Science Fiction: Ra By QNTM

 (Drivebycuriosity) - QNTM - the pen name for Sam Hughes - belongs to the rising stars on the firmament of science fiction. I was amazed by his novella "There Is No Antimemetics Division" ( my review ) and his short story collection "Valuable Humans In Transit And Other Stories"  ( drivebycuriosity). Both books are cutting edged hard science fiction with weird but well developed and plausible ideas. Unfortunately his novel "Ra" does not work for me ( amazon).

The plot is about magic, but this is not another Harry Potter rip-off. QNTM describes magic as another set of rules of nature, recently discovered and comparable to quantum mechanics, the strange behavior of particles. 

"Magic`s not the Force. It`s not mystical, it`s  a gauge theory. It explains observations. It is, at its root, a collection of dry and unpalatable nonlinear partial differential equations which are known to be not totally accurate. Magic does not speak to us or obey our commands".

And:

"Magic can be created, shaped, collected, stored, transmitted and released using real, physical equipment"

"Magic can be used to apply real measurable effects to the physical world".   

In QNTM`s novel some humans use this knowledge to create new technologies based on the laws of magic. So far so good.

 

                           Senseless Mess 

But, qntm way overshoots. The plot turns into a bizarre, apocalyptic horror show. Apparently he got out of control during writing, intoxicated by his own ideas. The plot gets more and more bizarre and absurd, to make things worse, the events, settings and weapons are getting  bigger and bigger. These exaggeration - and the dialogs - seem to be written to entertain young adults. 

But I enjoyed QNTMs style anyway. Paragraphs like this kept me browsing the novel till the final, page 535: "Laura´s memory place is a sprawling, convoluted grey stone fortress, a senseless mess of differing castle styles. Most of its towers are too tall to be possible and some of them appear to rise forever, narrowing to wires".    

Apparently there is more money to be made by writing young adult scifi than with hard science fiction. But the genre would benefit if Hughes would invest his magical style in hard science fiction like Liu Cixin (The 3 Body Problem) or Alastair Reynolds.

Books: Old Filth By Jane Gardam

  (Drivebycuriosity) - The word filth has usually a derogatory meaning. It stands usually for foul or putrid matter and describes something that tends to corrupt or defile. But in some English circles filth has a different meaning: "Failed in London Try Hong Kong”. This is the definition that Jane Gardam used in her novel: "Old Filth", the begin of a trilogy (amazon ). 

The plot follows the life - over about 80 years - of an English gentleman, born in Asia, who had a career as lawyer & judge in England and in Hong Kong. Both, the funny title, and the topic got my attention. And I loved the book.

The plot jumps back and forth in time, including the protagonist`s childhood in Asia & England, his adolescence, his war time experiences, his marriage and his dealing with the challenges of old age. "Filth" - later "Old Filth" - is a very likeable character, stubborn but with a sharp wit. I enjoyed very much Gardam´s slick style and her sarcastic humor. Looking forward to Vol. 2.  

Economics: Should We Fear Another Inflation Wave?

 (Drivebycuriosity) - Inflation is relatively tame but sticking still stubbornly close to the 3 percent mark (GeneSohoForum ). The author of the website  "Rangvid`s Blog" suggests that there could be even another inflation wave ( rangvid). I would have ignored him, but I found the link on the influential website edwardconard.com. The blog seems to have a lot follower.

Rangivd tries to justify his claim with tariffs, lower interest rates, weaker dollar, high inflation expectations and a smaller labor force. Surprisingly, I could not detect the word "money" in this post, neither any references to the monetary growth rate. Did Rangvid ever hear about Milton Friedman? Apparently economics is an arcane science.
 

Milton Friedman said "inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon". The money volume, the amount of money available in the whole economy, restricts how much people can spend. If they - for in instance - pay higher prices for imported goods, then they purchase fewer of them or they spend less for other goods & services.

 

Friedman`s claim got confirmed by the recent inflation wave. It was caused by a deluge of money in the years 2020 & 2021. In 2020 & 2021 the Biden government flooded the economy with stimulus checks in the value of trillions of dollars to fight the Covid19 recession (American Rescue Plan). The government checks got financed with massive bond purchases by the Federal Reserve (Quantitative Easing known as QE1,QE2 & QE3).

The government money landed directly on the bank accounts of the Americans, blowing up the money volume M2 (bank notes & coins & deposits at banks). Milton Friedman described this as helicopter money (cato ). As a result in 2021 & 2022 the US money supply M2, the engine of the inflation, jumped 40%. Unfortunately the money deluge met a constrained supply of goods & services partly - partly because of Covid19. So the price level inevitably had to jump and the inflation rate (first derivation) went up.

 

                         Causal Relationship

The causal relationship between the money supply and inflation was already recognized by Nicolaus Copernicus! The astronomer explained in the year 1517 why "too much money" causes inflation. Copernicus` "quantity theory of money" is based on observations: Early in the 16th century Spain conquered today`s Latin America and looted the silver stocks. The Spaniards send the precious metal to Europe where it was printed into coins and used as money.

