Just a few more interesting things...

Samuel Jackson wants to be BACK in the Star Wars Films!  What a bullshit reason.  He just wants more $$$ to wield his lightsaber.

Oh and in other news, a U. Washington professor believes that we will be able to test whether we live inside a computer simulation. Of course he's a philosopher professor. Go figure...!

Well it was interesting, nonetheless.

So how does this end?

  Five months ago I was sprawled out on The Quad's singular grassy hill, reading Do Androids Dream  at my leisure under the pleasant shade of one of the many young saplings sprinkled along the Quad.

 That was before the start of this Fall semester and (well I almost can't resist letting out a laugh as I write this next part) but I must admit, that as much as I enjoyed it at the time, I can't honestly remember much of the experience.

 Much like an Impressionistic painting, my memory of that particular afternoon is a blurry, heterogeneous composition of feelings, thoughts, and emotions that I can only recall bits and pieces of.

If you squint hard enough you can see me in the foreground
reading a science fiction novel and contemplating the Universe.

 And I do like this analogy of an Impressionist painting because a) analogies are my... strong suit and b) I believe that analogies (when executed properly at least) can express complex, abstract ideas that are normally much harder, if not impossible, to communicate without the use of them.

 So much has happened in the past five months since The Quad.  I would never have been able to predict any of it - the strangers I've befriended, the friends I've lost, the mistakes I've made, the lessons I've learned. Everything constantly changing. Obeying entropy. For better or for worse all I can think of is how things have certainly changed enormously since then.

Specifically, in regards to me.

 Returning to my analogy of memories as Impressionist paintings, I realize that I had gotten myself lost in philosophical musings while reading PKD because my thought process was akin to that of an art spectator, who as a result of standing too close to an Impressionist painting, cannot make any sense of it. Only after many difficult months have I discovered, stepping away from my older perspective, the bigger picture in front of me.

 It is a very abstract work of art, but nonetheless it's representative of the near-culmination of my college existence.  A composition of my flaws and triumphs, my fears and newfound confidences, my foolish regrets and optimistic visions - everything and all that I have experienced in the past four years.

It's ugly and it's beautiful. But above all else it's me.

And did I mention that it's not even finished yet?

Something tells me that it will always be a work in progress. 

And that really excites me. Because who knows what it will eventually look like?

I just hope it never fucking looks like this.

Anddddd time for me to ACTUALLY get back to studying for these absolutely pointless finals. The education system is seriously a joke. But rules are rules and grades are grades. C'est la vie...!!

Reflections and Homages

Well guys, (that is to say, everyone who has been reading my blog), this is going to be my last blog post.  I can't say that I feel that I successfully lived up to my blog's expectations.  I'm not really sure that I'm a "blogger" anyway.  But I do hope that I entertained your interest and that I maybe even turned you on to PKD or science fiction in general.

If I could do my blog over again, well I think I would have two different options.

Option 1: I would cover a different science fiction/fiction novel each week

  (because there's so much I didn't get to write about here, unfortunately.  Kafka's Metamorphosis, Pynchon's The Crying of Lot 49, PKD's Exegesis, Gibson's Neuromancer, Herbert's Dune Series, Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451... etc! There are so many great novels out there and I focused entirely on Do Androids... I'd say that it's almost a shame if it weren't for the fact that I enjoyed learning more about PKD in the process)

Option 2: Use this blog to write my own short science fiction stories.  

 I don't have much faith in my writing abilities and I believe that they could use a lot of work, but  I have (and have always had) a very screwball creative imagination. (maybe you already knew that as in this recent post of mine) So, hey! I figure I got something going for me at least...why not give it a go? (Perhaps I should rent out a type writer in UCLA's Powell Library a la Ray Bradbury, eh? Get some creative, hipster sci-fi juices flowing?)

Fantastic. Story telling at its finest.

