Re: Jacobean SF

In article <c57f676d-57c6-4d2e-9a56-8f081baf36e9@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
David E. Siegel <siegel@xxxxxxx> wrote:
On Jan 13, 4:00=A0pm, djhe...@xxxxxxxxxxx (Dorothy J Heydt) wrote:
In article <fmdlgs$44...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,

James Nicoll <jdnic...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
=A0 =A0There's a lot of SFnal potential in this:

=A0 =A0http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Age_Ahead

=A0 =A0But I don't think the results are particularly publishable
in North America at this time.

Hm. =A0I have somewhere about (packed already? probably) a book
called _The Coming Dark Age_ (translated from the Italian, _Il
medioevo prossimo_), all about how civilization was crumbling
under our feet and as in the last dark age, monasteries would be
the only repositories of learning. =A0A nice touch, that.
Published 1970. =A0I've glanced at it over the years and I think he
would have had us all crouching in the ruins by now. =A0

Dorothy J. Heydt

IIRC that book was the source of several chapter epigraphs in
_Lucifer's Hammer_ by N&P.

Well, that one I haven't read. But in the ongoing course of
packing* I found my copy, and gave it a quick look-through.
"Roberto Vacca is a mathematician and an authority in the field
of electronics systems and electrical computers." The date is
1974, and the blurb on the front cover reads, "What will happen
when modern technology breaks down?"

He talks about expanding computer size (well, yeah, but not in
the way he means) and increasing drain on the electrical supply
(well, yeah, but not from computers, at least, not increased
electrical demand per computer).

His final paragraph reads, "Human societies are going downhill;
powerful pressures make [man's] existence increasingly unstable.
There would be no sense in trying to reverse these tendencies
simply by admonishing society and governments. It is the appeal
to the individual that alone can have direct, albeit limited,
results. The capacity to learn is undoubtedly present in each
individual, and is sufficient proof that -- in certain cases at
least -- making more information available can bring salvation."

And yes, he's advocating groups that he compares to monasteries
-- but not the kind that scrapes away a classical ode to make
room for a page of Holy Writ. Really, he wants something more
like the (original, officially stated) purpose of the Encyclopedia
Foundation.

*Thus far, 15 boxes of books packed that are going to Vallejo
with us; 54 boxes that go into storage. The end is not in sight.

Dorothy J. Heydt
Albany, California
djheydt@xxxxxxxxxxx
.

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