Repairman Jack on Self-ownership

F. Paul Wilson's Repairman Jack in Hosts on self-ownership and individual freedoms:

He made a face. "You're not a dyke."

　　"Sure I am."

　　"No. When I hear 'dyke' I see a fat broad in work clothes and boots with a bad haircut and a load of 'tude."

　　She laughed. "It doesn't mean superbutch anymore. It's what we call ourselves. As Jeanette says, 'We're taking back the word.'" Or what Jeanette used to say, Kate thought as a wave of sadness brought her down. "But you're not answering the question."

　　"Okay, the question seems to be since I lie about myself to just about everyone every day, how can you be sure I'm telling you the truth."

　　"Not at all—"

　　"Or is it about whether I'm one of those politically correct liberal types who knee-jerks to this sort of thing?"

　　Had she offended him?

　　"Jack—"

　　"So let's get a few things straight, Kate. I'm not PC and I'm not liberal—I'm not conservative or Democrat or Republican either. I operate on one principle: you own your own life, and that means you're free to do anything you want with that life so long as you don't interfere with other people's freedom to live their lives. It means you own your own body and you can do anything you want to it—pierce it, fill it with drugs, set it on fire—your call. Same with sex. As long as there's no force involved it's none of my business how you get off. I don't have to approve of it because it's not my life, it's yours. I don't have to understand, either. Which, by the way, I don't."

For Further Reading

At the end of John Joseph Adams' dystopian collection Brave New Worlds (johnjosephadams.com/brave-new-worlds) the editor assembles a wonderful collection of both dystopian and utopian literature, both classic and contemporary. While I have only read a handful of these works, and some are still on the shelf waiting for my time and attention, it provides a great list in these genres.

　　Notable Dystopias:

　　Amis, Martin

　　Einstein's Monsters

　　Anderson, M. T.

　　Feed

　　Armstrong, Jon

　　Grey (et. seq. )

　　Asimov, Isaac

　　Pebble in the Sky

　　Atwood, Margaret

　　The Handmaid's Tale *

　　Oryx and Crake

　　the Year of the Flood

　　Auster, Paul

　　In the Country of Last things

　　Bacigalupi, Paolo

　　The Windup Girl *

　　Ship Breaker

　　Ballard, J. G.

　　Crash

　　Hello America

　　Barry, Max

　　Jennifer Government

　　Bates, Paul L.

　　Imprint

　　Dreamer

　　Beaton, Alistair

　　A Planet for the President

　　Beckett, Bernard

　　Genesis

　　Böll, Heinrich

　　My Melancholy Face

　　Boston, Bruce

　　The Guardener's Tale

　　Boyd, John

　　The Last Starship from Earth

　　Bradbury, Ray

　　Fahrenheit 451 *

　　Brain, Marshall

　　Manna

　　Brooke, Keith

　　Genetopia

　　Brunner, John

　　The Jagged Orbit

　　The Sheep Look Up *

　　The Shockwave Rider

　　Bulwer-Lytton, Edward

　　Vril: the Power of the Coming Race

　　Burgess, Anthony

　　A Clockwork Orange

　　The Wanting Seed

　　Burroughs, William S.

　　Blade Runner, a Movie (see also Nourse, Alan E. )

　　Butler, Octavia

　　Parable of the Sower *

　　Carbonneau, Louis

　　Barrier World

　　Cobb, William

　　A Spring of Souls

　　Cohen, Stuart Archer

　　The Army of the Republic

　　Collins, Suzanne

　　The Hunger Games (et. seq. )

　　Cowdrey, Albert E.

　　Crux

　　Crace, Jim

　　The Pesthouse

　　DeVita, James

　　The Silenced

　　DiChario, Nick

　　Valley of Day-Glo

　　Dick, Philip K.

