Aliens
Why is that in almost every science fiction work I’ve encountered, alien species are depicted as being monocultural?
Think of any popular sci-fi movie, book or series. If it has aliens in it, then chances are any particular alien species has only one language, has only one worldview/religion, one set of cultural practices, and probably only one style of fashion. Most of the time, individual members of this species all look alike and talk alike as well.
Even worse, sometimes certain alien species are associated with a particular emotion or quality; i.e. Star Trek‘s Klingons are “angry” and “warlike” while Vulcans are “wise” and “logical”. We would never put up with this kind of stereotyping if it were applied to human characters, but for other species, we are willing to suspend our disbelief.
When you consider the breadth of diversity in our own species when it comes to language, culture, worldview and fashion, I think it’s unlikely that other sentient life would tend toward monoculture. Within a single human culture there is more diversity and difference than there is in the entire species of Klingons.
Come to think of it, these aliens usually from planets with only kind of terrain. Think of Star Wars and the “ice world” of Hoth, the “desert planet” of Tatooine, the “forest moon” of Endor, etc. From the (admittedly very little) that we have seen of the cosmos, most planets with only one type of terrain are incapable of supporting life (Venus, Mercury, Mars, etc).
I think this shows a lack of imagination on the part of speculative fiction writers.
Ideal and Actuality
I am convinced that many suicides come about because of a deeply felt tension between ideal and actuality. Artists strike me as being especially prone to despair as a result of the gap between their ideal and their ability to embody this ideal concretely.
This is not to say that such tension is an entirely negative phenomena. On the contrary, it’s the driving force behind human creativity: apprehending possibilities and then realizing them (or at least attempting to).
At the same time, we must recognize that this is also at the root of all compulsive and destructive behavior. Ideal becomes obsession becomes insanity. We run ourselves to death chasing after the horizon. We become dragged around by our goals, like a fish caught on a hook.
Good fortune awaits if you can grab hold of an ideal, but woe betide you if you don’t know how to let go of it.
Statement of Purpose
Some people have form but no content. Others have content, but no form.
At this point in my life, I fall into the latter camp.
I wasn’t always this way. When I was younger I was the exact opposite. Creative patterns blossomed forth from me, almost of their own accord. Looking back now, they were pretty meaningless, these patterns, but it was joyful to make them and I was happy doing it.
Somewhere along the way my situation reversed.
This blog is an attempt at finding some sort of form, however vague and poorly crafted it may be.
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Chaos Never Died 