{"id":901,"date":"2019-08-30T13:55:57","date_gmt":"2019-08-30T18:55:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lfs.org\/blog\/?p=901"},"modified":"2019-09-06T08:28:51","modified_gmt":"2019-09-06T13:28:51","slug":"championing-cooperation-over-coercion-a-tor-com-survey-of-some-of-the-most-intriguing-sf-fantasy-that-finds-alternatives-to-violence-as-the-plot-solution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/championing-cooperation-over-coercion-a-tor-com-survey-of-some-of-the-most-intriguing-sf-fantasy-that-finds-alternatives-to-violence-as-the-plot-solution\/","title":{"rendered":"Championing cooperation over coercion: A Tor.com survey of some of the most intriguing sf, fantasy that finds alternatives to violence as the plot solution"},"content":{"rendered":"

Libertarian futurists champion peaceful, non-violent behavior over acts of aggression, whether committed by individuals, groups or governments.
\nIn fact, modern libertarian political philosophy is based on the principle of non-aggression \u2013 coupled with self-ownership (and self-defense against aggression) as the core of property rights, the strongest and most practical base for all human rights, properly understood.
\nSo it\u2019s fascinating to read science fiction and fantasy that explores such themes.
\nIn the latest issue of Tor.com, writer James Davis Nicoll surveys the sf\/fantasy literature and offers several examples of works that fit that focus in \u201cSFF Works In Which Violence is Not the Solution.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n


\nPartly because most of his selections lean toward fantasy, and more recent works at that, few libertarian sf fans may be familiar with his list.
\nSince hard-sf writers Jerry Pournelle and Larry Niven won the 1992 Prometheus Award for Best Novel for co-authoring Fallen Angels<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>(with Michael Flynn), LFS members may be more familiar with Nicoll\u2019s highlighting of Pournelle\u2019s and Niven\u2019s The Mote in God\u2019s Eye<\/em>, a gripping and epic dangerous-first-contact saga focused on the seemingly unavoidable prospect of interstellar war.
\nNicoll writes: \u201cIt was an unexpected plot twist that the Empire of Man, though capable of turning whole worlds into parking lots, didn\u2019t incinerate the dangerous alien Moties. The Empire settled for a solution (well, perhaps \u201cresponse\u201d is more apt)\u2026 a response that kicked the can down the road in the hope that a non-genocidal solution might be found.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nAmong the most intriguing unfamiliar titles (at least, to me) that Nicoll highlights is Adrian Tchaikovsky\u2019s Children of Times series, which includes Children of Time\u00a0<\/em>(TOR Books, 2015) and its sequel Children of Ruin\u00a0<\/em><\/a>(TOR, May 2019).
\nAccording to Nicholl, the novels feature two terraforming projects that create worlds populated by alien life that humans might find disturbing because they resemble Earth species that often trigger human phobias.
\nFrom Nicoll\u2019s description, at least, the latter 2019 novel \u2013 eligible for consideration for this year\u2019s Prometheus Award for Best Novel \u2013 may have some libertarian potential because of his aliens:
\n\u201cThe planet of the intelligent spiders featured in\u00a0Time<\/em>\u00a0is bad enough.\u00a0 Ruin\u00a0<\/em>offers not just a civilization of anarchistic octopuses, but true aliens straight out of Who Goes There? One might expect resolutions featuring an abundance of nuclear weapons or a well-aimed asteroid, perhaps. Tchaikovsky\u2019s cast make entirely different decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Anarchistic octopuses?<\/strong>\u00a0(I knew that species was smart!) Sounds fascinating…<\/p>\n

But there are quite a few classic science fiction novels \u2013 among them, several Prometheus Award winners \u2013 that Nicholl leaves off his list (although he graciously invites readers to suggest others in their comments.)
\nAnd quite a few readers have responded with other suggestions \u00a0\u2013 including a few who recommend Prometheus-winning authors and books.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nFor example, mdhughes offers a comment recommending Vernor Vinge, who\u2019s won two Prometheus Awards (including for his story \u201cThe Ungoverned\u201d), as well as Heinlein, who\u2019s won more Prometheus recognition than any other author:
\n\u201cVernor Vinge\u2019s\u00a0The Peace War<\/u>\u00a0and \u201cThe Ungoverned\u201d<\/a> are peaceful people with the setting\u2019s One Weird Gadget trying to prevent armed people from imposing tyrannies or starting shooting wars.
\nMany\u00a0Heinlein books are resolved by\u00a0suing their\u00a0enemies in lieu of just going out and shooting them.
\nAnd the case where it doesn\u2019t always work: Richard Matheson wrote a couple of westerns.\u00a0The Gun Fight<\/u>\u00a0has an elder gunfighter trying for the entire book to avoid duelling a dumb kid who took offense. Every step of the way, gossipping idiots make that harder,\u201d mdhughes wrote.<\/p>\n

