Feb 17
996+4= 1000
So, we are four posts away from one-thousand… I feel like the one-thousandth post should be something compelling, something to start kind of a renaissance, a revitalization of the blog. I want to clean the slate, cut loose some mundane things I said I’d write, but haven’t. I mean, who cares that it took me five years and many attempts to finally read Perdido Street Station by China Mieville? It’s a terribly overrated book. Yes, I know it’s heretical not to pleasure whatever part of the body Mieville sees fit, and calling something Mieville wrote overrated is worthy of being hanged in some circles, but I don’t care. I willingly commit both sins. There, I’ve just covered that promised, yet unwritten post. Who needs more? I definitely don’t. With my one-thousandth post, I want to start clean, and write something important, or at the very least, something worth the time it takes for me to write and you to read.
I have some ideas, rather, shadows of ideas that I will make solid in the coming days.
Still, I’m also open to reader suggestions (I know there are at least six of you!), but I only want really ambitious suggestions. No What sorts of movies do you like? suggestions. If you’re going to suggest something, or ask something, dig deep, way down. No topic is off-limits, no question is too personal. Either you’re going to guide my boldness, or I go it alone. It’s the one-thousandth post, it’s going to be something rather than nothing…
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6 Comments so far
Whew! When I initially saw the title of this post, ‘996+4= 1000’, I thought it was referring to tattoos! Then I thought, if he were getting his one-thousandth tattoo, they would have to start using white ink to tattoo in the negative!… 😀
Ya know, Perdido Street Station is the only Mieville book I’ve read… He writes beautifully, but I agree that it was not the mind-exploding experience it was touted as. I didn’t seek out the rest of the series, which I definitely would have done had it been more moving.
Here’s a prompt:
Write your future history, in prose narrative. It can be introspective, realistic, fantastical, zombie-apocalyptical, but it must take place between sometime after tomorrow and the rest of your life.
josh: Exactly! People talked like it was something transcendent, like if you cared about, and especially if you wanted to write, “weird fiction” or “speculative fiction,” YOU HAD TO READ PERDIDO STREET STATION, RIGHT THE FUCK NOW, OMFGZ, YOU GODDAMN N00B! The prose, sometimes amazing, the story, straight-up boring, if not awful. It took everything I had to get through.
If you want to read brilliance, true brilliance, read Jeff VanderMeer, Michael Cisco, K.J. Bishop, they really do do things with words that seem arcane, magical. Bishop is especially under appreciated. She’s only written the one novel, The Etched City, and it’s one of the most profoundly beautiful novels ever written. The sad thing is that her writing costs her so much.
Haha so true! I did snag a used copy of The City & The City, but it’s nowhere near the top of my reading queue.
I finally bought my first Cisco book after hearing how great he is for years… Don’t know why it took so long. I need to grab The Etched City! It’s been on my list for an asinine amount of time as well.
Hello! Just landed on you blog after seeing you on This American Life. I still have 996 posts to catch up on, but congrats on being on the verge of writing your thousandth;-P
Here’s a thought for that one…
Because you are quite high tech in your daily life,not in the least for your health and survival,
I’d really like to hear your take on trans humanism.
What, to your opinion defines us as human beings?
Is it desirable to create an ultra intelligent machine, as suggested by I.J Good, that by itself can create an even more intelligent ‘being/machine and thus surpass our own intelligence?
Do you feel that it is inevitable that the next step in human evolution is to ever increase our intelligence, enhancing our biology with nanotechnology, biotechnology, super intelligence and so on?
In short…Is the trans human still human?
We have the means to draw technological enhancements from our natural environment, but is intelligence the core thing that defines us as human, and thus the thing that should be enhanced?
It seems to me that the theory of trans humanism is in a way reducing men to a kind of primitive machine, where intelligence prevails.
Even though science and technology has made great improvements to assist us during our life, or even prolong our lives, i often wonder if the ideas of trans humanism isn’t pushing things a bit too far:)
For instance, would you personally consider cryonics after you die to see if in the enhanced world of the future your body can be restored to a body without the physical limitations you live with now?
Will super intelligence make the world a better place or do we need something else as a species to survive and act responsible to ensure the survival of this planet?
Curious to see your opinion..
Kind regards, Eve