Locus recommended reading list has me down twice, once for my novel (GOLDEN AGE) and once for my novella (AWAKE IN THE NIGHT). My humble thanks to the Locus editors.
http://www.locusmag.com/2004/Issues/02RecommendedReading.html
If I were foolish enough to believe that a man’s talents are of his own making, and not his Maker’s, all this flattery might go to my head.
I often run across what one might call “socio-mechanistic” arguments. These arguments explain something utterly obvious by means of something utterly obscure. Two examples, from recent conversations, spring to mind: a liberal friend of mine argued that the “taboo” against homosexuality was due to the underpopulation of primitive hunter-gatherer bands, and that, in an overpopulated world, the taboo would soon vanish. My wife tells me that the “taboo” against incest is caused by the dangers of birth defects due to inbreeding.
Here is what I see as wrong with both arguments: they conflate two distinct types of causation.
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