Jack Vance's Oikumene: Durdane, Alastor, Demon Princes, etc.
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1wyrdchao
I recently tracked down a radio interview of Jack Vance; go to YouTube and search 'Jack Vance, radio, interview, 1976' and you'll probably find it. It's in 12 parts, about 8-9 minutes apiece. If you like him, listen to it.
The reason I mention this is because I've often thought that the 'Demon Princes' books, for all their warts, consist of some of the most important social commentary ever printed. Vance didn't like to preach, so he came at things in a sort of back-handed way (usually chapter introductions), for instance:
'Humanity is old, civilization is new: the mesh of cogs is by no means smooth and this is as it should be. Never should a man enter a building of glass or metal, or a spaceship, or a submarine, without a small shock of astonishment; never should he avoid an act of passion without a small sense of effort. We of the Institute receive an intensive historical inculcation; we know the men of the past, and we have projected dozens of possible future variations, which, without exception, are repulsive. Man, as he exists now, with all his faults and vices, a thousand gloriously irrational compromises between two thousand sterile absolutes is optimal. Or so it seems to us who are men.'
--- Jack Vance, "Xaviar Skolcamp, Over-Centennial Fellow of the Institute" in The Killing Machine
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Now, when I read this the first time, it was a cold shock; this type of statement has the effect of yanking you completely out of 'Western civilization' and into the kind of perspective that really gets your mind going about what the word 'civilization' means.
My question is, do you think 'Skolcamp' is right? Do you think the Institute is a viable model for what academic infrastructure should be, as compared to what it is now?
The reason I mention this is because I've often thought that the 'Demon Princes' books, for all their warts, consist of some of the most important social commentary ever printed. Vance didn't like to preach, so he came at things in a sort of back-handed way (usually chapter introductions), for instance:
'Humanity is old, civilization is new: the mesh of cogs is by no means smooth and this is as it should be. Never should a man enter a building of glass or metal, or a spaceship, or a submarine, without a small shock of astonishment; never should he avoid an act of passion without a small sense of effort. We of the Institute receive an intensive historical inculcation; we know the men of the past, and we have projected dozens of possible future variations, which, without exception, are repulsive. Man, as he exists now, with all his faults and vices, a thousand gloriously irrational compromises between two thousand sterile absolutes is optimal. Or so it seems to us who are men.'
--- Jack Vance, "Xaviar Skolcamp, Over-Centennial Fellow of the Institute" in The Killing Machine
---------
Now, when I read this the first time, it was a cold shock; this type of statement has the effect of yanking you completely out of 'Western civilization' and into the kind of perspective that really gets your mind going about what the word 'civilization' means.
My question is, do you think 'Skolcamp' is right? Do you think the Institute is a viable model for what academic infrastructure should be, as compared to what it is now?
2marmolubio First Message
That is one of my favorite Vance passages, too. "A thousand gloriously irrational compromises between two thousand sterile absolutes" is a great phrase.
The Institute seems to hold a conservative (in the Edmund Burke sense of conservative) stance towards technological progress and self-directed human evolution. They would be fierce opponents of the modern idea of the Singularity.
Vance also gives voice to enemies of the Institute, who consider it an elitist and dictatorial organization, indifferent to human suffering and full of pompous windbags.
The Institute seems to hold a conservative (in the Edmund Burke sense of conservative) stance towards technological progress and self-directed human evolution. They would be fierce opponents of the modern idea of the Singularity.
Vance also gives voice to enemies of the Institute, who consider it an elitist and dictatorial organization, indifferent to human suffering and full of pompous windbags.
3wyrdchao
>2 marmolubio: 'windbags'
What amuses and fascinates me most about the Institute, as is made clear in the The Book of Dreams is that it has a built in set of checks and balances: the Dexad, consisting of the top ten ranks, seem to work at cross purposes to the rest of the Instute, i.e. offsetting the influence of the 'pompous windbags'.
What amuses and fascinates me most about the Institute, as is made clear in the The Book of Dreams is that it has a built in set of checks and balances: the Dexad, consisting of the top ten ranks, seem to work at cross purposes to the rest of the Instute, i.e. offsetting the influence of the 'pompous windbags'.
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