Dreaming Eden

I limit my interest in science fiction to the classics of the genre. I am strongly convinced that anything outside of the classic sense is a dump of mind-boggling ideas which account for fictional, but do little with science. Most of the authors fail to find the balance between comprehensive and comprehendible, turning their imaginative worlds into something hard to imagine.

Harry Harrison made a great contribution to the intellectual science fiction. His books are paradigms of how to balance imagination with realism. His captivating Eden series is a product of profound research and incredible creativity.

His Eden series deserve special attention as they extend our limited outlook. In our ignorance, we are quick to limit the extents of possible to what is natural for us. Whereas Harrison provides an alternative vision of the world; it helps to reassess human role on the planet. Unlike other sloppy sci-fi books, Eden carries wisdom.

Pretension to freedom

No matter where we go, the epitomes of hypocrisy seem to be surrounding us nonetheless. This afternoon I witnessed an occurrence that entrenched my belief that freedom is a matter of double standards, especially in a country like Ukraine.

I was approaching the central square, when my attention was caught by a squad of some 100 young people “besieging” the statue of Lenin. You do not often get to see that many youngsters dressed “casual underground” chilling next to the headman of the world proletariat. Despite my disregard of people with no priorities in life, I had nothing against these people enjoying themselves on this warm spring day in the downtown area. There were no signs of public disorder, unless causing curiosity is a public offense.

I was astonished when police approached the group instructing them to leave. I would take it easy were I in Belarus, where a gathering of over two people is a political rally. It certainly was not one (these people did not seem to be expressing or at least having some political stands). I wouldn’t even treat it as an unsanctioned demonstration – it looked flash mob more than anything else. Youngsters left, picking up all their trash, and looked really disappointed.

My question is whether these people would be granted more rights were they dressed differently? And why do stereotypes broaden or curtail the extents of freedoms? And can we build a sustainable democracy while applying heuristics to our routine decisions?

Chaos revisited

It’s been a while since the last update. Life has changed drastically. It demonstrated its profound unpredictability and fouled me once again. All the plans and prospects were ruined in a second, leaving me with little determination.

Yet another instance has proved that planning is a way of labeling things as “not ever to be implemented”. Making a plan is like putting up a huge sign saying “Do not bother!”

Planned things seem to be more chaotic than any chaos can get. Every time you try to bring things to some order, they fall apart and follow their natural instincts - order is just not a place where things in life belong. A plan is a form of curse – by making one you urge a failure. Every plan turns out to be a reverse version of a favorable scenario.

I did not like my job, and nothing kept me there. But once I quit, I have realized that life was planned at least half a year ahead. So now, I am working on creating a new plan (what an idiot!).

F23

Yesterday, the whole country felt nostalgic as the people celebrated the (Day of the) Defenders of the Fatherland. February 23 is the Soviet legacy designed to recognize all those who “defended” the country by serving in the army. It was planned as a military propaganda, but turned into an ‘International Men’s Day’. Naturally there had to be a counter-balance to the International Women’s Day (March 8), because men needed justification of the presents they were giving to women. So, as men usually do, they turned Feb 23 into a blackmailing tool, so that women were the first to give presents if they wanted anything in return on Mar 8.

This whole thing is really funny, especially in the context of Ukrainian realities. Not that many people are patriotic enough to die for the country, and so many young men (including me) try to avoid the draft, yet all the men become the Defenders of this country when it comes to Feb 23.

Post-depression

The best thing about having depressions is their resolutions, when life is illuminated with some positive episodes. Constant upbeat reduces the excitement of achievements in life, but post-depression experiences are exaggerated to an extent of unmanageable joy. The reminiscence of the misery amplifies the delight of the new heartening outbreaks.

Emotional breakdowns tend to slow the motion of life and things that would normally be ignored tend to receive much more attention than they deserve. Little nuances of life grow into major factors of disappointment, thus causing the will power to disappear. Then you just have to wait for something very positive to happen to empower you for cardinal action. Life smacks you, but instead of letting it smack you again, you beat the sh** out of that b****!

Unbearable lightness of … future

The whole media coverage of the global warming and its consequences is leading us some place wrong. Every time I hear an apocalypse scenario, I ask myself whether or not I should go and commit a suicide immediately, or wait for a few more years before my life is taken by a natural disaster? No arguments needed - the question is pathetic (though I make it sound sarcastic). On the other hand, the cynicism of the media does not urge me to go and take action. Every new story just reinforces the feeling of hopelessness and discourages any attempt to contribute towards the change.




Surely, we should hear and know about the anthropogenic damage to the planet. Yet we should be left with a feeling of guiltiness, not hopelessness. With every new report we should be sacrificing the habits that kill the planet. Every other story should force us to give up our luxuries. Yet we nod in unison, as to acknowledge the dusk of the civilization, and keep working on making this world an unlivable place for our grandchildren.

In my globalistics classes, I challenge my professor with my deep skepticism. The ideas of globalistics seem very subjective and lack justifications. Yet, one thing I came to realize while writing this is that globalistics believes in some resolution of the current critical state. There no answer to what the resolution should be, but at least dieing with hope is better than dieing despair.

I *heart* peace

You never expect it, yet it comes and intimidates you either you want it or not. It has a tendency of bugging you at the most inconvenient time. It falls under a category of “unwanted surprises”. It doesn’t care where you are and what you do; it simply waits till you encounter it. It forces you to do things against your will.

It was there in my mailbox waiting to ruin my day. Had I known what it was, I would throw it away, and claim that it did never reach me. Once the envelope was unsealed, I was summoned to appear at the military enlistment office on a given day at a given time.

One disadvantage of living in a pseudo-democratic country is the military draft. Though the parliament has passed a law designed to reform the army system, it still doesn’t apply to people of my age. It will only come into its full effect in 2010, when the army will transform into a contract-based service. Until then, I somehow have to escape the luck of wasting one year of my life “serving” the values I do not share.

Two major arguments against my going to the army are: 1. I do not believe in orders, and do not respect people who follow them blindly; 2. I am against any form of violence, or any action that implies violence. I do not think I want to enjoy the punishments for being able to analyze the level of stupidity of a given order. Not mentioning the dreadful conditions that soldiers live in.