"Blindsight" & "Echopraxia" by Peter Watts - a qualified positive review, discussion and questions

 ► Review (light contextual & thematic spoilers):

"Firefall" omnibus edition of both novels

These two hard sci-fi novels are ostensibly space operas, set near the end of this century. They depart from a world where base humanity is struggling for relevance, half choosing to live in virtual reality heaven. While technology has resurrected once extinct vampires.

But the author also uses the context and diverse assortment of transhuman characters, in each book respectively, to explore themes of, first: neuroscience, abnormal psychology and consciousness. Then: genetic engineering, augmented intelligence, belief, identity, culpability and free will (or lack of).

Both books have an explicit discussion of concepts at the end, with over 100 references to science papers and other books, in each. This comprises a full 10% of Echopraxia's total length! In case readers had any doubts about just how thoroughly researched and insightful these works are.

There are certainly spaceships, action and a novel first contact situation. But the plot arks were somewhat arduous through long mid-sections, with lots of dialogue that dragged a little. Brooding suspense and flashbacks, in one. Voyage with sometimes grating protagonist interactions, in two.

Echopraxia doesn't really continue on from Blindsight directly. For me, it had somewhat of a feel like, for example, Prometheus (2012) continuing the Alien (1979) franchise. Although there is technically one recurring character. Book two reframes the first a little and is mostly a chance to explore additional futurism and dig more into his conception of a hyper-intelligent vampire.

Despite a promising first book opening, that name checked the (technological) singularity and Ray Kurzweil explicit, I never quite meshed with the feel of Peter Watts' philosophising. Throughout either book. I think, in part, he deliberately writes to make things uncomfortable. There's certainly no heart warming romance or nice happy endings.

But, more fundamentally, in the afterword of Echopraxia, he explicitly states that he doesn't support/believe in the concept of digital physics. I.e. the leitmotif of most of Greg Egan's works, and (implicitly) many works by other authors, which have sat more squarely with my own core beliefs and understanding of the universe.

The character arcs conclude properly, in my opinion. Although there seems to be deliberate ambiguity left for interpretation as to exactly what and why various things happened, big and small.

"The Good Place" [Netflix] - is it set in an Omega Point Singularity?

When I first grudgingly dipped into episode 1, four years ago, I thought it was an unlikely setting but a typically zany and shallow sitcom. Leaning on Kristen Bell's following (since staring in cult hit series "Veronica Mars")...

But it repeatedly subverted my exceptions for the better, in terms of both continual plot twists and a liberal peppering of popular philosophy references (both explicit and situational). I liked its low-key ridiculing of contemporary theological beliefs that stopped short of stomping all over religion (from my heathen point of view).

There's a perpetual ambiguity of context - the show might be attempting to dramatise an actual spiritual afterlife, but there are myriad stylistic touches that scream of technological simulation. From Janet being a high-end sentient Alexa/Siri, to computer terminology or rebooting the neighbourhood, deleting and restoring memories, etc. Also, to cosmological concepts, with regards to the non-some of the non-human characters.

So I'd actually class it as science fiction. And the best type of sci-fi, in dealing at length with serious mid-deep future issues: digital sentience (e.g. via mind uploading), infinite torture, unlimited life spans, etc. As well as the moral philosophy of day-to-day living. Big brain stuff, all wrapped up in a (potentially) popular, approachable presentation.

Spoilers: Seriously, watch the end of the show first, if you're going to!

Hannu Rajaniemi's "Quantum Thief" Trilogy

Review:

The pinnacle of high-concept, hard sci-fi, space opera cyberpunk, seemingly packed with every single concept the author could find, and he's a very smart guy: physicist, mathematician, cosmologist, recently launched a synthetic DNA start-up (via his TEDx talk). Finnish, but writing while in Edinburgh, literally hanging out with Charlie Stross, it's no coincidence that he's taken up the baton of writing the most futurism-idea dense, fast-paced (show don't tell) space-romp fun. Think "Accelerando" with the breakneck pace of "Singularity Sky". Stross surpassed I.M.Banks for this crown (in my mind), with stories that made traditional (mainstream) spaceship fiction look like quaint period dramas, pootling about in sail ships.

Mind uploads, planet scale computronium and all types of Singularity as obvious givens for Hannu Rajaniemi. He imagines the consequences of massively duplicated and branched individuals, in a complex future where identity and memory are slippery constructs and inequality has been inflated to vertiginous levels. It is cyberpunk, spun out, with contemporary nationality wiped away by subcultural identities flung across the entire solar system.

References are littered everywhere, at every scale of the telling, from throw-away pop-culture name drops (of famous games, anime series, etc), to terms for Ukrainian governance sub-divisions, to politics, philosophy and the (centuries old) historical origins of transhumanism. The books are so thick with meaning that they're far bigger than themselves; overloaded; virtually all the names and terminology (while sounding awesomely fitting, also) link the reader out to explore countless Wikipedia articles and culture.

Each of the three books has it's own distinct flavour, thematic reflections: personal, social (structure), philosophical and particular literary influences. Each also converges on a different planet, so their sub-arks cohere well as separate books. But they undeniably form a very carefully pre-planned and crafted whole. Densely plotted, too: subtle elements of the very first chapter of the first book become key through to the last. So, although Rajaniemi weaves in little reminder snippets here and there, it's highly advisory to read these books consecutively, and even then it may be worth checking out glossaries and/or synopsis in between.

