vampire fiction, and I now realize why: the underlying issue is, "What would you give up to cheat death?" and that for some reason isn't a real motivating factor for me.

Whaddya Like? I'll read anything that doesn't irritate me written after 1800. I get irritated by characters I don't like, bad plotting, sloppy writing, and relentless gloom. Apart from that, I will read just about anything. There is NO obligation to read anything I suggest.

So - Suggestions?

The Right Stuff by Tom Wolf is a history of the X-Planes (Chuck Jeager) and the Mercury Missions ie the first Americans in space. It is very very good indeed.

Follow it up with Appollo 13 which is not as well written, but compelling, and picks up the space story after a 5 year gap - so you find out more about the same (real) people.

I recently discovered Ian Banks, and have romped through a fair number of his Rebus novels. For a 19th century thrill try the Woman in White by Wilkie Colins.

Amazon seem to be sitting on my order, which is irritating, but I'll let you know how I get on with the two you'e recommended.

Ian Banks is one of my favorites, too! I liked Wasp Factory very much; it is probably the most ghoulish book I've ever read. I have The Right Stuff on the shelf at home, but not Apollo 13; I'll look into that one. Thanks!

I meant Ian Rankin. (Sorry). My brother rates Ian Banks. I'll try when I finish the other stuff.

Yeah,I like Ian Rankin too, but the Rebus books are kind of depressing.

Bit like the East Coast, really.

(Tee Hee)

East Coast ofScotland?

[sorry-here-but-the space-bar-works-ineffectually.]
East Coast ofUSA-has-some-OK-moments,-although raining-right-now.

East Coast of Scotland. ... don't start me!

Never been to the East Coast of the US.

East Coast of USA offers several interesting and history-packed cities, such as New York, Washington, Boston, and Philadelphia, as well as Charleston, S.C. and Savannah, Ga., good swimming in Florida, nice beaches in Florida and Cape Cod, Mass., and in North Carolina's Outer Banks, Maine's Acadia National Park, etc. etc.

I actually have been to Edinburgh and other Scottish destinations, but I was about nine at the time. I quite enjoyed it, leaving me to wonder what John Rebus's problem with his personal landscape is. My guilty pleasure at the Rankin books is that Rebus is incorrigible. Most American detectives maintain or resume their workouts and healthy nutrition; Lawrence Block's Matt Scudder, for instance, started out as an alky, bitter ex-cop facing down comparatively mild criminals, but has become a fit, cheery, married (!), socially well-adjusted, teetotaling, licensed private detective who gets involved in serial-killer type cases. Robert Parker's Spenser is a well-balanced PI with a great home life.

Yes, Rebus is definitely in the "son of Marlowe" school of detectives. The weather is much the same too. As I remember it is raining for the whole of "The Big Sleep".

The East Coast of Scotland is full of as large a bunch of self-righteous, smug, elegant, educated, arrogant, prejudiced, small minded, bigoted, intelligent, inhibited, and petty people as you would ever fear to meet. But that is just an opinion.

Glaswegians on the other hand are uninhibited, open-hearted, generous, entertaining, riotous, raucus, intelligent, canny, witty, opinionated, passionate, funny, and wonderful company. But that is just another opinion.

Oh and they hate each other.

Guess which I prefer.

Ha!

I guess the only question left to ask is, can they interbreed?

LOL
ROFL

I am just finishing Ringworld. I kinda enjoyed it. (Sorry, you said it was your former favourite book, sorry). Like a lot of space fiction I find that the ideas are more important than the people or the plot, and I guess that people and plot interest me more as I get older.

Interesting though, I like the idea of natural selection for Luck. And the aliens were well thought out. It is better than I was giving it credit for, perhaps.

What is your current favourite book?

My fear is really that there will be legitimised genocide as a result of genetic modification. The daughter of a friend of mine is engaged to someone who may be a carrier or may actually have Hodgkins Disease (?) She told me that if they have children they will have them IVF, and test the embryos before implantation. In the same situation, I would do the same thing.

But...
But....

Imagine a world with four human species: the Beauties, the Brains, the Horrors and the Uglies. (Have I already said this higher up the posting? - No).

The Beauties would be what David and Victoria Beckham would order from the baby catalogue.

The Brains - you know those 12 year old mathematical geniuses who are sent to Oxford? The Brains are what the parents' of those geniuses would dial up if they chose. Oxford aged 7 - why not?

The Horrors - self explanitory really, the genetic mistakes caught too late to abort.

And the Uglies - you and me, and everyone else created "au naturel".

How long before the Brains - or physically beautiful by mentally warped Horrors - decide that we are not really "human" and exterminate us?

I was talking about this with a friend yesterday, and he recommended a book by Jeremy Rifkin on just this subject.

So that is what I fear, and it will happen, it will happen.

Well, the notion of castes is a pretty powerful one. There is a pretty good fantasy/SF novel by Matthew Woodring Stover called Heroes Die in which a future world like our own is divided up into castes. The author, in one of those annoying "Author's Notes" included at the end, points out that castes are one of the few self-perpetuating social systems, because members support social stratification as an effective tool for keeping them from falling further behind their neighbors.

But at the same time, the caste system only works if all of those classes are still active. In Brave New World, the Betas needed to have the Alphas to make them feel lucky, and needed to have the Gammas, Deltas, and Epsilons in order to give them a context. So I wouldn't worry that our caste will disappear; we are needed to give the Brainy types a reason to feel superior!

I answered the literary questions at: http://www.h2g2.com/F51226?thread=83619&skip=0&show=20