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A review by smuuti
The Best of Subterranean by William Schafer
5.0
A touching narrative of (again) a great idea.
I don't know how Ted Chiang keeps doing it but I keep falling in love with the ideas that blossom inside the stories he has written.
While the Black Mirror episode "The Entire History of You" offered a grave future of what might happen should this be apart of our future, [b:The Truth of Fact, the Truth of Feeling|18455800|The Truth of Fact, the Truth of Feeling|Ted Chiang|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1420140821s/18455800.jpg|26103616] offers a less extreme one, a delicate one even.
For a long time I have dismissed the past as something that doesn't matter when judging a person. People change and every single one of us goes through multiple transformations during our entire lives. I certainly know that I have changed my core - the ultimate reason why I do anything, the deepest framework on which all other values and morals depend on - and while replacing that, I have, in essence, changed the entirety of me. In doing that, I have wished for other people to forget the past me and start anew. But I can't change much of other people, instead I can change how I think about people and therefore I adopted the idea that the past doesn't matter, the person could have and most likely has changed aka the past must be forgotten as fast as possible (AFTER learning from it!).
The idea in this story runs contrary to that. It depicts a future, where the the past can't be forgotten. Where old wounds can continue to hurt and old memories of happiness can easily crumple. It has also made me think that maybe the past is not such an enemy after all, that it's counterproductive to exclude it's influence from decision making. To be fair, that rule was only relevant when dealing with individuals: I had felt that every single person I meet deserved a second chance and deserved to have a new life. No more! :D I now know that the extent of what can be learned from past experiences is a lot greater than what I'd have guessed. A bad experience can have something to teach me even after many years, even long after it's actual relevance.
So, when the past won't be forgotten, what happens to people? What happens to change? Well, I think the change is still there, but it doesn't work like I thought it would. There is no core that gets replaced and brings about the change of everything within. It's more like we grow more and more layers on top of everything old, and while the new stuff is active most of the time, the old ideas just need certain triggers to become ruling again.
I love ideas that change the way I see the world and that's why I loved this book.
We rewrite our pasts to suit our needs and support the story we tell about ourselves. With our memories we are all guilty of a Whig interpretation of our personal histories, seeing our former selves as steps toward our glorious present selves.
I don't know how Ted Chiang keeps doing it but I keep falling in love with the ideas that blossom inside the stories he has written.
While the Black Mirror episode "The Entire History of You" offered a grave future of what might happen should this be apart of our future, [b:The Truth of Fact, the Truth of Feeling|18455800|The Truth of Fact, the Truth of Feeling|Ted Chiang|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1420140821s/18455800.jpg|26103616] offers a less extreme one, a delicate one even.
For a long time I have dismissed the past as something that doesn't matter when judging a person. People change and every single one of us goes through multiple transformations during our entire lives. I certainly know that I have changed my core - the ultimate reason why I do anything, the deepest framework on which all other values and morals depend on - and while replacing that, I have, in essence, changed the entirety of me. In doing that, I have wished for other people to forget the past me and start anew. But I can't change much of other people, instead I can change how I think about people and therefore I adopted the idea that the past doesn't matter, the person could have and most likely has changed aka the past must be forgotten as fast as possible (AFTER learning from it!).
The idea in this story runs contrary to that. It depicts a future, where the the past can't be forgotten. Where old wounds can continue to hurt and old memories of happiness can easily crumple. It has also made me think that maybe the past is not such an enemy after all, that it's counterproductive to exclude it's influence from decision making. To be fair, that rule was only relevant when dealing with individuals: I had felt that every single person I meet deserved a second chance and deserved to have a new life. No more! :D I now know that the extent of what can be learned from past experiences is a lot greater than what I'd have guessed. A bad experience can have something to teach me even after many years, even long after it's actual relevance.
So, when the past won't be forgotten, what happens to people? What happens to change? Well, I think the change is still there, but it doesn't work like I thought it would. There is no core that gets replaced and brings about the change of everything within. It's more like we grow more and more layers on top of everything old, and while the new stuff is active most of the time, the old ideas just need certain triggers to become ruling again.
I love ideas that change the way I see the world and that's why I loved this book.