"God Can't Fight Stupidity": A sci-fi masterpiece that walks through three world views!

A few days ago, I went to Hsinchu to visit Moon Book Cafe . The proprietress asked me enthusiastically what kind of books I like to read, and when I mentioned Jiang Fengnan's "Breathing" , she introduced the book "Gods Can't Fight Stupidity". It's amazing to read at first, and the recommendation of the staff really can't go wrong.

A search found the author Isaac. Asimov is a very strange genius, and can even be said to be a legend in the field of science fiction. He has published more than 500 books in his lifetime and won numerous awards. This "God Can't Fight Stupidity" won the Hugo Award and the Nebula Award . No wonder Jiang Fengnan would say that he was inspired by Asimov to start writing novels. It can only be said that I have little knowledge of science fiction and do not know Mount Tai.

Now let me talk about this amazing work that opened my mind!

【Three world views】

To talk about this novel, we must mention its worldview setting. This book is divided into three parts, each corresponding to a worldview. Each worldview is implicated in each other and makes up the whole story.

It is usually difficult to set a powerful and convincing worldview, but Asimov actually came up with three in one novel. Let me come here one by one.

[1. Facing Stupidity Against Stupidity]

The first is the human worldview we are familiar with. Its highlight is the so-called "transmutation space": a magical system that can exchange matter with parallel universes, and each obtain energy. The invention of this technology has relieved mankind of the energy crisis, but there is a huge crisis behind it: if it continues to operate, the sun will explode ...

Asimov described how this system works with great care in the book, and I was quite distressed by the habit of reading novels before bed. It can only be said that the ignorant can probably grasp the core of it (?). Everyone who is interested is welcome to take a closer look. I won't talk about it in depth here.

[2....even God...The Gods Themselves]

As soon as the style of painting changes, the second part takes you to a parallel universe at the other end, unfolding a completely different worldview.

Creatures here are divided into two categories: soft-shaped and hard-shaped .

As the name suggests, the soft body has low body density and is extremely malleable. Interestingly, they have an entirely different system of bisexual reproduction: trisomy.

The three bodies represent three different "genders": the left possession (rational body), the right possessed (gestational body), and the main body (sensuous body). A three-body combination is required to produce a new "three-body".

This reminds me of Ursula Le Guin 's The Left Hand of Darkness , which also uses a very different system to challenge traditional perceptions of sexual reproduction.

The chapters in this one are quite ingenious, advancing with 1a, 1b, 1c, 2a, 2b, 2c… . a is the emotional body Du Ai, b is the rational body Odin, and c is the nurtured body Trit, through the perspectives of these three people, the story is advanced layer by layer.

As for hard walkers, like us, the body cannot expand and stretch at will. In addition to playing the role of guiding the soft-former, it can be said that it is an existence full of mysteries. And it was them who started the energy exchange space plan to exchange energy with humans...

[3. Can't fight Contend in Vain]

The third shifts again, returning to the human world of the first, but turning the camera to the moon.

It turns out that in this era, human beings have extended the earth's territory to the moon, and there are even native lunar men born on the moon. And because of the unique environment of the moon, a completely different physiological and cultural state arises. Whether it is clothing and eating habits, they are very different from those of the earth.

It is particularly worth mentioning that, due to the extremely small gravity of the moon, the lunar man used this feature to move very quickly, and even developed an abnormal jumping pole movement. People who don't understand low gravity on Earth can only move awkwardly and roll around on the moon.

The combination of the three titles is the Chinese title of the book "Against Stupidity The Gods Themselves Contend in Vain" (Against Stupidity The Gods Themselves Contend in Vain), which is an interesting little idea.

【Political Contradictions】

The title of the book is "Gods Can't Fight Stupidity", and I can feel the meaning of ridicule to people, so stupid that even gods are powerless.

For example, Ramon passionately described to Senator Burt the crisis that if the transduction space continued to operate, it would cause the sun to explode. But the senator calmly gave him a political reality lesson, telling him that the transduction space couldn't stop.

Do you think the general public will want to protect the environment, or protect their own lives? Do you think they will thank the idealists who are willing to fight for this goal? Tell you, you got it wrong. What they want is to make their life comfortable.

People's expectation of politics is to hope that officials can solve problems, and they must not sacrifice themselves. In the example given by MP Bert:

Although people understand that internal combustion engines can pollute the air, they are reluctant to stop using them, but want to find an engine that does not pollute.

Such contradictions seem to have a lot of overlaps in the current political society. Politicians, on the other hand, are often unable to act on long-term plans in order to curry favor with current votes.

The reaction of the moon world to the earth is another place that I find interesting. The contradiction between the moon people and the earth people is clearly visible in the book. As Selene said:

The Earth government doesn't want the public to be exposed to too much news about the moon, the less the better.

As an emerging energy production base for mankind, the Moon is increasingly important to the Earth. But the earth only milks the moon as a cow, and is reluctant to have too much sincere communication with the moon. No wonder Neville wanted to run away and said:

The earth has been crushing us, why should we stay here?

Humans have always been draining resources, and then continue to search for new virgin lands to colonize. With such repeated exploitation, it is still impossible to stop until landing on the moon.

【Charming characters】

Although there are ingenious worldview settings and bizarre political wrestling, the most attractive part of the book is Asimov's portrayal of the characters.

In the first part, Ramon searched for loopholes in the theory of transduction in order to bring down Hadler. Mouth full of human beings, but more for their own selfish desires. Seeing that he was almost hysterically sour in the book, for some reason, I always found it inexplicably funny.

I dare say his brain has stopped, but of course I have no way of proving that his brain is not functioning at all.

I especially like the interaction of the three bodies in the second part. Feelings are not a matter of two people here, but a matter of three people.

Du Ai is a perceptive body, but he likes to think and ask questions. And because she is afraid of sublimation, she always delays and rejects the three-body union; the nurtured body Trit has an unusual obsession with childbirth, and always talks about Du Ai's cooperation to Odin, which is stubbornly cute; the rational body Odin is caught between Between the two, on the one hand, he was proud of Du Ai's specialness, and on the other hand, he had to appease Trite. The three are so difficult to reconcile, and the emotional aspect is even more complicated.

"This way we'll never be able to give birth to little subjects, Odin." Tritt's voice suddenly softened. "Without Du Ai, how can I love you well?"

The third part goes to the moon, which is supposed to find a solution for the explosion of the sun and end the story. I didn't expect to see Serene and Denison's Love Story. This strange combination of moon man and earth man is super interesting to interact with. The back is inexplicably white. Suddenly, the sun explosion crisis doesn't seem to be that important (laughs).

"I should be able to do it, but I wonder if my movements would be too clumsy. How did you lunar men kiss?"

"It's just instinct," Celine said casually.

Denison was careful, clasped his hands behind his back, and leaned forward to Selene. Then, after a while, he wrapped his arms around her.

【postscript】

This book was quite enjoyable to read. The content includes hard science fiction, peculiar worldview settings, and conflicts between politics and people. Many elements are mixed together, and it is a feast for reading.

I would like to thank the owner of the monthly reading cafe for helping me expand my reading horizons. This is also the reason why I like visiting bookstores. The interaction between people and people and books always makes me greedy. I really like the throbbing of encountering all kinds of books in bookstores.

Maybe life should be so random to meet unexpected beautiful scenery!

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• "The Room by the Sea": Cold and alienated but sharp and thorough, Huang Liqun's fantasy world
• "Doomsday and the Grim Realm": Get that heart back!

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