TOPPING A RAPA NUI STATUE
YESTERDAY I watched a documentary on the statues of Rapa Nui. Some pukao (as they’re called) weighed up to 10 U.S. tons. Getting it up on top of a statue and positioning it correctly must have been an amazing chore. My theory is that, given the statues eyes typically are looking up, the inhabitants must have experienced a celestial event and were doing penance by carving out the statues and offering the ultimate sacrifice by topping them with pukaos.
Why, you might ask, the sudden obsession with pukaos? Several days ago the replacement for our condo’s rooftop exhaust fan arrived, and has generated cosmic (or comic depending on your point of view) concerns over how to get the device onto the roof. It’s far too big and heavy for the elevator, so, we’re apparently going to do a Rapa Nui: In this case, hire a helicopter to lift it from the road up 20 stories to the rooftop. I’m trying to imagine those Rapa Nui denizens filling out all the necessary permit forms, locating and hiring the local crowd police to keep everyone away from the statue during the fitting, and the effort, noise and ruckus associated with the actual topping. And people think the past is history!
The situation concurrently brought up one of the Great Paradoxes: how the ancients seemed to have done such difficult things. True, capping a 20-story condo with a massive rooftop exhaust fan is different from adding a pukao to a Rapa Nui statue, but how much different, really? Fan/hat? The idea that “technology” can do things better, faster and with less effort is firmly implanted in our (and, who knows, perhaps it was even in ancient Rapa Nuians’) minds. One of the principal tenets of THE EDGE OF MADNESS (Aignos 2020) by Raymond Gaynor is what’s frequently ignored and lost altogether is the “price” — the “side” effects — of any such technological advances known or forgotten. It’s a little like the toxic positivity displayed by the most loquacious and narcissistic gamblers. One boasts of the rewards while ignoring the losses incurred in obtaining them.
My newly released SciFu (science-based future) novel is, from one perspective, about all of the above issues, though it looks at both the rewards (utopian?) and losses (dystopian?) incurred when humanity relies heavily on emerging technology to “save” it from itself — to disentangle humans from their obsession with the two great illusions, money and power, of the Great Monopoly Game. On the other hand, you can simply kick back and enjoy the book, ebook and soon to be audiobook for its compelling storyline and attendant adventure, romance, love, eroticism, or as an intellectual “mirror” of what to expect in the ongoing sociopolitical evolution of humankind.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0999693859
Taking up where TOTAL MELTDOWN (Borgo/Wildside 2009) by Raymond Gaynor and William Maltese left off, NewAmerica, a shadow of its former United States of America, provides a challenging and dangerous future place for three young firebrands to live.
Why, you might ask, the sudden obsession with pukaos? Several days ago the replacement for our condo’s rooftop exhaust fan arrived, and has generated cosmic (or comic depending on your point of view) concerns over how to get the device onto the roof. It’s far too big and heavy for the elevator, so, we’re apparently going to do a Rapa Nui: In this case, hire a helicopter to lift it from the road up 20 stories to the rooftop. I’m trying to imagine those Rapa Nui denizens filling out all the necessary permit forms, locating and hiring the local crowd police to keep everyone away from the statue during the fitting, and the effort, noise and ruckus associated with the actual topping. And people think the past is history!
The situation concurrently brought up one of the Great Paradoxes: how the ancients seemed to have done such difficult things. True, capping a 20-story condo with a massive rooftop exhaust fan is different from adding a pukao to a Rapa Nui statue, but how much different, really? Fan/hat? The idea that “technology” can do things better, faster and with less effort is firmly implanted in our (and, who knows, perhaps it was even in ancient Rapa Nuians’) minds. One of the principal tenets of THE EDGE OF MADNESS (Aignos 2020) by Raymond Gaynor is what’s frequently ignored and lost altogether is the “price” — the “side” effects — of any such technological advances known or forgotten. It’s a little like the toxic positivity displayed by the most loquacious and narcissistic gamblers. One boasts of the rewards while ignoring the losses incurred in obtaining them.
My newly released SciFu (science-based future) novel is, from one perspective, about all of the above issues, though it looks at both the rewards (utopian?) and losses (dystopian?) incurred when humanity relies heavily on emerging technology to “save” it from itself — to disentangle humans from their obsession with the two great illusions, money and power, of the Great Monopoly Game. On the other hand, you can simply kick back and enjoy the book, ebook and soon to be audiobook for its compelling storyline and attendant adventure, romance, love, eroticism, or as an intellectual “mirror” of what to expect in the ongoing sociopolitical evolution of humankind.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0999693859
Taking up where TOTAL MELTDOWN (Borgo/Wildside 2009) by Raymond Gaynor and William Maltese left off, NewAmerica, a shadow of its former United States of America, provides a challenging and dangerous future place for three young firebrands to live.
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