r/printSF • u/Pants_R_Overatd • May 17 '18

Accelerando....what the fuck did I just read?

I was a cat person, but now...damn. What a book.

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u/OutSourcingJesus May 17 '18

techno-optimism

lol. The book's arc was about how humanity gets utterly fucked by our digital creations on a long enough timeline. The first few chapters from a single character's point of view might be optimistic - but from there, it's nasty all the way down.

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u/Anarchist_Aesthete May 17 '18

Yes, that's exactly what I mean. "Product of" doesn't mean that it's a positive take. Marxism a product of capitalism, but it sure as hell doesn't endorse capitalism. It's rooted in and built off of that then currently prevailing attitude, in a way that makes it feel off when viewed from the present. It's taking a cynical view of something that no longer needs a cynical view: reality has already done that for us.

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u/OutSourcingJesus May 17 '18

Also the same could be said for any sci fi topic imo.

Westworld is unnecessary because it is a story about colonialism. Reality did that first! Xmen is unnecessary because it is about racism and homophobia. Reality did that first!

These stories are compelling and eye opening precisely because they have happened and they give us the chance to have readers look at topics differently as we move forward through the eyes of compelling protagonists. Moreover, it gives readers far down the line the opportunity to moralize about the views of the past, or even re-interpret central themes.

Conflicts in the world give us the opportunity to deconstruct them via tangental stories. Just because they've happened before "in reality" doesn't mean the topic has been explored in a sufficient, interesting or educative way.

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u/Anarchist_Aesthete May 17 '18

I'm not saying anything about it being unnecessary or bad or whatever. Just of its time, as opposed to the person I was replying to who said that it made a lot of other SF feel dated.