If you are reading my blog, then you may well be within the core audience for this story, too. It fits perfectly with everything I've aimed to write about here myself. Other reviewers have complained of these books flying over their heads. Certainly I've been compelled to re-read sections, research meaning, etc, and am still not certain of precisely what happens in the conclusion. It is, however, definitely wrapped up properly. And I've had a virtually parallel (although even less than mediocre) academic path through physics and computer science, with strikingly overlapping cultural influences to the author (being, myself, only a little younger).

So perched atop the shoulders of high-concept sci-fi past, I'd definitely not recommend this series to the genre naive! Something to build up to, even more so than advice for readers to get a feel for Culture novels before embarking upon "Excession" or "Use of Weapons". Even then, you'll probably have to just roll with punches and maybe go back to pick out more of the details later. But  worth the effort and it works on multiple levels anyway!

[1] Quantum Thief (332 pages):

The first and best of the three. There is just no way that the others could ever have competed with the addictive rush from the tidal wall of novelty this installment hits you with! Also, with so much still a mystery, the fictional solar system feels bigger and far more real; a story in a crazy place, rather than about the place itself (which is more the case as the books progress).

The main setting here is also the most compelling in its familiarity, being structured around extreme technologically enabled privacy, with surveillance and control through information, all pressing issues (much like our present). The morally ambiguous gentleman thief character archetype drops perfectly into this setting, initiating the serie's liet motif of examining imprisonment, imposed control, security, enforced uniqueness, versus theft, liberation, diversity, etc.

[2] Fractal Prince (331 pages):

Feels the most out of place with the city of "Sirr"; it's characters didn't quite fit for me, or at least they are less knotted up with the plot than most of the others (arbitrary and single use by comparison). Twaddud felt stilted. Also, my disbelief was stretched thinnest here, with a core plot mechanism that could be a satire of Hofstadter's "Strange Loop" concept.

It's probably the easiest book to get lost in, which is saying something, since there are glimpses of deeper meaning secreted in plain sight throughout the trilogy, like fractal detail to gaze upon during re-reading. But this novel's "Arabian Nights", story(s) within story(s), "Inception" like structure doesn't help, and the intermingled interludes and flashbacks gain more concrete context from reading the next installment.


[3] Causal Angel (303 pages):

Neatly ties together all the pieces, places and people previous covered. Yet it is slightly shorter than the previous two books and feels shorter still. The plot is more linear, like it is following the ballistic trajectory that was set in motion.

Perhaps it could have dwelt a little longer on certain places and people; maybe some of the developments risked feeling a little too emotionally gymnastic, or unremarked upon. Although the core characters were developed across the entire length of the ark.



Discussion (SPOILERS Ahead!):

Perspective, Compulsion and Vegetarianism

"It's not until I'd been vegetarian for a year that I suddenly came to the conclusion that it's a bit odd that we're (most people, anyway) ok with seeing chunks of dismembered animal randomly across the course of the day, be it on TV or (as per what triggered me writing this) an image in the side bar of Facebook.

I used to be ok with it, but now I'm faintly horrified/disgusted.

This makes me wonder what else we're ok with but wouldn't be after a very slight perspective shift?"

- L.S. (Facebook status)

I think that everything we do falls somewhere in this territory... Inserting into our bodies the mangled remains of life-forms (plant and/or animal) right through our sensory nexus is pretty weird in general (for example). Even from one gob full to the next it can turn from a compulsive need, to pure revulsion. The negative feeling (e.g. of imminent vomiting) suddenly starts promoting all the ugly aspects of this 'food' to the forefront of our minds.

As with 99% of instances, it's ex post facto - 'reasoning' that crops up to tell a story justifying and reinforcing an emotional decision that's already been made. It can go the other way too - dwelling on thoughts to change a feeling, but it's pretty uncommon; generally they need to collide in the same direction (at least for a brief time).

What maketh the 'game'?; problems with 'difficulty'.

This piece was instigated by Shivoa's take on this article for ARS technica (and Wired). As usual, I've tried to deconstruct the concepts involved (for the sake of: "If you can't say it clearly, you don't understand it yourself" - John Searle).

So, does a 'game' (as in, a computer game), by definition, require a level of 'difficulty'?: Obstacles to overcome...

I think successful games are those that manage to mirror the configuration of a player's mind: An artefact image refracted through the prism of human senses and perceptions. On the finest (most literal) scale this means presenting concepts that arouse the individual's attention (i.e. interesting memes). But also, from an overarching structural viewpoint, the form of the thing (this 'game') should sync with a player's reward response. Biology...

Human physiology (like most mammals) evolved to provide a stimulus reward for achieving tasks that benefit the organism (well, more accurately the transmission of their genes, but gloss over that). A similar, smaller squirt of dopamine is also released during failure, when the goal is nearly reached (so I've read). This is why many persist at gambling, and slightly unbalanced brains can become addicted. It's also why gamers so often enjoy 'difficulty'.

DOA; addictive while it lasted, Trials 2 quickly got too hard for me!

However, frustration wins out (during failure) when the end-goal appears unattainably far. Depression probably dampens down dopamine release/transmission, thus making all goals more distant, thus a depressed individual will struggle to engage in previously fun things, and struggle to persist in general.

Adaptive difficulty attempts to milk this near miss response (re-calibrating it's obstacles to make players keep reaching, just so). The such systems risk more than distracting the player, if they notice: If the pretense of the game's scenario is lost, it's like watching a badly shot fiction movie where you keep seeing accidental glimpses of the production team and their equipment. Without that invisible 4th wall, an individual will struggle not to perceive events quite literally: moving patterns on a screen, empty of meaning and/or relevance.

