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Entertaining a thought
May. 31st, 2010 07:51 am"It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it."—Aristotle
One of the things I like about the really good type of science fiction is that it encourages you to entertain thoughts; that is, to invite them into your home, treat them with all appropriate courtesy and respect, and then eventually make one of two choices:
- Show them the door if they don't belong. Like "earworms", some thoughts simply can't take the hint, and linger until you physically push them out the door. Sometimes you need to call 911 to report "a domestic disturbance", and have the thoughts removed forcibly in handcuffs. But at least you've learned something from the visit. Maybe you won't invite them back again. Maybe you will, but with the conditions of the visit clearly spelled out beforehand.
- Invite them to stay and become part of the family. Heck, thought is inherently polyamorous, so they might just end up sharing a bed with the rest of your resident thoughts, and who knows what delightful offspring might arise. Heck, even if the goal isn't procreation, a bunch of responsible adult thoughts having consensual fun together can't be a bad thing, can it?
But the key here is to at least entertain an occasional new thought, and that's where I find so much fun in science fiction. It provides many entertaining thoughts, and some eventually set up housekeeping in my head. It's already a fairly messy place, so nobody notices the additional muss and fuss, and most agree that it at least makes the place look comfortably lived in.
One of the things I like about the really good type of science fiction is that it encourages you to entertain thoughts; that is, to invite them into your home, treat them with all appropriate courtesy and respect, and then eventually make one of two choices:
- Show them the door if they don't belong. Like "earworms", some thoughts simply can't take the hint, and linger until you physically push them out the door. Sometimes you need to call 911 to report "a domestic disturbance", and have the thoughts removed forcibly in handcuffs. But at least you've learned something from the visit. Maybe you won't invite them back again. Maybe you will, but with the conditions of the visit clearly spelled out beforehand.
- Invite them to stay and become part of the family. Heck, thought is inherently polyamorous, so they might just end up sharing a bed with the rest of your resident thoughts, and who knows what delightful offspring might arise. Heck, even if the goal isn't procreation, a bunch of responsible adult thoughts having consensual fun together can't be a bad thing, can it?
But the key here is to at least entertain an occasional new thought, and that's where I find so much fun in science fiction. It provides many entertaining thoughts, and some eventually set up housekeeping in my head. It's already a fairly messy place, so nobody notices the additional muss and fuss, and most agree that it at least makes the place look comfortably lived in.