Also: Commenter AndyLove recommends James Hogan, who won the Prometheus award twice for Voyage From Yesteryear\u00a0<\/em><\/a>and The Multiplex Man:
\n<\/em>\u201cJames Hogan\u2019s early works are refreshingly violence free \u2013 \u201cInherit the Stars\u201d has the only plot-relevant violence having occurred 50,000 in the past, and \u201cThrice Upon a Time\u201d has no violence at all as I recall,” AndyLove wrote.<\/p>\n

After reading all that, I couldn\u2019t resist adding my own comment and Prometheus-winning recommendations to the dozens already made to the TOR feature:
\n\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cEric Frank Russell’s 1950s golden-age-sf novel The Great Explosion\u00a0<\/em>and F. Paul Wilson’s La Nague Federation series, especially An Enemy of the State\u00a0<\/em>and Wheels within Wheels<\/em>, both ingeniously explore the issue of how to defend liberty against aggressive invaders, or an existing tyranny, without resorting to violence and war.
\nAlthough the use of force in self-defense is morally justified, both authors focus on passive resistance or the use of indirect incentives (such as economic pressures) to fight aggression, or in the case of Wilson’s Wheels within Wheels,\u00a0<\/em>to oppose and undermine bigotry and racism.
\nAll of these Prometheus Award-winning novels, thus, reflect the libertarian core principles of non-aggression, voluntary social cooperation (through society, culture and the marketplace, etc.) and respect for other people’s moral autonomy, human dignity (with Wilson, also applied to alien’s rights).
\nP.S. These are just a few of many award-winning novels, in some cases inspired by Gandhi, Thoreau and Martin Luther King Jr.’s commitment to nonviolence as a moral and practical strategy, on the Prometheus Award-winning list of past winners available at www.lfs.org “<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nAs a bonus, my comment sparked this positive comment from someone who doesn’t appear to be a libertarian.
\nCommenter weequahic wrote: \u00a0\u201cYour reference to \u201cthe libertarian core principles of non-aggression . . .\u201d makes me wonder if I\u2019ve fallen victim to my sub-group\u2019s prejudices. I\u2019d always assumed \u201clibertarian\u201d meant \u201cstand your ground\u2013hard\u2013even if no one is threatening you.\u201d Amazing to realize there\u2019s always at least two sides, with decent people all around.”<\/p>\n

How refreshing, especially in this polarized and increasingly tribal post-9\/11 era, to find someone who has a different perspective but is willing to listen to and consider yours, with respect and an open mind.<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

Membership<\/a> in the Libertarian Futurist Society<\/a> is open to all freedom-loving sf\/fantasy fans.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Libertarian futurists champion peaceful, non-violent behavior over acts of aggression, whether committed by individuals, groups or governments. In fact, modern libertarian political philosophy is based on the principle of non-aggression \u2013 coupled with self-ownership (and self-defense against aggression) as the core of property rights, the strongest and most practical base for all human rights, properly … Continue reading Championing cooperation over coercion: A Tor.com survey of some of the most intriguing sf, fantasy that finds alternatives to violence as the plot solution<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[10],"tags":[98,104,70,102,101,17,105,97,57,103,99,100,69,64,72],"class_list":["post-901","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-adrian-tchaikovsky","tag-eric-frank-russell","tag-f-paul-wilson","tag-inherit-the-stars","tag-james-hogan","tag-jerry-pournelle","tag-langue-federation","tag-larry-niven","tag-news-commentary","tag-the-great-explosion","tag-the-peace-war","tag-the-ungoverned","tag-vernor-vinge","tag-voyage-from-yesteryear","tag-wheels-within-wheels"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pe8nGl-ex","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/901","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=901"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/901\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":915,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/901\/revisions\/915"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=901"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=901"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=901"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}