My Ottawa Citizen piece is online
Posted by Rob on Tuesday, June 20, 2006
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11 comments
Robert J. Sawyer
Library Journal on Wake: "Sawyer's erudition, eclecticism, and masterly storytelling make this a choice selection."
Tuesday, June 20, 2006
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11 Comments:
Any link to the opposing piece? I tried to find it but no luck. Colour me blind.
As far as I know, there is no opposing piece, Lou. "Op-Ed" means physically located opposite to the editorial (on the facing page), not opposite in opinion to the paper's own editorial. :)
By the way, I managed to find one copy of the physical newpaper here in Toronto. It's way more impressive in print: 3/4 of a page (the top 3/4), with a great illustration, pull quotes, etc.
Doh! Now colour me red. I thought it was going to be a point-counterpoint piece.
As usual, RJS, you have made the points for and against the move to space. One didn't need an opposing view. Even though it would be good to the survival of the Human Species, chances are that most of them have disappeared due to the same things which will cause our demise.
It seems so pessimistic tho. I like the idea of my great grandchildren being able to go to distant planets, and continue human life in those places.
Bek
Thought-provoking piece.
I especially liked the inclusion of the Dylan Thomas 'rage, rage against the dying of the light...' quote.
I've always found that quote to be so intensely personal; your use of it made me, for the first time, think of it in the context of humanity as a whole. We owe it ourselves to keep on fighting, yes, but we as a species also owe it everybody else to ensure that we do what we have to do.
A nice blend of scientific, literary and pragmatic concepts. Let's hope we see more! (Maybe NY TIMES will come calling next?!?)
Thanks, Scott! As I was writing the piece, the notion of quoting both Doctor Who and Dylan Thomas in the same article tickled my fancy. :)
Excellent piece, Rob! Although when the Doctor was watching the Earth be destroyed, he had already acknowledged that humanity had spread to the stars...
I'm interested by your invocation of God in the article, by the way, knowing you as I do. Sadly, there are far too many people out there who think that God will take care of the human race, so therefore we don't need to take the necessary steps to preserve the species...
Hi, Michael, you Hugo-nominee, you! :)
On your first point, true -- but not in any recognizable form. Cassandra was the last human, remember, and she looked like a trampoline. :)
On your second point, well, here's a little snippet from Rollback, my next novel:
"If a creator does exist, or if a race becomes such a creator itself, that immediately raises the moral question of what, if any, accountability or obligation the creations have to that creator -- and the flipside, and the part that I think we don't spend nearly enough time debating, which is what if any accountability or obligation our possible creator has to us."
Hey, this is a great read, Rob. I've shared it with some classmates here at Odyssey, and I think you had something important to say while having fun saying it. We are looking forward to your arrival here in two weeks!
Adria
Looking forward to it, Adria! Now -- get back to writing! :)
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