Roderick/Book One - Revision history

Eb: /* guys fuckin' clocks */

2025-01-24T20:42:33Z

guys fuckin' clocks

Eb: /* W. Gaddis ... J.R. */

2025-01-24T20:41:48Z

W. Gaddis ... J.R.

Eb: /* Ptolemy doesn't mention the Southern hemisphere .... it's not important */

2025-01-24T20:40:50Z

Ptolemy doesn't mention the Southern hemisphere .... it's not important

Eb at 20:12, 22 January 2025

2025-01-22T20:12:02Z

Eb at 20:10, 22 January 2025

2025-01-22T20:10:43Z

Eb at 00:56, 18 January 2025

2025-01-18T00:56:00Z

Show changes

Eb: /* Aquinas, the Swine of Sicily ... accosted by a stranger made entirely of wood, metal ... */

2020-04-10T06:13:40Z

Aquinas, the Swine of Sicily ... accosted by a stranger made entirely of wood, metal ...

Eb: /* Ptolemy doesn't mention the Southern hemisphere .... it's not important */

2017-04-17T17:30:27Z

Ptolemy doesn't mention the Southern hemisphere .... it's not important

Eb: use template

2017-02-13T01:53:08Z

use template

Eb: /* guys fuckin' clocks */

2017-02-05T06:53:37Z

guys fuckin' clocks

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 It is almost literally physically painful to acknowledge this pun, or anagram rationalization, or whatever you want to call it, but the obscene drawing described here with the <small>DALI LAID DIAL</small> caption is of course based on Dali's painting ''{{wp|The Persistence of Memory}}''. Good grief, Sladek.
-One might assume that the graffiti artist was Allbright: that kind of compulsive free-association is in character for him, and I'm not sure there are any other characters hanging around Minnetonka U who are creative enough ''and'' rude enough. However, Allbright does at times seem to be partly an excuse for the author to throw in any word games he already felt like playing (although this may also be a sign that the author felt a little guilty about doing so, since Allbright is a basket case and this is what he does ''instead of'' writing his poetry). To David Langford's<ref name="langford-interview">Langford, David. [http://ansible.uk/writing/jsladek.html "An Interview with John Sladek"]. ''Vector'' 112. February 1983. (Reproduced in ''Ansible''. Accessed July 20, 2016.)</ref> question about whether the "thread of compulsive intellectual doodling that runs through [his] work" might have something to do with his lapsed Catholicism, Sladek said "Whence the ciphers and anagrams, I don't know" but added that "Catholics (among others) behave as though the world were one enormous cipher text in which every thing means something—but only to God or Fate."
+One might assume that the graffiti artist was Allbright: that kind of compulsive free-association is in character for him, and I'm not sure there are any other characters hanging around Minnetonka U who are creative enough ''and'' rude enough. However, Allbright does at times seem to be partly an excuse for the author to throw in any word games he already felt like playing (although this may also be a sign that the author felt a little guilty about doing so, since Allbright is a basket case and this is what he does ''instead of'' writing his poetry). To David Langford's{{ref Sladek Langford}} question about whether the "thread of compulsive intellectual doodling that runs through [his] work" might have something to do with his lapsed Catholicism, Sladek said "Whence the ciphers and anagrams, I don't know" but added that "Catholics (among others) behave as though the world were one enormous cipher text in which every thing means something—but only to God or Fate."
 === this Graham Greene yarn I'm reading ===

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 === W. Gaddis ... ''J.R.'' ===
-''{{wp|J R}}'' is a 1975 novel by William Gaddis, whom Sladek cited<ref name="langford-interview">Langford, David. [http://ansible.uk/writing/jsladek.html "An Interview with John Sladek"]. ''Vector'' 112. February 1983. (Reproduced in ''Ansible''. Accessed July 20, 2016.)</ref> as one of his favorite authors and an influence on ''Roderick''. I haven't read it, but it's probably safe to say that the Shah has a very inaccurate notion of what it's about.
+''{{wp|J R}}'' is a 1975 novel by William Gaddis, whom Sladek cited{{ref Sladek Langford}} as one of his favorite authors and an influence on ''Roderick''. I haven't read it, but it's probably safe to say that the Shah has a very inaccurate notion of what it's about.
 === Mr. Wilde suggested shooting all the piano players ===