　　Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said

　　The Man in the High Castle *

　　Disch, Thomas

　　The Genocides

　　334

　　Doctrow, Cory

　　Little Brother

　　Farmer, Philip José

　　Riders of the Purple Wage

　　Dayworld

　　Ferrigno, Robert

　　Prayers for the Assassin (et. seq. )

　　Fischer, Tibor

　　The Collector Collector

　　Fukui, Isamu

　　Truancy

　　Gibson, William

　　Mona Lisa Overdrive

　　Neuromancer *

　　Gray, Alasdair

　　Lanark: A Life in Four Books *

　　Grimes, Tom

　　City of God

　　Hairston, Andrea

　　Mindscape

　　Hall, Sarah

　　Daughters of the North

　　Harkaway, Nick

　　The Gone-Away World

　　Harris, Robert

　　Fatherland

　　Harrison, Harry

　　Make Room! Make Room! *

　　Herbert, Frank

　　Hellstrom's Hive

　　Hubbard, L. Ron

　　Final Blackout

　　Huxley, Aldous

　　Ape and Essence

　　Brave New World *

　　Ishiguro, Kazuo

　　Never Let Me Go

　　Johnston, Paul

　　The House of Dust

　　Keogh, Andrew

　　Twentytwelve

　　Keppel-Jones, Arthur M.

　　When Smuts Goes

　　Kerr, Philip

　　The Second Angel

　　King, Stephen (writing as Richard Bachman)

　　The Long Walk

　　The Running Man

　　Kuttner, Henry

　　The Iron Standard

　　Lamar, Jake

　　The Last Integrationist

　　Le Guin, Ursula K.

　　The Lathe of Heaven

　　Lem, Stansiław

　　Memoirs Found in a Bathtub

　　Lerner, Lisa

　　Just Like Beauty

　　Levin, Ira

　　This Perfect Day

　　Lewis, Sinclair

　　It Can't Happen Here *

　　London, Jack

　　The Iron Heel *

　　Lowry, Lois

　　The Giver

　　Lundwall, Sam J.

　　2018 A. D. or the King Kong Blues

　　Mark, Jan

　　Useful Idiots

　　McCarthy, Cormac

　　The Road *

　　McCarthy, Wil

　　Bloom

　　McIntosh, Will

　　Soft Apocalypse

　　McMullen, Sean

　　Eyes of the Calculor

　　Mellick III, Carlton

　　The Egg Man

　　War Slut

　　Miéville, China

　　Perdido Street Station

　　Mitchell, David

　　Cloud Atlas ("Sonmis Oratio")

　　Moore, Alan

　　V for Vendetta

　　Morgan, Richard

　　Market Forces

　　Thirteen (AKA Black Man)

　　Morrison, Toni

　　Paradise

　　Nabokov, Vladimir

　　Invitation to a Beheading

　　Neiderman, Andrew

　　The Baby Squad

　　Nolan, William F. and George Clayton Johnson

　　Logan's Run

　　Norden, Eric

　　The Ultimate Solution

　　Nourse, Alan E.

　　The Blade Runner (See also Burroughs, William S. )

　　O'Brien, Michael D.

　　Eclipse of the Sun

　　Oppegaard, David

　　The Suicide Collectors

　　Orwell, George

　　Nineteen Eighty-Four *

　　Philbrick, Rodman

　　The Last Book in the Universe

　　Pohl, Frederick and C. M. Kornbluth

　　The Space Merchants

　　Pollack, Rachel

　　Unquenchable Fire

　　Powers, Tim

　　Dinner at Deviant's Palace

　　Rand, Ayn

　　Anthem

　　Reed, Kit

　　Enclave

　　Robinson, Kim Stanley

　　The Gold Coast: Three Californias (Wild Shore Triptych) *

　　Rucker, Rudy

　　Postsingular

　　Russ, Joanna

　　And Chaos Died

　　Scalzi, John with Elizabeth Bear, Tobias Buckell, Jay Lake, and Karl Schroeder

　　Metatropolis

　　Sharpe, Matthew

　　Jamestown

　　Shirley, John

　　Black Glass

　　Silva, Ulises

　　Solstice

　　Silverberg, Robert

　　The World Inside

　　Singer, Lee

　　Blackjack

　　Slattery, Brian Francis

　　Liberation: Being the Adventures of the Slick Six After the Collapse of The United States of America *

　　Smith, Cordwainer

　　The Rediscovery of Man

　　Smith, L. Neil

　　The Probability Broach

　　Spinrad, Norman

　　The Iron Dream

　　Starhawk

　　The Fifth Sacred Thing

　　Stephenson, Neal

　　Snow Crash

　　Stevens-Arce, James

　　Soulsaver

　　Stewart, George R.

　　Earth Abides

　　Takami, Koushun

　　Battle Royale

　　Tevis, Walter

　　Mockingbird

　　Theroux, Marcel

　　Far North

　　Tomson, Rupert

　　Divided Kingdom

　　Turner, George

　　The Sea and Summer

　　Turtledove, Harry

　　The Gladiator

　　Vonnegut, Kurt, Jr.

