Call Me Joe - Moderators Run Amok

[Lynn, New School Classics]

This is my third reading of this. I am very slowly moving through the story.

I think Andersen's writing is so good. The best stories have a problem to be solved, or think of it as a limiting factor that forces the main character to make a decision or take an action. The "K" tubes are burning out due to Joe and Ed's contact. Being so far from Earth there is a limited number of tubes. Eventually contact must be broken so Anglesley must make a choice..

[Thomas]

I just read this and really enjoyed it, thanks for choosing this, Lynn!

I know I am late to this party, but better late than never. I skimmed some of the comments a few days ago to see what I was getting myself into. To be honest I wasn't thrilled with the references to Avatar. I thought it was an alright movie, but wanted new. I was pleasantly surprised that there was a large difference between the book and the movie. Comparing apples to oranges, I'll take this book over the movie.

Like others have mentioned, the vividness and descriptions of the landscapes and scenery are enjoyable and well done. I found the character, Ed, to be compelling in his personality, and the personality change, or perhaps devolvement, was fascinating. It made me think whether Ed gave up his personality to keep living, or if Joe overpowered him and took the personality to grow more intelligent? I think probably a bit of both.

It was great being a fly on the wall for the conversations between Viken and Cornelius. As mentioned before, the problem with the "K tubes" is a great premise for this story, instead of the movies trite greed for "unobtanium." When Cornelius discovers what's going on, instead of fixing the K tubes his focus changes on the larger possibility of transplanting sentience.

I like how the book is science-heavy enough and doesn't hold your hand explaining things, but it doesn't obstruct the story or bog me down. It's a personal preference of my that my science fiction is sciency (not a word but you know what I mean).

Haha, good questions Wobbley. I like it when books get the reader thinking of grand questions like this. I, too, don't have the answers, but believe that pondering of these questions means we're moving in a positive direction.

I enjoyed reading everyone's comments and appreciated the other rec's. Looking forward to next month's book!

- T

[Franky]

I finished awhile back but was just thinking about it awhile. I, like many of you, feel like the novella is really packed full of ideas and I really enjoyed the food for thought and the deep level of sophistication the story has. I like how the nature of identity and what is human is explored and delved into between Ed and Joe. I also really thought there were so many "quotables" , quotes that just had such insight or power that I wanted to take note or write them down.
"What is the ego but continuity of existence?"

Anyhow, thanks for pointing this one out. It was a fun exploration of ideas. I'm actually glad I never had watched the film Avatar so I really went into this one "cold" without much knowledge of the film. Probably by only wish was that this was a longer read. It feels like in a way things could have been flushed out so much more in a deeper level. Still, a very enlightening experience overall for me.

[Lynn, New School Classics]

I am very happy with this discussion this month. Thank you everyone who tried something new. There are some really great stories out there that are labeled Science Fiction. They are literature in their own right. Others can just be for fun. I think this is a good story and thanks for reading it with me.

[Lynn, New School Classics]

Thomas wrote: "I just read this and really enjoyed it, thanks for choosing this, Lynn!

I know I am late to this party, but better late than never. I skimmed some of the comments a few days ago to see what I was..."

You make some good points. I also like the Sci Fi stories that explore a scientific concept or process. It's amazing the enduring legacy this story had on writers for decades.

[Erin]

I am glad that you chose this story, as it had many interesting themes. I appreciated how the story started, throwing us into the action and letting the reader understand as the story progresses. I also enjoyed the exoterrestrial setting and the thought given to the science (keeping in mind when the story was written). This included the considerations of everyday movement in low gravity, and how furniture might logically be constructed differently for such an environment, but strangely, not whether it made sense to smoke like a chimney in an enclosed environment and around sensitive scientific equipment…

But then there is the horror of what they are doing — there’s this amazing discovery, life and not as we know it. Yet there is zero concern for contamination or disruption of this unique and potentially fragile biosphere as mankind proceeds to create artificial life forms, and then the ultimate, create an artificial life form with the capacity of a human mind, and then control it. Of course, this isn’t Star Trek with it’s Prime Directive, however flawed in application; throughout history, mankind has come, seen, conquered, without regard for humans already living there, much less the possibility of other sentience, much less other lifeforms and the ecosystem as a whole…

Now the depiction of how Joe, or how his existence as Joe, was influencing Ed was, I thought, well done. I do wish that the ending had been more somber, reflective, a hope that Ed still continued as Joe, and thoughts about how else to contact him. Instead, there’s the glib comment about how many people would be eager to sign up… For real, so, it’s okay to imprint your personality onto a brain that’s somehow been matured to adulthood but denied the opportunity for sentience and personality? In that case, I suppose the team who created the pseudojovians now have a source of unlimited funding, because if they can do that, with all the differences in biology, how much easier would it be to create adult human bodies and how much more in demand?

[Lynn, New School Classics]

Erin wrote: "I am glad for you choosing this story as it had some interesting themes. I appreciated how the story started, throwing is into the action and letting the reader understand as the story progresses. ..."

Wow interesting thought about creating replacement bodies beyond the Jovian design.

[Sara, Old School Classics]

Bravo, Erin, for giving me yet another slant on this story.

[Franky]

Interesting take Erin. For some reason, your 2nd paragraph reminded me a tad of Frankenstein and the immoral implications of Victor Frankenstein creating a lifeform without thinking of the consequences, although it is in a different manner, creation gone immoral.

[Erin]

Franky wrote: "Interesting take Erin. For some reason, your 2nd paragraph reminded me a tad of Frankenstein and the immoral implications of Victor Frankenstein creating a lifeform without thinking of the conseque..."

Yes, yes, exactly! That is what I was feeling, that none of the characters thought about the morality of what they were creating, the consequences for life on Jupiter, but also the ethical implications for humanity and all life with the capacity for sentience.

There were glimmers that Ed as Joe was starting to feel this, that pseudojovians being the puppets of humans was wrong, and if this at least had gotten through to Jan, and thus to the other scientists, at least as a question to ponder, that would have made the story much richer IMHO, instead of the flippant taking-over-a-new-body-as-the-new-retirement-plan ending…