Author Topic: EP252: Billion-Dollar View  (Read 20791 times)

mbrennan

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Reply #25 on: August 16, 2010, 09:15:24 AM
Gateaux pretty much summed up my feelings.  In my case, there's an added helping of irritation whenever a story echoes "The Cold Equations;" I'm not a fan of that one to begin with, and this made me think about all the reasons it annoys me.



Paranatural

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Reply #26 on: August 17, 2010, 07:25:09 PM
Agreed. There wasn't enough character development to get me to care about any of them. The whole setting was nice but a bit too bare-bones. Also something that seriously got to me was the kids themselves. Ok, so it seems that it was really expensive to go out and be a space miner, so you had to have a contract and they basically 'sold' you to someone who would pay for your trip in exchange for a certain term of labor. Fair enough.

Also, space mining was incredibly dangerous and lots of people died in accidents all the time. Again, fair enough.

But then this couple brings three small children along. WTF? And I believe they even specifically said they brought them with them. Who pays for the kids contracts? If they were rich enough to not have to have contracts for 5 people, three of which couldn't work anyway, why the hell would they need to go out to space? And furthermore who would be willing to blast small children into deep space mining operations where even adults had a good chance to die? None of that made any damn sense.

It would have made a lot more sense if, say, the couple were in this accident, she was pregnant, the guy died, and she went and rescued the woman. Or hell, something, anything other than 'We brought some 2 year olds into an extreme mining situation. Thought it'd be a good idea.'


Now, having said that the writing was well done, and the basic plot was nice enough, even if it was a bit overdone.



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Reply #27 on: August 17, 2010, 09:26:27 PM
But then this couple brings three small children along. WTF? And I believe they even specifically said they brought them with them. Who pays for the kids contracts? If they were rich enough to not have to have contracts for 5 people, three of which couldn't work anyway, why the hell would they need to go out to space? And furthermore who would be willing to blast small children into deep space mining operations where even adults had a good chance to die? None of that made any damn sense.

I gathered that the Japanese (I think) family owned their ship together, whereas Molly didn't, so she had to buy a contract to get someone to help her do the mining.

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Paranatural

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Reply #28 on: August 18, 2010, 08:49:45 PM
But then this couple brings three small children along. WTF? And I believe they even specifically said they brought them with them. Who pays for the kids contracts? If they were rich enough to not have to have contracts for 5 people, three of which couldn't work anyway, why the hell would they need to go out to space? And furthermore who would be willing to blast small children into deep space mining operations where even adults had a good chance to die? None of that made any damn sense.

I gathered that the Japanese (I think) family owned their ship together, whereas Molly didn't, so she had to buy a contract to get someone to help her do the mining.

Actually I'm pretty sure she did because the story talks about how rich they became doing the mining. If you get that rich you probably own the ship.

Anyway I guess the larger point is that it'd be criminally negligent to let a couple go into mining with three small children with them even in a modern, Earth mine. Doing so in deep space would, I think, be pretty much unthinkable.





CryptoMe

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Reply #29 on: August 19, 2010, 01:36:51 AM
But then this couple brings three small children along. WTF? And I believe they even specifically said they brought them with them. Who pays for the kids contracts? If they were rich enough to not have to have contracts for 5 people, three of which couldn't work anyway, why the hell would they need to go out to space? And furthermore who would be willing to blast small children into deep space mining operations where even adults had a good chance to die? None of that made any damn sense.

My impression was that the couple had kids *after* they were already in space. At that point, what can you do? Leave them with someone else for months on end? Sounds like a tough decision, and they did the best they could.

Anyway I guess the larger point is that it'd be criminally negligent to let a couple go into mining with three small children with them even in a modern, Earth mine. Doing so in deep space would, I think, be pretty much unthinkable.

I don't think it is the mining that is dangerous. I think it's space in general that is dangerous. And they may as well be in space with you rather than in space with someone else...   :-\

BTW, modern, working Earth mines run tours for school-aged kids all the time. They are actually quite clean and safe these days.



