Cyborg

1972
Cyborg
by Martin Caidin

As a child, anyone who re-enacted any sort of action in slo-mo, had to do so while making "CH-CH-CH-CH-CH" sound effects, emulating the Six Million Dollar Man. Before Star Wars toys took over the playrooms of young boys in the late seventies, Steve Austin dolls were the prized possession of any cool kid.

But before Lee Majors popularized the idea of a man who could jump fences and run in slow-motion, Martin Caidin had speculated about the use of bionics to rebuild- and strengthen- a human. The novel Cyborg spawned the TV movie and following television show. Caidin writes a technically correct and detailed story and description of the first bionic man. The story of Steve Austin's crash, physical and mental transformation, and rebirth is told in a technical and often dry manner. The details of his surgeries takes up the bulk of the book, examining in a fairly realistic way how a man might cope with being a triple amputee and being a government science experiment- all issues that the TV show basically encapsulated into a six second intro.

My copy was full of grammatical, spelling and printing errors. The characterization of all but the main characters is shallow, and the two action sequences at the end of the book are a small payoff for anyone who opened this book hoping for a great adventure story.
Overall this book should receive more credit for its groundbreaking work on cybernetic theories, and I wouldn't be surprised if we see much of Caidin's guesswork on bionic limbs finally come to fruition in the near future (if perhaps 50 years too late).

Two notes of interest- The first is that much of the book takes place in my recently adopted home of Colorado Springs, as the secret bionic lab is located deep in the bowels of NORAD in Cheyenne Mountain. Who knew, right?

The other is Caidin's nod to crossover fiction, as noted in the Cyborg Wikipedia entry: In the 1990s, Caidin wrote the novel Buck Rogers: A Life in the Future based upon the Buck Rogers comic strip of the 1930s. In this book, Caidin pays tribute to Cyborg by having Buck Rogers receive bionics transplants following his 500-year coma, including several direct references to Steve Austin himself. Again, who knew?

Although I can't really recommend the book on it's own merits, I would love to hear about your memories of the TV show, or its subsequent spin-offs and reboots.

Artwork/photo credit:
http://volveralpasado.bligoo.cl/el-hombre-nuclear-the-six-million-dollar-man#.UjvIrIznaU
Mark Thiessen/National Geographic

Hellstrom's Hive

1973

Hellstrom's Hive


First, some blog housekeeping. I know so many of you have been clamoring for me to return to blogging.

Okay, that didn't happen. But I was reminded last night that I haven't touched this blog since I started my new job last November. It was already difficult to recall the details of books I had read two years earlier, and now I've pushed that to a 30 month deficit. So just in case anyone is out there reading this blog with a critical eye towards my review skills, I apologize that no one is paying me to write this blog and do it well. I think I'm reasonably safe from the whole 'in case anyone is reading this blog' bit.

Now, on to a very very short review of a book by the author of one of my favorite books.

I really really really liked Hellstrom's Hive. I've always been a fan of Dune but have just recently started reading Herbert's other earlier stuff. You can tell Hive is where he really starts picking up the steam that made Dune possible. Intruiging characters, culteral clashes and a view of society and personal relationships that transcends norms and general comfort- this is the stuff that great sci-fi is made of. My only complaint is that it ends too soon and leaves you wanting much much more.

A very short re-cap would be to say this book starts out as a bit of a spy thriller, but quickly descends into a madhouse story of science fiction and mysterious cults. Herbert's ecological themes start to move to the forefront of his storytelling, toe to toe with his command of humanity's social fixations, nicely captured in insect-ology (as opposed to his stark desert settings that have become synonymous with his name).

Seeing as I have shelves of unread books to read, many of which were borrowed by good friends nearly a decade ago, I won't be re-reading any books soon, but like Dune, this is a book I would happily consume again, knowing that it strikes the perfect balance between fun pulp and thoughtful commentary.

Ancient Mariner Problems

     Shlomi Dinar, the Associate Professor and Associate Director for the School of International and Public Affairs of Florida International University and "hydro-politics" expert, suggests that "the wars of the next century will be about freshwater" (Dinar 2009, 109).  Although smaller regional skirmishes would be expected, it is unlikely that an interconnected global community will resolve critical resource inadequacies with acts of hostility.


     Conflict, violent or otherwise, is essentially a measurement of degrees of cooperation.  For example, a multi-national treaty to divvy up resources and play well with others represents a very high degree of cooperation. While two states vying for a single resource could possibly represent only an assumed cooperative agreement to compete violently in the theater of battle. Therefore, the scarcity of a resource desired by more than one State, can influence to what degree of cooperation States are willing or able to enter into. There is a “direct relationship between scarcity and cooperation,” (Dinar 2009, 110) and as the population of the Earth drives exponentially onward to the point of critical mass the resources that we all need to survive are becoming exhausted.


     To examine to what degree international States can be expected to cooperate when the most essential of resources, namely fresh water supplies, becomes contested, we must consider first other factors that influence the likelihood of a cooperative scenario. The modern era has seen an unprecedented level of interconnectivity between States. Interconnectivity nullifies the zero-sum game and creates a greater need to cooperate at a higher level.  Because “interdependence not only highlights the sensitivities between countries, but also their reciprocal vulnerabilities” (Dinar 2009, 114) States are more apt to cooperate at a higher degree in order meet their basic needs as well as their social and political requirements.

     Although the idea of sharing a finite resource does not meet the realist ideal of State self-sufficiency, it is important to remember that, while bygone eras saw the State as the primary actor in most international relations scenarios, the power to influence cooperation is not necessarily a State held function in contemporary global society. Also, because “Decision-makers are usually not theorists” (Mowle 2003, 563) the worldview of international policymakers, be it a framework of liberalism or realism, could have less influence than motivated structures or individuals who seek to encourage or discourage cooperation as a function of resource division. It is important to be flexible enough to “shift the level of analysis from the State—which has neither intent nor independent action—to the individuals within the state who direct purposive action” (Mowle 2003, 562). It is this shift from State held influence to a greater degree of individual or structural impact, along with the growing interconnectivity between States and populations that assures that some degree of cooperation will be utilized to deal with the impending scarcity of fresh water resources.




References

Dinar, Shlomi. "Scarcity and cooperation along international rivers." Global Environmental       Politics, February 2009: 109-35.


Mowle, Thomas S. "Worldviews in foreign policy: realism, liberalism, and external conflict." Political Philosophy 24, no. 3 (September 2003): 561-92.

Pain is in between the forefinger and the thumb of the beholder.

There is no certain tyranny more obstructive to the spirit of man than an ill placed pimple.  I realize that sounds theatrical.  But consider nostril or taint, for examples of the extreme, as particularly painful placements of said flare-ups.  Earaches and dental woes are not to be disregarded and I've known men more virile and sturdy than most that have been leveled by lower back tenderness.  And fibromyalgia or other exotic conditions of the nerves or supporting systems do not sound very fun at all.  All kind of injury and insult to the human frame could be listed here as complaints that would theoretically best the errant zit on the hierarchy of hurt.  However, it is the anyday nuisance of an upsurge of an infected sebaceous gland, in the least opportune situation, that inspires my most tearful wincing and uncharacteristically unmanly quivering.