Quote:
Originally Posted by kennyc
The thing that intrigued me most (I think) about the story was the "search" for ideas on the part of Vashti and others including Kuno.
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Does their society originate ideas; or are they just chewing the cud of ideas that have been handed down to them?
New ideas come from direct experiences, but they deliberately avoid them:
'Beware of first-hand ideas!' exclaimed one of the most advanced of them. 'First-hand ideas do not really exist. They are but the physical impressions produced by life and fear, and on this gross foundation who could erect a philosophy? Let your ideas be second-hand, and if possible tenth-hand, for then they will be far removed from that disturbing element - direct observation...
But, regarding Orion, I would have thought the representation of the stars as a hunter would have been known; so it puzzled me to read:
The three stars in the middle are like the belts that men wore once, and the three stars hanging are like a sword.'
'A sword?'
'Men carried swords about with them, to kill animals and other men.'
'It does not strike me as a very good idea, but it is certainly original...
It seemed to me that maybe knowledge was decaying; and parts of it had been lost entirely. (E.g. no-one had a full understanding of the Machine any more.)