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!).