Sunday, February 21, 2010

Dune

Just started book four, and I've got to say, I feel bad for Leto. Making that sort of choice would have been a lot more difficult for me. Frank Herbert, rest in peace. Dune is a fascinating planet, and one everyone should visit. Nothing quite compares to the sheer complexity he created not just on one planet, but for an entire universe. The movie does not do it justice, the miniseries doesn't give it the depth, only the books can suffice.

Science Fiction has been a source of imagination for a long time. Whereas Fantasy makes you think, "That's incredible!" Science Fiction makes you wonder, "Is it possible?" A thought I have begun to prefer, since wondering about what can be seems better to me than imagining what isn't true about our reality. Dragons and griffins would be awesome to behold, but we already accept the fact that it is highly unlikely we would ever see one. In addition, when someone talks about science, it has rules, structure, and a tendency to be based off of the human interaction with the known, and Science Fiction tests those rules and shakes those structures, and begs the question. It allows us to dare the future, and Fantasy allows us to explain what we would prefer our reality to be.

The cold hard truth is that what we want is hardly ever what we get, and that the only real necessity is to think on what we can do to improve, change, and ultimately stride into the future, with faith and trust that what is past is past, and what matters is what we do today, what we can do tomorrow, and what we will do eventually. Consequences are the result of actions that happen now, felt later. Guilt and regret is the result of conscience, realized after we see or experience the consequences. The only thing that can be done is understand that the past cannot be altered, and one of the greatest Science Fiction stories has perpetuated this, A Sound of Thunder by Ray Bradbury, for the effect of even the smallest of change in an event that has already happened, could have any number of consequence on the future. So don't live in the past wondering what life would be like if something hadn't happened, because you might not like the result.

1 comment:

  1. The love of science fiction runs in the family. I agree with you. I think we all want to escape our current circumstances and dream about a different world. Those future worlds have a grip on their destiny that we just don't have. We all wish we had a little more control. If we could control our own destiny we wouldn't need God. Forming a lasting dependence on God is the purpose of our troubles. Bring them on!

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