Far Fetching

To me life is much fuller if you take time to remember the universe is humongous and impenetrably mysterious.  Perhaps the most enriching route to that goal is to imagine the incredible things that might be out there. While the particular fantastic idea you dwell on will have a microscopic chance of being true, it is certain that countless things just as fantastic are. Also, countless things you aren't even capable of imagining are. Therefore, seek the calmness necessary to realize your imaginings are nothing more than that, and to realize that nonetheless they are bounties of inspiration and insight. They are for you, puny human, to use to better understand who you are and what it means to be human. For extra punch, extrapolate carefully from known facts into the boundlessness of time and space. In this way you can reasonably feel that however different the details might be, there is a meaningful chance that a strange sister to your idea exists out there.

So basically what i'm talking about is religion, without the pitiful blindness of the orthodox. It is currently known as science fiction, or more inclusively, as speculative fiction. I believe its role could become much more than a simple fiction genre. I believe it could become the narrative that walks alongside science and brings it alive in our minds, so that we can contemplate and shape our future with vigor and zest. In fact, i think it is destined to become thus. I point to the increasing dominance of speculative fiction among our biggest shows, and the devotion of fans.

Recall that for most of human history, all cultures had canons of traditional tales featuring their gods, spirits, and heroes. Over those thousands of years, those canons were the basis of decision-making. Everyone knew the stories by heart, everyone referred to them when in doubt, everyone adapted the stories in their minds to better fit their own lives and personal questions, and as time passed the stories morphed to fit the changing conditions of the people they nourished. Print froze the stories in place, sapping their ability to flow with time.  Cultures became nations and then empires. Their authority structures stiffened into the machinery necessary to oversee vast populations. This too sapped our stories of life, especially once our sophistication lifted science into prominence. As science created industry, our cultures were shattered into a million pieces that rearranged themselves into entirely new systems that can no longer be nourished by the old stories. Cultures are still described as being Christian, but the label has become hollow and abstract, a fetter as often as a guide, divisive, increasingly irrelevant.

Now, Star Trek and Star Wars are not a new canon, but they are a glimmer. They represent the new canvas on which our whole lives can be illuminated, expanded upon, experimented with. They and their ilk can be filled out to become a framework that can usefully ponder the implications of whatever the future may hold. The Fukushima reactors fail and Christianity shrugs, maybe mutters something about the will of god. The Star Trek canon says Thou Shalt Always Build a Backup System, lest the Wrath of Murphy be visited upon you.

At the Unconscious Ball

My dreams don't often make me laugh out loud. There i was last night giggling to myself in the dark, stifling it to not wake my husband. That was wee hour sleep brain, but i still find it amusing in the light of day. And just generally fascinating how complex dreams are, and how convoluted they get.

So i was on a spaceship on a mission to an alien star system. We had to fetch a special tool from the human colony there. This was a future with many populated worlds, the planet we were going to was one we'd never seen and knew nothing about. Heavy borrowing so far from my teen science fiction reading - i'd say a mix of Robert Heinlein and Arthur C Clarke. We were greeted by a small group of technicians when we arrived. A visit from off-worlders was a big enough deal to have a little reception with food. We especially liked the cheese and complimented it. Our hosts responded, 'well, better dance on its lungs, then'. What? At that point we had to stifle giggling as we realized these people had a culture so different as to be soundly weird to us, but that we really shouldn't offend them. And things are always so much funnier when you have to try  not to laugh, of course. They said a couple more alien weird things i don't remember, which only made it worse.

Shortly after that i woke up. So now i was realizing this joke was manufactured by my unconscious for its own inscrutable purposes. A joke on me, by me. Now i had three layers of funny going on. The glory of an untameable inner mind methodically pulling the strings of my little ego always intrigues me, and its nice when it does so without subjecting me to fear, anger, embarrassment, or any of the other unpleasant options that regularly feature in memorable dreams. Alien cheese. That's pretty amusing just right there.