Message-ID: <12639@sri-arpa.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 20-Aug-84 15:52:28 EDT
Article-I.D.: sri-arpa.12639
Posted: Mon Aug 20 15:52:28 1984
Date-Received: Wed, 22-Aug-84 05:45:14 EDT
Lines: 46

Ahhh, souls...one of my favorite topics as a writer.  For those
who are interested, I've had three pertinent stories in print:

"Ariel" in a hammy collection called TALES OF THE MARVELOUS MACHINE,
  published by Creative Computing Press.  A man who has just lost his
  wife of many years asks a priest:  Can a computer have
  a soul, and is it moral to "turn him off?"

"Silicon Psalm" in IASFM for February 1981.  An intelligent medical
  life support system is asked by its patient to turn her off and let
  her die.

"Guardian" in IASFM for September 1980.  Was on the Hugo final ballot
  in 1981.  An ancient fighting machine emerges from a swamp after
  1700 years and challenges the beliefs of a rural abbott in a ruined
  future America.


Not many writers have taken this issue by the horns; most cannot
disconnect the silliness of organized religion from the serious questions
of the nature of spirit and human immortality.  Most assume that
there cannot be immortal souls without admitting to some kind of
almighty God--a connection I find puzzling, and a tribute to
the power of pseudochristian brainwashing.  

Gaby's spiritual presence after death in Varl;ey's DEMON is one of
the few thoughtful explorations of the notion of spirit to appear
in recent years.

Also see "Trinity" by Nancy Kress in the current
edition of IASFM.  Nan is a good friend and I helped her with the
project a little.  "Trinity" is all the more remarkable considering
it came from a rather militant Atheist--Nan is considerably more
openminded about the notion of spirit than several (mostly male)
writers Whose Names You Would Know, who have poked fun of every
serious attempt to consider the possibilities of spirit and
immortality to come up in discussions I've had with them.  At worst,
their reactions remind me of the poor sap who throws a screaming
temper tantrum anytime anybody suggests we think about the
possibilities of travelling faster than light.

Pure rationality is necessary, but insufficient to our understanding
of the universe and how it works.  Just ask Schroedinger's Cat.

--Jeff Duntemann
  duntemann.wbst@xerox