John C. Wright's Blog, page 164
March 16, 2011
Free Sample from the most recent draft of JUDGE OF AGES
From a scene I work working on yesterday:
Soorm the Hormagaunt, from AD 6850, is talking with Menelaus Montrose, accidental posthuman, from AD 2401. Both have been thawed circa AD 10515 from long-term hibernation, along with a prison camp full of men from various eras between the near and the far future apparently by a somewhat ruthless group of archeologists, who have broken into the buried hibernation faculty that Montrose built. What or who they are seeking is unclear.
Menelaus is one of several from the Hermetic Order, who are star travelers, but he broke from them and is now their foe. One of the scientific discoveries the Hermeticists discovered on the alien Monument orbiting V 886 Centauri was a predictive calculus of history (Cliometry, for you fans of Mike Flynn, or Psychohistory, for you fans of Isaac Asimov).
Montrose and the Hermeticists, led by Ximen “Blackie” del Azarchel, have artificially augmented their intelligence to superhuman levels, and been using the predictive calculus to create historical trends: but Montrose and the Hermeticists have mutually incompatible visions of future human evolution, and so
the two opposing groups interfere with the historical trends introduced by the other. (Imagine Asimov’s FOUNDATION if one rebel psychohistorian had decided to prevent the rise of the Second Empire, and lead history toward democracy instead.)
Naturally, among the mortals, these posthumans have become legendary almost godlike figures. This is the scene where Soorm discovers who Menelaus is. Read more
March 14, 2011
Counsel for the Defense in the Case of Christ v Nothing
Previously in this space, I wrote this (quoted in full):
For those of you who think I am exaggerating when I complain about the state of the modern world, or think I mistake exactly to what destination modern philosophy and modern education leads:
The money quote:
Northwestern University acknowledged that an unusual demonstration was held on campus last week in which students observed a naked woman being penetrated by a sex toy.
The sex act was performed in front of about 100 students in psychology professor John Michael Bailey’s human sexuality class. The demonstration occurred after class, and attendance was optional.
The university will pay several hundred dollars to guest lecturer Ken Melvoin-Berg, co-owner of Weird Chicago Tours. His Feb. 21 discussion of bondage, swinging and other sexual fetishes was arranged by Bailey, who gets extra funding from the university’s College of Arts & Sciences for lectures and other activities he routinely holds after class.
“The students find the events to be quite valuable, typically, because engaging real people in conversation provides useful examples and extensions of concepts students learn about in traditional academic ways,” Bailey said in a prepared statement Wednesday night
My comment: given a choice between women portrayed as objects into which to insert sex toys, and as damsels, brides, wives and mothers to be cherished and protected, which seems to be the more dehumanizing and less in keeping with the dignity and mystique of women?
I ask because the modern age has decided that these two are the only two choices: Victorian Morality, which gave the woman the vote, or Modern Anti-morality, which robs women of the likelihood of finding a serious suitor, a decent & hardworking husband who has kept himself for marriage, raising descent children to maturity without their getting the clap or committing suicide, or enjoying old age with the companionship of a lifelong mate.
A reader with the reader with the world conquering name of Alexander writes in. He has apparently volunteered himself to support the cause that I rather ungenerously refer to as “Nothing.”
The name of “Nothing” I use for the imprudent hedonism of modern philosophy, on the grounds that, having abandoned both the joy of Christ and the pessimistic honor of paganism, hedonism leaves a man with no standards by which to judge what best to do when confronted my moral quandaries.
March 12, 2011
Superpresident
Bibliophile112 writes: I’m fairly certain that is because Kal-El has superpowers and thus is probably not human, let alone American.
Time for a Civics Lesson! The exact wording of the Constitution is: “No person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any Person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty-five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States.”
The Constitution does not say “human being” it says “Person” and by the Dread Scott decision, we know that this means only those persons considered to have legal rights at the time of the drafting. On the other hand, the Civil War, not to mention the 14 Amendment, say “all persons born” in the United States have the privileges of citizenship, and, again, this might include nonhuman persons provided they are legally persons. The question would be a novel one for the Supreme Court.
Bill Introduced to cut free lunch for PBS and NPR
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay! Read this: http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/hollywoodland/2011/03/04/demint-coburn-introduce-bill-to-defund-pbs-and-npr/#more-452344
Today, U.S. Senator Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), a member of the Senate Commerce Committee that oversees the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), and U.S. Senator Tom Coburn, M.D. (R-Oklahoma) introduced legislation to stop taxpayer subsidies to public radio and television.
March 11, 2011
The Last Waterbender
L Jagi Lamplighter Interview! Six Questions!
Here is the link: http://heidirubymiller.blogspot.com/2011/03/heidis-pick-six-l-jagi-lamplighter.html
The third volume of her well-received Children of Prospero trilogy comes out September of 2011.
Read more
Exhibit A in the Case of Christ versus Nothing
For those of you who think I am exaggerating when I complain about the state of the modern world, or think I mistake exactly to what destination modern philosophy and modern education leads:
The money quote:
Northwestern University acknowledged that an unusual demonstration was held on campus last week in which students observed a naked woman being penetrated by a sex toy.
The sex act was performed in front of about 100 students in psychology professor John Michael Bailey’s human sexuality class. The demonstration occurred after class, and attendance was optional.
The university will pay several hundred dollars to guest lecturer Ken Melvoin-Berg, co-owner of Weird Chicago Tours. His Feb. 21 discussion of bondage, swinging and other sexual fetishes was arranged by Bailey, who gets extra funding from the university’s College of Arts & Sciences for lectures and other activities he routinely holds after class.
“The students find the events to be quite valuable, typically, because engaging real people in conversation provides useful examples and extensions of concepts students learn about in traditional academic ways,” Bailey said in a prepared statement Wednesday night
Retrogressive Progressivism
Concerning the divine mystery and sacrament of marriage, and the mystique of femininity (of which the modern mind seems not to be able to find mysterious, and willing to recognize as sacred, but regards marriage as much the same as a commercial transaction for mutual benefit) one objection raised to the traditional role of wife and mother was that it was one of economic dependence, and therefore one not to be envied.
Now, this is a perfectly reasonable objection to make, particularly for someone afflicted with that colorblindness endemic to Progressives, that makes them talk and act as if the natural aspects of human nature, to say nothing of its supernatural aspects, where they cannot see the hues of human life, but blunder along by describing all things by their most crude and angular of silhouettes.
The mentally colorblind man not only cannot debate the shade of difference between azure and cerulean, he cannot even define his terms to correspond even roughly with reality, not even to tell that red means stop and green means go. The corresponding confusion regarding his mental traffic jams results.
March 10, 2011
Interview! Six Questions!
I had the honor to be interviewed by Heidi Ruby Miller over at FIELD NOTES. She even let me pick which questions not to answer.
http://heidirubymiller.blogspot.com/2011/03/heidis-pick-six-john-c-wright.html
One More for Bill Whittle Day
Mr. Whittle may not speak for you, but he speaks for me. I would not have voted for John McCain had there been anyone else on his ticket aside from Sarah Palin.
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