　　Player Piano *

　　Walton, Jo

　　Farthing

　　Ha'Penny

　　Waugh, Evelyn

　　Love Among the Ruins

　　Wells, H. G.

　　The Time Machine

　　When the Sleeper Wakes

　　Westerfield, Scott

　　Uglies (et. seq. )

　　Weyn, Suzanne

　　The Bar Code Tattoo (et. seq. )

　　Williams, David J.

　　The Mirrored Heavens

　　Wilson, Robert Anton

　　The Schrödinger's Cat Trilogy

　　Wilson, Robert Charles

　　Mysterium

　　Womack, Jack

　　Random Acts of Senseless Violence

　　Wright, Ronald

　　A Scientific Romance

　　Zamyatin, Yevgeny

　　We *

　　Notable Utopias:

　　Banks, Iain M.

　　Consider Phlebas (Culture series) (et. seq. )

　　Bellamy, Edward

　　Looking Backward *

　　Borghese, Elizabeth Mann

　　My Own Utopia

　　Callenbach, Ernest

　　Ecotopia Charnas

　　Suzy McKee

　　Motherlines

　　Walk to the End of the World

　　Delany, Samuel R.

　　Trouble on Triton: An Ambiguous Heterotopia *

　　Gentle, Mary

　　Golden Witchbreed

　　Gilman, Charlotte Perkins

　　Herland

　　Heinlein, Robert A.

　　The Moon is a Harsh Mistress

　　Huxley, Aldous

　　Island *

　　Le Guin, Ursula K.

　　Always Coming Home

　　Lessing, Doris

　　The Marriages Between Zones three, Four and Five

　　More, Thomas

　　Utopia *

　　Morris, William

　　News from Nowhere *

　　Piercy, Marge

　　Woman on the Edge of Time

　　Robinson, Kim Stanley

　　Pacific Edge: Three Californias (Wild Shore Triptych) *

　　Russ, Joanna

　　The Female Man *

　　Skinner, B. F.

　　Walden Two

—
Sent from Mailbox

Free Luna

This one of my favorite concise speeches from literary science fiction, from Robert Heinlein's Libertarian science fiction classic, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. The context is the lunar penal colony has revolted and created a stateless society, and an artificial intelligence is masquerading as a real person to ease the transition from despotism:

　　He was gentle, strong, warm, and persuasive. “Citizens of Free Luna, friends, comrades—to those of you who do not know me let me introduce myself. I am Adam Selene. Chairman of the Emergency Committee of Comrades for Free Luna . . . now of Free Luna, we are free at last. The so-called ‘Authority’ which has long unsurped power in this our home has been overthrown. I find myself temporary head of such government as we have—the Emergency Committee.

　　“Shortly, as quickly as can be arranged, you will opt your own government.” Adam smiled and made a gesture inviting help. “In the meantime, with your help, I shall do my best. We will make mistakes—be tolerant. Comrades, if you have not revealed yourselves to friends and neighbors, it is time you did so. Citizens, requests may reach you through your comrade neighbors. I hope you will comply willingly; it will speed the day when I can bow out and life can get back to normal—a new normal, free of the Authority, free of guards, free of troops stationed on us, free of passports and searches and arbitrary arrests.

　　“There has to be a transition. To all of you—please go back to work, resume normal lives. To those who worked for the Authority, the need is the same. Go back to work. Wages will go on, your jobs stay the same, until we can decide what is needed, what happily no longer is needed now that we are free, and what must be kept but modified. You new citizens, transportees sweating out sentences pronounced on you Earthside—you are free, your sentences are finished! But in the meantime I hope that you will go on working. You are not required to—the days of coercion are gone—but you are urged to. You are of course free to leave the Complex, free to go anywhere . . . and capsule service to and from the Complex will resume at once. But before you use your new freedom to rush into town, let me remind you: ‘There is no such thing as a free lunch.’ You are better off for the time being where you are; the food may not be fancy but will continue hot and on time.

　　“To take on temporarily those necessary functions of the defunct Authority I have asked the General Manager of LuNoHo Company to serve. This company will provide termporary supervision and will start analyzing how to do away with the tyrannical parts of the Authority and how to transfer the useful parts to private hands. So please help them.

