NY Times op-ed piece by Neal Stephenson on Star Wars
Rob Munn 24 September 2008 03:32:30
The author of Snow Crash, Cryptonomicon, etc. has a great op-ed piece on Star Wars as a reflection of our culture, and how normal people depend on the geeks (the Jedi) to sustain their way of life, but just like with the Jedi, the normal people don't necessarily like us all that much. here's an excerpt:<br /> <br /> "Concentrate on the moment. Feel, don't think. Trust your instincts," says a Jedi to the young Anakin in Episode I, immediately before a pod race in which Anakin is likely to get killed. It is distinctly odd counsel coming from a member of the Jedi order, the geekiest people in the universe: they have beards and ponytails, they dress in army blankets, they are expert fighter pilots, they build their own laser swords from scratch.<br /> <br /> And (as is made clear in the "Clone Wars" novels) the masses and the elites both claim to admire them, but actually fear and loathe them because they hate being dependent upon their powers.<br /> <br /> http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/17/opinion/17stephenson.html<br /> <br />
Yeah. I had a friend post that on another list a while ago.
I was all like, "OMG! Neal Stephenson just called me a Jedi! w00t!"
Yeah, I went fanboy. But, what the heck, I just got called a Jedi by Neal Stephenson!
--Ben
Rob Munn wrote:> The author of Snow Crash, Cryptonomicon, etc. has a great op-ed piece> on Star Wars as a reflection of our culture, and how normal people> depend on the geeks (the Jedi) to sustain their way of life, but just> like with the Jedi, the normal people don't necessarily like us all> that much. here's an excerpt:<br />> <br />> "Concentrate on the moment. Feel, don't think. Trust your instincts,"> says a Jedi to the young Anakin in Episode I, immediately before a pod> race in which Anakin is likely to get killed. It is distinctly odd> counsel coming from a member of the Jedi order, the geekiest people in> the universe: they have beards and ponytails, they dress in army> blankets, they are expert fighter pilots, they build their own laser> swords from scratch.<br />> <br />> And (as is made clear in the "Clone Wars" novels) the masses and the> elites both claim to admire them, but actually fear and loathe them> because they hate being dependent upon their powers.<br />> <br />> http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/17/opinion/17stephenson.html<br />> <br />>
This reminds me of another famous author who wrote a piece of TPM after it came out. It was funny - he kept commenting on how flawed the Jedi were - as if this were a problem with the movie. To me, I thought that was the point. I forget who the author was - some big guy in SciFi I think.
On 6/17/05, Rob Munn <rob@funkymojo.com> wrote:> The author of Snow Crash, Cryptonomicon, etc. has a great op-ed piece> on Star Wars as a reflection of our culture, and how normal people> depend on the geeks (the Jedi) to sustain their way of life, but just> like with the Jedi, the normal people don't necessarily like us all> that much. here's an excerpt:<br />> <br />
-- ======================================================================= Raymond Camden, Director of Development for Mindseye, Inc (www.mindseye.com)
Email : jedimaster@mindseye.com Blog : ray.camdenfamily.com Yahoo IM : cfjedimaster
"My ally is the Force, and a powerful ally it is." - Yoda
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Niel Stevenson occasionally does that sort of thing. One of his more interesting books is "First Came the Command Liine." Its an interest geek rant on OS's, given its age (its was written in the early to mid 90's) it still is very relevant.
larry
On 6/20/05, Raymond Camden <rcamden@gmail.com> wrote:> This reminds me of another famous author who wrote a piece of TPM> after it came out. It was funny - he kept commenting on how flawed the> Jedi were - as if this were a problem with the movie. To me, I thought> that was the point. I forget who the author was - some big guy in> SciFi I think.>
Larry C. Lyons wrote:> Niel Stevenson occasionally does that sort of thing. One of his more> interesting books is "First Came the Command Liine." Its an interest> geek rant on OS's, given its age (its was written in the early to mid> 90's) it still is very relevant.
Fabulous book, yes. Actually, it came out in '99, around the same time as the Cryptonomicon.
One of these days, I really need to get around to reading the Quicksilver cycle. I've heard it's kinda roundabout, but somehow I don't think I'll mind much.
