sf-lovers (08/13/82)
>From SFL@SRI-CSL Fri Aug 13 04:53:08 1982 SF-LOVERS Digest Monday, 9 Aug 1982 Volume 6 : Issue 37 Today's Topics: Administrivia - New Address for SF Lovers, SF Books - Here's the Plot...What's the Title & Stanislaw Lem & Query Answered, SF TV - HHGttG & Starlost, Humor - Genderless Video Games, SF Fandom - CHICON IV, SF Topics - Creationism & Mundane View of SF, SF Movies - The Secret of NIMH & TRON & Destination Moon & Blade Runner, Random Topics - Violence in Movies, Spoiler - Blade Runner ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tuesday, August 10, 1982 6:24AM From: Jim McGrath (The Moderator) <SFL at SRI-CSL> Reply-to: SF-LOVERS-REQUEST at SRI-CSL Subject: New Address for SF Lovers As you can see on the masthead, SF Lovers has a new public address. All submissions to the digest should be mailed to SF-LOVERS@SRI-CSL, while administrative requests should be sent to SF-LOVERS-REQUEST@ SRI-CSL. This change is necessary due to the increasing downtime of MIT-AI. The previous mailboxes at MIT-AI will continue to function, but since that host is experiencing difficulties you are advised to use the new addresses at SRI-CSL. Jim ------------------------------ Date: 9 Aug 1982 2209-MDT From: William Galway <Galway at UTAH-20> Subject: Here's plot, where's story? I'm trying to locate a short story that I last read about 11 years ago. It concerns a group of travelers in a sort of "mathematical spaceship"--a machine used to travel into abstract mathematical worlds. I seem to recall that the ship was called a "mathescope", or perhaps the travelers were known as "mathenauts". The tone of the story was humorous and made a point of how you needed to be crazy to be a good mathenaut. The crew of the ship included a bunch of "mundanes" (undergrads in the social sciences?) just to balance things out--without them all sorts of wild things would happen to space/time/topology/... within the ship. I thought this story was included in one of the two volumes edited by Clifton Fadiman: "Fantasia Mathematica" or "The Mathematical Magpie", but can't find it in either one. Does anyone know the title of the story and where it can be found? ------------------------------ Date: 10 Aug 1982 0754-EDT From: Joseph A. Frisbie <JAF at MIT-EECS> Subject: Lem. I too have read a lot of Lem's books. Below are a few reviews, please forive me for not remembering the names. The Star Diaries relate the adventures of Ijon Tichy, as he wends his way through the universe. Actually a collection of discrete episodes, The Cyberiad is the story of two "constructors", and again is a collection of short episodes. I consider this along with the star diaries to be the "best of Lem". At one point our two constructors are competing to out build one another, and the protagonist, Tur ------------------------------ Date: Tuesday, 10 August 1982 01:17-EDT From: Vince Fuller <VAF at CMU-20C> Subject: here's the plot... Sounds like "A for Andromeda" by Silverberg(?). --vaf [ In reference to the query that appeared in issue 33. -- Jim ] ------------------------------ Date: 05-Aug-1982 From: PATRICK TABER@KIRK Reply-to: "PATRICK TABER@KIRK c/o" <Young at DEC-Marlboro> Subject: HHGttG I was excited to see notes from other parts of the country saying that Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy was being aired on TV, so I called the WGBH Community Relations office to ask them about it, and they tell me that WGBH will start airing it on October 16 (a Saturday). If this pleases you as much as it does me, you might want to write them a check to say thank-you and to encourage further programming of this kind. ------------------------------ Date: 4 Aug 1982 03:15:29-PDT From: pur-ee!Physics.els at Berkeley Subject: SF TV: Starlost I'd like to hear some stuff on Starlost. I watched the show avidly, but it has been just too long for me to remember much. Thanx in advance. els [Eric Strobel] pur-ee!pur-phy!els ------------------------------ Date: 31 Jul 1982 2345-EDT From: Paul Czarnecki <PZ at MIT-OZ> Reply-to: "PZ@OZ"@AI Subject: Vendorless Idiot Frames 1) After a particularly grueling session at the lab, I needed food. So I headed to the fastfood place, but,... I never made it. I had some quarters in my pocket, and the arcade was right there. I