FireTurtle

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Reply #30 on: August 19, 2010, 05:22:22 PM
Sadly, I have to agree with those who failed to emotionally connect with the story. This doesn't mean I didn't enjoy it, just that it never grabbed me and shoved me inside it. I love RAH, but he often made me feel the same way, as did Bradbury, come to think of it. I think I connected with it the same way I do most music or ballads or mythic tales or whatnot. Its a story about people that happened and is interesting but you're not meant to totally identify with the characters or situation, just to listen and go along for the ride. Nice ride. Love the life in a vacuum as normal thing. Yes, it was predictable in many ways- but if the story was being told as a sort of space-ballad I would expect it to be predictable and sappy.
This is turning out to be a much more complicated post than I intended. And obtuse. So I'll be quiet now. :-X

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Reply #31 on: August 20, 2010, 02:32:23 PM
This one got me.  But then I'm an old softie.



DKT

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Reply #32 on: August 20, 2010, 03:24:49 PM
I enjoyed this story, but wow, Cmar's reading kind of put it over the top for me. I'm not exactly granting him absolution for Smidgeon (he'll always be a desirable love-cake in my mind), but it's nice to know he's not only a vehicle for lust, but love.


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Reply #33 on: August 20, 2010, 04:59:32 PM
I enjoyed this story, but wow, Cmar's reading kind of put it over the top for me. I'm not exactly granting him absolution for Smidgeon (he'll always be a desirable love-cake in my mind), but it's nice to know he's not only a vehicle for lust, but love.

But the Smidgen story said "love" right in the title.   Don't hate on Smidgen just because you don't understand his love.   ;D



knigget

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Reply #34 on: August 21, 2010, 11:56:27 AM
It's not just Heinleinesque, it's Golden Age-esque.  RAH, Clarke, Cold Equations -- it's a homage to all of them.  I liked.  One gets so tired of deep, emotionally engaging, complex stories while inching along bumper to bumper on the Belt.

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What would have been written. 

Spoiler (click to show/hide)


JoeFitz

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Reply #35 on: August 21, 2010, 12:13:45 PM
I wasn't very fond of this story - despite it's echoes of many classic, golden age and the warm and fuzzy feelings it tried to evoke. I just did not get connected to this at all. I don't think it was the maudlin yet somewhat poignant story of the miners, but rather the frame story that bothered me most.

I also have to say that I was less than impressed with the outcome. Perhaps it's just a cold morning (and I don't have any children) but it seems to me you can always have more children. In a survival situation like that, emotionally, it feels right to sacrifice yourself to save the children. It feels right to deceive your gullible partner into thinking you did not sacrifice yourself until it's too late. But I have to wonder wouldn't it make more sense in deep, cold space, to chose the parent. That would be an interesting story.



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Reply #36 on: August 22, 2010, 02:43:45 PM
It's not just Heinleinesque, it's Golden Age-esque.  RAH, Clarke, Cold Equations -- it's a homage to all of them.  I liked.  One gets so tired of deep, emotionally engaging, complex stories while inching along bumper to bumper on the Belt.

When you wrote "Belt" there, my first thought was of the asteroid belt.

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Reply #37 on: August 23, 2010, 01:33:17 PM
One gets so tired of deep, emotionally engaging, complex stories while inching along bumper to bumper on the Belt.

Yes, bring on the shallow, emotionally distancing, simple stories!  ;)



Listener

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Reply #38 on: August 23, 2010, 02:08:52 PM
It's not just Heinleinesque, it's Golden Age-esque.  RAH, Clarke, Cold Equations -- it's a homage to all of them.  I liked.  One gets so tired of deep, emotionally engaging, complex stories while inching along bumper to bumper on the Belt.

When you wrote "Belt" there, my first thought was of the asteroid belt.

Me too.

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Wilson Fowlie

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Reply #39 on: August 24, 2010, 06:46:08 PM
It's not just Heinleinesque, it's Golden Age-esque.  RAH, Clarke, Cold Equations -- it's a homage to all of them.  I liked.  One gets so tired of deep, emotionally engaging, complex stories while inching along bumper to bumper on the Belt.