Now I have to say that as much as I enjoy both of these ideas, I am biased toward Option 2.  And the reason for that is because even though I would have a blast exploring the ideas and characters in the books that I mentioned for Option 1, nothing I write will stimulate you as much as if you were to just read the book for your pleasure. (I'm not putting my writing down here. I'm just a big fan of those authors and the only way for you to truly enjoy their works is to just read them! Then come back and read my blog and we could even have a discussion about it, ideally!)

(Next book on my reading list!)

And in the vein of this logic, my reason for siding with Option 2 is because that writing my own sci-fi stories would hopefully allow the reader of my blog to absorb more "philosophy" and "sci-fi" themes than if I just blabbered on and on (as I'm doing now...), analyzing the works of various sci-fi authors.

Realistically, if I ever continued this blog I would hope to combine both Options 1 and 2. I feel that it would definitely be to my benefit and I hope that over winter break I'll muster up enough motivation to attempt to write something at the very least.

I would give that short sci-fi creative writing a go right now, but I am very busy this weekend with finals coming up soon, not to mention that I'm currently behind in all my classes. Which really isn't new to me at all, but I feel like I've sunken deeper into a blasé mindset than I have in the past. (Presumably this a direct symptom of my senior standing... but it could quite possibly also be attributed to a newfound apathy towards things in general.  Which in that case, I may need to lay off the philosophizing for a while and return to my studies.)

Anyway I hope you'll excuse me as I believe it's time for me to fight the ever-growing, endless kipple work that I've succumbed to reluctantly!

Thanks for reading
-MM

I wonder which book this is from...!

Also consider: Timeline, Andromeda Strain, Terminal Man,
Congo, NEXT, Jurassic Park, and many, many more!

Brilliant Bokonist Book

Damn you Blogger and your frustrating .jpg placement!!!

[Quick Update]

Hey guys, just wanted to say that it looks like my fears about Disney acquiring Lucasfilms were (happily) unfounded! check it out!

The original writers are back! But it looks like they won't be working on 7, only 8 and 9.  BUT there's still hope out there at least.  In a galaxy..far far away...

Bertrand Russell's Video Time Capsule

That certainly is a weird post title isn't it?

 Well the other day I found this link that BenNCM posted to r/videos on reddit of the BBC interviewing Bertrand Russell in 1959.  The video itself is not actually intended to be an actual time capsule, but in the video, the BBC interviewer asks Russell what advice he would give to people in the future, a hundred, even two thousand years in the future etc.

Kind of reminds me of this film.
My advice: get some flotation devices and towels.
[spoiler alert: the Earth floods over]

I highly recommend watching the video, but I'll summarize it anyway.  Bertrand Russell answers the interviewer, stating that he has two things that he would like to say.

Imagine Mr. BR speaking to you... from the PAST

First - Intellectually

 Believe only in the facts and don't try to convince yourself otherwise

(makes sense since Bertrand Russell was a very studious philosopher/logician and is generally credited with being the founder of analytical philosophy)

Secondly - Morally

 "Love is wise, hatred is foolish"

He continues to speak about tolerance and basically how humans need to learn how to get along with one another. Empathize with each other, one would say, I suppose.

Either way, this has instantly become one of my favorite quotes. I was surprised actually to hear Bertrand Russell speak about this.  But what a beautiful thing to say.  Just like my previous post, I had to pause the video once I heard it so I could take it in, mull it over, and think about it.

I know this technically isn't anything science-fictiony but I hope that you've enjoyed the quote as much as I have.

For the most part, I don't believe in quotes as the be-all, end-all of wisdom.  Quotes are more often than not repeated because they're an expansion of some famous person's ego and persona *cough* Oscar Wilde *cough*  But they do sometimes contain those rare nuggets of truth that I believe Bertrand Russell expressed so beautifully and so simply.

I'm definitely adding this to my meager quote repertoire, and I hope it's something that I'll be able to remember and keep with me for the rest of my life.

Oh and just because I want to share my other favorite quote.  It's by Samuel Clemens who's that? Mark Twain, but bear with me here.

"Everything in moderation, including moderation"

That, well, that's my drinking motto.

