james_davis_nicoll (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
james_davis_nicoll) wrote2008-02-03 11:47 am
james_davis_nicoll) wrote2008-02-03 11:47 am
When it all went wrong
From a previous comment on my LJ:
I thought there was a significant contingent of politicians who feel most of the developments since [The development of agriculture/the Industrial Revolution/The Great Depression/Women's Lib/Etc (Pick one)] have been mistakes and that if only we could set the clock back, everything would be fine.
Or at least better than it is.
A Canadian example of a When It All Went Wrong (WIAWW) moment is the Avro Arrow, something that many Canadians are still bitching about (Mind you, Canada is a nation with a province whose motto is "Je me souviens," but none with the motto "No Use Crying Over Spilled Milk"). In fact, my father used to complain bitterly about the cancellation of the Arrow and not only was he not Canadian (until just before he died) but I don't think he was in Canada when the decision was made and he didn't work in aerospace. Complaining about the Arrow decision unites Canadians in one great mopey If Only.
Ken MacLeod chooses Sputnik as a moment when everything went wrong.
Is there any chance someone could offer up some links for Ken to use in his alt-history of space development that don't require him to cite a James P. Hogan essay? Yes, I saw the disclaimer in MacLeod's essay.
I thought there was a significant contingent of politicians who feel most of the developments since [The development of agriculture/the Industrial Revolution/The Great Depression/Women's Lib/Etc (Pick one)] have been mistakes and that if only we could set the clock back, everything would be fine.
Or at least better than it is.
A Canadian example of a When It All Went Wrong (WIAWW) moment is the Avro Arrow, something that many Canadians are still bitching about (Mind you, Canada is a nation with a province whose motto is "Je me souviens," but none with the motto "No Use Crying Over Spilled Milk"). In fact, my father used to complain bitterly about the cancellation of the Arrow and not only was he not Canadian (until just before he died) but I don't think he was in Canada when the decision was made and he didn't work in aerospace. Complaining about the Arrow decision unites Canadians in one great mopey If Only.
Ken MacLeod chooses Sputnik as a moment when everything went wrong.
Is there any chance someone could offer up some links for Ken to use in his alt-history of space development that don't require him to cite a James P. Hogan essay? Yes, I saw the disclaimer in MacLeod's essay.
no subject
For a start, I thought people were over the idea that the 1950's were some American Paradise era. For instance, that was the era when the terms "neurosis" "company man" and "ugly American" came into common use. Leaving aside minor incidents like the Redx Scare and the entire civil rights movement, America was hardly idyllic and complacent- one only has to look at the popular media to see that.
And then MmacLeod's handling of education, from blaming the evangelicals on biology education, to believing his lack of ability to learn algebra on "New Math". Perhaps he just wasn't very math smart?
Finally, on the list of Things MacLeod Gets Wrong, the space race WASN'T about planned economies vs. free-market economies. It's easy these days for academics to place the context of the Cold War in a contest between Capitalism vs. Communism, but it really wasn't: it was seen in terms of the Allies vs. the Soviet Block, Democracy and Freedom vs Communism and Totalitarianism. In these terms, asking why the space program didn't take a free-market approach is like asking why D-Day wasn't contracted out to the highest bidder.
no subject
I can't resist: the Ugly American was the good guy.