X-Message-Number: 20517 From: "Mark Plus" <> Subject: Ludd of the Rings Date: Wed, 27 Nov 2002 23:30:57 -0800 Time magazine has an article about the current appeal of premodern fantasy visions in popular culture: http://www.time.com/time/covers/1101021202/amfantasy.html It argues that the trend reflects a growing pessimism about technological progress & the future. Needless to say, if this attitude gets translated into practical behavior, it will have adverse consequences for the research needed to conquer aging & death. If the Asperger's cases who seem attracted to Tolkien etc. would rather play fantasy games instead of doing some useful scientific & technological work, then the outlook could become dire. I'm finding this trend especially unsettling because it seems to mirror the outlook of our Muslim adversaries, who definitely want to impose a premodern fantasy vision of pure Islam on the rest of the world. I think we're not off to a good start in meeting the challenge of radical Islam if we're implicitly conceding some validity to their critique of the modern world in the stories we tell ourselves. Mark Plus It's not "religious" or "science fictional" if you can do it. _________________________________________________________________ MSN 8 helps eliminate e-mail viruses. Get 2 months FREE*. http://join.msn.com/?page=features/virus Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=20517