tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3576716365575919550.post8081302670861396069..comments2023-10-03T18:30:42.773-05:00Comments on Meta Watershed: PYA: CHAPTER SIXTYMaggie Jochildhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07577090500862823864noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3576716365575919550.post-62059892427047103332010-02-24T20:10:26.598-06:002010-02-24T20:10:26.598-06:00Good point, Margot. The total population of Pya a...Good point, Margot. The total population of Pya at this point is around 600. (Which helps explain how Pyosz with her herd of 100 goats is responsible for about 1/4 of the milk, cheese and butter available on all Skene.)<br /><br />Cowboy Diva has asked how it could be that in such a small population, there could be anybody you DIDN'T know? How could there be a stranger? She partly answered herself by saying the geographic spread of islands made it hard for people to visit.<br /><br />But another piece of the puzzle is that even in huge modern cities, most folks only know about 100 people on a name and personality basis. It seems to be a physical limit in our brains. <br /><br />As someone who lived in a town of 86 through high school, I can verify I would not have recognized or been able to name all of those 86. Our high school of 35 students drew have its body from the nearby town of Ringgold, population 300, and there were people in Ringgold who were strangers to each other. In these isolated communities, there is gossip which gives you second-hand knowledge of some families, but you can't claim even first-hand acquaintance with them as individuals.<br /><br />So it is on Skene. The social structure insists all children be educated together, to prevent island factionalism. to help facilitate relationships separate from family and neighborhood networks, and honestly to encourage the selection of partners and breeding outside incestuous circles, something our earliest human tribes did even as they practiced xenophobia otherwise.<br /><br />But on Skene, for instance, each of its three public school grades has at least 30 children in it, and "first grade" has over 100 children. Even over a span of 13 years together, you could have your little cluster of friends (there's no boys and girls division, remember, so segregation is happening on the basis of shared interests and island connection) and never really make a close connection to someone in your own grade. And with the strict rules about sui, once you left first grade, you would not be encouraged to pursue friendships with those in other grades.<br /><br />Thus, the open space full of "crowds" at Mchele Fair is even more exotic than our masses of 100,000. It's an ALMOST knowable number. And if you are single, it's the best mixer you'll ever encounter.Maggie Jochildhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07577090500862823864noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3576716365575919550.post-32575542809364270872010-02-24T19:26:12.109-06:002010-02-24T19:26:12.109-06:00Fascinating. Every so often I have to remind myse...Fascinating. Every so often I have to remind myself how few of them there are. For instance, the "vast crowds" at the fair are actually tiny by comparison with the crowds at say a football match or a big open-air music festival. <br /><br />Our press of humanity would boggle their comprehension - 6.8 billion people? Impossible!Margothttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09849813398967636905noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3576716365575919550.post-38123261488452219732010-02-24T10:29:37.204-06:002010-02-24T10:29:37.204-06:00I operate on Pass/Fail and you are on the plus sid...I operate on Pass/Fail and you are on the plus side for all time, Little Gator.Maggie Jochildhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07577090500862823864noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3576716365575919550.post-31568627722999816032010-02-24T10:15:33.694-06:002010-02-24T10:15:33.694-06:00will this be extra points on my grade?will this be extra points on my grade?little gatorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12359345204074482888noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3576716365575919550.post-51198351822601646432010-02-23T18:23:08.549-06:002010-02-23T18:23:08.549-06:00Little Gator, you've zeroed in on it: Yoj doe...Little Gator, you've zeroed in on it: Yoj doesn't know. The historical disconnect Skene experienced has left even scholars like Yoj with bizarre gaps in their comprehension, especially the lack of access to the extreme diversity of human history and its lessons of how change occurs. The first generation set up rigid parameters to counteract a repeat of the meltdown which occurred after their abandonment, but reactions against what went before are still being strongly shaped by what one is rebelling against.<br /><br />In addition to the historical disconnect, their lack of exposure to uncontrolled nature, i.e., wilderness, has seriously impaired some facets of their imagination. Human monoculture stunts progress and creativity, and the alien hostility of remains in Skene's native environment has heretofore been too threatening to allow our little band of adventurers to consider some of the heresies now on their horizon.<br /><br />This set of characters has enough pad against the exigencies of survival, assorted intelligences and drives to make leaps in understanding. (Which is generally true of heroes in novels about "when it changed.") <br /><br />Talking with y'all or even imaging your reactions certainly is shaping this book, for the good, I believe. Thanks for the engagement.Maggie Jochildhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07577090500862823864noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3576716365575919550.post-1487068682417895032010-02-23T16:58:00.005-06:002010-02-23T16:58:00.005-06:00After a long pause, Yoj said "If we were to s...After a long pause, Yoj said "If we were to see the return of our distant cousins, if they were to drop from the heavens back to Skene, I'd get on the radio and urge we immediately imprison them all. With an intent to kill them before they could send any word of us back to that extremely damaged culture which spawned them."<br /><br />Doesn't Yoj realise that she is spawned from the same culture that those hypothetical cousin are? Who knows what the other side of the culture has or hasn't changed to in all those generations?little gatorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12359345204074482888noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3576716365575919550.post-9662950675750338952010-02-22T22:48:40.573-06:002010-02-22T22:48:40.573-06:00It's funny to think about how difficult it was...It's funny to think about how difficult it was (and how long it took) for the humans of earth to reach a point where they could consider themselves as merely denizens of one planet in a vast multitude. For the group sitting around that table to reach the conclusion they were on an abandoned outpost seems an amazing leap, even given their historical knowledge of the early settlers. <br />The terraforming process seems almost cliche'd in most science fiction; of course humans would recreate their environment in their own image. For you to turn it around, making it a criminal act, even for the sake of survival, is an intriguing response; one I will have to ponder.<br />Thanks.C. Divanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3576716365575919550.post-8178555732421314252010-02-22T22:36:33.744-06:002010-02-22T22:36:33.744-06:00I couldn't resist staying up.
Gorgeous.I couldn't resist staying up.<br /><br />Gorgeous.Bluehttp://www.blueox.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.com