On Sat, 30 Aug 1997, Michael Marc Levy wrote:
> Kim Antieau's The Gaia Websters describes a society which intentionally
> minimizes technology, as do such older feminists utopia/dystopias as
> Marge Piercy's Woman on the Edge of Time and Joanna Russ's The Female Man.
>
> This is also an important secondary theme in the work of such Quaker or
> Quaker-influenced SF writers as Joan Slonczewski (A Door into Ocean), Molly
> Gloss (The Dazzle of Day) and Judith Moffett (Pennterra, The Ragged World,
> Time, Like an Ever-Flowing Stream).
Hmmm. I am very unimpressed by this last implied connection. Which is
rare with regard to your posts.
First of all, I disagree with your assessment of Joan Slonczewski and _A
Door Into Ocean_ (The only mentioned book that I have read though I
have read other books by her). In _A Door Into Ocen_ the sharers were far
more technologically advanced than those other "normal" people. Their
technology was completely biological (So it didn't LOOK like technology)
but it was very advanced technology none the less. She even
emphasizes herself that it is real technology. It was also a still
scientific technology in that the sharers were still doing new things with
it and knew how it worked. (As opposed to the genetic engineering in
_Glory Season_ by David Brin which I would agree that the world was
anti-technological). Finally, her other books are not (in my mind)
anti-technology. Anti war-technology yes, but not anti technology.
Secondly, Quakers are not anti-technology. Many people have some
misguided "Quaker Oats" view of horse and buggy Quakers. Guess what, they
don't exist, those are the Omish. I'm sure you know all of this, but
unless you are Quaker and have to explain yourself to the common
mis-informed masses all of the time (especially as an engineer) I'm sure
it is easy forget. In fact, there are a number of quaker web-sites and
e-mail lists and a huge number of quaker-related schools including (for
example) Swarthmore which is as far as I know one of the only small
liberal arts colleges with a respested engineering major. I know you
didn't come right out and say that Quakers are anti-technology, but I
think the implication was very strongly evident in what you said.
Finally, I know that it was just an off-hand remark, and sorry for getting
all steamed about it, but I really don't want any misconceptions about who
and what a very important part of my life is about spread among the some
of the people that I most respect and think hold my same basic beliefs and
values (whether they call it Quakerism or not... :)
Of course I could be wrong. There might be a large group of
anti-technology sci-fi writing Quakers out there but I certainly haven't
heard of them (until now).
-- Joel VanLaven
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Thu May 25 2000 - 19:06:37 PDT