But again. Both of these quotes are

Words to live by.
Words to think about.

Hello, World. And More Posts! - Revisited!

Hello World Post

 As I put the book that I was reading down into my lap for a moment, I shuddered.  Looking around the Quad I saw other students walking across the brick pathways, conversing and laughing with one another en route to class. It was a warm and breezy summer day, but somehow Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? managed to pull me out of this enchanting reality. I felt disconnected from it all. Confused even.

…. What was I doing here?

 The obvious, but wrong, way to interpret and answer that question would be that I was reading my book!  I paused and asked myself this question again as I imagined any amateur philosopher would. (Mainly by repeating the same question but with added emphasis.)

…What was I doing here?

 More questions ensued.  What is reality? What does it mean to be alive? Soon.  A flurry.  What does it mean to be human? How “human” am I? What does it mean to empathize with another human being? What does it even mean to be authentic? How the hell am I supposed to find the answers to any of these questions and, well, do androids really dream of electric sheep??

 Of course, maybe I had been out in the sun too long.  Who knows. Could it have been that these rambling delusions were the symptomatic signs of heatstroke, or had this book gotten under my skin somehow and struck a chord within me? 

 I admit that’s definitely, definitely not a loaded question. Anyway the point is, well, I’ve read Nietzsche’s The Will to Power, Hume’s Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion, and many other short stories and works by other prominent philosophers, such as Dostoevsky, Kafka, Sartre, and Camus, for both pleasure and academic studies.  But never had I felt the urgency to put one of these books down and simply reflect on things.  I don’t mean to imply that these books are vapid and useless.  They’re fucking brilliant. 

But.

 These philosophical works just don’t have the same effect upon me as science-fiction novels do for many reasons.  And I’m not talking about superficial gadget science fiction here. This stuff is quality Scifi.  What I mean by that is that there’s not only tension produced by some pivotal/controversial force, but also character development that drives the story forward and generates a communicating, ultimate message.  (I realize that may sound confusing now, but I mean to elaborate on that in depth in future posts, specifically by examining the protagonist’s journey in Philip K. Dick’s novel, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?)

Returning to why I enjoy Scifi and not Phi for philosophical sustenance? Well I believe that it’s purely a personal thing. I’ve always loved hearing and telling stories.  If you haven’t noticed already, I have a very playful imagination and I always make the most of that.  And personally, I believe that however concise one is, that language ultimately limits.  I believe that more can be said with less. Scifi does not set out to unearth absolute truths as in philosophy, but to first and foremost tell a story.  Thus it is up to the reader to interpret the Scifi novel and arrive at his or her own level of understanding.  (Or in my case as I was sitting on the Quad) or question the truths that one previously held in regards to many different aspects of life.

This is truly the beauty of fiction, and not merely science fiction, I realize. 

Science fiction just allows the author to paint with a more extensive palette – to envision and create a story with a more imaginative setting and with no limitations and obligations to restrict oneself to mere reality.  

What it in the world could be better than that?  Well if I haven’t convinced you yet, that’s what I aim to do in this blog.  Stick around, give it a shot, and I hope you enjoy.

Profile Post – David Dufty’s PKD blog

I’m not sure how I found this blog to begin with, but with a URL like pkdick.com, the author of this site, David Dufty, must have created his blog “P. K. Dick: His legacy and influence” quite a while ago.  The site is very… “old-school” in its formatting in the sense that there are only seven columns on the left side of the page to navigate around the site, and with links within each of the seven column pages to other, more indirect pages.  This is somewhat confusing. (The dark blue screen with lighter blue text doesn’t necessarily help to make the blog more readable.  Hell… I feel like I’m staring at a blue screen of death...)

But more importantly than any of this is the context that Dufty has to offer in regards to Philip K Dick’s cultural impact.  And he really knows what he’s talking about.   He makes it clear under the “this site” column that his blog “is intended to be not so much about Philip K Dick himself, but about his influence on modern culture, ranging from science fiction to artificial intelligence and Gnosticism.”  He adds that he developed the site in a way to chart the rise of PKD in popular culture.  I like that the title of this section is “chasing the ripples”.  That almost has a chilling effect... “like tears…in the rain…” Well maybe not like that specifically, but still, pretty cool.

