# What's Spider Robinson doing these days? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 9, 2012, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-spider-robinson-doing-these-days/612258 "2012-02-09T01:44:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2012, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-spider-robinson-doing-these-days/612258/21 "2012-02-10T22:54:12Z")
Then you probably shouldn’t have posted at all. ---
**Author:** ![JanMSchroeder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/85f322/32.png) [@JanMSchroeder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JanMSchroeder)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2012, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-spider-robinson-doing-these-days/612258/22 "2012-02-10T23:23:27Z")
> [@Bosstone](#): > > Well, I was going to post what I thought about Robinson, but after Jan’s post maybe not. I’m glad. Because unless you actually know him, all we’d hear is an opinion on his writing. I knew Jeanne a little better than Spider but I can tell you that two _nicer_ people you’d never meet. Kind, considerate, mindful people. For an idea of what kind of folks they are, I point you to Terri-Luanna’s amazing blog at [http://www.gracefulwomanwarrior.org/](http://www.gracefulwomanwarrior.org/) …because they raised a hell of a daughter. I’ve gotten PMs already from a couple of people asking about the auctions I’ll be doing and what I’m going to be looking for. Thanks _very_ much! [request for help deleted] Thanks, Jan ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2012, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-spider-robinson-doing-these-days/612258/23 "2012-02-10T23:40:04Z")
That was a pretty stupid post I made, actually, and I apologize. Yes, I just meant an opinion on his writing. Read Callahan, enjoyed it, but got strange at the end and I didn’t pursue other books. That’s all. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2012, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-spider-robinson-doing-these-days/612258/24 "2012-02-11T00:19:16Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > My main problem with Robinson is that he assumes that perfect telepathy with everyone who is living, or who has ever lived, is everyone’s idea of paradise. That would be my hell. Right off the top of my head, I can think of a dozen people that I don’t want to even talk to, much less be in constant telepathic communication with. Since many of his stories assume that perfect telepathy is a worthy goal, I just can’t get into many of them. Resistance is futile. ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2012, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-spider-robinson-doing-these-days/612258/25 "2012-02-11T00:26:09Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > 😕 I’ve read _VS_ and I don’t recall **any** of that. Nor any other political messages of any kind. Then you missed pretty large parts of the book. > [@Variable Star](#): > > It was the characteristic flaw of the entire PreCollapse millennium: the assumption of vastly more knowledge than they actually possessed." He closed his eyes and rubbed them. "Over and over like a recurring flu they developed the imbecile idea that they understood nearly everything, in all but the finest details. They had no slightest idea what lightning was, how it worked. They had absolutely no clue how moisture got farther than about ten meters up a tree—the highest that capillary action can push it. Fifty years after the splitting of the atom, they accidentally noticed for the first time that hurricanes emit gamma rays. There were quite a few large, significant phenomena they could ‘explain,’ often elegantly . . . over and over again . . . and had to, because the explanations kept falling apart at the first hard-data-push. Things like the Tunguska Event, gamma ray bursts, why an airplane wing generated lift, what ninety percent of our DNA was doing there . . . yet they were solemnly convinced they basically understood the universe, except for some details out in the tenth decimal place. > > “They somehow managed to persuade themselves that computer models constitute data. That very complicated guesses become facts. They made themselves believe they had the power to accurately model, not merely something as inconceivably complex as, say, a single zygote . . . but a national economy, a weather system, a planetary ecosphere, a multiplanet society—even a universe. They made solemn pronouncements about conditions a trillionth of a second after the Big Bang, on the basis of computer models, which they had produced with computers not even bright enough to talk, let alone understand speech. They were unlike all the generations before theirs in several ways, but chiefly in that they had no faintest clue how ignorant they were. Previous ages had usually had a pretty good handle on that.” > > “Things got worse in that direction soon.” > > “Sure. Scientists were claiming godlike knowledge, and couldn’t deliver. It got to where even the average citizen could sense they were bluffing. They could go on for literally days on what happened in the first five minutes of creation, without ever saying a single thing that meant anything, did anybody any good. They wouldn’t even discuss what happened when you died, let alone how random chance produced life. No wonder the citizens decided to go back to a different kind of omniscience, that came with omnipotence and omnibenevolence thrown in at no extra charge. Twentieth-century science handed the world over to Nehemia Scudder, on a plate. No wonder some people preferred ‘intelligent design’ to evolution. At least it put intelligence somewhere in the mix. Unfortunately, not much.” This…is retarded. Seriously–it’s some of the dumbest anti-science rants I’ve ever had the misfortune to read. Note that it’s _exactly_ the same argument that anti Global Warming types, anti-evolution types all make. " Later in the book, after, after aliens intentionally blow up the sun, he spews this: > [@](#): > > _[long, vaguely conspiracy-theorist rant about 9/11 and Gulf War II is snipped. The “They” he keeps referring to is the USA, post 9/11._ > “If we respond to our own unendurable grief and sadness in that same way they did—by looking away from grief and sadness, and seeking comfort in fixating instead on paranoia and rage—if we react with