Theme: Once upon a time, in a galaxy not so far away …
Time:
42:19 Episode Connections
Authors, stories. Isaac Asimov,
Foundation series. Upton Sinclair, “I, Candidate for Governor: And How I Got Licked.” Douglas Adams,
Hitchhikers’s Guide to the Galaxy series. Lewis Padgett, “Mimsy Were the Borogoves.”
Films.
Star Trek: The Motion Picture.
TV episodes, series.
Foundation.
Ideas. Grand narratives. Cultural identity. Why does C.J. Cherryh spell her name with an H? The Mission. Seeking the history of sentient beings in the universe. The politics of archeology. The veneration of history. Archeological evidence v. accepted narrative. How do you challenge long-accepted cultural histories? Information is power in this society. Whomever controls the cultural narrative controls everything. Who gets to be cloned? How do we pass on our heritage? What are the differences between scientific narratives and religion stories? What happens when those narratives clash? Upton Sinclair & Mr. Creech. Are the characters human or alien? Is the grand narrative centered on the Pioneer spacecraft? Is the story about Earth? Lots of evidence runs parallel. Could the story be about nuclear annihilation? The Doomsday Clock. The timescale is perhaps problematic. Human-made things can last a really long time on Earth and in space. The story celebrates the mundane, and that is cool.
Whoa - Hmmm - WTF. Bill says mostly Hmmm. Dan says yep.
Previous episode: Cyril Kornbluth, “Marching Morons”
Next episode: Jerome Bixby, “Old Testament”
Music Credit: "Ouroboros" Kevin MacLeod (Incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
Link:
Creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/