Bookshot #42: The Cassini Division

To me, the best science fiction is science fiction that makes you think. Not many authors can do that and it's not always what you're in the mood for all the time. Sometimes, you just want an alien-space opera-shoot me up or a fantasy-quest-swordplay type of a read and other times you want to be challenged and you want to find yourself really thinking about what you're reading. Never mind science fiction: not many authors can do that successfully full stop. Ayn Rand was good at idea but to be frank, her ideas were, well, how do I put this? A little nuts. Well written, no doubt, but nuts.

In the world of science fiction, Heinlen, Kim Stanley Robinson and one of my true favorites, Ken Macleod stand out for writing vivid thought provoking fiction that's driven by ideas. Noted sci-fi master Vernor Vinge called 'The Cassini Division' 'a brilliant novel of ideas' and I can say with absolutely certainty that this book more than lives up to that.

The final book in Macleod's Fall Revolution series, The Cassini Division is set far in the future where an utopian communist Solar Union rules Earth and the Cassini Division is the self-defense force holding the line against the mysterious post-humans that vanished centuries before. Ellen May Ngewthu has centuries of experience being a leader and soldier in the front line of the Division's fight against the post-humans and she's stumbled across a plan that could rid humanity of the post-human threat once and for all- she just has to convince the right people to distrust the post-humans as much as she does.

Where to begin with this book? I mean wow... Macleod plays around with ideas that are going to be incredibly important over the next century as technology builds towards an expected 'Singularity' moment sometime in the next century. If, as predicted we will have the ability to upload ourselves into a computer or to extend our life beyond our current imagination, what then will it mean to be human? When it someone sentient and when is someone a machine? This is a theme that runs through 'The Cassini Division' and it's maddeningly thought provoking one because at this point... nobody really knows!

The politics are also interesting- especially with Earth being ruled by the an Utopian Communist state with only a smattering of 'non-cooperators' confined to the ruins of London or on the outskirts of society. By and large, phrases like 'go employ yourself' are considered by the characters to be almost pejorative terms and they literally can't comprehend a return to the capitalist system some of them having been around in the prior two centuries that witnessed its fall. The counterpart to the Utopian Communists of Earth is the extra-solar colony of New Mars. A bit of mystery throughout the book, as they're on the other side of the wormhole that the post-humans vanished through some centures before, when the main characters finally do make it through to New Mars, they find it's at the opposite end of the political spectrum from their Utopian Communist society- it's a free-wheeling anarcho-capitalist society, a nice juxtaposition of the supposed idealized extreme at the other end of the spectrum away from the utopian communism they're used too.

How does it all end? Well, it'd be a spoiler normally but the back of the book makes no secret of the fact that our protagonists kicked some serious post-human ass. Whether the apparently (according to McLeod) never-ending struggle between utopian communism and utopian capitalism ever gets resolved is another question entirely. And as for whose side you find yourself sympathizing with more- in the end, you might surprise yourself...

Overall: It's Ken Mcleod. Serious sci-fi nuts should already know who he is- but in general, if you're looking for thought-provoking writing bristling with ideas about our future, this guy is a must read. And entertaining to boot. I devoured this book in about three days while in Florida.

More Ramblings from The Sunshine State

After my second visit to Florida, I still don't really know what to think of the place. The Missus and I avoided the central Orlando area like the plague, which I think helped a lot- there's nothing like the experience of being stuck in a swarm of tourists/residents on the I-4 to make you really detest a place- which happened last time but despite how beautiful it was, I was left with the nagging verdict that Florida is an awesome place to visit, but you wouldn't want to live there.

First of all, there's the staggering number of people. People, people- everywhere you look- PEOPLE! Maybe it's just a central Florida thing but the roads always seem to clogged with people and the local news seems to be full of stories about people getting shot not to mention what I would consider to be an unhealthy number of commercials for ambulance chasing type lawyers. (Including one enterprising individual who is a JD AND an MD... a Doctor and a Lawyer. What a hellish combination that must be...) While I tend to be charitable and easy-going with my fellow mammalians the sheer number of people combined with the heat and the irritation of how long it seems to take to get anywhere must make people a little crazy. (Interesting factoid: they drive like bats out of hell down there... going from Daytona to back to Sanford the Missus was doing 85 and barely keeping pace with traffic.) (Second interesting factoid: saw a Subaru at the Kennedy Space Center covered with 'Got Granola' type bumper stickers and got up to Daytona Beach the next day only to be greeted by the sight of an overweight Grandmother wearing a t-shirt that loudly proclaimed 'OBAMA SUCKS.' For some reason that seems to be very appropriate for the Sunshine State.)

Second of all, the beaches are beautiful. I'll give Florida that- they've got that going for them. Cocoa Beach/Melbourne Beach was beautiful but the really excellent beach was Daytona Beach. Both the Missus and I agreed that next time, we'll stay there. And I have to admit, spending a day on the beach, safely slathered with sunscreen under an umberella reading a book was totally and utterly relaxing. I could have done without quite so much rain but on balance, one solid day on the beach plus a visit and a beautiful afternoon at Daytona Beach made for just the recharging/rebalancing of chi I was looking for. There's a lot to be said for beaches.

Finally, the 'nerd-alert' highlight of the visit was the Kennedy Space Center. Having spent $32 on Graceland and leaving with the uncomfortable notion that I had just been screwed somehow, the KSC's general admission price of $43 made me nervous. But they give you your money's worth- the main complex had more than enough to keep you busy and going out to view the launch pads and the Saturn V center was awesome. The endless montage of musical scores/inspirational music from every space movie ever made got to be a little much... but it was super cool nonetheless.

But, Florida... I have a feeling I'll be back- with bells on! Perhaps Miami next time...

WMP

The notion of white male privilege is something that I find irritating from time to time. Not because I don't believe it exists but because people tend to boil down to fortune cookie wisdom what tends to be more complex than people realize. Scalzi (as he is apparently wont to do from time to time) posted a piece entitled 'Straight White Male: The Lowest Difficulty Setting There Is.' He's not wrong. But I don't think his metaphor is as sturdy as he'd like to think it is and I for sure have issues with how little he takes into account socio-economic class. A straight white male born into a middle class family in Iowa, for instance (such as myself) is in a far different position than a straight white male born into a middle class family say in West Virgina, for instance.

But leaving that aside (and Scalzi handles the usual array of comments in this piece) in general, I find it irritating to be categorized and labelled and blamed for the wide array of woes that society grapples with on a day to day basis. It's like the slogan 'Men Can End Rape.' Fantastic. But in my book, real men DON'T rape and I'm irritated by the implication that just because I share the same biological characteristics with the scum-sucking assholes of the world that rape/beat women that it's somehow my fault just because I have a penis. In general, being a straight white male is easier. But everybody else gets to shit on you for it. And maybe that's just the way the cookie crumbles and I'm OK with that. But please don't ask me to join a discussion where my role is to be at the bottom of the Porta-Potty of Oppression where all the finger pointing, victim-blaming shit lands on my head. You want to know where I stand? Fine:

Racism is bad.
Sexism is bad.

And I do my utmost to be neither of those things every single day and if see someone being openly racist or sexist I like to think I treat them with the contempt that they so richly deserve and call 'bullshit' on their 'bullshit.' I could probably do a better job of that from time to time, no doubt, but I try. Which is more than a lot of people do. But understand that it cuts both ways: being, well, an asshole is something that cuts across creed, color and gender. And if you're being a true asshole about something please don't expect me not to call you that. And please don't tell me I'm oppressing you when I do.