A Conversation with Physicist and Science Fiction Author David Brin (#039)

Apr 13, 2020

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A Conversation with Physicist and Science Fiction Author David Brin about his work and his recent post:

More repercussions in a plague year… and some long term (excerpted here) :

And yes, some foresee all this accelerating the exodus of the uber-rich, abandoning us to simmer in festering cities and suburbs. Connecticut, Wyoming and New Zealand have seen such influx. Certainly there is a “prepper” wing of oligarchy that’s bought up whole mountain ranges in Patagonia, Siberia and under the sea. I portrayed that mind set in The Postmanand in Earth and in Existence. Of course the smarter half of the zillionaire caste wants no part of such insanity. Nor will such preparations avail the selfishness-fetishists an iota, even if the fit truly hits the shan. There are five reasons why this masturbatory survivalist fantasy is utter proof of mental defectiveness. Finally Smart Sovereignty: – Whether this Minsky Moment triggers revitalization and waves of new-creative solutions by an empowered citizenry… or one of Marx’s purportedly “inevitable” stages of spiral into revolution… may depend on to what extent we revive civic goodwill and use new technologies to enhance logical, fact-centered. pragmatic civil discourse. Recall that earlier communication techs — e.g. the printing press, radio and loudspeakers — all led first to polemical horror shows that made things much worse… before folks sussed the new media and learned to parse truth from populist lies, making things much, much better. That natural progression took decades, though. Time we simply do not have.

== The jury is still out ==

I left aside possible outcomes that seem more “science fictional”… …e.g. what-if there is more to this virus than meets the eye? We already know that corona viruses are not like the flu. Flu stays in business by mutating rapidly, every year, forcing new kinds of vaccines to be developed. (Again, see my predictive short story “The Giving Plague,” which dives into the many ways that viruses and parasites “negotiate” with their hosts.)

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