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

[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.