Drabblecast 329 – The Gravity Mine

[Algernon Sydney is Dead]

Feature: The Gravity Mine by Stephen Baxter
No drabble for this episode.
Genres: Sci-Fi



Wednesday, June 18th, 2014
Call her Anlic. The first time she woke, she was in the ruins of an abandoned gravity mine. At first the Community had chased around the outer strata of the great gloomy structure. But at last, close to the core, they reached a cramped ring. Here the central black hole’s gravity was so strong that light itself curved in closed orbits.

Episode Art: Melissa McClanahan
Read by: Amy Sturgis
First appeared in Asimov's, April 2000

Twabble: “ Every message he sent felt more like a farewell. With Earth 23 light years away, he would likely never hear back from her. ” by bryanwitha_y

[bryanwitha_y]

I'm always a huge fan of the impending heat death of the universe kind of stories. Something about it just makes my day-to-day hum-drum of a job seem a lot more bearable knowing that all my work really means nothing "The Last Question" by Asimov in particular is one of my favorites.

Of course, they often tend to be a bit of a downer, don't they? All that 'no more matter' thing can really bum a reader out if they dwell on it too long. I really appreciated the effort taken to actively turn the tone in this story from "impending doom" into a slightly more optimistic story of nascence, growth, and life (in whatever form) continuing on.

If I were to nitpick, the staunch by-the-books nature of my brain at first kind of scoffed at the notion of self-aware complexity emerging from the meager barely-detectable foam of Hawking radiation... but hey, if you throw egregiously large amounts of time at a thing, even I'm conducive to saying "what the hay" and getting on board.

[Philippa]

Mind-bending time frames in stories always leave me feeling strange - disconnected and melancholy.

The mention of John Cages' As Slow as Possible reminded me that I've been meaning to visit one of the listening posts for 1000 year long composition Longplayer - here in London at Trinity Buoy Wharf Lighthouse. It started in December 1999 and is supposed to continue without repetition until 2999. Then it starts again! More long than slow though...

http://www.artangel.org.uk/projects/2000/longplayer

[Algernon Sydney is Dead]

1000 year long composition Longplayer...

Interesting. Looks like it's only in London and San Franciskie. I'll check it out the next time I pass through with some free time.

[tbaker2500]

This is good, straightforward scifi. Bryan's points are good, this did tone it down nicely. I feel like focusing too much of the universe winding down to nothing, is simply focusing on the wrong things. It's no different than focusing purely on our own mortality, rather than enjoying the day.
In a way, this story covered that. Life IS, in whatever form it takes. Even if a thought takes a millennia, it is still life, or, in this case, consciousness.

Good work.

[Spindaddy]

This is one of those stories that drags for me. I can see how people enjoy them, but usually when I'm listening to the DC, I'm driving heavy traffic. This one made me want to slam my car into the person in front of me or stop my car in the middle of both lanes and jump off a bridge.

Don't get me wrong, I think it was a good story, but its not my cup of ice cream.