Thursday, January 12, 2012

Growth and Foolish Optimism

Housekeeping:  You may have noticed the title change.  I just discovered that, far from being uniquely my own genius idea, "Science Fiction and Fact" is in fact the title of a speculative fiction magazine.   They were around first, so I figured I'd cede any claim on the phrase to them, with apologies for any inadvertent trademark infringement.

Now business.  I can't seem to write anything on my own anymore: this is a great link that is well worth reading on the subject of growth and energy security.  No matter what your particular ideology is about how the future will evolve in the face of climate change and dwindling supplies of fossil fuels, it is worth questioning how much your belief comes from pure optimism rather than an actual confrontation of the facts in front of us.

I admit, of the ideologies described, I have pretty much always fallen into number 4:  We're nearing peak oil, and things may be tough for a while, but we'll eventually get back on track and start growing again once we perfect our use of solar energy and other renewable sources.

In Favor Of

Holly Lisle is a writer whom I absolutely love.  In fact, you probably ought to add some of her books to your reading list right now, including The Secret Texts trilogy and Talyn.  I've been meaning to post a review of her work for ages:  it takes a stand, it is larger than life adventure, it is fascinating physics of magic and complicated choices and heroes fighting against pretty overwhelming odds.

On her website Lisle has on occasion made her political views very clear, and they differ quite vastly from my own--which I find extremely fascinating because the stories she creates come from her beliefs and values, and part of why and I really love her stories is that how they are shaped by values I can relate to.  It is interesting that sharing many similar values, we have come to very dissimilar ideas about how this world ought to be, which perhaps highlights that there is a very big difference between one's values and one's perception of how the world relates to them.  But sure, I can still respect someone with different opinions than my own, interacting with him or her usually makes my own thinking deeper and richer.