The Meme Wars

John Barnes' Candle is a fairly so-so science fiction book, but the major premise of the book is fairly fun. Barnes' posits the creation and spreading of "memes" - or artificial intelligence - written around various big ideas. When these memes conflict, war among the human carriers of the memes results.

Anyhow, here is a round-up of the book meme as it has thus far propagated.

Mark Byron sort of surprised me. I thought we'd see something by Hayek or von Mises on his "books that meant something special list." He also lists Stranger in a Strange Land as one of those books, because it represents a stage in his life. Yes, I definitely see how that book plays to a particular age.

On the other hand, on further reflection, I decided over the weekend that Stranger doesn't belong on my list because another science fiction book with religious themes does. That book is A Case of Conscience, which I read in Junior High School. A Case of Conscience made Thomistic Catholicism look cool, which was quite a feat for a British atheist named William Atheling, who wrote under the pen name James Blish.

Blish's book features a visit by a Jesuit biologist to a planet where evolution is a daily fact. The priest realizes that this planet is nothing less than a creation of the devil - thereby implicating him in the heresy of Manichaeanism. He struggles with his conscience and eventually exorcises the planet.

Honestly, Blish made an argument for a religious position on evolution that I trot out occasionally. He connected faith with reason and Catholicism with science in a way that left a lasting impression. And exorcising a planet is simply too cool for words. I also had an introduction to concepts like Manichaeanism at a very early age, such that my later forays into Augustine were like a visit home.

Based on the number of books he has,Lane Core appears to be another guy with a "book dependence issue".

And you never can tell what you'll learn from another person's reading list. For example, The Red Hat sparked Lane's decision to join the Catholic Church? I thought Lane was a cradle Catholic. Who knew?

Finally, the poetry of St. John of the Cross is on Lane's "most important books" list. Neat. Someday I'm going to invest the time into that. Until then my exposure is limited to Loreena McKennitt who set a portion of the poem to music and, I hope, captured the mystical quality fo the "dark night" of love.

We're waiting on Mr. Sulik. (And looking forward to his thoughts on the ARCIC document.) We're also waiting for Rick's contribution.

Claude Muncey up in Merced has been tagged with the meme from another source. He's also listing John Henry Newman as a seminal author (like Lane Cork); I know of Newman, but only vaguely. Maybe I'm missing something?

Also he has Lord of the Rings as a step on his journey to faith. Interesting, but I don't get the qualia of that experience and I have never understood the Christian dimensions of the trilogy. I know they're there, but, frankly, I've never read the trilogy. It's definitely on my reading list.

And, hah, I've just picked up Reading the Old Testament because I was inspired to learn more - something, anything - about Saul, David and Judges by this Teaching Company lecture series on the Old Testament, which I recommend like all of its other lecture series.