As a result the European money supply jumped, but the supply of goods & services did not change much. The flood of money raised suddenly the demand for scarce goods & services and caused a jump of the price level.

Elaborated studies by Milton Friedman, Karl Brunner, Allan Meltzer and many other economists (known as Monetarists) confirmed Copernicus & the quantity theory of money. They described in the 1960s elaborately how and why the inflation rate follows the growth rate of money with a time lag (causal connection).

 

                   No Inflation Fuel

Today´s monetary growth rate is very moderate. In August M2 grew 4.7% y-o-y -  just 2 percent points over the growth rate of the real GDP. There is not much fuel for another inflation wave.

Rangnid - and the other "return of inflation" callers - are ignorant of history and economic illiterate. 

 

 

 

Books: Beethoven - Anguish And Triumph By Jan Swafford

 

(Divebycuriosity) - If you are interested in Ludwig Van Beethoven and in the life of the genius you might enjoy the biography "Beethoven: Anguish and Triumph" by Jan Swafford (1,483 pages! amazon). 

The author describes Ludwig`s development, who and what influenced him and the genius` struggles with employers, competitors and his fragile health. Swafford, who himself is a composer, elaborates and explains the  symphonies, chamber works, concertos & many other pieces of music, their development processes and how the - often surprised - audiences had responded. 

We learn about the political, economical & sociological environments Beethoven has to deal with; influenced by dynamical history of the German speaking countries - a patchwork of about 300 kingdoms, duchies, electorate,  cities and other independent polities -, which was then a patchwork of independent countries.     

Beethoven was most of his life sick, struggled with frequnt Diarrhea and suffered a worsening hearing loss, that naturally impaired his work. Some authors claim that the hearing loss was caused by syphilis but Swaffort suggests that the illness could have been caused by the fact that in the 18th century people drank wine spices with lead, because the heavy metal made cheap wine sweeter.

 

                    No Luck With Women 

Contrary to Mozart, Beethoven did not have luck with women and stayed his whole life a bachelor. Partly because of his look, he was described as massive and ugly, partly because of his bad health and partly because of his temperate. Many women adored his music and ingenuity, so they were hanging around him and wrote him a lot letters, but they had no carnal interests. And Beethoven courted stubbornly aristocratic women who did not want to marry a commoner whatever his qualities were, partly because their children would lose their aristocratic title.

In the 19th century there was no real market for music and no copyrights existed. Multiplying the notations was expensive and often compositions got stolen and plagiarized. Beethoven depended financially on the support of dukes, counts and other aristocrats, who enjoyed his music and bragged with concerts written for them, but they kept distance to a commoner and treated him arrogantly.

The ignorance and arrogance of the aristocrats may have influenced his political beliefs. He sympathized with the French and the French revolution, even though they occupied his home town Bonn. Beethoven even planned to call his Third Symphony "Bonaparte" to celebrate the rise of Napoleon. But the fact that Napoleon became a dictator and made himself emperor, opened the composers eyes and he changed the symphony`s name to "Eroica".

I chose the portrait above because it looks friendly, the genius might have looked different. But anyway, I have learned a lot from this biography - highly recommended.

 

Books: Darwin´s Radio By Greg Bear

T

 (Drivebycuriosity) - Evolition is a fascinating topic. Greg Bear knitted an ambitious science fiction novel from it: "Darwin`s Radio" ( amazon). The plot is based on human development, biology and a lot genetics. I will not tell you where the story leads  (this is a spoiler free blog) but it is going pretty dramatic, turns into horror and later in something apocalyptic. 

The plot is well written and begins like a traditional adventure novel but the story becomes more and more ambitious, educational and apocalyptic. There is a lot politics and administrative issues. 

Bear was on a mission - too much for my taste.

Books: Goethe`s Faust Revisited

(Drivebycuriosity) - When I studied economics a great while ago I did not care much about classic literature. But there was one exception: Goethe`s Faust. My friends and I were fascinated by Faust´s thirst for knowledge (Wissensdurst). Goethe`s Faust helped to develop and to shape the German language, "Deutsch". And there is a lot wisdom there, which are now German proverbs. At least for the elders, the pre-TiKToK-YouTube crowd.

Especially two paragraphs inspired us. Unfortunately the elegance and melody of Goethe`s words can not be adequately translated in English. I tried the translations by Bayard Taylor  (in brackets below amazon). But they are pedestrian and destroy the power of Goethe`s Deutsch, partly because the interpreter tried to find his own rhymes.  

Faust: "Habe nun, ach! Philosophie, Juristerei und Medizin, Und leider auch Theologie Durchaus studiert mit heißem Bemühen, Da steh ich nun, ich armer Tor, Und bin so klug als wie zuvor".