had a big PAC-attack. or... 2) After a particularly grueling session at the arcade, I needed food. So I headed to the fastfood place, but,... I never made it. The new program was just installed, and Tech Square was right there. I had a big MAC-attack. pZ Paul Allan Czarnecki ^ ^ ^ | | | ------------------------------ Date: 10 Aug 1982 01:30:50-PDT From: ihuxl!ignatz at Berkeley Subject: Anyone for Creationism? Just a bit of a correction to the note that went out to fa.sf-lovers and net.sf-lovers: The whole week rate for the World Science Fiction Convention, CHICON 82, is $75.00, not $70.00 as stated in the note. Ah, well, it's not much of a difference... More to the point, and the reason this is going to other newsgroups... The convention, which will run over Labor Day weekend (details available on request) has a number of concurrent events every day, called Tracks. One of the types of events that are traditionally supported are debates of controversial issues, and this year is no exception. However, it is important to be sure both sides of a debate are fairly and strongly represented. This year, there is a panel on Sunday of that weekend which promises to be both interesting and spirited; it is entitled, "Resolved: Creationism is Based on Solid Scientific Foundations". However, a slight problem so far is that we're having trouble finding people who sincerely and seriously believe this. Now, 'Advocatus Diaboli' can work well--and if worse comes to worst, this will happen--but we quite honestly would love to have someone come forth who can provide an intelligent, cogent, and informed presentation and debate as an advocate of this position. Your views will be respected, but be prepared to stand up to a classic debate--i.e., your stand will be challenged and questioned. Polemic and name-calling are NOT the order of business, however; this is a panel with the purpose of exhibiting rational arguments on both sides of the fence, and giving the audience a clear presentation of each stance so that it can make up its mind. The panel is currently scheduled for Sunday afternoon at 4:00 PM on Sept. 5th. The current stance of the Convention Committee is that speakers/debaters will not be paid a fee to attend. However, other things are negotiable, including your membership at the convention. So. Do you honestly believe in Creationism? Do you know someone who does, and is qualified? Are you willing to present and debate on the issue? If so, please return mail to me at this address, and thanks from Chicon '82. Dave Ihnat ihuxl!ignatz ------------------------------ Date: 9 Aug 1982 17:58:43-EDT From: csin!cjh at CCA-UNIX Subject: Boston GLOBE article on SF Was not as bad as some mundane articles I've seen---but most of the poorer ones were in small-town papers. The article was riddled with correctable errors (some of them were the result of the author trying to display her erudition and had no real relevance to the story). It started well and petered out rapidly; I may see about getting a copy on the net for everyone to laugh at. ------------------------------ Date: 9 Aug 1982 2013-EDT From: Margot Flowers <Flowers at YALE> Subject: Science News on "The Secret of NIMH" >From Science News of Aug 7, 1982 (vol 122 # 6), entitled "The (Real) Secret of NIMH" by Wray Herbert: ... although the origins of the original story have been obscured by time, several clues indicate that it was based closely on the work of NIMH [National Institute of Mental Health] psychologist John B. Calhoun, who in 1971 was conducting one of the most elaborate studies of rat behavior ever undertaken. Calhoun, who conducted his research at the NIMH laboratory in Poolesville, Md. (a rural setting not unlike the settings for the book and movie), has recently completed his protracted study of rats, and the (real) secret of NIMH is that he did indeed create a colony of cultivated rats -- rats, Calhoun says, with "values" as high as any human values. As Calhoun describes his yet unpublished findings, the parallels between the experimental and fictional rats of NIMH become difficult to resist. The article proceeds to describe some story details that suggest the plot was based on Calhoun's work. But the main part of the (short) article sketches how Calhoun manipulated