--Ben
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S . Isaac Dealey 21 June 2005 02:53:05 [ permanent link ]
On 6/20/05, Raymond Camden <rcamden@gmail.com> wrote:>> This reminds me of another famous author who wrote a>> piece of TPM>> after it came out. It was funny - he kept commenting on>> how flawed the>> Jedi were - as if this were a problem with the movie. To>> me, I thought>> that was the point. I forget who the author was - some>> big guy in>> SciFi I think.
I guess that might depend on what kind of flaws he was talking about... Character flaws I understand (and enjoy) as part of the story... what I find (slightly) annoying are inconsistencies in the story -- like -- the force allows me to move objects at a distance -- their mass is irrelevant, intervening objects are irrelevant... But a small number of not especially large objects clinging to the surface of my ship (buzz-bots) is a life-or-death problem that's completely out of my control.
Throughout the last film it seemed to me they went out of their way to make sure the Jedi never used their powers when most appropriate/desirable. There were several times in the last fight with Grievous in which Kenobi could have likely ended the fight quickly by using the force to grab up any given weapon nearby and not ended up hanging over the side of that ledge by his fingernails.
s. isaac dealey 954.522.6080 new epoch : isn't it time for a change?
add features without fixtures with the onTap open source framework
<quote> But a small number of not especially large objects clinging to the surface of my ship (buzz-bots) is a life-or-death problem that's completely out of my control. </quote>
Not to be too much of a geek about this, as this is just an off the cuff rejoinder. But in all the images I have in my head of a Jedi moving objects, they are concentrating fairly hard, and using their hands to control/direct the result. If this is taken as true, then it might be at least a little difficult to do while flying a fighter through combat.
There, how is that for some spontaneous justification? j/k&d
-------------- Ian Skinner Web Programmer BloodSource www.BloodSource.org Sacramento, CA
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I thought it was older than that, because I downloaded a text copy of it in 1997 from his site and he referred to it as an older piece. If I were not looking after Alexis right now I'd check thedates on my copy.
I struggled through the first quarter of System of the World and put it down. A facinating tale but too big.
larry
On 6/20/05, Ben Doom <bdoom-hof@moonbow.com> wrote:> Larry C. Lyons wrote:> > Niel Stevenson occasionally does that sort of thing. One of his more> > interesting books is "First Came the Command Liine." Its an interest> > geek rant on OS's, given its age (its was written in the early to mid> > 90's) it still is very relevant.>
Fabulous book, yes. Actually, it came out in '99, around the same time> as the Cryptonomicon.>
One of these days, I really need to get around to reading the> Quicksilver cycle. I've heard it's kinda roundabout, but somehow I> don't think I'll mind much.>
--Ben>
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Larry C. Lyons wrote:> I thought it was older than that, because I downloaded a text copy of> it in 1997 from his site and he referred to it as an older piece. If I> were not looking after Alexis right now I'd check thedates on my copy.>
On 6/20/05, Ben Doom wrote:>
Fabulous book, yes. Actually, it came out in '99, around the same time>>as the Cryptonomicon.
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Larry C. Lyons wrote:> > I thought it was older than that, because I downloaded a text copy of> > it in 1997 from his site and he referred to it as an older piece. If I> > were not looking after Alexis right now I'd check thedates on my copy.> >
On 6/20/05, Ben Doom wrote:> >
Fabulous book, yes. Actually, it came out in '99, around the same time> >>as the Cryptonomicon.>
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The Jedi were a problem for me if I was supposed to feel sorry for them. I know Palpatine was trying to paint them as arrogant, but in my mind that was supposed to be Palpatine twisting the truth. But to me the Jedi really were just being assholes and deserved to be slaughtered. Which really doesn't fit with my idea of what the Jedi were supposed to be.
-Kevin
On 6/20/05, Raymond Camden <rcamden@gmail.com> wrote:> This reminds me of another famous author who wrote a piece of TPM> after it came out. It was funny - he kept commenting on how flawed the> Jedi were - as if this were a problem with the movie. To me, I thought> that was the point. I forget who the author was - some big guy in> SciFi I think.
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