I was really pumped to read SURVIVAL OF THE RICHEST: Escape Fantasies of the Tech Billionaires by Douglas Rushkoff because the opening (I read an excerpt is so memorable). Rushkoff, a tech consultant, meets with tech billionaires about the future but rather than the “what can we do that would avert the apocalypse?” their concern was how to survive when doom comes for the rest of us. Will they be able to upload their mind into a computer? Can they use some kind of tech to force their private security to obey in a tight moment? Rushkoff describes this as “the Mindset” — having made the world worse in the process of becoming billionaires, their concern now is to escape the consequences. They will not reform the way Ebenezer Scrooge did.
There are other points I found interesting (they tie nicely into this post) such as Rushkoff dissecting the mandate requiring endless corporate (and investor income) growth but its mixed in with a great deal of crackpot nonsense. According to Rushkoff, witch trials result from male, atheist science wanting to repress women’s alternative viewpoint (short answer: no). Work-from-home is infantile, adults who want to lounge in their pajamas all day like a kid. QAnon’s claims about the vast pedophile blood-drinking conspiracy are obviously a metaphor for the way capitalism preys on us all — seriously, he’s completely baffled to realize most believers take it completely literally. Ultimately the nonsense outweighed the virtues.
I’ve often thought about the way our view of suicide has changed over time — you don’t often see anyone calling it the honorable way out any more, for instance — which led me to HISTORY OF SUICIDE: Voluntary Death in Western Culture by Georges Minois. He shows that Christian Europe has been more ambivalent about suicide than solidly opposed: there are Biblical examples such as Samson, the Maccabees and possibly Jesus, the early martyrs of Christian history and many pagan figures. For example Cato, a Roman senator who killed himself rather than beg Julius Caesar for mercy (he’d opposed Caesar’s rise to power), was considered admirable for defending the Republic and asserting control of his own life, rather than submitting to fate.
Minois says this began to change after Constantine became emperor and reduced the lowest ranks of Roman citizens to chattel: if chattel die, it robs their master of valuable labor. From that point on the debate would go back and forth as to whether suicide was justified and under what circumstances, with some arguments almost comical (if you’re about to be hanged, jumping off the gallows instead of being pushed is suicide and therefore damns your soul!). Added complications included class (knights choosing to die in battle were nothing like serfs who killed themselves!) and legal penalties (local juries might ignore obvious proof of suicide to protect the surviving family’s inheritance).
All of this was interesting but by the end of the book the arguments felt repetitive. I also wish he’d gone more into popular concepts of suicide, as opposed to religious scholars, and its interpretation in the 20th century. Unsatisfying, but still worth reading.
FIGHT WRITE: How to Write Fight Scenes by Carla Hoch is a how-to that argues the three keys to a good fight scene are understanding Who is fighting (which covers things such as skill levels, body size, strength, etc.), Why (are you trying to kill? Trying to defend yourself? Do you need to take someone alive?”) and Where (both in the general sense of the character’s immediate environment and that specific settings/historical eras may have specific types of weapons). Other chapters dealing with injuries, types of combat, best blows and best defenses and so on. This will be useful working on Let No Man Put Asunder which has more action than anything I’ve written in a while.
#SFWApro. Black Widow panels by John Romita; all rights to images remain with current holders.
“Do not think that thoughtful design is just for the elderly, or the sick, or the disabled. In the field of design, this is called “inclusive design” for a reason: It helps everyone. Curb cuts were meant to help people who had trouble walking, but it helps anyone wheeling things: carts, baby carriages, suitcases. Closed captions are used in noisy bars.” — from an article on why
