Songs of ancient futures, passed

I’ve been watching a few episodes of Andromeda, again. It’s a bit of an impossible socialist workers’ paradise, like so many of Gene Roddenberry’s works, although it does have a sharp-edged nod towards individualism, in the characteristics of the Nietscheans. Like Spock, or Commander Data, they are there to act as straw men, and to be co-opted by the inevitable Borg swarm that is the socialist agenda. “Resistance is futile!”

Perhaps. Perhaps it is. Any man with his own heart, soul, and mind would resist their ant-like ways, regardless. I respect the bogeymen they’ve set up in the Nietscheans more than I do the statist and dutiful creatures that play the protagonists.

A thing that is appealing, with all the Roddenberry franchises, is a spirit of optimism, and a hope for peace. Heavily-armed peace, to be sure. I have no problem with that. There is also, in many respects, a great lack of bigotry… although, it’s curious how that’s been replaced, more and more, by political correctness. Alcohol? No! “Synthohol.” No one smokes. No one is overweight. Heaven forbid that anyone would ever be gay. Some of the shows even allege that they’ve done away with money. Oh, really? Fascinating. Next thing you know, they’ll have done away with testicles, and children will be found under the rose bushes, or brought out of the ether by the Transporter Fairy. No thank you, I’m fine with actual humanity.

A thing that is appealing about Andromeda, in particular, is that it’s a story of a future that’s gone by. Ruined civilizations that are more advanced than our own. Now, that kindles rare thoughts of bizarre archeology, piracy, power, and learning. I love such stories. I always have, since… let’s see, was it Galactic Derelict? A fascinating mind-toy for a young child. Mary “Andre” Norton, I think… so many years gone by. I must’ve been about ten, in Germany (West Germany, then), and I ate up a significant portion of the airbase library, as vast as it seemed.

That was one of the particular pleasures of Return of the Jedi. Ancient future history, that is. The Star Wars movies were more fantasy than science fiction but, the brief images of aged, battered, and obviously antiquated robots gave a real sense of past, there. We know that’s just exactly how tech works, in the real world. It was something to see, projected into that implausible future past. Go work for Bethesda Softworks, boys. They know all about building worlds.

A filter you might think interesting is to consider that we live in the future. We live in a time far beyond what most science-fiction authors ever considered. Not the same place as they wrote about, by any means; time is a twister. We don’t have those flying cars, or robotic maids, or block-long supercomputers that, for some reason, could organize the whole world, but only printed out in code on paper tape. No, the future turned out to be a lot different than anyone ever imagined but, it’s a fine place to live, isn’t it?

I’ll tell you something. Your old Dad would be shocked shitless if you brought him to today from 1960, or 1970, or even 1980. Time moves with a vengeance. I can better understand the stories of a Singularity. Seems like I’m living in the middle of one.