("I`ve studied now Philosophy - And Jurisprudence, Mewdicine, - And even, alas! Theology, - From end to end, with labor keen; And here, poor fool!. with all my lore, I stand,no wise than before") 

Wagner: "Mit Eifer haber ich mich der Studien beflissen. Zwar weiß ich viel, doch möcht ich alles wissen". 

("Most zealously I seek for erudition. Much do I know - but to know all is my ambition). 

Below I use my own translations, without rhymes. 

"Ein Kerl, der spekuliert, Ist wie ein Tier, auf dürrer Heide Von einem bösen Geist im Kreis herumgeführt, und rings umher liegt schöne grüne Weide" 

(A fellow who speculates, is like an animal, on barren heathland, that is lead around by an evil spirit, and all around is nice and green meadow)

"Die Masse könnt ihr nur durch Masse zwingen"

( You can only forces the masses by masses) 

"Wer vieles bringt, wird manchem etwas bringen"

(Those how offer plenty, will give anybody something) 

"Es irrt der Mensch solang er strebt"

(Humans are wrong as long they aspire) 

"Zwei Seelen wohnen, ach in meiner Brust. Die eine will sich von der anderen trennen"

(Two souls live in my breast. On wants to seperate from the other) 

"Was du erebt von deinen Vätern hast, Erwirb es, um es zu besitzen".

(What you have inherited from your ancestors, acquire it to own it) 

"Was man schwarz auf weiß besitzt, Kann man getrost nach Hause tragen"

(What one owns black of white, can be carried home confidently) 

"Grau, teurer Freund, ist alle Theorie"

(Grey, my friedn, is all theory)

Mephistophes: "Ich bin der Geist, der stets verneint". 

(I am the spirit/mind who always negates) 

"Wer darf das Kind beim rechten Namen nennen? Die töricht genug ihr volles Herz nicht wahrten, dem Pöbel ihr Gefühl, ihr Schauen offenbart, Hat man von je gekreuzigt und verbrannt."

(Who may call the child´s name? Those who were silly enough not to keep secret, and revealed their opinion to the mob, got crucified and burnt all the times)

"Nichts Besseres weiß ich mir an Sonn- und Feiertagen; als ein Gespräch von Krieg und Kriegsgeschrei, Wenn hinten, weit, in der Türkei, Die Völker auf einander schlagen, Man steht am Fenster, trinkt sein Gläschen aus; Dann kehrt man abends froh nach Haus, Und segnt Fried`und Friedenszeiten". 

(There is nothing better on Sundays & holidays than the talk about war & war noise, when behind, far away, in Turkey, the peoples are beating each other, one stands at the wind, emptyin g the glas, than receive happoy a home, and blessed peace and peacetimes).

And finally a funny contradiction mixture of delight and horror: 

"Was faßt mich für ein Wonnegraus" .

(neologism, can not be translated) 

 

 

 As much as I enjoyed Faust I, I disliked Faust II. The second drama is about 30% longer than part one. Unfortunately the text didn`t age well. It is written for the audience of the early 19th century - the time of the Romantics. Faust II is way too melodramatic and too long. It reads like absurd theater and turns into a horror story. There are too many references to Greek characters, dramas and legends like Troy & Helena, which might have been important for the audience of the 19th. 

And the end - sorry, Dear Goethe - is pure kitsch. But the poet genius might have intended a farce and a parody. Anyway, Faust I is worth to reread and to study it ( amazon).

Contemporary Art: Alic Brock's When Shadows Forget Their Master @ Plato New York

 (Drivebycuriosity) - Contemporary art is full of surprises. On a resent walk on Manhattan`s popular Bowery I spotted an interesting show @ gallery Plato. The art dealer displayed works by Alic Brock. The show is called "When Shadows Forget Their Master" (Plato). I show here my favorites, a very subjective selection as usual.

 

The press release explains: "Atlanta-based painter Alic Brock has developed a practice that merges digital manipulation with painterly precision. Each work begins as a collage of both found and personal imagery that is intentionally altered and translated to canvas using airbrush acrylics". 

On top of this post you can see "Hidden Lover" (2025, acrylic on canvas, 48 x 36 in) followed by "Sailing Into the Light" & "Milk Splash". 

 

Above this paragraph you can see: "Looking Glas" & "Puppet Master".

 

As a bonus I add 2 images from the second show at Plato. This exhibition displays works by Henry Hung Chang and is called: "Island and Its Visitors" ( plato). According to the press release the artist "spent his childhood in a Daoist temple in Taiwan, founded by his grandparents. The temple’s environment, in which religious practice, ritual, myth, and folk beliefs were woven into daily life, continues to shape Chang’s visual language". 

Above you can see "The Swan, Under Moonlight" (2025,
watercolor and gesso on paper mounted on board, 58 x 22.5 in) and another image.
 

To be continued