So, a 'game' requires:

On: Full Metal Alchemist (the anime)

Based closely on the original (and ongoing) manga by Hiromu Arakawa, who was consulted closely for the making of the anime. The Series has 51 episodes that were originally aired from 2003-2004. The film “Conqueror of Shamballa” is a direct follow on. A second series began airing in 2009, which I've not started watching.

This entry is more of a discussion than a review in that it dwells on the philosophy and other references in the material. Full Metal Alchemist referred to as FMA. Theme of paragraphs highlighted in bold. * = new section of discussion. + and – are sub points. [ ] = me correcting myself, or annotating within quotes, etc.

==(1st) Series==

* The whole series has been dubbed into English perfectly (from Japanese).

* There are many different intro and exit sequences and music throughout the series, so it's worth not always skipping them.

* The characterisations in the series are brilliant; visually well crafted and easily distinguishable. Any apparently shallow stereotypes are inevitably developed and shown to have hidden depths of emotion (either serious or whimsical) and/or dramatic history that shaped them. Change and redemption are practically a leitmotif with only Dante and Envy not executing a complete U-turn or at least significant change of heart. It seems at first that the formula for the episodes will be Ed and Al journeying to a string of random places, and thus a discarding a pile of throwaway one off characters (like some crappy Pokemon adventure), but this doesn't happen and everyone ends up being tied firmly into the story line.

Unlike Neon Genesis Evangelion, there is no real portrayal of sexuality. Winry is used to sex up the exit titles on some later episodes, and is clearly supposed to be the main female attraction; with a fetish for mechanical technology she's a geek boy's dream! Lust really does have a beautifully soft, seductive voice (in English), and a matching appearance. The females are homogeneously 'top heavy' IMHO, but personality wise the entire range of femininity is represented; from strong minded, serious career type to doting mother/house wife to genocidal super-villain and all combinations in between.

I didn't like the amount of violence Izumi inflicts on Ed and Al, at times clearly due to anger at herself. Unquestionably realistic in that the boys totally respect her despite/because of this, it makes me uncomfortable because it shows cultural acceptance of violence for education. Perhaps on this topic there is a genuine cultural gap between Japan and the West, where smacking has all but been demonised.

* There is a strong seam of humour running through the series, mostly provided by the State Military characters. There are the running jokes of Ed being short, Armstrong embarrassing everyone by getting his muscles out and Hughes being obnoxiously proud of his daughter, which are actually pretty funny in some of the contexts. Episode 13 got the biggest laugh from me, due to a little speech by Roy Mustang that starts out treasonously serious and ends utterly random. The flip side is there's a whole load of brotherly love mush, plus Ed and Al's falling out can get a little tiresome, but it's not too bad and certainly adds to the character of the series.

* When a main character dies quite abruptly it is actually a little upsetting, and the series does pretty well depicting the characters differing reactions to this loss over following episodes. (Children) dealing with death is a major theme in general, as is the willingness to take life. From meaningless massacre in wars, the murder of parents (and managing to forgive the killer), to the natural death of a newborn, or a mother, and desperate refusal of acceptance leading to attempts at resurrection. As with other fictional works, where magic or suchlike, present an obvious route to circumventing mortality, arbitrary barriers are constructed to prevent this so that death is shown to be necessary or at least immutable; a direct result of the cultural brainwashing, still ubiquitous in society today, that poses opposition to the promise of significant life extension (maybe even immortality) through technology, because of outdated rationalisations for an abhorrent tragedy we couldn't control (usually promoted by religions).

I think the anime stumbles a little when it comes to the sacrificial killing of thousands of soldiers: Scar had previously reformed, halting his series of vengeful murders, but then gives only a one line justification for genocide, when he seems to have no clear plan for how to precede from there (especially as he's dying when initialising the process). They do well otherwise, showing how reticent Ed is to kill, and how shaken up he gets over it, even when it's just Homunuli (who he believes to be soulless). Even those who kill willingly are understandable, there is no dehumanisation of murders, merely those who carry on doing and justifying it, those who make it their reason d'etre to atone or reverse it, psychopaths and the those who've lost sight of meaning in the course of being a prolific soldier.

* The artificial limbs (such as Ed's) would have been more acceptable if they where built with or utilised Alchemy (to some degree); Our state of the art artificial limbs are no where near as advanced as those in the series, because of several serious engineering problems:

- Interfacing with neurons:

Motor neurons - for control of limb

Sensory neurons - feedback is absolutely necessary for fine movement control in hands, and agile
balance in feet/legs, etc.

- Power source: battery technology is

not advanced enough to last very long, and there's currently no way to extract anywhere near enough energy from the wearer's body.

- No usable actuators of necessary strength/speed/mass/size combination yet exist.

* Lots of Philosophy: from whether cooking is a science or an art to the value of human life.

+ One philosophy is repeatedly hammered upon, is in fact the underpinnings of the entire fictional universe: "Equivalent Exchange": "Human kind can not gain anything without first giving something in return. To obtain, something of equal value must be lost." e.g. a metal lamp must be disintegrated to transmute a dagger. Ultimately to replace a lost limb or entire body, they must be taken from someone else. [Even the energy for transmutations is found to be provided by death and destruction in the parallel (nearly real history) world] This would all be well and good if it allied exclusively to Alchemic wranglings, but the protagonists are determined to apply this thinking to everything in their lives.

This is what I think of as a 'zero sum' mentality; for someone to get richer, someone else must get poorer; every transaction in the world must sum to zero. It's somewhat akin to belief in the 'eternal return'; a cyclic universe, or world; all progress has ultimate limits and must come at the detriment of something else.