the rats' environment to require cooperation (i.e. two rats needed to be present to get water from the fountain), and the effects of this on things such as child rearing and treatment of strangers. The rats became "more relaxed, more altruistic, more compassionate" to the point that some of the rats "... were willing to help a stranger who kept wounding them until they died. That's as high a value as any that humans have developed." ------------------------------ Date: 05-Aug-1982 From: DAVE PORTER AT SMAUG Reply-to: "DAVE PORTER AT SMAUG c/o" <Young at DEC-Marlboro> Subject: Hmmm... Matthew Lecin (SFL 6 #15) thinks, with regard to TRON, that it will be interesting to see how the glorification of crashing the system "effects the next phase of kids getting into computers". Interesting indeed! Or did he mean "affects"... dave ------------------------------ Date: "6-AUG-1982 16:40 " From: ALIEN::BALLENGER Reply-to: "ALIEN::BALLENGER c/o" <Young at DEC-Marlboro> Subject: "Destination Moon" In volume 6 issue 26, Nathaniel Borenstein asked about the brains behind the movie, "Destination Moon". I'm pretty sure the screenplay was written by Robert A. Heinlien. I think it was based on one of his stories of the same name. ------------------------------ Date: 05-Aug-1982 From: DAVE PORTER AT SMAUG Reply-to: "DAVE PORTER AT SMAUG c/o" <Young at DEC-Marlboro> Subject: Blade Runner is a violent film? Wow! The reviews say that Blade Runner is a film full of gratuitous violence. Since I didn't notice it at the time, this must mean that it's too late for me -- I must be already corrupted. Oh well, time to go beat up the wife... dave ------------------------------ Date: Tuesday, August 10, 1982 6:24AM From: Jim McGrath (The Moderator) <SFL at SRI-CSL> Subject: SPOILER WARNING! SPOILER WARNING! The last message in this digest discuss some plot details in the movie Blade Runner. Some readers may not wish to read on. ------------------------------ Date: 05-Aug-1982 From: DAVE PORTER AT SMAUG Reply-to: "DAVE PORTER AT SMAUG c/o" <Young at DEC-Marlboro> Subject: blade runner Just got back from holidaze, and am wandering through the piles of SF-Lovers that are waiting... Saw a comment from Steven Gutfreund at MIT-OZ that "... Blade Runner is a superb execution of a Phil K. Dick story." I beg to differ. "Blade Runner" was indeed an enjoyable film, but the plot of "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep" has been flattened into two-dimensionality by the screenplay. Why was Deckard portrayed as a hard-bitten private eye in the film? In the book he was very much a product of the consumer society (wakes up in morning, dials his mood-for-the-day on his Penfield), which I think. Maybe this isn't important, but I think that Dick's concern with the role of a person in a huge impersonal society doesn't show through as well. Also, whatever happened to Mercerism? This is a religion which only humans can supposedly comprehend, since it involves the mysterious empathy which androids are denied... although Mercerism may in fact be a fake. The sentimental ending of the film is *awful*. And also unlikely. The corporation couldn't make an android without the 2-4 year lifetime limitation - because they'd never solved the problem of cell replacement. If they had such a well-developed solution, then you can be sure they'd have already flooded the market with long lifetime androids. This mail has been a bit of a rant, but I hope the message is clear: go read the book! (And try to buy one without 'now a movie' written on the cover). Some answers to Steven Gutfreunds queries: People have, by and large, left the Earth. Only a few people are left; some who have chosen to stay, and some who have been refused permission to leave because they are "special" (i.e. substandard types). The androids are used off-planet as slaves, which they not unnaturally resent. Some androids, in escaping, found it necessary to kill humans; this is what has led to their being banned from Earth. I don't know who it is that's fighting out around Orion. Last point: anyone out there got a copy of "The Cosmic Puppets" that they'd like to sell me? My Philip K. Dick collection needs it desperately! dave ------------------------------ End of SF-LOVERS Digest ***********************