I don't agree that your starts-and-sand analogy represents a truly fundamental shift, and even the things that are seldom completely invalidate all that has gone before. Even relativity and quantum mechanics, for example, expand Newtonian mechanics without invalidating it in the realm where it works. And while your magician analogy is an intriguing one, I can see the magician, and even he is subject to the same physical laws as everyone else.
* * * *
Dear Analog,
Stan Schmidt suggests that religious explanations of the world may indeed have been “gifts from above’ . . . given to our ancestors by somebody who knew more . . . and wanted to give them a helping hand."
It is not evident that a particularly good way for a space-faring civilization to advance a Bronze Age civilization is to hand the Bronze Agers a primer-level explanation of the origins of the universe and of life. How about primer-level explanations of the scientific method? How about primer-level explanations (preferably illustrated) of how to make iron and steel, how to build better plows, how to build other machines that will increase productivity enough to permit the abolition of slavery?
Three books of the Bible—Exodus, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy—include laws on the care and treatment of slaves. If helpful aliens had started the ancient Hebrews off with something a bit more immediately useful than primer-level metaphorical treatments of cosmogony and biogenesis, slavery could have started becoming unnecessary and uneconomical (then extinct) a few millennia ago—and slaveholders of later civilizations influenced by the Hebrews would not have been able to cite scripture as endorsing a slave economy.
Even if those helpful aliens had decided that primer-level simplifications of cosmogony and biogenesis were the very best help they could provide, why did the simplifications have to be flat-out wrong? Why did Earth's alien instructors (if they existed) deem it necessary to teach their students that plant life pre-dated the existence of the Sun and other stars (Genesis 1:11-14), or that male humans appeared on Earth earlier than female humans? (Genesis 2:18-22)?
(And I won't even speculate on just how the alien instructors who visited other regions of Earth decided—for instance—that the primer-level cosmogony textbook for the ancient Norse should teach them that the universe began when an enormous cow licked a glacier until it revealed a giant who subsequently birthed the first humans from his armpit.)
If aliens really did write our ancestors’ creation stories, it would be as reasonable to assume that they composed those stories to hinder us as to assume that they composed the stories to help us.
Kate Gladstone
* * * *
Dear Stan,
I hope Jeffery D. Kooistra's promised speculations about global warming are more on-track than his speculations about Newtonian physics (The Alternate View, June 2010). He says that in an airless, zero-g environment, litter will follow a spaceman around, as described in Alfred Bester's The Stars, My Destination. No. A little thought shows that unless our spaceman deliberately picks up stuff in his path and puts it behind his back, nothing he touches will be directly behind him. The natural thing for him to do, to avoid killing his own forward motion, will be to push stuff in his way to one side. Anything behind him will be moving every-which-a-way.
For a two-dimensional analog, consider a billiard table. Balls struck by the cue ball do not follow it.
Rick Norwood
[Back to Table of Contents]
Reader's Department: UPCOMING EVENTS by Anthony Lewis
28-31 October 2010
WORLD FANTASY CONVENTION (Fantasy Convention—focused on the whimsical side of fantasy) at Hyatt Regency Hotel, Columbus, OH. Guests of Honor: Dennis McKiernan, Esther Friesner, David Hartwell, Darrell K. Sweet. Membership: until 15 June 2010 (see website for updated information), attending: $125; supporting $35. Info: www.contextsf.org/WFC/; [email protected]; WFC 2010, 3824 Patricia Dr., Upper Arlington, OH 43220.
5-7 November 2010
ICON 35 (Iowa SF conference—"A Steam-Powered Convention of the Future") at Cedar Rapids Marriott, Cedar Rapids, IA. Author Guest of Honor: Cory Doctorow; Artist Guest of Honor: Daniel Dociu. Membership in advance: $45 (adult, 13 years+), $25 (7-12). $0 (under 7); at least one adult membership per three non-adult memberships. Info: www.iowa-icon.com/; 308 E. Burlington St, PMB 300, Iowa City, IA 52240
12-14 November 2010
WINDYCON 37 (Chicago area SF conference) at Westin, Lombard, IL. Literary Guest of Honor: Steven Barnes; Artist Guest of Honor: Nene Thomas; Costuming Guest of Honor: Animal X; Fan Guest of Honor: Jason Schachat; Filk Guests of Honor: Tricky Pixie; TM: Eric Flint. Membership: 12 years old and up $45 until 22 October 2010, $60 at the door. Info: www.windycon.org/windy37/
12-14 November 2010
TUSCON 37 (Tucson area SF conference) at Hotel Tucson City Center, Tucson, AZ. Author Guests of Honor: Jim Butcher & Shannon K. Butcher; Fan Guests of Honor: Bjo & John Trimble; TM: Ed Bryant; Special Guest: Noel Neill. Membership: 12+ $45 until 1 November 2010, $50 thereafter and at the door, 3-12: one-half adult price. Info: tusconscificon.com/; (520) 571-7180 (fax); [email protected]; TusCon, PO Box 2528, Tucson, AZ 85702-2528. It might be a good idea to carry proof of citizenship with you at all times.
19-21 November 2010
SFContario (Toronto SF conference) at Ramada Plaza Hotel, Toronto, ON. Author Guest of Honor: Michael Swanwick; Editor Guests of Honor: Patrick & Teresa Nielsen Hayden; Fan Guest of Honor: Geri Sullivan; Filk Guest of Honor: Karen Linsley; TM: Robert J. Sawyer. Membership: 21+ CAD45, 13-21 CAD35, 5-12 CAD25. Info: sfcontario.ca/, con2010 @sfcontario.ca, SFContario, 151 Gamma Street, Toronto, Ontario, M8W 3G4, Canada.
17-21 August 2011
RENOVATION (69th World Science Fiction Convention) at Reno-Sparks Convention Center, Reno, NV. Guests of Honor: Ellen Asher, Charles N. Brown, Tim Powers, Boris Vallejo. Membership from 1 May 2010 until some later date (see website for latest details): Attending adult: $160; Attending 17 to 21: $100; Attending 0 to 16: $75; Supporting: $50. [Ages as of 17 August 2011]. This is the SF universe's annual get-together. Professionals and readers from all over the world will be in attendance. Talks, panels, films, fancy dress competition—the works. Nominate and vote for the Hugos. Info: www.renovationsf.org/, info@ renovationsf.org, PO Box 13278, Portland, OR 97213-0278. Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/Renovation-The-69th-World-Science-Fiction-Convention/112169025477179?ref=ts; LiveJournal: community.livejournal.com/renovationsf/
* * *
Visit www.analogsf.com for information on additional titles by this and other authors.
Analog SFF, October 2010 Page 23