Both philosophies are inappropriate in the real world. Well, as far as we know, the laws of thermodynamics are not broken, increasing entropy means 'order' is always diminished overall (on a universal, sub-atomic level), but something for nothing is ubiquitous in everyday life: in the last couple of centuries world population has exploded exponentially, and economies appear to grow without bounds. What was destroyed for the Lord of the Rings trilogy to be conceived? Art is not spontaneously created, it is built out of existing culture, which can in turn be built upon, without apparent limit. Going deeper, all life forms evolved/emerged from pretty much nothing.

Supposedly (according to the introduction on the latter episodes) the Philosopher's Stone allows gain without loss (or, at an absolute minimum, amplified gain), but in practice it only seems to enable difficult human alchemy (like swapping soul/mind into a new body). In fact, Al uses up the entire Philosopher's stone (and thus himself) to revive Ed(only recen tly deceased) and his limbs, when it took over 9000 human lives to make the stone in the first place!....

The protagonists worry that sometimes there is loss without gain, e.g. all the candidates who worked hard for the State Alchemy exams but were not accepted. People who die for no good reason, etc. But they never consider gain without loss: Like Winrey's 'automail' creations providing equal or better function than lost limbs without equivalent loss elsewhere (let alone those things mentioned above). [Actually, at the end of the last episode, Ed does wonder why he's alive, if he traded his body and soul for Al's (i.e. something for nothing), and Al's voice over concedes that equivalent exchange doesn't apply to everything in their world.]

+ The series treats Body, Mind and Soul as separate entities. I was going to say that in practice mind and soul are not differentiated (because Ed, Al and his father's mind/soul seem to be treated as the same thing in practice), but on reflection it's actually a major plot feature of the series: the Homunculi!

Each one has the body of a corpse involved in failed human alchemy. But supposedly they have no soul, hence being indestructible; literally unable to die. It turns out they also have some access to the memories of the host's body. These have particular impact on Lust, who over the course of the series, transforms from main antagonist to tragic hero. The flashes of her past life give her a yearning to become fully human. In a way she achieves this, or at least mortality anyway, which she briefly speculates might be what she was after all along, right before she dies.

Each of the Homunculi react differently to their past memories, and all have their own motivations for seeking the creation of the Philosopher's Stone, following Dante's commands or opposing her. The series is very good in that respect: there are no mindless bad guys being evil for no good reason (just for the sake of giving the protagonists something to do).

Like many people in the world today (torn between religion and common sense), Ed and Al endure much heartache grappling with the question of mind/soul duality. Wracked with guilt over having created Sloth in the first place, Ed struggles to kill her, especially when she demonstrates she has many of his mother's memories. He insists Sloth has no soul and is not her mother. She eventually admits to agreeing with the latter (after playing mind games with him): she rejected the human memories and curses them forcing themselves upon her. An interesting reflection onpersonal identity. The homunculi do argue against Ed's assertions of soullessness, and are clearly shown to demonstrate all the behaviour and emotion expected of a regular human. The issue is never fully resolved, leaving the viewer to come to their own conclusions (if they have the mind for such meditations), making the series compliant with the religiously cautious but scientifically amenable mainstream sentiment of today.

* Anyhow, kids (and adults!) in the west would be much better off watching this calibre of cartoon, rather than more locally produced shows involving giant robots hitting each other repeatedly. There really doesn't seem to be an English language (or even European) equivalent for anime; Something flexible (and cheap) enough to be able to risk taking a plot nearly anywhere the writer/director wishes; with the scope/depth a full TV series allows. And also a big enough market for such productions, that enough are made, so some good ones are bound to come out too.

Also, it's ironic that a Japanese anime(/manga) can inform a westerner so much about his own region's history/philosophy/religion. Well, it at least it got me Wikipedia-ing a whole load of interesting culture.

==Review: Conqueror of Shamballa==

* Subs only, presumably not been aired in the US, because I know of no version with dubs yet.

* It follows on directly from the end of the series, and although far from being bad, one might well consider that the series had a much better ending. It seems somewhat like a monetarily motivated band reunion tour (or the last series of Friends), with Winry only appearing so as to turn up with a replacement arm and leg for Ed, that she knew, by omniscience, that he'd need (just because she had to be included somehow). I'm not too keen on the movie format in general, it seemed rushed, with too much prancing back and forth between parallel worlds, etc.

Likewise Dietline Eckhart; she tells Ed she is terrified by the parallel world (during their battle), which is perhaps good enough, but she seems to claim the opening of the gate, using the dragon (Envy), precipitated this fear. But she only just opened it? ... Is this a paradox, or was she actually referring to when the dragon/envy first appeared 2 years before?

* The Lance of Longinus appears again (as in Neon Genesis Evangelion), but here there are multiple lances! It's supposed to be the weapon that pierced Jesus's side in John's account of the crucifixion of Jesus, (later) named after the soldier bearing it. Oh well, artistic licence based on legend...

* The historical events of the parallel world are pretty faithful to real life: Hitler's attempted coop is foiled at the end, just as the Munich Beer Hall Putsch of 1923 in real life.

References to the Nazi uprising in Germany are of particular note, given that Japan was allied with Germany during the 2nd world war. Perhaps contemporary Japaneseharbo ur feelings of national guilt, but they also have extra incentive to demonstrate how easy it can be, for a nation ofgenerally benevolent individuals, to end up supporting a n 'evil', fascist dictatorship. There's even a brief mention that the Nazi desire [for unilateral control over surrounding lands] was inspired by certain member's visits to Japan (seeing it all ruled by a [single emperor]).

