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Random quote: My pass had disappeared. Not that I believed for a moment that this was an accident; in fact, I had suspected for some time now that the Cosmic Command, obviously no longer able to supervise every assignment on an individual basis when there were literally trillions of matters in its charge, had switched over to a random system. The assumption would be that every document, circulating endlessly from desk to desk, must eventually hit upon the right one. A time-consuming procedure, perhaps, but one that would never fail. The Universe itself operated on the same principle. And for an institution as everlasting as the Universe certainly our Building was such an institution the speed at which these meanderings and perturbations took place was of no consequence. - Stanislaw Lem (Memoirs Found in a Bathtub)
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A. E. van Vogt
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Obexah
Posted 2017-02-14 10:56 PM (#15291)
Subject: A. E. van Vogt



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Location: Perth, Australia		Van Vogt has become less visible compared to Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke and yet when I read his works they seem very fresh and appealing. I refer to his descriptions of interior life as the actions and reactions of a nervous system rather than using a more poetic hearts and minds model. He also succeeds at plausibly describing the thoughts and actions of super-intelligent characters, a problem faced by SFF writers describing AI significantly smarter than humans. He also deals with identity proliferation and swapping, depicting the low grade schizophrenia that French philosophers argue is the human response to capitalism and overwhelming amounts of information and opinions. I can see his flaws, the overuse of the hyphen when a comma would suffice, the absence of evolutionary principles when he projects human life 200 million years into the future, the absence of posthuman hardware augmentation of the body, the almost invisible presence of computers in his future society. Invisible computers and near magic technology may be explained by advanced computing but there is no such explanation in his books. But I can overlook those flaws and enjoy the books as depictions of philosophical ideas. I would be interested to hear other people's impressions of his writing.

Edited by Obexah 2017-02-14 10:57 PM
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Scott Laz
Posted 2017-02-18 6:19 PM (#15311 - in reply to #15291)
Subject: Re: A. E. van Vogt



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Location: Gunnison, Colorado		I also think Van Vogt is due for reappraisal. His plotting can be odd and illogical, but the breakneck pace and sheer weirdness of developments can be exhilarating if you're willing to go with the flow. Your take on the philosophy underlying these stories is interesting. "Low grade schizophrenia" is a nice description of the feel of his work, but I don't think this feeling is intentional. (It could also apply to Philip K. Dick, who was influenced by Van Vogt.) I understand his own approach to writing/plotting was based on his conception of "non-Aristotelian logic", but I was never entirely clear on what that means...

He's definitely fallen out of favor, though during the early "Golden Age" of Astounding SF, his stories were right up there in popularity with Heinlein. I can remember being bowled over by some of his stories at a young age, but it's more difficult now to turn off my more critical thinking and revive that "sense of wonder." Maybe the appeal is somehow lost with maturity, both of readers and the SF field.

Edited by Scott Laz 2017-02-18 6:21 PM
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sunfighter
Posted 2024-08-17 12:04 PM (#30101 - in reply to #15311)
Subject: Re: A. E. van Vogt



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It's unfortunate that Damon Knight, founder of the SFWA hated him so much and did much to discredit him. He swore that Van Vogt would never win a Nebula Award as long as long as he had anything to say about it.
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