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Sitaram · Site Admin Joined: 14 Sep 2005 Posts: 1079

http://toosmallforsupernova.org/page046.htm

Spielberg's movie, "A.I.", is based on a screen story by Ian Watson
and the short story by acclaimed science fiction writer Brian Aldiss.
Click here Click here for complete text of short story.

The above link appears to be the entire short story by Brian Aldiss.

I loved the movie! The story really came alive for me when an
acquaintance pointed out that, just possibly, Teddy (the robotic toy
bear), was seeking love and recognition from David (the robotic boy)
in the same fashion that David sought it from his human adoptive
parent, Monica.

What is also fascinating for me, is that "Monica" is the name of
Augustine's mother, who lead him to Christianity. It is one thing to
be "lead," but quite another to be "lead on." In "A.I.", the quest
for the "holy grail" of Mommy's love leads David onward and upward in
a fashion similar to the way that Dante is lead onward and upward by
the "holy grail" of Beatrice.

Look at this one unbelievably powerful line from that short story by
Aldiss:

An overcrowded world is the ideal place in which to be lonely.
I marvel that there can be such power in one sentence, or one word,
or one name.

We tap into such wellsprings of power when we point to some hidden
place with the magic wand of allusion. Yet, if that wand is used too
frequently, or falls into inept hands, then that wellspring stales to
a hackneyed puddle.

Allusion becomes Illusion as we create a fictive alternate universe;
a world in which we rule and things happen.

Take a video camera and walk around your home or office, or a park,
shooting, and then view the tape. What do you notice? The first time
I used a video camera in the late 1980's, I noticed that nothing was
happening. We are so conditioned by fiction and film to behold
constant action, drama, tension of psychodynamics between larger than
life personas. But in our home movie, all is quiet; nothing happens.
It is strangely relaxing and peaceful to sit and watch nothing
happening as the camera pans about a room, zooming in on objects,
dwelling for a moment, and then moving on like some bee in a
petrified garden.

Nothing ever happens (except for the occasional tsunami or volcano,
which is nature's drama). Nothing ever happens unless we make it
happen with our minds, in our minds.

Evil writes the best scripts! Literature owes quite a debt to the
devil. Milton has Satan say, "Evil, be thou my good." The final page
of a certain revealed scripture speaks of God as "a refuge from the
evil of the sneaking one who whispers in the hearts of men;" a
scripture which describes itself as "a guidance to those who ward off
evil." Without the devil and evil, what is the value of a charm to
ward off evil?

There is a joke about a man who meets God, and God offers to reward
him any one request. The man requests to see what heaven and hell are
like. First God take him to hell. He sees an infinitely long, narrow,
table, with people seated on either side, facing one another across
the table. Each person has ridiculously long spoons permanently
affixed to their hands. The table is set with the most delicious
dishes of food. The starving banqueters are eternally frustrated as
they try in vain to reach the plate set before them with a spoon that
is too long. Next, God whisks our spectator away to heaven. His eyes
widen and his mouth drops open as he beholds THE EXACT SAME SCENE of an infinitely long, narrow table, and people with long spoons affixed
to their hands. But all the people in this scene are happy and
smiling, for each has learned that, though the long spoon is too long
to reach the plate set before them, yet that same long spoon is just
long enough to reach the plate of the person opposite, and to spoon
some food into that neighbor's mouth. So everyone in heaven is
cooperating and feeding each other. But notice, same scene, same long
spoons, same predicament. The difference lies in the characters of
the captives and their attitude towards others.

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