I consider this healthy introspection compared to the continued demonisation of Nazism in English speaking media; To contemplate any similarities between Nazism and one's own government is therefore taboo. This creates a dangerous blind spot. Particularly in the US, I think there is an arrogant presumption that their nation is fundamentally righteous and could not possibly be subverted. But evidence the following symmetries, highlighted in Zeitgeist (The 2007 internet movie):

+ Hitler's parliament burns down in 1933: habeas corpus (right to relief from unlawful detention) suspended, “Enabling Act” soon passed.

- After 9/11 the Bush administration pass the: “Patriot Act”. Indefinite detention of suspected terrorists without trial.

+ The invasion of Poland was justified as a pre-emptive attack (against British encirclement).

- Pre-emptive war on Iraq (based on wrong intelligence). Vietnam war starts after incorrect report of attack on US destroyers, etc.

+ Hitler announces Gestapo:

“An evil exists that threatens every man, woman and child in this great nation. We must take steps to ensure domestic security and protect our homeland.”

- 2003 Department of Homeland Security created (biggest reorganisation of security agencies since creation of CIA and NSC in 1947). And how many times did Bush Jr. use the word “evil”...

....anyhow! (I should really get around to that Zeitgeist movie follow up blog post)

* There's no hint at how Gluttony became a massive, multi-headed monstrosity, presumably it's to do with whatever transmutation Dante is attempting when stuck in the lift with him/it at the end of the series. But mostly, I guess, it makes for a cool action sequence in the movie.

* Wrath's motives seem entirely absent. Perhaps he would want to die/return to his mother beyond the gate, but I don't get why he would be so keen to help Ed return to the Amestris universe.

* The psychic girl is a contradiction with reality that seems totally unnecessary and out of place in the movie. I know alchemy isn't possible either, but that the whole premise of the fictional universe, if one starts introducing any arbitrary nonsense for no particular reason, it may as well be the Marvell comics universe, with less rhyme or reason than one's dreams.

==References looked up==

* Arakawa's Inspiration:

+ Philosopher's stone & books on alchemy.

+ 'Equivalent exchange' of farmer parent's working just for the food to live.

+ Europe during the Industrial Revolution.

* Lance of Longinus: There are in fact multiple historical artefacts going by this name. There is no record of any existing until AD 570. Current lances:

+ Vatican

+ Echmiadzin (in Armenia) – long ago lost to the Turks and may actually be the same item as is now in the Vatican.

+ Vienna: dating back to the Holy Roman Emperors (around AD 1000). This last enshrines a nail believed to have been used in the crucifixion (and indeed recently dated to the correct time). Hitler took this lance from Austria during the “Anschluss” later , the inspiration for conspiracy theories that WW2 was expressly for this purpose: “The Spear of Destiny” (1973 - by Trevor Ravenscroft).

+ Various copies were made incorporating a sliver of metal from an 'original'.

* Thule: Origin in Greek legend. A place, usually an Island, in the far north (perhaps Iceland, Greenland or Scandinavia). "Ultima Thule" in medieval geographies may also denote any distant place located beyond the "borders of the known world."

The Germanenorden (Germanic or Teutonic Order) was a secret society of neopaganism, occultism and magical philosphies, structurally similar to Freemasonry, founded 1912. They believed themselves to be the purest branch of the superior, Aryan race. Thule, Hyperborea and Atlantis were synonymous as the Aryan's ancient origin.

* Thule Society was originally a “study Group for Germanic Antiquity”, named after a Germanenorden Lodge in Munich, who's members founded and chaired the Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (DAP - German Workers' Party) in 1919. When it became the NSDAP (or Nazi party) in 1920, they resigned after contesting Hitler's growing power. Whatever the assertions of

Hitler's links to the occult, the Germanenorden, and esotericism in general, was actually suppressed in Nazi Germany under the National Socialist anti-Masonic law of 1935, and the Thule Society disbanded in 1925.

* Dietrich Eckart was (in reality) a wealthy Newspaper owner and high Nazi Party official (and coincidentally a man, unlike in Conqueror of Shamballa), to whom Hitler's “Mein Kampf” was dedicated. Believed to have taught him a number of persuasive techniques, but despite attending Thule Society meetings, he was not a member and there's no evidencehe al so passed on any occultism.

* Shambhala: In Tibetan Buddhist tradition, Shambhala is a mythical kingdom hidden somewhere in Tibet. Believed to be a society where all the inhabitants are enlightened. In Asia the name literally means: "the place of peace, of tranquillity".

The Kalachakra (a Buddhist tradition and Tantra) prophesies that when the world declines into war and greed, and all is lost, the 25th Kalki king will emerge from Shambhala with a huge army to vanquish "Dark Forces" and usher in a worldwide Golden Age (about 2424AD).

* Alchemy: is both a philosophy and a practice with an aim of achieving ultimate wisdom as well as immortality. From the Arabic al-kimia: "the art of transformation." In turn borrowed from Geek or Chinese. Chemistry was 'born' from Alchemy in the 17th century when Robert Boyle rejected Paracelsus and the old Aristotelian concepts of the elements (earth, fire, wind, water).

Paracelsus, originally Phillip von *Hohenheim* (b. 1493 Switzerland) - Medieval physician, botanist, alchemist, astrologer, and general occultist. Academically progressive,travel led a lot in the pursuit of hidden knowledge. [He's of pretty much exactly the right age to be Hohenheim Elric] Is often cited as coining the phrase "the dose makes the poison" (toxicology). Perhaps the origin of the contemporary use of the word bombastic (from hisadopted middle name, to describe his often arrogant speaking style). He extolled the "Three Primes" (elements): Sulphur, Mercury & Salt.

Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor (late 16th century), sponsored various alchemists in their work at his court in Prague. Empire continually ceded power to local princes until it's dissolution in 1806. [The H.R.Empire seems like a good basis for the fictional Amestris]

* Amestris: (Friend in Old Persian) was the wife of Xerxes I of Persia, mother of king Artaxerxes I of Persia. Her reputation is very bad among ancient Greek historians. [no connection there]

* Elric = Elrich = Eldritch = Strange or unearthly; eerie.

* Philosopher's stone: was believed to be an essential ingredient for the transmutation of lead into gold. Which is sometimes considered to be an analogy for the transmutation of the physical body (Saturn or lead) into Solar energy (gold) with the goal of attaining immortality.

* Equivalence: 1st law of Thermodynamics (conservation of energy).

* Homunculus: (Latin for "little human") generally, a representation of a human being, also alludes to a 'prime actor' (psychology). It has strong historical connections to alchemy. Carl Jung's studies of alchemy sites Visions of Zosimos (3rd Century AD) as the first reference to this concept:

Zosimos mentions encountering a man who impales him with a sword, and then undergoes "unendurable torment," his eyes become blood, he spews forth his flesh, andchan ges into "the opposite of himself, into a mutilated anthroparion, and he tore his flesh with his own teeth, and sank into himself," which is a rather grotesque personification of the Ouroboros, the dragon that bites its own tail, which represents the dyophysite [understanding of how the divine and human related in the person of Jesus Christ] nature in alchemy: the balance of two principles. [Various attributes of the FMA Humunculi can be seen here (spewing forth their red crystal life force); Arakawa probably read up on this.]

* Ouroboros:

The symbol of the FMA Humunculi (their tattoos), and what Envy turns into when he crosses the gate: a dragon/snake.

It has been important in religious, mythological and philosophical symbolism. It may actually come from Norse tradition (Jörmungandr – World Snake), also a major influence of Ariosophy (i.e. esoteria; 20^th century Germanic occultism, see above).

Frequently used in alchemical illustrations, it is/was a purifying sigil: i.e. a symbol created for a specific magical purpose, usually a complex combination of several specific symbols or geometric figures each with a specific meaning or intent.

Carl Jung saw it as the archetype [literally the origin?] and basic Mandala of alchemy. A Mandala being a concentric diagram of spiritual and ritual significance in both Buddhism and Hinduism. Jung saw Mandalas as a representation of the unconscious self, of use in identify emotional disorders and working towards wholeness in personality.

Ouroboros could be considered as the continual cycle of birth and death, a destructive loop that alchemist sought escape from, through their work. Conversely, it can depict wholeness (unity, infinity, immortality). I suppose it could represent the process of making one's psychological self: the way we all bootstrap our identity/conciousness into being, seemingly from nothing, then continually redefining that through self contemplation and the feedback loop formed by our actions and their consequences on us.

It is synonymous with the 'eternal return', courtesy of Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900). I remember Frank J Tippler writing of the diabolical misappropriation of Nietzsche ideas, on this subject, by the Nazi party, in his “The Physics of Immortality” (a seminal book for me). He quotes Nietzsche: “the goal of humanity cannot lie in the end” “but only in it's highest specimens”. Genuine belief in an eternal return (where one can only be immortal in the sense that one is fated to repeat the exact same life again and again) might seem to help justify eugenics, even genocide if it is to create a transcendent race of mankind; the loftiest of goals. Thus this concept can be considered evil. However, I strongly suspect that Hitler's genocidal ambitions came before the incorporation of this philosophy into Nazi rhetoric (if indeed it was officially adopted). Also, Nietzsche's writings are, overall, very open to interpretation, so will have been selectively revisioned to work as Nazi propaganda (as with most everything under that regime).

* Dante: Alighieri

His main work - The Divine Comedy (1308) Explores the Christian afterlife, from the point of view of the Western Church, in the medieval world. The episode title "Dante of the Deep Forest" describes the character's home but is also a direct reference to the first tercetof D ante's Inferno (1st part of 3 of the Divine Comedy).

He was on the side of the Papacy, against the Holy Roman Empire (Guelph-Ghibelline conflict). This is probably why the FMA character Dante appears to be Christian: using a church as an entrance to her super-villain base in the lost city under Amestris, and quite probably being responsible for naming the Humunculi after the deadly sins. With Hohenheim of Light's namesake (Paracelsus) having lived within the Holy Roman Empire (albeit centuries later), the battle between the to aged characters (who were lovers 400 years past), can be viewed as further allegory with real history.

On: Neon Genesis Evangelion

The series starts out looking like it's a shallow minded mega-mecha romp, catering to a Japanese obsession with giant humanoid robots. Only a few subtle pointers suggest otherwise: some non-linear story telling, and a focus on paralysing psychological problems on a part of the main character.

Pay attention to the details that flash past in the lengthy titles if you want some early clues about things. The title music is a purpose written, cheesy, Japanese synth-heavy song (with often indecipherable translation), and the outros are (sometimes amusingly) different versions of “Fly Me to the Moon” in 'Engrish'.

