I'll try to find some stories, Monster especially.

--Sawfish

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"The food at the new restaurant is awful, but at least the portions are large."
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Link: "The Monster" (1948). Regarded as perhaps van Vogt's best short story.

Thanks!!!!

I'll read it right now!!! Nothing better to do...

--Sawfish

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"The food at the new restaurant is awful, but at least the portions are large."
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Knygatin, I thoroughly enjoyed "The Monster". I wanted to share with you a story with a similar theme (invaders are thwarted by humans in a comic fashion) but haven't found it yet.

However, I found a list of SF stories, that, when sorted by publishing date, the 1950s read like a compendium of the stuff I had liked.

[en.wikipedia.org]

I read lots of this stuff in my formative youth, and now, reflecting back, those readings, and R. Crumb in the 60s, could explain a lot...

Back to Monster....

It had the "feel" of a sub-genre in which mankind was capable against challenges from superior forces, sometimes in a sort of wise-guy, junior high school way. This seemed to be a feature of post war US, and it was before it evaporated into the angst overwhelmed SF in the 60s and beyond.

--Sawfish

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"The food at the new restaurant is awful, but at least the portions are large."
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Sawfish Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Knygatin, I thoroughly enjoyed "The Monster". I
> wanted to share with you a story with a similar
> theme (invaders are thwarted by humans in a comic
> fashion) but haven't found it yet.
>
> It had the "feel" of a sub-genre in which mankind
> was capable against challenges from superior
> forces, sometimes in a sort of wise-guy, junior
> high school way. This seemed to be a feature of
> post war US, and it was before it evaporated into
> the angst overwhelmed SF in the 60s and beyond.

Hah, glad you enjoyed "The Monster". It is a neat story, with very unexpected turn (for me at least!).

I agree, and that is why I prefer science fiction from that era. Arthur C. Clarke's first published story, "Rescue Party" (1946), is somewhat similar in style to "The Monster". It concerns a conglomeration of aliens from different worlds, who set out together on a rescue mission, their comic interactions and individual anatomical struggles to cope with the new topography.

A. E. van Vogt's "Dormant" (1948) is not bad either. Not as good as "The Monster", but conceptually interesting and powerful. About a giant entity that seems to be part of the landscape, but suddenly, after millions of years, starts moving.

I *really* like this 50s stuff! Not the space opera crap, but the mindbenders, like "Nightfall", "The Star", etc.

CAS is really nothing like this: he is telling us morality tales with unique observations and ironic twists, making them into something more than they would be otherwise.

In honesty, it comes to me that this early SF, plus lack of a Christian up-bringing, may have formed me more than anything else.

Gosh...

E.g., there was this Heinlein novel where the concept of a social institution of trained, principled persons, known as something like "Fair Witnesses", functioned in civil proceedings something like a notary does for signatures, but they could lawfully, bindingly witness, and attest to, almost anything.

This being the idealistic 50/early 60s, no possibility of corruption (this would come in the 70s... ;^) ) was ever introduced in the story.

I can recall a specific instance where the main character asked a friend who was a Fair Witness by profession what color the house was as they drove by, conversationally, and she said something like:

"Well, this side is white."

Hah, hah! That blew me away!

Somehow I took this to heart (this worked to my advantage for a period when I was tech writing--extremely limited and precise procedural instructions), and like a thunderclap last week I realized for the first time that one of the few areas of friction I have with my wife of 35 years is that I often get extremely testy when answering some of the questions she asks me.

I realized that the questions that evoke this require me to speculate well beyond what I can be certain of--to me, I perceive that she wants a solution, not a speculation--and I cannot give her one with ironclad assurance, in good faith.

So I turn savage, to discourage further questioning.

She, of course, never thinks that it's to be ironclad, but *I* sure do, so...

--Sawfish

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"The food at the new restaurant is awful, but at least the portions are large."
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Sawfish Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I *really* like this 50s stuff! Not the space
> opera crap, but the mindbenders, like "Nightfall",
> "The Star", etc.

The City and the Stars (1956), a self-running digitalized society million of years into the future, having humans without nails and teeth. Wow. Beauty and the inapprehensibly disturbing wedded together.

Then there is the even earlier stuff. Campbell's "Twilight" (1934). WOW ...! I am flabbergasted, and bow down in reverence.

