Robert Worthy

The One Body Problem: Basic Human Incompetencies (eBook, ePUB)

• Format: ePub

Produktbeschreibung

The One Body Problem: Basic Human Incompetencies

Trik, twenty years of age, Prince of Y, tells us the story of a few months in the year 18,000 CE. Trik is sailing through the stars on his way to university on X when he is suddenly in need of more maturity than he possesses. The ship is by chance and unknown motive, attacked and destroyed. An ambush, but how? Why? Trik and his team escape to become pedestrian refugees on the politically hostile planet R. Trik's team of six is deeply experienced, entertainingly diverse, and mature-Trik's opposites in a way. All play more than one crucial role. Trik is also, privately, accompanied by The Goddess, a being who appears and disappears at her own whim, but turns up in time of crisis. As the story develops, Trik tells us something of his erratic self-education, especially one curious topic (the Delphic telepaths) seemingly unrelated to his predicament on R. The planet has its dangers, but coming to the attention of the authorities is not an option. The team must blend in to the population in hope of finding the tools for their escape. Ultimately, it's Trik's unfolding mental abilities that provide the shortcut out. At the same time, his immaturity and erratic personality endanger himself and the team. In the end, he has to push through grief and physical challenge alone. Well, almost alone. The story concludes through events of betrayal, chaos, violence, and perhaps, for Trik, growth.

The human diaspora into space creates a new context for what it means to be human. Trik, his companions, and people of R are products of the genetic wars ("purity"), benign and criminal genetic manipulation, fears of being superseded as "human", religions old and new (shamanism, Funnelism), art (animated sculpture as shamans portal, data as abstract art, a barely legal virtual symphony orchestra, the beauty of nature uninterested in the human species), immense distances between populations, and the explosion of variety in human experience. As Trik puts it: "No limits. Those two words are exciting and terrifying. Then you gasp awake, look up, and all the stars resume their significance as the backdrop to your brief life."

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Produktdetails

• Verlag: Robert Worthy
• Erscheinungstermin: 26. April 2021
• Englisch
• ISBN-13: 9781737106500
• Artikelnr.: 61617418

Autorenporträt

In reading The One Body Problem, I hope you trip over a few points of view or ideas not encountered before. I feel that experience is the real joy of reading any fiction. A few years ago I began wondering if religion were a basic human need, or trait, or just something we cooked up and held onto. What if the earliest surviving artwork showed no trace of a religious bent? Well, it appears that religion is pretty much baked into homo sapiens sapiens, at least in the form of shamanism. Clara finds shamanism is still alive in 18,000 CE. And so is Funnelism which grew out of the science based religions, oh, around 7,000 CE. Another query: what experiments are we likely to perform on our unborn children? Where will that lead? Trik is, secretly, different, but Clara doesn't find him a monster. The One Body Problem synthesizes ideas taken from many sources. It's a collage glued together by a plot. As a prediction of the actual future, it can't possibly be near the truth, especially not sixteen thousand years from now. But, science fiction gives us the license to speculate about moral issues without worrying so much about what's actually happening today. What if? The One Body Problem asks way more moral questions than it pretends to answer.

My son in law introduced me to China Mieville. His wonderful book, "Embassytown", tickled my memory, which led me to pull Julian Jaynes' "The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind" off the shelf after thirty years gathering dust. The Goddess logically follows.

Personally, I don't have a Goddess companion, nor a demon companion, thankfully. Let's not make light of the difficulties many of us have with entities of that kind. But sixteen thousand years from now can we not hope for a better future? The human mind is an amazing thing, scary, but full of promise.

Whatever craziness there is in The One Body Problem is my own, no one else need be accused of the flights of silliness or lack of imagination. Insightful and careful critique, especially from Sonya and Alex, has helped me immensely. I would be unable to even begin such a project without the network of family and friends that graciously includes me. Thank you.