Bonus blog post! Because why not. May as well strike while the iron’s hot.
After I got a surprising amount of traffic from rationalists on Reddit and HPMoR, pointing out that my story is quite rationalist, I looked into it a bit. I’ve never really dug into any major -isms, but I have coincidentally landed in a few -ism camps over the years. And… yeah. I can see that, with this one.
“But Stefan,” you say, after breaking into my house and holding me at gunpoint, “There’s so much unexplainable magic in your story, with all the reality warping going on and the mysterious origin of how the City got started in the first place. There’s no deduction going on to determine the nature of things. How is this rational?”
“I think the important distinction is that while there’s a lot we don’t know yet about the City of Angles, it is somewhere in there to know and be known,” I reply, escaping from my bonds and wrestling for the gun with you in a dramatic action sequence. “There is an explanation for everything in the series. Whether or not the characters learn it, I know it, and I’m trying to keep true to the mechanics of how these things work.”
Will there ultimately be a vast and unknowable mystery at the end? Very likely. I like to believe that once you dig past a layer of secrets, you find… another layer of secrets. It’s turtles all the way down, and you may never reach the core. Humanity may never reach the core in its lifetime, before burning out as a species.
But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t dig, because each layer you break through improves you and improves humanity as a whole. Even if you never reach the core, the deeper one goes in understanding the universe, the better. What’s at the core? Is it a mathematical equation? Is it God? Is it nothing? We may find out, we may never find out, but that doesn’t negate the quest itself. Learn everything. Understand everything.
I think this holds true in all of my stories. There’s a reason for everything, and the journey of discovery is a path for discovery of one’s self as well as discovery of the world around you. Hopefully my writing spurs on your own thinking. And if not, hey, there’s some wacky jokes and puns to enjoy along the way.
The rationalist link links to rationalism not rationality, huge difference between the two.
Yeah, I’m definitely not an expert. But, I appreciate rationality all the same.
One of the catchphrases LessWrong uses is “your strength as a rationalist is your ability to be more confused by fiction than reality.” “Rationalist fiction” is the inverse, more or less: fiction that tries to be no more confusing than reality. Which is a pretty solid rule to follow anyway; suspend the reader’s disbelief, but not one inch more than necessary to tell your story.
And that’s definitely a strong point of City of Angles. The people feel like people acting intelligently.
I prefer settings which don’t defy common sense, even if they’re surreal in nature. Like, it’s pushing credibility to have a super powerful ultra tech empire that for some reason needs coal mining slave labor and keeps them from rebelling by forcing their kids to murder each other on television which of course can’t possibly encourage them to rise up in anger against the state. I mean, that sort of absurd premise could never sell billions of copies.
And considering that that premise hinges on us accepting the idea that this population of people have tolerated 70 years of this kid-murdering system…
If this hypothetical author were to then try to undercut his/her own core required premise with “oh but actually then they totally rebel after all, they finally got around to bothering”… Surely that would never sell billions of sequels, either.
And for related concepts I think apply well to your stories, see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humanism
and even http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secular_humanism
What I’ve always liked about your books is that even though there frequently IS magic, it is always tied into some preset of the fantasy universe, and it can typically be studied scientifically (like Emily in Anachronauts.)
Though there are some instinctive magic-users (Mallory in UE) — in the end we find there’s a reason for that, too.
Even in Anachronauts where you had a “religion is true… sort of” faction, it’s not a trump card that just solves everything. Magic/religion are never, ever so convenient in your story universes.
So, rationalism… yes, very much so! The characters typically come to realize through rational thought and gathering evidence/experiences that their original assumptions about the nature of their universe were wrong.
In fact, wouldn’t you say this is pretty much always true in your stories?
— People with the mental flexibility to adjust their world views to incorporate strange new information/people find success and happiness. (Particularly if they are prosocial.)
— People who refuse to adapt their understanding or mindset, who maintain a determination to continue fighting old feuds, or who make antisocial power grabs… they all end up getting themselves destroyed as a direct result.
So arguably the Aesop in all your stories is “Don’t be an idiot or a jerk.” ;)
Truly, Wheaton’s Law is a powerful thing. And yes, full agreement. My stories focus on those who are willing to adapt, grow, and embrace others.