Sawfish Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Somehow I took this to heart (this worked to my
> advantage for a period when I was tech
> writing--extremely limited and precise procedural
> instructions), and like a thunderclap last week I
> realized for the first time that one of the few
> areas of friction I have with my wife of 35 years
> is that I often get extremely testy when answering
> some of the questions she asks me.
>
> I realized that the questions that evoke this
> require me to speculate well beyond what I can be
> certain of--to me, I perceive that she wants a
> solution, not a speculation--and I cannot give her
> one with ironclad assurance, in good faith.
>

Not sure what your exact struggle is here, but I have noticed that you don't seem to like set directions in any manner, definite assured statements, or things that are precise, not impressed by invented tools or perfection in robotic engineering. Perhaps working as a data programmer has allowed flexible solutions to solve a problem. A kind of flowing state. A liberal stance, anything goes, nothing is right and nothing is wrong, like California is famous for; I believe this can be of great benefit to brainstorming creativity, but can also be misused in the wrong hands to deceptively enforce society a thread down decadent paths. I agree that nothing is easily ironclad or set in stone, but sometimes one needs to believe fully in a certain vision, at least temporarily, to get it realized, to get things done rather than drifting aimlessly. On the other hand you do appear to be politically opinionated, but perhaps, from one's individual standpoint that still feels like being open-minded.

Knygatin Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Sawfish Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Somehow I took this to heart (this worked to my
> > advantage for a period when I was tech
> > writing--extremely limited and precise
> procedural
> > instructions), and like a thunderclap last week
> I
> > realized for the first time that one of the few
> > areas of friction I have with my wife of 35
> years
> > is that I often get extremely testy when
> answering
> > some of the questions she asks me.
> >
> > I realized that the questions that evoke this
> > require me to speculate well beyond what I can
> be
> > certain of--to me, I perceive that she wants a
> > solution, not a speculation--and I cannot give
> her
> > one with ironclad assurance, in good faith.
> >
>
> Not sure what your exact struggle is here, but I
> have noticed that you don't seem to like set
> directions in any manner, definite assured
> statements, or things that are precise, not
> impressed by invented tools or perfection in
> robotic engineering.

The answer is simple, K!

I'm a foul materialist. My wife has even told me that so far as she can see, I lack the gene for spirituality.

Please don't spread it around, though...

> Perhaps working as a data
> programmer has allowed flexible solutions to solve
> a problem. A kind of flowing state. A liberal
> stance, anything goes, nothing is right and
> nothing is wrong, like California is famous for;

I think you're about half there.

E.g., nothing is *absolutely* right or wrong, however one must recognize that each individual has his/her own definitions/boundaries of right/wrong, and individuals tend to clump with others who share the same values. Over time, these form cultures, and eventually something like nations. Within these groups, moral principles are de facto absolute.

So you're just fine living in such a culture, if it largely shares your values. However, outside of that, it becomes a crapshoot.

> I
> believe this can be of great benefit to
> brainstorming creativity, but can also be misused
> in the wrong hands to deceptively enforce society
> a thread down decadent paths.

Why necessarily decadent? It seems that the path could equally be progressive, or any flavor mix in between.

> I agree that nothing
> is easily ironclad or set in stone, but sometimes
> one needs to believe fully in a certain vision, at
> least temporarily, to get it realized, to get
> things done rather than drifting aimlessly.

I agree with this part, K.

I used to do this all the time--in fact, I was aware of it, but because it often preceded personal advancement of some kind that I valued, I temporarily "hypnotized" myself into functionally believing it, but only while actively engaged in it.

E.g., I could work 80 hour weeks for several months because I had rationally assessed that at the end of that time I'd be materially and strategically better off. So to actually motivate myself while working those hours, I convinced myself that I *liked* the specific activity.

But I knew beforehand and afterward that it was a sort of self-induced state to be used temporarily to gain a specific end. A great example was to request 4 10-hour days from my regular employer so that I could take an individual contract with another company that lasted about 8 months. I'd sometimes work 7 days a week, but more often 6 or 6.5.

I can tell you with honesty that I've never been paid a dime for doing something that I would say that I actually *liked*, in the sense that I'd do it without pay.

No one pays for you to sit on the beach, drinking beer and body-surfing all day...

> On the
> other hand you do appear to be politically
> opinionated, but perhaps, from one's individual
> standpoint that still feels like being
> open-minded.

Probably more like ideologically opinionated. Politics is something more like the circuses part of "bread and circuses".

E.g., I've not yet figured out a way that collective socialism could ever work for an extended period except at a scope no greater than a tribe, or perhaps in a single ethnicity nation. Too much inherent mistrust among diverse groups.

I mean, I've worked past "socialism doesn't work", because it *does* work: that's what happens in a nuclear family, and by extension, a clan and a tribe, but it diffuses along the way.

--Sawfish

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"The food at the new restaurant is awful, but at least the portions are large."
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Thank you, Sawfish. That was interesting thoughts worth sharing.

I view the CAS group as like being in a private social club and I enjoy the company here. Therefore, it's nice to get to know each other somewhat.

--Sawfish

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"The food at the new restaurant is awful, but at least the portions are large."
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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 22 Feb 21 | 12:47PM by Sawfish.