Anyway, I was already beginning to guess that Dufty was more than an enthusiast of PKD and possibly even a writer and/or researcher of Dick’s work.  Dufty’s personal blog confirms this.  No wonder his PKD blog is full of so many gems I’ve never read before! He has written a book about Philip K Dick called Philip K Dick Android (it’s kind of a crazy story, but I really want to check it out! Actually I plan on purchasing it soon.  I’m nerding out here, but this is worth going off on a tangent because I think it’s awesome how Dufty wrote his book as self professed “narrative non-fiction”.  He admits that it reads like fiction, since “a mixture of fiction and fact is always fiction, no matter what the ratio”, and this really excites me because I feel like I would enjoy that special experience)

The cover of David Dufty's new book!

Anyway, returning to a few specific posts from Dufty’s PKD blog…

Since my own blog is entitled Scifilosophy, it seemed pretty obvious that I would naturally gravitate first to the philosophy column.  Woah.  There’s some heavy stuff here and Dufty reveals the patterns and themes inherent in all of PKD’s works.  Gnosticism – the world is a prison! (Dufty has a link to a PKD gnostic society but I believe the link is broken, although I know it worked a few months ago...?)The i ching (Chinese fortune telling method).  Solipsism.  Reality. Paradoxes – catch 22’s, fate, and the infamous Voight-Kampff Test.  Oh man.  I could go on listing things for a while. This is my science fiction/philosophical wet dream right here.

Within this column, I clicked on the paradox link and found a post titled “Paradox, tragedy, and Philip K Dick” pertaining to Dick’s novel VALIS.  Which Dufty admits “contains the single most astonishing sentence I have ever read, in either fiction or non-fiction.” Which is… “I am Horselover Fat, and I am writing this in the third person to gain some much-needed perspective.”  From here on out, Dufty utilizes his analytical writing skills to deconstruct this sentence for us, much like how one would remove Legos from a completed Lego set one-by-one in order to see all of the original pieces.  He demonstrates how this literary device, where the author confesses this fact to the reader on page 3, that’s right, “page three of a two-hundred page novel.” Furthermore, although I realize that this is purely Dufty’s own extrapolation, Dufty seems to get inside Dick’s mind.  He explains that revealing this secret on page 3 “gives the impression that he wanted to keep it a secret, but he just couldn’t keep up the ruse.  He blurts it out like a five year old with a new secret.” Dufty even provides a colorful allusion to what kind of confusing, un-easing experience this is like for the reader. He calls it the “literary equivalent of getting into the passenger seat of a car, then realizing that the driver is on drugs.  You don’t know what’s going to happen next, and you’re wondering if you should get out while you can.”

I can’t think of a better way to explain the feeling that I get when I read certain works of PKD.  There’s something about that unease, however, that makes PKD’s novels challenging, but all the more exciting and incredible.  Assuming you can stomach it.

Another interesting post from Dufty’s website that I recommend is the PKD android.  I never knew about this before and it is ABSOLUTELY ABSURD.  Apparently someone thought it would be rather nifty to create a robotic, functioning replica of Philip K. Dick.  (Wonder if he’s rolling around in his grave at the thought of that one, huh?) I mean the guy wasn’t necessarily a roboticist himself, but many of his works explored the boundaries between humans and machines.  Anyway you can read it for yourself if you’re interested, and keep in mind, there’s a bizarre twist at the end! So that should keep you hooked if you weren’t already.

PKD the android! Crazy stuff.

And definitely check out the other contents of Dufty’s blog if you’re interested in any of the things I’ve mentioned.  Unfortunately, I don’t think Dufty regularly updates this blog anymore, but it’s a great launch site for PKD enthusiasts and it has links to many other interesting PKD blogs and websites.  Hope you enjoy.