our own version of their Terror Wars—then we will probably lose this fight, and we will probably deserve to.” > > That produced rumbles, and he let them happen, and waited them out. No one voice chose to try and take the floor, but many small murmured conversations were held at once. > > “Let us continue on our journey,” Hideo said after a while. "Let us build the new world we planned. Only its very longest-term goals have changed. We hoped one day to be part of a great interstellar community with a radius of ninety light-years and a volume of three million. That is still our goal. > > "We hoped that community would live in the peace and harmony we were just beginning to take for normal in our home System. That will not happen now. Defending that community and ending a war are new goals we’ve only just learned we have. > > "We also hoped to communicate efficiently by telepathy through the Terran hub. That will not happen now either. And for that very reason, this war will be so lengthy that we cannot even begin ending it for thirteen more years, and will never live to see any progress whatsoever. We have the luxury of much time in which to make our decisions. Let us make smart ones from the very start. > > "The smartest thing we can do is take hate from our hearts. There is nothing to do with it, no one to use it on but each other. Thus we must banish our fear, lest it grow cancerous tendrils around our hearts. > > “When a child hits his thumb with a hammer, if he is alone, he will say to his hammer, ‘Look what you have done.’ If he is with another, he will say, 'Look what you made me do.”’ A few parents chuckled. "When we become victims, we want to victimize. So badly that if no victim presents himself, we will settle for an inanimate object, rather than have no one to hate. It is nature. > > "We must be wiser than that child. There are no persons here but ourselves. There are no inanimate objects here we do not need. > > "Be sad, citizens. Hurt. Grieve. Go insane with grief if you must. But please . . . avoid the different insanity of rage. Yeah, after Pearl Harbor, think how well that drivel would have gone over “Be sad ☹ and feel bad ☹ but don’t get mad at anyone.” :rolleyes: That said, I have a lot of sympathy for Robinson. I think his later work is crap, but man–losing your wife and daughter would be rough. ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2012, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-spider-robinson-doing-these-days/612258/26 "2012-02-11T00:32:39Z")
I didn’t catch the edit window in time. My last sentence should have read: That said, I have a lot of sympathy for Robinson. I think his later work is crap, but man–losing your wife to cancer and then having your daughter get it would be rough. My opinions of his writing have nothing to do with my feelings for him as a human being. (And he’s still the best book reviewer F&SF has ever had) ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2012, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-spider-robinson-doing-these-days/612258/27 "2012-02-11T01:22:08Z")
Welcome to the SDMB, **JanMSchroeder**. I understand that you’re posting out of concern for Mr. Robinson, but you’ve actually broken a major rule here, as laid out in our [registration agreement](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=423183): > [@](#): > > This message board is intended as a medium for public discussion. Do not post spam, including but not limited to advertisements, chain letters, pyramid schemes, solicitations, offers to trade or barter, charitable appeals, or other messages primarily intended to promote a cause, venture, organization, event (except Straight Dope-related events), website, or other entity or activity, whether or not money is involved. Because he is a public figure, I’m leaving the links to the two blogs – which I could remove if I were being a true hardass – but I’m going to ask you to refrain from using the SDMB as a platform to recruit money or help for your fundraising activities. If people want to contact you directly, that would obviously be an option, since I’m leaving you as an active member rather than banning you as a spammer (as, again, I could do if I were going to be a hardass about this). Thanks for your understanding and cooperation. **twickster** , for the SDMB ---
**Author:** ![JanMSchroeder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/85f322/32.png) [@JanMSchroeder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JanMSchroeder)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2012, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-spider-robinson-doing-these-days/612258/28 "2012-02-11T02:18:10Z")
Just for the record, if you look back, I registered and posted a response to the question on the 8th. The reason I did so was because it showed up on a Google search I have for Spider’s name. As you can see, there’s no spam there. Once I found out what the situation was, I returned today and posted the link here about what was happening with Spider in his own words which had a direct bearing to the original > [@](#): > > I’m starting to wonder if Jeanne’s death hit him so hard he decided to retire, or got hopelessly writer’s-blocked. point made. As a moderator, I’m certain that you are more than aware that my ‘pattern’ is far from the usual for spammers. I don’t generally _have_ fundraising activities but since I responded to the question _and linked to an entry where I was directly named_ it would have seemed pretty odd to not mention that help would be appreciated. I understand that you need to do as you see fit but I don’t accept any attempt to paint me as any kind of spammer when my posts have been far more informative than rule-breaking. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2012, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-spider-robinson-doing-these-days/612258/29 "2012-02-11T03:47:52Z")
As I tried to make clear, I’m not treating you as a spammer, which would have involved banning you and disappearing your posts. I’m merely asking that you not use this thread to _directly_ recruit people to donate money or objects for the auction, which is against our registration agreement. Again, I appreciate your cooperation with my ruling. **twickster** , Cafe Society moderator [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-spider-robinson-doing-these-days/612258.md?page=1)