After repeated struggles with sleepy bugs, I have always been a book-lover and finished reading the science fiction ** - Watching the Wind for the first time at the speed of the late famous British writer Ian M Banks.
I'm ashamed to say that as a practitioner of virtual reality technology, I had never heard of Ian M Banks' name until I saw Nova Press's latest publication of "Watching the Wind", and I never thought about what it would be like if a world where reality and reality could be seamlessly connected. However, at the moment when the concept boom of the metaverse, artificial intelligence, and digitalization has not subsided, how to balance the relationship between humans and non-humans (digital humans, intelligent robots, etc.), and where the application of technology will eventually take human beings, is a question we have to think about.
Therefore, although "Watching to the Wind" is ostensibly about the relationship between Maraistier, an arrogant and conceited composer and conductor, and Colonel Kieran, who is bent on dying after losing his wife, but is forced to meet by external forces, how to meet in the end. But most of the book is the author who leads the reader to follow the perspective of Ziller or Kieran, ** the spectacular scene of the future world composed of different creatures, and travel freely through the cosmic space such as the Marsac Star Land, the Beamon Behemoth, Tower City, and Archimid City, and experience the lifestyle of the future world. At the same time, under the control and guard of the "mastermind" of the "civilized" world, the center, and intelligent machines such as humming machines and avatars, the actions of Zeller and Kiran also moved towards death step by step in the seemingly free choice.
In other words, the author is actually using the shell of science fiction to ** the philosophical proposition of whether war is necessary and how humans will die. In the book, the shadow of death not only hangs over the character of Kiran at all times, but also is intuitively presented to the reader: "Some people have lost their lives in the blink of an eye, taken to life by my energy**, or wiped out by the shrapnel I teleported. Some walked slower and were either burned to ashes by strong radiation or torn to pieces by the front of the **. Still others die extremely slowly, such as being thrown into space and tumbling with hemoptysis, coughing up blood that turns into pink ice in front of their frosty eyesOr lose gravity at the moment when the earth under your feet suddenly disappears, the surrounding atmosphere instantly turns into a vacuum, and human beings are like a small tent twisted by the wind, suffocating to the end. Paradoxically, the Mastermind also admits that he is brutal and terrifying, and even vows to be a guardian: "As long as I am needed now, or until I am no longer needed;I will always keep an eye on the direction of the wind, in case a storm strikes, but I will routinely guard this strange ring of fragile little objects, and the fragile little heads that live on the ring, to protect them from this vast and silent world of mechanics, and from any ** force that may or deliberately threaten them, because I know how easily they can be destroyed. If there really comes a time when I am willing to give my life to save them, I will gladly give my life. ”
I think the reason for such absurd descriptions is related to the author's critical attitude towards reality. In the book, the author uses the dialogue between Kieran and the avatar to mention why the "mastermind" of "civilization" chooses to subvert itself: "Because we will become weaker and weaker. Because of the self-containment of the present, and the depravity and decadence. Some of the 'masterminds' may simply feel the need to create some bloody disaster in time to remind us how cold and unforgiving the universe is, and that we are never entitled to sink into a momentary sense of superiority, because all pleasure-loving societies will eventually collapse and be completely forgotten. In other words, when a non-human intelligent control terminal that can be infinitely backed up and reborn, the "mastermind", still knows how to seek progress and development by constantly creating wars, bringing death, and rebuilding a new world, how can human beings with only physical bodies be arrogant in the face of technology?And what qualifications do you have to affirm that you will be superior to the existence of nature and artificial intelligence?Even when human lives are made by technology, is there a chance that we can avoid falling into the trap of technological nihilism?
All in all, as human beings, only what we truly see, hear, smell, taste, feel, or experience can make people feel a sense of accomplishment and the meaning of human life. In the same way, death is also one of the inevitable experiences of human beings, and even in the future world, death is an unavoidable end. Therefore, we still have to face death and loss calmly, only in this way can we continue to live.
Sci-fi ** recommended