Voice Post – Ragle Gumm’s Total Dick-Head Blog

With a title like Total Dick-Head, the real question is, how could I not choose this blog to examine voice? It’s not just an amusing play on words.  Ragle Gumm is obsessed with Philip K. Dick. In a good way.  And he updates his blog constantly with any news related to PKD.

Great 'shopped picture Gumm!
It's too funny.

A few years ago, Gumm discovered that another blogger named Gregory McNamee attacked PKD in an article McNamee titled Philip K. Dick - Even Paranoiacs Have Enemies.  (Which surprisingly, or maybe even more surprisingly, isn’t up anymore! I don’t know who blogs on Britannica anyway, but perhaps Gumm shamed convinced McNamee to take his blog down?) Well either way, Gumm’s counter-McNamee post is rather adequately titled “What A Dick!”

Titles speak volumes about not only what to expect from the ensuing material, but also how the author characterizes his or her own work.  In this case, it’s clear to me at least that Gumm has chosen to take an equally playful, but reprimanding approach toward addressing McNamee’s post.  (Either that or Gumm is more obsessed with Dick(s?) than I originally thought…)

Anyway moving on!

Gumm begins by establishing McNamee’s complaints.  Which mainly has to do with how Dick’s bleak outlook on life was a result of many personal problems.  Now Gumm is being a gentleman and a scholar here.  It’s clear he recognizes these things were an ongoing challenge that Dick faced while writing.  As he admits, everything McNamee stated was “chronicled at length in Sutin’s biography, Dick’s letters and even in his fiction”.  But he really doesn’t appreciate McNamee’s over-generalization and almost apathetic (android-like anyone? …anyone?) treatment of Dick’s persona.  I can tell that he feels this way because of how his sentence structure changes. 

After quoting McNamee saying that “Not much in Dick’s life was right”, Gumm states that “it’s the usual litany of accusation against the author: multiple marriages, drug abuse, agoraphobia, cruelty. OK, not exactly the nicest stuff, but certainly in bounds.” Gumm’s almost…casual defense of PKD… is exemplified by how he modifies litany with “usual” in order to convey the sense that McNamee’s arguments are not only under-qualified, but also a trivial contention that Gumm has most likely seen often from many other critics of PKD.  This feeling of such a regular occurrence is heightened by Gumm’s listing of all the aforementioned problems.  And he ends this list with a capitalized OK.  As in, that’s ENOUGH. WE GET IT.

After this point, it’s time for this Dickhead to point out the flaws in McNamee’s points, and simultaneously, PKD’s strengths.  In italics, Gumm emphasizes that what McNamee has said about Dick “is a terrible thing to say”.  It’s almost as if Gumm is scolding a child, and it very well might be the case because as Gumm continues, he makes it evidently clear that McNamee did not understand the complexities of PKD’s works. 

Here Gumm’s writing picks up pace and becomes a list of sorts, once again, but not in the same vein as before.  He wants us to appreciate how things in Dick’s works are “sinister, impenetrable, and unknowable; things have no community, only commodity, and act without concern for others”.  There is a flow of support from Gumm here, and the semicolon only serves to redirect that current into a more expansive idea set.

Gumm then uses a more passive verb such as “suppose” and in the first person to concede the fact that McNamee may be right in regards to how thing-oriented and materialistic some of Dick’s characters are.  However, he interjects that Dick “never lets these selfish people off the hook”.  Furthermore, Gumm drives this final nail into the coffin by cherishing the fact that these characters self-obsessed characters pay “for their self-concern and egotism with isolation and existential angst – isolation they feel precisely because they are human”.  Using italics for emphasis in this final sentence, Gumm is able to transcend the simple idea of how Dick deals with wicked characters with a dash that acts as a temporary buffer between two different, but equally important ideas.

With that abrupt and artificial pause, Gumm is able reach a more complex and profound conclusion that these characters, despite their egos, are still human.  And we, as the readers, can nonetheless learn from their.

