I can't do anything with my novel series right now, while waiting on a meeting with my agent at month's end, but boy howdy.
As someone who wrote a book inspired by how Athens and Sparta talked themselves into a war through passive-aggressive brinksmanship 2,400 years ago...
It brings up a lot of feelings to be reminded how little humans have really changed in all this time. The world is built on ego and an over-reliance on deterrence effects. Always has been, always will be, I suppose.
Fewer gods and goddesses walking among us, but yes. :) Otherwise, exactly the same.
What a strange burden knowing our history can be.
And yet, simultaneously, what a load it can lift.
Maybe swap Gods and Goddesses for CEOs, Hollywood and Sports personalities, Influencers, Politicians. I'll bet the math comes out about the same :)
And yes, I try to focus on the sameness of things, as opposed to complaining that it is worse than ever before, or that we have regressed somehow. We're just the same as ever :)
It is a strange thing, to bear witness to the cosmos at this curious point in the development of sentience: to live with just enough self-awareness to know how far we have not come, and how far we might not ever go.
But definitely easier, when the journey is shared with others working through similar thoughts and feelings, no?
Oh absolutely. Always find the teachers, the kind, the helpful, the brave, and beware the rest :)
Thinking about what makes your science fiction different got me thinking about what makes some of my favorites my favorites too.
I just started making a list of them ;)
Usually stories about alternative worlds and civilizations, some of which do progress ;)
I'm sure you know many of these, but perhaps not all :)
Oh, the ones I've read on that list are wonderful - and often wonderful because they precede a lot of convention that's lately constricted our dreaming.
I've downloaded the image to take note of the titles I haven't read from your list. TY!
Whatever happens with my trilogy, I *will* finish it, and then we can see how my proposed alternative (crafted by my dream of people who survive the massacre of Melos) fares next to such worthy precursors.
You've set a high bar with these, though!
@MLClark
My main takeaway from reading the Iliad was that people have not changed one bit since then :)