X-Message-Number: 19089
From: "Mark Plus" <>
Subject: Sir Arthur-Sahib
Date: Wed, 15 May 2002 17:39:25 -0700

Damien Broderick wrote:

>And I suspect projected culture shock
is part of it; already, he has lived through appallingly disruptive
changes, and even a fellow as far-seeing as Sir Arthur Clarke is
understandably reluctant to awaken in a future almost unbearably disjunct 
from his past--even if those who revive and rejuvenate the preserved are 
wonderful psychologists, and the newly awakened live for as long as they 
wish in a comforting transitional enclave.

Along these lines, I've wondered whether Clarke fears his politically 
incorrect lifestyle -- living like a Raj-era sahib -- wouldn't be practical 
if Sri Lanka develops into a wealthy tropical island country like Taiwan or 
Singapore.  He wouldn't be able to hire servants as cheaply in a country 
with modern wage rates, though as compensation he might be able to rent or 
buy sarong-wearing androids to do the housework.

As for cryonicists' psychological adjustment to some future society, I 
haven't felt comfortable in my culture for a long time any way, so future 
weirdness is just more of the same to me.  I find the current wave of 
Seventies nostalgia especially baffling -- the pop culture of the Seventies 
wasn't that good the first time around, so why are they bothering to 
repackage it?

Mark Plus

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