Yet another part of Kim Stanley Robinson's wonderful Mars Trilogy is now a reality.
posted by freebird on Jul 23, 2003 - 17 comments

The System Administrator's Guild demonstrates true geek wisdom in governence. Like the scientist-intellectual class in Kim Stanley Robinson's epic Mars Trilogy, the members of this Guild elect volunteer leaders to fulfill the group's administrative functions. Robinson's democratic fantasy land--where there are no real politicians--is often overshadowed by the sheer scientific whiz-bang wonderment of his novels. The trilogy is great not for its descriptions of space elevators and artificial gravity but rather because it is a fine example of Feministische phantastische-utopische Literatur and represents insightful social commentary. It even has its own little world-wide subculture, whose members most hopefully sit around and fantasize about how a newly-habitable world--made possible by the genius of the human mind and the skill of human hands--is politically, socially, economically, spiritually and environmentally shaped by the powerful and influential "First Hundred". Although the Sysadmin Guild's most recent executive board election showed a relatively poor voter turnout--touted on the site to be a "very high" 28.5%--I can't help but think they may be on to something. Perhaps a healthy disinterest in ruling and wielding power would be good back here on Earth [NYT].
posted by Hammerikaner on Jan 8, 2003 - 4 comments