From: spike66 (spike66@attbi.com)
Date: Sun Dec 22 2002 - 18:15:37 MST
I nominate Anders' short reply for post of the month.
Anders Sandberg wrote:
> On Sun, Dec 22, 2002 at 11:10:30AM -0800, Samantha Atkins wrote:
>
>>>>1984 should be required reading for all extropians.
>>>
> ...
>
>>Why? Reading the reviews I don't see much terribly extropic
>>about the book. On the face of it, it isn't the type of thing I
>>would normally go out of my way to read.
>
>
> Orwell is worth reading because it represents everything we are against
> - death, slavery, mindlessness and stasis. Reading it should fill one
> with anger against the awful trapped situation in the fictional world,
> and hope to change our own imperfect but infinitely more improveable
> systems to something better.
>
> A good dystopian novel shows a bad possibility, how it works and
> sometimes even how the world got there. That is useful in guiding
> actions to avoid it. Lightweight dystopian novels suggest improbable or
> easily avoidable futures; good dystopian novels show dark pathways
> opening invitingly in the near future or our culture.
>
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