11.0462 dark social visions

Humanist Discussion Group (humanist@kcl.ac.uk)
Sun, 14 Dec 1997 11:05:43 +0000 (GMT)

Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 11, No. 462.
Centre for Computing in the Humanities, King's College London
<http://www.princeton.edu/~mccarty/humanist/>
<http://www.kcl.ac.uk/humanities/cch/humanist/>

Date: Fri, 12 Dec 1997 14:47:28 -0500
From: Ken Litkowski <ken@clres.com>
Subject: Re: 11.0457 baths and dirt

> Yes, yes, yes that is it! Know it here in Oz, & I guess elsewhere. Speak
> up! No need to give names. Such is irrelevant. The morale of teaching staff
> is down world wide. Yet, we are moving into a new age that demands a
> redistribution of paid work. The worst case scenario is a dystopia of a
> grossly stratified society where the privilieged busily employed believe
> they are shouldering the world and are due the slave services of
> underclasses. Unfortunately, that attitude is real, and I can name names.
> Let us not forget that society is a contract, and there is war. Thus the
> walled estates, with uniformed brutes aping Arnie Schwarznegger. When the
> kids are killing themselves, read the graffiti. It's a scream for presence
> in a civilization of blame.

I would highly commend the science fiction "Beggars" series by Nancy
Kress for an exploration of just such a scenario.

-- 
Ken Litkowski                         TEL.: 301-926-5904
CL Research                           EMAIL: ken@clres.com
20239 Lea Pond Place                    
Gaithersburg, MD 20879-1270 USA       Home Page: http://www.clres.com

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