Whitley Strieber's next book

[boomerang]

Default Re: Whitley Strieber's next book Quote Originally Posted by mike View Post A species that has mastered this technology may well have discarded such crude and ambigious methods like writting and speaking in favour of direct mental transfer. Both technologically and more importantly socially we are not ready to communicate at this level. You're not kidding. It would be a revolution. Imagine the implications for people planning crime and disorder. Imagine people's 'inappropriate' thoughts open to outside access. We'd need to have a completely different type of society.

The bandwidth afforded for interpersonal communication by our animal senses seems quite narrow. This, and ever increasing concentrations of power available to a small numbers of people (like some maniac with a suitcase nuke) is the prickly arrangement we presently have with nature. Trading our individuality for survival may be yet another.

 

[mike]

You're not kidding. It would be a revolution. Imagine the implications for people planning crime and disorder. Imagine people's 'inappropriate' thoughts open to outside access. We'd need to have a completely different type of society.

I imagine it could go one of two ways, people would simply accept the full expression of their collective humanity warts and all as they say, or the collective mindset could use a process of democratic quorum and redact the mental patterns deemed unacceptable.

 

[SpecialK]

I have the book, and have read it. It it is based on some fascinating ideas, and starts off great, then is weak at the end. I have several of Whitley's recent fiction books - Hybrids, The Grays, and 2012, The War for Souls, and one other I can't remember. I recommend The Grays as a good read. The others are similar in starting off with a great idea and then not developing it to a satisfactory conclusion, in my view.

 

[mike]

Yeah i wasnt too impressed with the sample chapters here


http://www.hybridsbook.com/


He claims this is not fiction, but that since he has no proof this is real, he must write it as fiction

Q. Why is this a book of fiction? Why not write a factual book about Dulce?
A. What I know is one thing. What I can prove is another. If I am going to explore everything that I know but cannot prove, I have to write fiction. That's why Majestic, the Grays and 2012 are fiction, why Superstorm is fiction, and Nature's End and Warday. If you want to know what I know—truly know—you must read my fiction.
Whitley


Read the original source: http://www.hybridsbook.com/questions-answers/#ixzz1L98jvqDP​

I also think there is a lot to be said for this comment

Q. What would be the main difference between human race and the hybrids? we can say that they might be more intelligent beings than us, what would be our destiny then?
by Will Ortega, April 14, 2011
A. Intelligence is everything. If somebody more intelligent is here, then this place is theirs and we are part of their world, rather than the other way around. Perhaps it is our destiny to in some way be part of the creation of an intelligence greater than our own. If so, I find that rather beautiful and inspiring. However, I'm not so sure that the Neanderthals, who were so long the most intelligent species on earth, would feel so charitable toward the Cro-Magnons who replaced them. Perhaps, when we look at the mysterious hybrid phenomenon, and at the extraordinary progress we are making in the area of artificial intelligence, we are looking at a new and greater species being born.
Whitley


Read the original source: http://www.hybridsbook.com/questions-answers/#ixzz1L98y4iaS​

 

[SpecialK]

Actually, I thought the first three chapters were riveting. The end of the book did not deliver, at least not for me. The concept of a hybrid as Whitley describes is fascinating. I am a subscriber to Whitley's site, and have been for years. That doesn't mean I automatically like all of his books, however.

 

[mike]

Actually, I thought the first three chapters were riveting. The end of the book did not deliver, at least not for me. The concept of a hybrid as Whitley describes is fascinating. I am a subscriber to Whitley's site, and have been for years. That doesn't mean I automatically like all of his books, however.

I have many of his books myself, including some of his earlier fiction like the forbiden zone, the wolfen and the hunger.

PW, were particulary scathing of hybrids though
From Publishers Weekly

Strieber, well-known for both horror (The Omega Point) and nonfiction about alien encounters (Communion), deals with the consequences of abandoned alien technology in this vapid thriller. Complex biomechanical hybrids, made with alien gene-splicing techniques and spawned in an underground facility deep below New Mexico, threaten the world, while the U.S. president rages against the scientists who have kept him in the dark. Human science proves ineffectual against the hybrids, and humanity's only hope lies in the first generation of hybrids, Mark and Gina, who are unaware of their own origin and hidden superpowers. Stilted prose, flat characters, cartoonish emotion, and implausible science combine to rob this book of any appeal.

 

[Gene Steinberg]

For your information, we were offered a chance to interview Strieber by his book publicist. After offering to appear two or three times in the past, and backing out before the scheduled interview, Strieber wrote me and Chris to explain why he'd never come on the show.

In short, he doesn't like being criticized in our forums.

We're not asking anymore.

 

[Ron Collins]

The best way to keep your ego intact is to only talk to those who adore you. Strieber cant handle the tough questions and is smart enough not to get himself cornered. So, my bet is he will become a regular guest on C2C and some other weenie radio and podcast shows that simply swallow his drivel hook, line, and sinker.

 

[Gene Steinberg]

He's been a regular on C2C for years.

Besides, it's not as if we have discussed him all that much in recent months. But his decision to chicken out will change that. Or maybe he wants to retain his status as one of the few major figures in the UFO field not to appear on The Paracast. He's actually the only one to refuse in recent memory.

 

[boomerang]

Bummer, Gene. Mr. Strieber is coming off like a narcissist.

 

[Gene Steinberg]

I'm not about to attach labels, beyond the obvious one I used.

 

[boomerang]

Well, will just say that Mr. Strieber should man up and submit to a real interview, for a change.

 

[mike]

I guessed a long time ago he reads these forums, and i think he's done himself a dis-service in declining to be interviewed.
Criticism is an important vector in any form of communication.

Feedback, even negtive feedback is an honest form of input, and is useful even ,as a catalyst for change and improvement.

Imo the loss is Mr Streibers, he had the opertunity to address those criticisms, and in doing so possibly changing the perceptions of those who did so.

 

[pickles]

Personally, I don't think there is enough evidence to validate the popular concept of a spirit which survives death containing the personality and memories of the dead individual.

Given that one would have to report their findings after death, it seems you are forever going to appear quite prescient in that statement.