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 Lyle's question to Dr. McGuffey is one of the simplest and most popular challenges to the premises of astrology (although not one that Origen, living in the northern hemisphere, would have thought of): the traditional meanings of the constellations and planets, although supposedly representing universal truths—sometimes tied to the climate, such as the association of Aries with spring—are derived from European and North African sources who didn't know that the other half of the world has opposite seasons and different constellations. Modern astrologers have thought of various ways to rationalize this<ref>For instance, [http://www.angelfire.com/music2/alchemy/astrology/mirrorzodiac.html "Astrology: Are Zodiac Signs Reversed In Earth's Southern Hemisphere?—A Whole-Earth, Dual-Sign, 6-sign, or Mirror Zodiac: A Possible Solution To The Problem Of Matching Astrology's Seasonally-Derived, Northern Hemisphere Zodiac Signs To Countries In The Southern Hemisphere"] (author unknown)</ref>, but McGuffey here takes the simplest possible approach by just embracing Eurocentric racism.
-Although popular pseudoscience was always one of Sladek's favorite targets (both in fiction, and in his 1973 nonfiction book ''The New Apocrypha''<ref>Sladek, John. ''The New Apocrypha: A Guide to Strange Sciences and Occult Beliefs''. Stein and Day, 1973. ISBN 0812817125</ref>), he focused extra attention on astrology when he wrote ''Arachne Rising''<ref>Vogh, James (John Sladek). ''Arachne Rising''. Granada, 1977. ISBN 0246109319</ref> in 1977 under the pseudonym James Vogh. ''Arachne Rising'' was a straight-faced prank in which he attempted—with some success—to convince readers that mainstream astrologers had been "suppressing" the existence of a 13th zodiac sign. He followed this with two similar spoofs, ''The Cosmic Factor''<ref>Vogh, James (John Sladek).  ''The Cosmic Factor: Bioastrology and You''. Dodd, Mead, 1978. ISBN 0396076858</ref> and ''Judgement of Jupiter''<ref>Tilms, Richard (John Sladek). ''Judgement of Jupiter''. New English Library, 1980. ISBN 0450051536</ref>, before giving up these endeavors as "a gigantic waste of time."<ref name="langford-obit">Langford, David. [http://ansible.uk/writing/ft143.html "Remembering John Sladek"]. ''Fortean Times'', 143. February 2001. Accessed July 20, 2016.</ref>
+Although popular pseudoscience was always one of Sladek's favorite targets (both in fiction, and in his 1973 nonfiction book ''The New Apocrypha''<ref>Sladek, John. ''The New Apocrypha: A Guide to Strange Sciences and Occult Beliefs''. Stein and Day, 1973. ISBN 0812817125</ref>), he focused extra attention on astrology when he wrote ''Arachne Rising''<ref>Vogh, James (John Sladek). ''Arachne Rising''. Granada, 1977. ISBN 0246109319</ref> in 1977 under the pseudonym James Vogh. ''Arachne Rising'' was a straight-faced prank in which he attempted—with some success—to convince readers that mainstream astrologers had been "suppressing" the existence of a 13th zodiac sign. He followed this with two similar spoofs, ''The Cosmic Factor''<ref>Vogh, James (John Sladek).  ''The Cosmic Factor: Bioastrology and You''. Dodd, Mead, 1978. ISBN 0396076858</ref> and ''Judgement of Jupiter''<ref>Tilms, Richard (John Sladek). ''Judgement of Jupiter''. New English Library, 1980. ISBN 0450051536</ref>, before giving up these endeavors as "a gigantic waste of time."{{ref Sladek Langford obit}}
 === Business Appreciation and Applied Ethics ===

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	This was originally published as Book One of ''[[Roderick]]'', and is also Book One of the combined edition ''The Complete Roderick''.		This was originally published as Book One of ''[[Roderick]]'', and is also Book One of the combined edition ''The Complete Roderick''.

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	This was originally published as Book One of ''[[Roderick]]'', and is also Book One of the combined edition ''The Complete Roderick''.		This was originally published as Book One of ''[[Roderick]]'', and is also Book One of the combined edition ''The Complete Roderick''.

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 === Aquinas, the Swine of Sicily ... accosted by a stranger made entirely of wood, metal ... ===
-{{wp|Thomas Aquinas}} (whom Sladek's friend Thomas Disch referenced frequently in ''[[Camp Concentration]]'') studied at the University of Paris under Albertus Magnus, who was (probably wrongly) thought to be an alchemist. This story is a garbled version of in which Aquinas found a lifelike automaton in Albertus's workshop, panicked and destroyed it.<ref>[http://www3.nd.edu/Departments/Maritain/etext/staamp3.htm "The Experimental Sciences—Albertus Magnus—Roger Bacon"], D.J. Kennedy (1919), in the University of Notre Dame's online Jacques Maritain Center collection</ref>
+{{wp|Thomas Aquinas}} (whom Sladek's friend Thomas Disch referenced frequently in ''[[Camp Concentration]]'') studied at the University of Paris under Albertus Magnus, who was (probably wrongly) thought to be an alchemist. This story is a garbled version of one in which Aquinas found a lifelike automaton in Albertus's workshop, panicked and destroyed it.<ref>[http://www3.nd.edu/Departments/Maritain/etext/staamp3.htm "The Experimental Sciences—Albertus Magnus—Roger Bacon"], D.J. Kennedy (1919), in the University of Notre Dame's online Jacques Maritain Center collection</ref>
 === Jim still had his uses ===

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 This was originally published as Book One of ''[[Roderick]]'', and is also Book One of the combined edition ''The Complete Roderick''.
-== Summary ==
+{{SummaryCollapsed |
-<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">In an obscure Midwestern university, a computer science team develops Roderick, the first true artificial intelligence. Unknown to the researchers, the funding for their project was actually part of an elaborate scam, causing the university to drop the project and disavow their work. Lead researcher Dan Sonnenschein secretly ships Roderick out of town, but not before attracting the attention of a ruthless (but inept) assassin sent by the shadowy anti-robot group The Orinoco Institute. Meanwhile, the campus is disrupted by a visit from the dictator of Ruritania, and terrorized by a serial killer.</div>
+In an obscure Midwestern university, a computer science team develops Roderick, the first true artificial intelligence. Unknown to the researchers, the funding for their project was actually part of an elaborate scam, causing the university to drop the project and disavow their work. Lead researcher Dan Sonnenschein secretly ships Roderick out of town, but not before attracting the attention of a ruthless (but inept) assassin sent by the shadowy anti-robot group The Orinoco Institute. Meanwhile, the campus is disrupted by a visit from the dictator of Ruritania, and terrorized by a serial killer.
 == Chapter I ==