The "Eva" mecha things, each piloted by specific kids, blunder through 1 battle per episode, each against a unique "Angel". It begins to get formulaic; a cross between that awful 70s TV sci-fi "UFO" and Zoids. The whole set up seems pretty arbitrary and silly in many ways. But hidden depths are slowly revealed, until, by mid series, the episodes undergo a phase change, to earnest plot development.

There are no explicit explanations by the end; the last 2 episodes are almost entirely a surrealistic exploration inside the psyche of the main character(s) mind(s). Considering, at length, the meaning of personal existence and the identity, finally resolving into acceptance and connection/merging will all other character[']s [minds/souls]. This is the Human Instrumentality Project, that has apparently been the mysterious goal of the powers that be all along.

Religion:

There's many Judea-Christian references throughout, mostly symbolic to start with, then more explicit and apocrypha (outside of modern Biblical Cannon) as the plot progresses. The Dead Sea Scrolls predicting Angel attacks (and more), the Eva's being clones of Adam (not robots at all) and humans being referred to as Lilims (i.e. from Judaism: Daughters of Lilith (Adam's first wife) and the Angle of death)... Christianity represents only 1% of Japan's population, so all these references are, I suppose, a mirror of the western portrayal of Eastern Mysticism: exotic, strange and scary.

Sexuality:

Part of the popularity of this series is, I imagine, that 3 of the 4 main characters are attractively drawn females, 2 of which/whom are about 15 years old. These could be murky waters to tread, but I think it's covered artfully, tastefully and realistically. Certainly the earlier episodes do offer a serving of titillation from the self-consciously sexy “Misato” (adult), but this is all part of lulling the viewer into a false sense of security, later broken as the depths of this character out. “Asuka” is a fiery girl desperately hung up on, and continually offering her body to, an older guy, to no avail. “Rei” is the quiet enigma (and prime selling merchandise figure), a total loner. Will she eventually fall into Shinji's arms, or perhaps turn out to be his sister (Starwars Style)? The closer she's inspected, the odder she seems: caring less about Shinji accidentally falling on her naked body, than the safety of a pair of broken spectacles. All nudity is purposeful and tasteful (unrealistically so, with nipples sometimes absent).

Shinji's orientation is a little ambiguous: he appears to lust after each of the female leads at some point. But “Kaworu” turns up towards the end, a charismatic boy who invites him to sit and talk naked in the showers, later holding his hand, then saying he loves him... I think Shinji is just relieved to find someone he can talk to and trust. And Kaworu saying “I think I was born to meet you” is clearly more about the fate of the world, given that he's an Angel and all.

Future Technology Compliance:

It seems like a complete failure at first: IRL we're 6 years from the primary setting (2015), and there's no sign of gigantic robot warriors, or sky scrapers that can be lowered into a subterranean abyss (leave alone “2nd impact” that happens in 2000). But given that the Eva's aren't actually mecha, but rather supernaturally derived entities essential to the core of the plot, this is excusable. Also, the enormous underground (lost world style) cavern, is implied to have been a [divine] creation (probably 1st impact; where Lilith, the 2nd angle usurped Adam, and gave birth to the human race, according to Wikipedia), and the city has been planned from scratch as a defendable fortress.

The near-future time-line being so close to the creation of the series (1995), presumably came about because it was so tempting to tie in the “2nd Impact” with the turn of the millennium, associated with a 2nd coming of Christ. Also, the plot relies heavily on having post pubescent child pilots, so that sets the main time frame at 14-15 years after 2nd impact: 2015. So not just arbitrary use of artist licence there.

On predicting everyday tech (in 2015) the series does OK (on balance), though perhaps it didn't bother at all, and that's just what *Japan* was like in 1995 (being so ahead of us): there's a total lack of flat screen desktop computer monitors, and “Shinji” (main character) continually listens to a cassette walkman. But the kids do all use little laptops in school, and the infrastructure of society (transport, electricity, most buildings, construction engineering) seems down to earth and sound enough (apart from a few niggles, like how exactly entire, massive Eva units are recovered from from smoking wrecks, out in the field).

Mobile phones are almost common enough, but there's no particular signs of Internet (in stark contrast to the anime film "Ghost in the Shell" from the same year), with heavy reliance on traditional voice only communications: answer machines and such. This is feasible, and anyway ties in with portraying aspects of emotion/psychology during certain events.

In fact, psychology is arguably the main theme of the series; all 4 main characters have enormous difficulties with self worth, identity and/or social interactions. (apparently resulting from writer/director Hideaki Anno's previous major depression.) These problems are impossible to ignore, when watching the series, getting frustrating almost to the point of annoyance (that the charters just can't console each other, or even get along civilly in the face of annihilation!). But there's undisputedly a beauty to the darkness, particularly with “Asuka” going from super-confident, bossy, show-off down an unrelenting spiral as her ego unravels towards suicide.

Again, in contrast to GITS, there is no (strong) AI, instead there are a trio of massive super computers based around biological brains, copied from an existing human. Even the “dummy plugs” (to control the Eva's without a pilot) turn out to be have been driven by soul-less clones of “Rei”. (Though it's far from clear on exactly what was supposed it going on there.)

There was super intelligence though; the ultimate goal of (the illuminate esq) “Seele” and the conclusion of the series: the “Human Instrumentation[/Complementation] Project” appears to be the merging of (all) human minds/souls into one, heavenly mind. There doesn't appear to be any physical method for this, purely the metaphysics the series is predicated on: breaking down of inter-personal AT fields, that boarder and protect human (and apparently angel) souls, allowing a merging referred to as the next stage of “evolution” and a return to the “primordial soup” (by far the worst mincing of science in the whole franchise...eww!).

