Re: The Case For Eddore

On 8/11/11 11:56 AM, Lonnie Clay wrote:
On Thursday, August 11, 2011 8:24:02 AM UTC-7, Sea Wasp (Ryk E. Spoor) wrote:
On 8/11/11 10:57 AM, David Dyer-Bennet wrote:
On Aug 11, 5:15 am, Lonnie Clay<lonniecou...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/rec.arts.sf.written/9zM6gHICngg

I was reading that thread with some interest, when it occurred to me that there seems to be a certain assumption being made which is unjustified. Specifically, that Eddore is unremittingly evil, while Arisia is unremittingly good. Let's examine those propositions!

1) Free Will - Arisians want a deterministic universe in which the influences of personal choice are eradicated to permit their perfect vision of the cosmic all. The Eddorians are much looser granting everyone the right to make mistakes and suffer the consequences of irresponsibility.

"Want" is entirely wrong here. They're all about what really is,
not about what they want.

2) Creativity - Arisians want facts and just the facts maam, while Eddorians are quite creative.

You don't think four million-year breeding programs are creative?
I don't recall anything even vaguely similar that the Eddorians
did; they think small.

3) Personal Freedoms - Arisians support rule by mob law, not to be confused with democracy, while Eddorians want a hierarchy of proven competent administrators. The choice is less obvious.

The Arisian side of that is just wrong; unless you're making
some refined point about "democracy" that I'm missing.

In particular, the Arisians support (in Civilization) a form
of representative democracy conducted by people who can't
lie to their constituents about anything important (though
they can refuse to answer). What's not to like?


Moreover, aside from their peculiar focus on recreational substances
(though certain ones like fayalin, alcohol, and cigarettes are fine),
they pretty much DO have complete personal freedom -- as long as you're
not hurting other people.

(meta-reason for the oddity of the controlled substances is obviously
Doc's cultural background; in-universe? Well, I suppose a being who's
nothing more than a Giant Brain might be peculiarly averse to things
that disrupt brain function)

--
Sea Wasp
/^\
;;;
Website: http://www.grandcentralarena.com Blog:
http://seawasp.livejournal.com

Personal freedom? What about warrantless mind searches and constant surveillance? A guy can't even toss his lunch box overboard without having Lensmen or their accomplices jump him and gun him down if he resists!


Constant surveillance? The Patrol doesn't watch everyone. It watches only a tiny, tiny fraction of ANY population; even an L2 has limits on what they can watch, not being an Arisian.

If the Patrol is watching you, they already GOT the authorization to perform the surveillance. It's not THEIR fault that your security measures to hide your criminal activities lag very far behind the state of the art. You COULD wear a mindscreen -- lots of people do, after all, and there's nothing illegal about it -- but if the Patrol's already suspicious, they'll have spy-rayed your lunchbox and THEN they can grab you for some perfectly warranted mind searching.



--
Sea Wasp
/^\
;;;
Website: http://www.grandcentralarena.com Blog: http://seawasp.livejournal.com

.

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