Pensa come un dinosauro

by James Patrick Kelly, Marco Crosa (translator)

RACCONTO LUNGO (29 pagine) - FANTASCIENZA - Il teletrasporto era un mezzo straordinario per viaggiare tra le stelle. Ma c'era un prezzo da pagare, e qualche volta era troppo alto. RACCONTO PREMIO HUGO 1996

Tutti sanno come funziona il teletrasporto: il corpo del viaggiotore viene copiato e spedito a destinazione, dove viene ricostituito in forma solida. E l'originale viene disintegrato. Se la ricezione non viene confermata, l'originale non viene distrutto. Ma cosa succede se la conferma arriva in ritardo? Allora "l'equazione va bilanciata", l'originale deve essere ucciso. Anche se non è per nulla d'accordo. Una storia che fa pensare e solleva dubbi e domande morali.  Da questo racconto, vincitore del premio Hugo nel 1996 come miglior racconto e finalista ai premi Locus e Nebula, è stato tratto un episodio della serie tv "Outer Limits". 

James Patrick Kelly (Mineola, New York, 1951) è noto in Italia soprattutto per la sua narrativa breve, tanto da essere più volte ospitato nelle antologie del meglio dell'anno a cura di Hartwell e Cramer. Delos Books ha pubblicato il romanzo "L'utopia di Walden" ("Odissea Fantascienza" 23, 2008). Kelly è un pezzo di storia della fantascienza: era già presente nella leggendaria antologia "Mirrorshades" curata da Gibson e Sterling, ha vinto due volte il premio Hugo per il miglior racconto e, di recente, ha curato con John Kessel alcune antologie che offrono una carrellata delle ultimissime tendenze del genere, quali lo slipstream e il post-cyberpunk.

Genres: Science Fiction, Short Stories, Fiction, Speculative Fiction

43 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 1, 1995

About the author

James Patrick Kelly (please, call him Jim) has had an eclectic writing career. He has written novels, short stories, essays, reviews, poetry, plays and planetarium shows. His short novel Burn won the Science Fiction Writers of America's Nebula Award in 2007. He has won the World Science Fiction Society’s Hugo Award twice: in 1996, for his novelette “Think Like A Dinosaur” and in 2000, for his novelette, “Ten to the Sixteenth to One.” His fiction has been translated into eighteen languages. He produces two podcasts: James Patrick Kelly's StoryPod on Audible and the Free Reads Podcast (Yes, it’s free). His most recent publishing venture is the ezine James Patrick Kelly’s Strangeways. His website is www.jimkelly.net.

Reviews

[Luca Cresta · Rating 4 out of 5]

un racconto breve molto interessante, con personaggi veramente centrati ed una trama avvincente, pur nella sua brevità. Un grande testo!

[Dan · Rating 2 out of 5]

"Think Like a Dinosaur" is a novelette written by James Patrick Kelly that was originally published in the June 1995 issue of Asimov's Science Fiction magazine. Written, everyone and their siblings say, as a reply to Tom Godwin's "The Cold Equations," the story won the 1996 Hugo Award for Best Novelette, the Asimov's Reader Poll Award, and the SF Chronicle Award, and was even nominated for the Locus Poll Award and the Nebula Award. Yawn.

A woman is transporting across the galaxy using alien technology and has a bad experience, assembling at her destination, but another version of her accidentally staying behind. It's a pretty cool concept. But the author doesn't seem to me to do much with it. Some equation has to be balanced, so one of the versions has to end. All of the parameters of this situation were written in a vague way. I think the author felt that vagueness gave his story an aura of sophistication, therefore it might have been intentional. In any case, it didn't work for me.

As I read the story just now, I realized I'd read it before. Not when it originally came out back in 1995, but a few years ago when I sped read the first issue of Galaxy's Edge Magazine and decided not to continue on with issue two of the series. The stories were mediocre, and the excerpt from the novel was really dull. I went ahead and read this story again just now. It was okay, but honestly, I don't see how it won so many awards.

Also, if no one had informed me this had anything to do with "The Cold Equations," I'd never have compared the two stories or thought them in any way related. Even knowing that now, I see only the barest of connections. Nevertheless, college courses make this story required reading right after "The Cold Equations"; therefore, every review you read of this story has some undergraduate freshman remarking how this is Kelly's answer to "The Cold Equations," as if that frosh made the connection all on his little own. It's so cute!

I'm not a fan of this story. Two, at most two and a half stars. All of the characters and the relationships feel undeveloped to me. The stakes are not clearly spelled out. If anyone wanted to say this story was hard SF, they would get no argument from me. I'm not overly fond of hard SF.

Even though this story was not for me, I'd read another James Patrick Kelly story some time in the hope he has a simpler, more direct style when he's writing in a way that's not trying to win awards. Kelly clearly has enough talent and imagination that he doesn't have to play games with narrative structure in order to tell an interesting tale. Jim Kelly, as he likes to be called, is getting up there in years--he is 73 now. But he is still actively publishing new stories. He also has a column in Asimov's Science Fiction and published a short story, "In the Dark," as recently as their October 2024 issue.

This story has been anthologized often. If you don't want to only listen to the audiobook, but to read it as well, the least expensive way I have found to obtain it in text is to purchase Galaxy's Edge Magazine Issue 1, March 2013 for $2.99 as an eBook. This first issue contains this story. It's also available for free on the Internet archive in its original publication: https://archive.org/details/asimovsv1....

Recommended only if you're an undergraduate freshman required to read this silly story.

[Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

James Patrick Kelly won a Hugo for “Think Like a Dinosaur” (Asimov's Science Fiction, June 1995). Intelligent dinosaurs from somewhere off-planet operate an interstellar transporter. But there is a cold-equations style catch that requires a human technician to act on occasion with cold-blooded efficiency.

[Luiz Fabricio Calland Cerqueira · Rating 5 out of 5]

Never heard of this story before and was a pleasant and scary surprise. Started reading expecting some sort of comedy and was this deep moral dilemma. Besides, the emotional scars in both the characters is beautifully explored in so few pages.

[Paul Bard · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s helpful to compare this masterwork with Godwin’s ‘Cold Equations’. While the older story is a straightforward moral calculus, this story shows the harmony of nature that transcends ethics as a prerequisite for maturity.

[Becky Graham · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thought provoking, very interesting, and a fast read (you will hopefully spend at least twice as long thinking about the story as you spend reading it). Highly recommended.

[Yingtai · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. Interesting response to The Cold Equations. A little gimmicky.

[Bianca (caca) · Rating 4 out of 5]

i wonder if this is what inspired startes and enders/uglies dystopian series from 2010's???

[Jonathan]

I loved this story. Interesting thought experiment and quite well-written.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting idea and good writing style. Overall enjoyable story.

[Kiahra Sanchez · Rating 1 out of 5]

1.5 Stars
Never had heard of this story till this semester’s English class, wasn’t something I personally picked. I’m not a fan of sci-fic because it’s hard to understand most of the time. Had to write an analysis over Michael committing murder or not when he pushed Kamala out the airs seal. I said he did not commit murder because in a way he did it to save her because he cared for her. Don’t know if the teacher is going to like my take on it but that’s my reason as to why he did not commit murder.
Update: Got a 100 on the assignment

[Eija · Rating 1 out of 5]

Näin ajattelee dinosaurus - Portti 4/1996

[Diana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this for class and really enjoyed it. Love that it address what it means to be human and in such a fun way.

[Ria · Rating 5 out of 5]

Laughter truly is a great coping mechanism.