David Brin Is Such A Wanker (Long)

Guardsman Bass · Post by **Guardsman Bass** » 2006-03-11 10:26am

Brin seems to imagine himself as some kind of Prophet of Reason and Futurism. Usually that's okay, and I'm on the side of someone who helps promote science fiction and space travel. Still, he does go over the top at times, and he seems to almost worship the concepts he advocates.

I tried to read two of the Uplift Books, and although parts were okay, most of it was dumb. Let's see, the human government decides they'd rather invent everything than borrow it from the galactic library, because using the library will degenerate their species. So what? They're surrounded by various enemies, many of them ancient, a few of which would love nothing more than to either annihilate the humans or subjugate them as an apprentice race. They can't afford to be preachy or sentimental.

FTeik · Post by **FTeik** » 2006-03-11 11:55am

Guardsman Bass wrote:Brin seems to imagine himself as some kind of Prophet of Reason and Futurism. Usually that's okay, and I'm on the side of someone who helps promote science fiction and space travel. Still, he does go over the top at times, and he seems to almost worship the concepts he advocates.

I tried to read two of the Uplift Books, and although parts were okay, most of it was dumb. Let's see, the human government decides they'd rather invent everything than borrow it from the galactic library, because using the library will degenerate their species. So what? They're surrounded by various enemies, many of them ancient, a few of which would love nothing more than to either annihilate the humans or subjugate them as an apprentice race. They can't afford to be preachy or sentimental.

No, that just shows how smart his characters are. I meanhow can they trust those evil aliens and their library?

Ryushikaze · Post by **Ryushikaze** » 2006-03-11 01:46pm

Y'know, I thought he was off kilter from reading the postman. This just cements that idea. Especially his rants on SW and LOTR. Does this man even read the stuff he puts down?

Winston Blake · Post by **Winston Blake** » 2006-03-11 07:46pm

As a little nitpick, in the LoTR article, Brin seems to use the 'Royal We':

Brin wrote:For the life of me, I cannot picture more than one truly optimistic portrayal of future society in all of TV or film sci fi. With the sole exception of Star Trek, most of the SF we've viewed in the last 40 years has been relentlessly critical of perceived technological or social trends.

Who is this 'we'? SF writers? Now, if he just said 'I haven't watched any optimistic SF' people could say 'That's your problem, here's some'. He has to say 'we' to spin his point. Is 'we' somehow referring to the readers?

Don't you think a little pride in that rebellion might be called for? A radical revolution-in-progress, still fresh and incomplete.

A rebellion that (among many other things) taught serfs like you to read so you can enjoy epic books and picture things different than they are.

Hmm, maybe not. Serfs like you, not serfs like us.

This might be a bit facetious, but maybe Brin wouldn't mind a return to kings and magicians so long as SF writers and science professors were the Philosopher Kings and Revered Mages.

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2006-03-11 08:23pm

I think that's great. We can 'picture things different than they are' due to the magic of David Brin. Fuck off: fantasy is an extension of 'I want candy' or 'I wish *MUM* did what *I* say'. I certainly never imagined a different world before I read a fantasy novel.

Patrick Degan · Post by **Patrick Degan** » 2006-03-12 11:49pm

Stas Bush wrote:Brin strikes me as the type of guy who doesn't fucking think before he writes.

As demonstrated by Uplift.