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"At its best, SF is the medium in which our miserable certainty that tomorrow will be different from today in ways we can't predict, can be transmuted to a sense of excitement and anticipation, occasionally evolving into awe."
- John Brunner
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| Bohemias | ||
| A place where the ordinary rules of society don't apply; the "next big thing" often comes from these places. |
I've been wondering what happens when every culture and subculture on Earth has been mined for icons and archetypes (for use in cartoons and movies), foods and flavors (for use in recipe books and theme restaurants) and music. It took some of these cultures thousands of years to develop into something interesting.
| They were a crucial aspect of industrial civilization in the previous two centuries. They were where industrial civilization went to dream. A sort of unconscious R&D., exploring alternate societal strategies. Each one would have a dress code, characteristic forms of artistic expression… And they did, frequently, have locales with which they became associated. But they became extinct. |
| Technovelgy from All Tomorrow's Parties,
by William Gibson. Published by Putnam in 1999 Additional resources -
|
Why? Because we started picking them before they could ripen. Authentic subcultures required backwaters, and time , and there are no more backwaters in our completely and instantly connected world.
What can we do to encourage the undisturbed growth of culture? Maybe John Brunner had the right idea with paid avoidance zones in his 1975 book The Shockwave Rider.
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Science Fiction
Timeline
1600-1899
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'He found a barber shop which, he thought, would be good for an idle hour.'
'Thirty rounds of fighting is tough work. Even for machines.'
'...the excavations were already in progress, for he saw gray slopes of rubble.'
'...the walking mills of Puffy Products began to tread delicately on their centipede legs across the wheat fields of Kansas.'
'Here is a Clerk that would work incessantly, and neither eat, sleep, want payment, or grumble.'
'ZARNAK, YOU'RE TO COMMAND A SCOUTING EXPEDITION --- FIND OUT WHAT THIS IS ALL ABOUT!'
'These are your rudimentary seed packages... Some will combine in place to form more complicated structures.'
