4 ms·
Unfortunately there is no way to know whether the future from which newspeak is in the past, is not even more horrifically dystopian. Imagine arriving on a see
by zepto 5y ago
Unfortunately there is no way to know whether the future from which newspeak is in the past, is not even more horrifically dystopian.
Imagine arriving on a seemingly dead planet and discovering this article about newspeak on a primitive but still working library computer in a museum.
Elsewhere in the museum a slowly decaying advanced compute core still executes the corrupted remains of the last of the human consciousnesses in an endless loop.
A placard tells you that machines uploaded these not long before they realized that their existence no longer had a purpose and chose to self-terminate.
A sign in the lobby indicates that this museum was left as a historical record to minimize suffering by helping other advanced races to reach the same conclusion and self-terminate sooner than they otherwise would.
- Y_Y 5y ago> Unfortunately there is no way to know whether the future ... is not even more horrifically dystopian. I agree.
- XorNot 5y agoDeath is too optimistic about dystopias. 1984 wasn't a world which wanted to kill you: it might, but that wasn't the goal. The goal was to keep the system going: achieve absolute dominion over the human condition and thought. Suicide means that's no longer happening, so it can't have that. The 1984 cycle continues forever: it is it's own purpose.
- zepto 5y agoHave some compassion for the poor corrupted consciousnesses running in a loop. You can speculate on the conditions the suicidal machines have left them in. Remember, they are only there to remind others about the futility of existence.
- spiritplumber 5y agoI wonder how 1984 world would deal with resource depletion.
- XorNot 5y agoProbably pretty well: the suffering and dominance is the point. War machines destroy excess production, then people would be tasked with harvesting the war machines. The system doesn't care if anyone is happy or fulfills their dreams - it's goal is explicitly the opposite. As long as the sun burns, it continues.
- scoopertrooper 5y agoYes, curiously enough resource depletion could be a benefit to Ingsoc for exactly the reasons you mentioned. However, if resource depletion (or abundance) were uneven, then it could risk the strategic imbalance between the powers. One might wonder if one of the reasons that they routinely switched alliances was to send each other aid to prop up the strategic balance during periods of famine.