Message from a Time Traveler

Dan Simmons - Official Web Site ^ | April 1, 2006 | Dan Simmons

[Knitting A Conundrum]

Author has a forum on his site. If you're really interested, you can check it out here:
http://forum.dansimmons.com/ubbthreads/showthreaded.php?Cat=0&Number=4794&an=0&page=0#Post4794

[krunkygirl]

save for later

[hocndoc]

It's called SF or Science Fiction. And there is a long history of good philosophy in SF. Heinlein, Asimov, Card, Robinson, etc.

Like all human work, most of these have some fatal flaw. But, we can learn from their exploration of real human problems.

[King Prout]

First of all, and most importantly, the hooligans are "pess droonk" - this being a prerequisite for hooliganism

LMAO!

[Slip18]

No capiche.

"I will not share in this piece." It was a long, informative missive, yes, but "this piece" may not be part of the essay.

[Slip18]

I posted a FReepmail to another poster for whom I have great respect. Figure it out yourself. And two other posters have figured it out. Help yourself to the whole thread. It's right in front of your nose. I'm definitely not a tell-all person.

[Slip18]

Definitely. They are a couple of nukes away from ruination.

[Junior_G]

Figure it out yourself. And two other posters have figured it out...I'm definitely not a tell-all person.

But there's nothing to figure out----you have no idea what the three words are that the guy is talking about. I was simply curious as to why your wild (and almost certainly incorrect) guess was considered premium information not to be shared with the board. It seems silly and pompous.

[Slip18]

Wow! Great story, archy. We have Remington 1100s here, plus a multitude of handguns and rifles.

I always thought LBJ was a rotten SOB, but I liked Lady Bird for her indigineous wild flowers she brought back to the State of Texas.

[Tunehead54]

Destroy islam now.

---

I'm certain that is the message, IMHO.

[Slip18]

ROTFLMAO! You know my hubby and I were part of the group that tried to get him out of office -- to no avail. Some people just love him here, including Republicans.

[Slip18]

Now I know you know the three words. Sheesh!

[Slip18]

I'm a Dane. Not afraid of too much.

[King Prout]

Danes used to have stones. So did Swedes. Sweden is tanking on the muslim problem. the Dane appears to be waking up.

[Slip18]

And almost certainly incorrect? Go find another hole to dig, Junior.

[dwighteise]

From my earlier posts
"The scariest three words that fit the storyline.
Load the gun.

My favorite...
Resistance is futile

Most likely.
Islam means peace."

I figured out a scarier one...
Use the nukes.

[tpaine]

"-- Thucydides taught us more than twenty-four hundred years ago that all men's behavior is guided by phobos, kerdos, and doxa," said the Time Traveler. "Fear, self-interest, and honor."

I pretended I did not hear.

"Plato saw human behavior as a chariot pulled by precisely those three powerful and headstrong horses, first tugged this way, then pulled that way," continued the Time Traveler. "Phobos, kerdos, doxa.

Fear, self-interest, honor.

Which of these guides the chariot of your nation and your allies in Europe and your surprisingly fragile civilization now, O Man of 2006?"

I stared at the bookcase instead of the man and willed him gone, wishing him away like a sleepy boy willing away the boogeyman under his bed.

"Which combination of those three traits -- phobos, kerdos, doxa -- will save or doom your world?" asked the Time Traveler.

"Which might bring you back from this vacation from history's responsibilities and history's burdens that you have all so generously gifted yourselves with?
You peaceloving Europeans. You civil-liberties loving Americans?
You Athenian invertebrates with your love of your own exalted sensibilities and your willingness to enter into a global war for civilizational survival even while you are too timid, too fearful . . . too decent . . . to match the ruthlessness of your enemies. --"


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Fear, self-interest, honor...

-- Fear will doom us.

--- Self interest will save us, but only if we honor our own Constitutional principles in fighting for our civilization.

It is honorable in war to be ruthless, -- to do onto enemies as they would do onto you.

[Junior_G]

And almost certainly incorrect? Go find another hole to dig, Junior.

Sorry if I hit a nerve, but unless you're the author, I'd say your secret guess as to what the three words are is almost certainly incorrect. And yet you act like you're protecting nuclear launch codes. It's just odd, that's all.

[Soaring Feather]

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