I just wanted to give you two uncredited quotations from folks talking about Prophets:
Quote one:
Swann is a libertarian and makes that abundantly clear in his work: Organized religion and authoritarian statists? – really bad; hegemonizing collective consciousnesses with godlike powers?-probably even worse.
Quote two:
The author seems to have mastered writing in Orwell’s Newspeak. The chruch is good, government is good, nanotech is bad, AI’s are bad, genetic modification is bad.
Just saying there seems to be an infinite number of ways one can interpret a given text 🙂
6 Comments
michelle · March 20, 2009 at 10:03 am
Quote 1 makes sense. Quote 2 seems to be out in left field somewhere. Where did they get the idea that you think government is good!
A.R.Yngve · March 20, 2009 at 6:10 pm
When a work of art triggers wildly differing and strong For/Against reactions, it is often turns out very successful despite the controversy (or because of it?).
For a brief introduction to actual Newspeak, see
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newspeak
(Quite interesting, actually: If we don’t have a word for something, can we think about it? Then what are the many concepts and objects which have not yet been named, i.e. discovered?)
Mary Turzillo · March 22, 2009 at 8:43 am
Who cares?? Good review, bad review, it’s still you pushed somebody’s buttons.
Meantime:
Oh, Steve, they gave you a great cover for Wolfbreed! I hope this means they plan to promote the hell out of the book!
We’re off to Italy on Wednesday. I’m going to meet my Italian translator, who has written a book about the Cannibal of Rottenburg (remember him? He found a willing victim, ready to be devoured, starting with the naughty bits, and they had a hard time prosecuting him because cannibalism isn’t a crime in that country).
Uh — what does Libertarianism say about voluntary cannibalism? My personal take is that his neighbors ought to take the precaution of locking him in a cellar somewhere.
M
S Andrew Swann · March 22, 2009 at 9:44 am
RE: Libertarian Cannibalism
It depends if you believe that individual sovereignty comes with rights that are inalienable, even voluntarily. i.e. While an anarchocapitalist like Rothbard believes that anyone can enter into a voluntary agreement, any agreement that cedes the ultimate right of self-ownership (I think cannibalism falls under that, as would slavery) can’t be binding.
michelle · March 22, 2009 at 10:42 am
Cannibalism is bad. Not only does it not end well for the victim, but the perpetrator is then susceptible to the human equivalent of Mad Cow Disease. It’s just a bad plan all the way around.
Steve Buchheit · March 22, 2009 at 9:44 pm
Well, you know, as long as they spelled your name right and got the ISBN number correct, that’s the best you can expect. Like Mary said, you moved someone to comment. That’s a plus. Oh yeah, the Wolfbreed cover rocks!
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