　　“To you citizens of Terran nations among us, scientists and travelers and others, greetings! You are witnessing a rare event, the birth of a nation. Birth means blood and pain; there has been some. We hope it is over. You will not be inconvenienced unnecessarily and your passage home will be arranged as soon as possible. Conversely, you are welcome to stay, still more welcome to become citizens. But for the present I urge you to stay out of the corridors, avoid incidents that might lead to unnecessary blood, unnecessary pain. Be patient with us and I urge my fellow citizens to be patient with you. Scientists from Terra, at the Observatory and elsewhere, go on with your work and ignore us. Then you won’t even notice that we are going through the pangs of creating a new nation. One thing— I am sorry to say that we are temporarily interfering with your right to communicate with Earthside. This we do from necessity; censorship will be lifted as quickly as possible—we hate it as much as you do.”

The Getaway God

　　"Tell me the truth. Are we good enough for this? Look at us. What a bunch of fuckups."

　　"What choice do we have?" says Vidocq. "Who else will do this if not us?"

　　"The government."

　　"Save us from our saviors."

Subtle voluntaryist themes, from Richard Kadrey's latest Sandman Slim installment, The Getaway God. Highly recommended for horror and noir fans, this is a great series of books.

Futures that didn't happen

Isaac Asimov imagined that robota capable of being caretakers of humans would have come, along with colonization of space, by the turn of the century. Too bad he was thinking too far forward in I, Robot:

"Susan Calvin shrugged her shoulders, "Of course, he didn't. That was 1998. By 2002, we had invented the mobile speaking robot which, of course, made all the non-speaking models out of date, and which seemed to be the final straw as far as the non-robot elements were concerned. Most of the world governments banned robot use on Earth for any purpose other than scientific research between 2003 and 2007.""

Asimov's Bicentennial Timeline

Isaac Asimov thought logically in writing fiction, but could he have guessed that nearly 40 years later, the global population would have surpassed seven billion people.

　　It took time, but Andrew had time. In the first place, he did not wish to do anything till Paul had died in peace. With the death of the great-grandson of Sir, Andrew felt more nearly exposed to a hostile world and for that reason was all the more determined along the path he had chosen.

Asimov also took note of the corporate personhood movement that blurred the lines between individuals and collectives, and between man and machine. How can an immortal collective also be an individual, appreciating the same rights?

　　Yet he was not really alone. If a man had died, the firm of Feingold and Martin lived, for a corporation does not die any more than a robot does.

　　The firm had its directions and it followed them soullessly. By way of the trust and through the law firm, Andrew continued to be wealthy. In return for their own large annual retainer, Feingold and Martin involved themselves in the legal aspects of the new combustion chamber. But when the time came for Andrew to visit U.S. Robots and Mechanical Men Corporation, he did it alone. Once he had gone with Sir and once with Paul. This time, the third time, he was alone and manlike.

Toward the end of The Bicentennial Man, Asimov imagined that the Earth's population would have reached one billion, one hundred years or more from the story's beginning at the end of the 20th century.

　　U.S. Robots had changed. The actual production plant had been shifted to a large space station, as had grown to be the case with more and more industries. With them had gone many robots. The Earth itself was becoming park like, with its one-billion-person population stabilized and perhaps not more than thirty percent of its at-least-equally-large robot population independently brained.

Aloha From Hell

Richard Kadrey gives insight into an alternate creation story, one far more raw and grity, in his Aloha from Hell, the third installment in the Sandman Slim series:

"You can’t be subtle when you’re dealing with a Kissi, even their leader. And he’s the least psychotic one of the bunch.

　　The Kissi and I have one major thing in common. We shouldn’t exist. We’re both part of God’s Misfits of Nature traveling show. When the Big Bopper created angels at the beginning of time, he fucked it all up. The blowback from conjuring all those angels created both angels and their opposite. The Kissi. They don’t live in heaven with Daddy, but way out in the boiling chaos at the edge of the universe.

　　In their true form Kissi are fish-belly white and have a faint bottom-of-the-ocean-fish glow. They look like a cross between a regular angel and a six-foot-tall grasshopper dipped in wax and left in the sun to melt. If you’ve ever seen one, that’s enough to last a lifetime, and I’ve seen a whole world of them. That was back when I destroyed their Honeycomb Hideout way out in the ass end of Chaosville. Yeah, it’s hard to justify trying to kill off a whole species, but they were collaborating with Mason in his plan to take over Hell and then the rest of the universe. So basically, fuck ’em."