Apart from this metaphysical silliness and the pseudo-religious references (to some extent), I quite like their definition of self: formed and shaped by interaction with others and self. Episode 25 and 26 even seem to feature versions of other characters that exist within the mind/soul of Shinji in a way reminiscent of Douglas Hofstadter's “I am a Strange Loop” (perhaps Hideaki Anno was influenced by "Godel Escher and Bach"); little doll-like personality simulations, in one's brain, that can be considered themselves to be little souls.

* Death and Rebirth

It may seem to be a summary of the series, but that's an impossible task to fit a 1 hour format. Instead it mostly just flushes out the main characters a little in readiness for the End of Evangelion movie. It almost exclusively uses footage from the original series, but in very short clips, flashing back and forth anachronistically. The result is a completely different beast to the series; simply being no time to explore the subtle development of the expansive emotional landscape of, loneliness, fear, anger and small reconciliations (that mean so much when they eventually come). Instead an impression of frantic adventure comes across. For example: among the rapid fire of clips, there is an indulgence in including the long silence, in the lift, between Rei and Asuka, which hints at the nature of the series, but I think it misses it's mark here, it's too incongruous, there wasn't the necessary context to appreciate it's emotional depth.

It might serve as a good reminder for those who've seen the whole series a while ago, but I'd imagine that naive viewers would get no idea of the chronology of events, it seems to me that it would be impossible to tell what had happened at all, even confusing which characters were being shown at times (e.g. it kinda looks like Misato accidentally goes back to bed next to Shinji, not Asuka). There is no mystery or build up to revelations, certainly there is no time for the false sense of situational stasis characterising the first half of the series.

* End of Evangelion

There is a blatant disconnect between the end of Episode 24, and the (controversial) mysterious ending, which is basically a dream sequence, explaining nothing. There's brief imagery that suggests both Misato and Ritsuko have been shot, but that's about it. Apparently Hideaki Anno was unable to finish the series to his satisfaction, due to practical limitations put upon him. There's even some imagery in the episode's title sequence that only later turns up in this 2 hour movie (e.g. Unit01 unfurling it's yellow wing things). Part 1 fills much of that gap with an emotional-roller-coaster-come-meat-grinder of solid events and a genuinely spine-tingling battle.

Be warned, if you've watch (and enjoyed) the whole series, you're about to see everything ripped, painfully to shreds with great style and tragic finesse. At the intermission we're left wondering if Shinji's about to kick some serious arse in an apocalyptic looking Unit01?... Part 2 holds no such promise, it's purely the final lament towards Armageddon (and beyond) that's been inevitable since the beginning. The Lilith/Rei goddess is (re)born very stylishly, supernatural essences merge, and the fate of humanity rests entirely in the mind of a boy who's gone way past post traumatic stress disorder, into the realms of crippling psychosis.

This was a brave ending: an epic tragedy, done the way only anime does (I've not seen a Hollywood blockbuster dare to *actually* go through with ending the world!). The fact that the series *has* an ending, and was indeed written to be a discrete (but comprehensive) statement, gives it major kudos with me. I'm not very keen on the use of real world footage towards the end (it kind of breaks the '4th wall'), but that was probably just to help really bring his message home...

“Human souls create their own bodies.”... etc, is clearly a crock of shit if taken literally. I doubt it's meant to be. “Imagination and creative power will create the future for us, and the flow of time.” Is something I believe in; our future is primarily shaped by our desires, which are only limited by our imaginations, the Singularity cometh and these will be realised, and so on. But, I reckon Hideaki Anno sees his work more philosophically as a metaphor for every-day social interaction between people; their inherent loneliness; a built in incompleteness. And probably an examination of personal difficulties he's had; the recurrent theme of running away, deliberate isolation from fear of being hurt; translates to the ultimate defensive technology: the “AT field” standing for “Absolute Terror”; the intangible boundary between minds (AKA souls), that may seem impenetrable to any possible exertions, when one's clinically depressed, has some other mental illness, or is just alive. Neon Genesis Evangelion is an olive branch extended to the world.

Variably imutable rules

Re: "Never say Always" - New Scientist (23/sept/2006-p31)

The main idea communicated in this long article seems to be: how can we be sure that any 'laws' of physics are true in eternity? Therefore the implicitly accepted notion, that physics can and is working towards actual, fundamental laws that govern everything at all times, may be flawed. Perhaps a setup which more closely mirrors evolution of life will turn out more appropriate (though, quite how this would work is not discussed).

Personally, i think this idea seems quite powerful. It has at least helped me to question the validity of my perceptions ultimate theories. Good, as doubt is always appropriate in my opinion. I felt that the current form of physics seems messy, incomplete and sometimes unnecessary throughout my BSc at Nottingham (though, that could be biased by my apparent inability to latch on to what was being taught - memorisation of abstract maths formulas coming from unclear and mostly arbitrary derivation, so it seemed). Evolution, however, is clearly evident and powerfully simple!

A concept of physical laws being evolved is forwarded. The physics laws we currently experience would then be equivalent to the 'law' of sexual selection, or such like, in a parallel to natural selection. Here, the matter in the universe would interact and determine the course and nature of the evolution of the physical laws that in turn govern it's behaviour. The Stumbling block that is brought up several times in the article, but never resolved, is the question of what laws then govern the evolution of the laws themselves?!...

Like asking: what came before the big bang? What caused it?! This my be an out of context question, that appears to flaw the idea, but only because it come from certain working assumptions of human minds that are not appropriate. I.e. there was no 'before' the 'Big Bang' as time was created at that time also.