tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7701411.post6555350886316817764..comments2023-09-28T21:40:05.328+10:00Comments on Dr Clam's accidental blog: Criticism is easy. Art is difficult.Marco Parigihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00702055111711651319noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7701411.post-38609671607848148612011-07-12T12:40:32.245+10:002011-07-12T12:40:32.245+10:00And thank you! Too long have you been silent in th...And thank you! Too long have you been silent in the blogosphere, Marco. Though I probably did not help with my brief and puerile comment on your last post. I can quibble chiefly with your words "at any point"; the historical record shows societies asymptoting towards utopia with the advance of scientific knowledge, and I see no reason why this trend should not continue. <i>Vide infra</i> my comment - September 2008 I think - on gleaming crystal cities inhabited by uplifted Gila Monsters.Dr Clamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14985493422534275997noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7701411.post-88695945813967412612011-07-11T14:33:01.367+10:002011-07-11T14:33:01.367+10:00Thanks for writing this. Shoddy tricks is right - ...Thanks for writing this. Shoddy tricks is right - and his left wing ideology permeates his writing in a way that is almost imperceptible to me, but a considerable irritant to you. His obvious quantitative orders of magnitude error on volume of water was an irritant to me but I supposed if he had calculated it right, he would not have had to change the plot much.<br /><br />I found his progression of Mars settlement to be tenable in a "suspended disbelief" kind of way until at least Blue Mars. I interpreted his political subplot to be the way that the average citizen "might" see it, but perhaps not as it actually was.<br /><br />His views of the evil corporations, for instance, were interpreted by me as that being the perception by the characters he was following rather than being the reality.<br /><br />To me, Australia now is as close to Utopia as the world is conceivably (to me) going to get at any point.Marco Parigihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00702055111711651319noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7701411.post-51257462474199154162011-07-06T08:16:07.568+10:002011-07-06T08:16:07.568+10:00Okay, I have a goal now! I may be... some time :)Okay, I have a goal now! I may be... some time :)Dr Clamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14985493422534275997noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7701411.post-32274055931941758002011-07-05T16:12:25.972+10:002011-07-05T16:12:25.972+10:00Having not read the KSM novels in perhaps twenty y...Having not read the KSM novels in perhaps twenty years (and not recalling that I enjoyed them that much at the time) I have little to contribute beyond nodding with polite attentiveness, right up until the last paragraph.<br /><br />That's when I jumped up and pointed and said something inappropriate for the workplace. I would *so* read that. Especially if you could cram in some gratuitous space battles, but even otherwise.Cornelius Gallowshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16877329519864340022noreply@blogger.com