Mindwebs: Weep No More, Old Lady

[james_davis_nicoll]

Weep No More, Old Lady

I wonder if the hit and miss approach whoever assembled this archive takes to titles is related to the poor quality of some of the files.

There's a long tradition in SF of stories about angry, alienated geniuses; this would be an example of that sub-genre . The ur-example authors might want to look at before doing their particular version of the angry, alienated genius story is Judgment Day by L. Sprague de Camp, which compacts enough bitterness into its narrative to fuel a thousand Felicia Day Geeks Rule Jocks Drool music videos..


If you're revisiting a popular sub-genre like this one you have to find some way to make it your own. How Grant managed that was the twist about was the purpose of the research, which (spoiler)

was carried out to make sure an IQ-boosting drug was not too effective, lest the nation be denied its elevator operators and such.

Comments

[onyxlynx]

Telephone disinfectors?

[austin-dern.livejournal.com]

What variety of elitism is it to suppose that if people were more intelligent they'd never want to do physical labor again? Even I like doing a certain amount of housecleaning and home-repair-type-stuff, and most of my activities wouldn't be worse off if I were a disembodied voice as long as I still had Internet access.

And is it related to the belief that the moment holodecks come in nobody's going to ever want to do anything in the real world again, including have sex with non-fantasy-mates? Or that in the post-scarcity economy where money is meaningless there'll never be a cleaned bathroom again?

[nathan helfinstine (from livejournal.com)]

If cleaned bathrooms are scarce, it's not really post-scarcity, is it! In a true post-scarcity world, every time a person wished to eliminate wastes, a brand-new bathroom would be created on the spot, only to be disassembled again to free up the space as soon as the user was finished.

[ross-teneyck.livejournal.com]

Tiny one-way warp gates surgically implanted in the anus and urethra, connected to the local sewage treatment plant.

I'm sure it wouldn't be long before it became socially acceptable to stare thoughtfully into space for a few moments in the middle of a conversation.

[nathan helfinstine (from livejournal.com)]

I'd have them implanted just a few inches further inboard, and there'd be no need for the pause. It can teleport straight out of by bladder for all I care. Hell, put in two gates right at the kidneys, and I can use the spot where the bladder used to be for some cool cyberware.

[scott-sanford.livejournal.com]

I'm sure no bored fifteen year old would figure out a way to make those bidirectional gates, lest humor ensue.

[death4breakfast.livejournal.com]

The one where no one wants to actually *pay* people to do manual labor. This comes up in Walter John Williams "The Green Leopard" plague, where people have to be drafted to do those sorts of jobs, as a sort of tax.

While I was in college, I worked part time as a janitor. I didn't dislike the actual job particularly. I had plenty of time to daydream while I worked, and it didn't require much human interaction, and it actually showed results at the end of the night. My only real problem with it was the low pay and the low status.

Pay me well, and treat me with some dignity and respect, and I'd be happy to empty waste baskets, vacuum rugs and dust cubicals. I don't need to be drafted for it. The problem seems to be when thinking about physical labor, they all seem to think that it should still be paid at *current* rates, even is this bold new future where everything else had changed.

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

But surely in a post-scarcity world, the one currency that will still have value is forcing other people to do things that they don't want to do?

[scott-sanford.livejournal.com]

At work I often see a guy who comes around and empties the wastebasket in my work space; I like to smile and say "good morning" and "thank you" when he comes by. I hope I'm not the only one.

[death4breakfast.livejournal.com]

If my own experience is anything to go on it's appreciated. :)

Most of the people who worked in the offices and other locations I cleaned were, at a minimum, reasonably pleasant. There were only a few exceptions where people didn't really "get" that the housekeeping staff were part of a service contracted by their employer to keep up the office building that they happened to be working in, that is, fellow workers, doing a different job, as opposed to their own personal hired help, picked from the lower social orders to serve their exalted, white collar selves.

I like to think that in a post scarcity world those few exceptions would be left to clean their own damn cubicles. :)

[sean o'hara (from livejournal.com)]

Even I like doing a certain amount of housecleaning and home-repair-type-stuff,

Key phrase there is "a certain amount," and I'm wagering there's a further caveat of "a certain type." You might not mind mowing the lawn for an hour on Saturday, but does that mean you'd be willing to clean and repair septic tanks for eight hours a day, five days a week?