Ancestral Night

This book could have, and should have been about 100 pages shorter. The not-so-witty banter between shipmates, and the constant discussions on socio-political matters was brutal. The main character's incessant self reflection (read whining) was also unnecessary. I'm wondering if the author got a prize for using the word atavistic as much as humanly possible. Get a thesaurus! You are making words up anyway (sophipathic) just make something up and use that. The story is disjointed and strung together poorly as well. Won't be reading anything else from this author. Seriously, cats in space? Really?

Though it sometimes devolves into the realm of preachy, Bear's first "White Space" novel is a tour-de-force of social commentary, as current as the cover of today's Times in spite of the futuristic setting. In fact, you might not notice the setting at all, if it weren't for the spaceships and advanced technology - the protagonist's internal dialogue is so grounded and relatable (and the hard-sf tech so realistic) that it's easy to forget the centuries-hence timeline and just go with the flow. And you get the impression Bear wants you to do just that, as she's clearly got a lot to say about today's social problems, both current and just-around-the-corner. Race, sexuality, identity, the politics of resource allocation, freedom of choice, echo chambers, gene editing (ala CRISPR), and programming a safe general-purpose artificial intelligence without creating a new class of slaves are all given a sharp and unflinching focus. Bear uses pretty simple tools to get her points across, and if it sometimes feels like she's beating you over the head with them, the enlightened and capable society she paints for us seems like such a nice place to inhabit that it's hard to mind. Bear's answers (or rather what the other side of a set of techy solutions might look like) mostly hinge on the development of a human ability to directly control one's own brain chemistry, in a "rightminded" way (and a post-humanist stroke). Much of the original _Star Trek_'s appeal was the premise that we'd made it through the other side of our admittedly-screwed-up predjudices and followed through on humanity's halting first steps toward true long-term survivability as a species. If you'd like to capture that feeling again, _Ancestral Night_ opens the passenger door and revs the engine, inviting you aboard. Recommended.

Origin of the alphabet; number line, computer is the same place. There isn't a calendar without a programmer; different ones in society are for companies to supply basic utilities; motor vehicles, food clothes & shelter. Computer programs give the answers to outstanding questions; humans do not. They also drive all artificial moving objects; humans do not. One program designs all the building and a different one does cars; the program includes after they are built schedules for them and us. Cameras are a derivative of computer separate from video recorder for unreal pictures and photograph obstructing justice to disappear or vanish includes video tapes & DVD's.