{"id":7940,"date":"2016-11-19T11:42:24","date_gmt":"2016-11-19T19:42:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cciforum.dreamhosters.com\/?p=7940"},"modified":"2020-03-21T16:53:04","modified_gmt":"2020-03-21T23:53:04","slug":"the-aliens-story-of-your-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cciforum.dreamhosters.com\/?p=7940","title":{"rendered":"The Aliens… “Story of Your Life”"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Photo<\/a>

Photo courtesy of: \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcCephalopod\u00e2\u20ac\u2122, Wikipedia
https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Cephalopod
<\/p><\/div>\n

A couple of years ago Jack had us read a story for TSK class. In the short story entitled, \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcStory of your Life<\/em>\u00e2\u20ac\u2122, by Ted Chiang, aliens arrive on earth. The new motion picture \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcArrival<\/em>\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 is based on the short story, but retells the story a little differently, however, both stories, visual and written deal with time and perception in and artful and interesting way.<\/p>\n

The aliens, called \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcHeptapods<\/em>\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 are a kind of \u00e2\u20ac\u02dccephalopod<\/em>\u00e2\u20ac\u2122, from the Greek meaning “head-feet<\/em>“. Marine animals characterized by a prominent head, and a set of arms or tentacles (muscular hydrostats). Fishermen sometimes call them inkfish<\/em>, referring to their common ability to squirt.<\/p>\n

There is the central character’s story with flash-backs, and within that…her child\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s future<\/em> story unfolds, and both those stories are told within the alien visitation story. A time within a time…within a time and so on. In this telling we see time become NOT so linear as we normally assume…(from past to future, from cause to effect)…we begin to understand that it is WE who make time linear. Each of us parse time in our refining interpretations of perception. While aliens communicate differently, because of a different physiology, but also, rather than perceive in a sequential cause-and-effect way, the aliens perceive simultaneously\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6”They experienced all events at once, and perceived a purpose underlying them all. A minimizing, maximizing purpose.<\/em>\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

In the short story, the issue of free will is dealt with, as to how it applies to humans and aliens who see the future. The protagonist says: <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6knowledge of the future was incompatible with free will. What made it possible for me to exercise freedom of choice also made it impossible for me to know the future. Conversely, now that I know the future, I would never act contrary to that future, including telling others what I know: those who know the future don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t talk about it.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I imagined an example, perhaps\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6a grandfather with almost a century of living behind him sits with his granddaughter on a bench under the turning leaves\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6she wants to know all the things granddad can tell her, innocent bright eyes filled with pleasure of the moment… He looks down knowing so much more than she could even dream off at her tender years. He sees her innocence, pains and joys, her advances and discouragements, a light that will burn bright and eventually fade. But seeing a future so encompassing, yet so open\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6could you tell it to someone who\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s lived context has not yet grown to conceive it?<\/p>\n

My homework for the prior class was posted here:
\nhttps:\/\/cciforum.dreamhosters.com\/?p=6640<\/a><\/p>\n

\"'Arrival',<\/a>

‘Arrival’, the motion picture<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A couple of years ago Jack had us read a story for TSK class. In the short story entitled, \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcStory of your Life\u00e2\u20ac\u2122, by Ted Chiang, aliens arrive on earth. The new motion picture \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcArrival\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 is based on the short … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[136,101,91,69],"tags":[129,169,144,69],"class_list":["post-7940","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-01-general-tsk-discussions","category-future-time","category-stories","category-time","tag-future","tag-higher-knowing","tag-stories-2","tag-time"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cciforum.dreamhosters.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7940","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cciforum.dreamhosters.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cciforum.dreamhosters.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cciforum.dreamhosters.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/34"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cciforum.dreamhosters.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7940"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cciforum.dreamhosters.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7940\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cciforum.dreamhosters.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7940"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cciforum.dreamhosters.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7940"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cciforum.dreamhosters.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7940"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}