When you wrote "Belt" there, my first thought was of the asteroid belt.

Me too.

And ditto.

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knigget

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Reply #40 on: August 25, 2010, 12:23:14 AM
It's not just Heinleinesque, it's Golden Age-esque.  RAH, Clarke, Cold Equations -- it's a homage to all of them.  I liked.  One gets so tired of deep, emotionally engaging, complex stories while inching along bumper to bumper on the Belt.

When you wrote "Belt" there, my first thought was of the asteroid belt.

Me too.

And ditto.

Therein lies he difference between a Brooklyn native and a space cadet.

http://www.apoGrypha.blogspot.com

What would have been written. 

Spoiler (click to show/hide)


Unblinking

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Reply #41 on: August 27, 2010, 01:22:46 PM
It's not just Heinleinesque, it's Golden Age-esque.  RAH, Clarke, Cold Equations -- it's a homage to all of them.  I liked.  One gets so tired of deep, emotionally engaging, complex stories while inching along bumper to bumper on the Belt.

When you wrote "Belt" there, my first thought was of the asteroid belt.

Me too.

And ditto.

Therein lies he difference between a Brooklyn native and a space cadet.

Ah, that's a highway?  Until this last comment, I STILL thought we were talking about the asteroid belt.  :)



Wilson Fowlie

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Reply #42 on: August 27, 2010, 06:26:01 PM
Even my second thought was wrong, because I went from Asteroids to Washington DC (which, of course, has the Beltway, not the Belt).

"People commonly use the word 'procrastination' to describe what they do on the Internet. It seems to me too mild to describe what's happening as merely not-doing-work. We don't call it procrastination when someone gets drunk instead of working." - Paul Graham


Thunderscreech

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Reply #43 on: August 28, 2010, 02:37:43 PM
A shame, the image of "inching along, bumper to bumper" in the asteroid belt is do poetic.  :)



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Reply #44 on: September 02, 2010, 04:57:27 AM
I enjoyed this little romp; the story sound like it would make a great country song.



hardware

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Reply #45 on: September 08, 2010, 10:00:11 AM
So just listened to this story, and can not say it got to me very much. Many here complains that the characters were never really developed, and I agree, but I think the predictability of it all also played in. From the start we understand that something bad will happen to Molly, and as it happens, every character is only introduced to play a part of that in that tragedy. In fact, they are plot devices more than anything.

Still, there is something to be said for the setting of the asteroid belt as the frontier, and the rough space camaraderie as a way to make the story relatable. That part I enjoyed



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Reply #46 on: September 09, 2010, 03:32:19 AM
This story made me think about it being a music video, one I would like...a song that tells a story.  Although, it seems this was sort of a Tennessee Ernie Ford ballad-style song along the lines of "Sixteen Tons."

Bottom line: I liked this one.

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neltek

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Reply #47 on: November 21, 2010, 08:57:57 AM
I loved this one.
Thought it was great.
Also copied it to my wife's blackberry as I think it will be one she might actually listen to

:)



yicheng

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Reply #48 on: December 22, 2010, 05:57:56 PM
[snip]... It feels right to deceive your gullible partner into thinking you did not sacrifice yourself until it's too late. But I have to wonder wouldn't it make more sense in deep, cold space, to chose the parent. That would be an interesting story.

I don't think so.  In human societies where resources are very scarce (hunter/gatherer types like the Alaskan Inuits), birth rates tend to be rather low,  and lot of time/effort/resources tend to go into raising children.  Children were often highly valued and treated with great care.  The Apache, for example, were by all accounts very caring and doting parents.  Although, the dark side of this kind of culture is that infanticide was often widely practiced, especially for infants with perceived birth defects or flaws.  It's only when you get to the more civilized and settled societies, where food production paved the way for explosive birth rates, that you get crappy treatment of children (and people in general), probably because you'd always have a couple of spare ones running around.

So, I think it would probably make sense, in a space-nomad type society, for children to be very highly prized, even worth of sacrifice by adults.