ALSO:

…Comedy gold right here. 

Gregory McNamee replied to this blog (approximately a month later) saying:

“Your juvenile headline certainly doesn't put me in any hurry to reconsider my statement or opinion. Thanks so much for your contribution to humane discourse.”

Ouch.  Lighten up McNamee! Or at least reconsider your argument/address your concerns with Gumm.  I’d like to see that firefight go down sometime.

Oh and beneath McNamee’s hilarious comment? A spam-bot selling Tibia (the MMO) Gold decided to join the conversation.  And then a runescape-bot added a third plea for users to purchase gold.

Go figure…

If You Wish Upon a Deathstar...

(I have a bad feeling about this...)

 "In a galaxy far, far away... a new threat emerges from the shadowy ruins of the Empire. One more powerful than the likes of any Sith lord Luke Skywalker and the Republic have ever faced...

 Introducing for the first time ever, LORD MALIGNANT MOUSE in the brand new Star Wars Episode VII!...

COMING TO A THEATRE NEAR YOU IN SUMMER 2015!!!!!!" 

The crowd goes wild.

BOW DOWN TO YOUR NEW RULER, BITCH. AHA!

From his towering vantage point office, Disney's CEO Robert Iger rubs his fingers together and laughs maniacally while watching the crowd eat up the news like hungry hungry hippos infected with tapeworms.

"What a bunch of ignorant chumps! Like I even care about the Star Wars legacy! HA! It's not like that ol' fat bastard already fucked it up with the prequels! OH BUT WAIT UNTIL THEY SEE WHAT I DO TO IT. Wait a sec what did I shit out, I already forgot. Damn. Where's that script again? Oh here it is."

SENATOR JAR-JAR (JJB) BINKS, MAD WITH POWER, BECOMES OBSESSED WITH THE OCCULT. UPON DISCOVERING FORMER SENATE LEADER PALPATINE'S SITH PAST, JJB BLAMES THE DEVASTATING FINANCIAL CONDITIONS RIPPING THE REPUBLIC APART ON THE EWOKS. CALLING FOR THE ELIMINATION OF ALL EWOKS AND EMERGENCE OF THE FOURTH REICH, WITH THE SUPPORT OF THE MILITARY JJB OVERWHELMINGLY BECOMES THE GALACTIC FÜHRER OF THE UNIVERSAL REPUBLIK.

ICH ESSE DAS FLEISCH VON EWOKS

MEANWHILE, THROUGH THE REGENERATIVE ABILITIES OF SCIENCE, LEIA SKYWALKER IS BROUGHT BACK TO LIFE, WHEREUPON AFTER A NIGHT OF DRUNKEN DEBAUCHERY LUKE SKYWALKER FORCEFULLY ENGAGES IN A CONSANGUINEOUS RELATIONSHIP THAT ULTIMATELY GIVES RISE TO AN ABOMINATION THAT IS PART-HUMAN AND... PART-RAT... PROPHESIED TO OVERTHROW THE DARK FÜHR LORD.

HAA! HAA! HOWDY FOLKS!

"OH MAN this stuff is genius! Totally slipped my mind, but I must've hired Michael Arndt or some other top screenwriter for this job! Time to kickback, celebrate this successful script, and pour myself another glass of scotch. Ahhhhh..."

                       

                          "NOOOOOOOOOO!!!"

I screamed. Immediately jolting up in my bed into a sitting position. 

It was just a nightmare, I realized.

The night before I had just read about Disney's $4.05 acquisition of Lucasfilms, and with it, the rights to George Lucas's Star Wars Franchise, aka three of the most memorable, awesome movies of my childhood. 

 (Hmm what about the prequels you ask? Oh don't be silly, we all know those don't really exist. Just like the Star Wars Holiday Special!)

I shouldn't worry though. Star Wars VII will be in good hands I suppose. After all, Robert Iger promised to stay true to the franchise as much as possible.

But wait a sec... When did Star Wars ever need anything more than the first three original films?????

....well I won't be sleeping for a while.