• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

What three books would you take to rebuild a civilization? - Time Machine 1960

Status
Not open for further replies.

DarienA

The black man everyone at Activision can agree on
I just finished watching once again the 1960 version of the Time Machine, of course graphically it's inferior to the 2002 version, and while many people slight it the 2002 version, including myself the 2002 version has it's moments including the SFX and Orlando Jones portrayal as VOX(what was his line? "I even remember you.... time travel..... practical application....... but truly the 1960 version has a charm all of its own....

So what 3 books would you take in to a future to help a primitive race rebuild civilization?
 

NLB2

Banned
The Wealth of Nations - John Adams
Principia Mathematica - Newton
Bas Rutten's Big Book of Combat - Bas Rutten :lol
 

AntoneM

Member
1. 1984
2. General Relativity
3. United States Constitution (so it's snot technically a book but I'm bringing it anyway!)

ooooh, I was thinking Principia, but figured why not just up the ante a bit with Einstein.
 

NLB2

Banned
max_cool said:
1. 1984
2. General Relativity
3. United States Constitution (so it's snot technically a book but I'm bringing it anyway!)

ooooh, I was thinking Principia, but figured why not just up the ante a bit with Einstein.
Yeah, Einstein is like the same thing except better, but we'll let the society discover that on their own ;).

I actually have had to read 1984 again for class and I think its pretty unnecesary. Perhaps as a warning against facism it would be good, but the example Orwell drew was impossible. Way to inneficient of an economy. Oceania would've been invaded and taken over by any democratic or communist or facist country that didn't have such an insane and really unnecesary public workforce.
 

DarthWoo

I'm glad Grandpa porked a Chinese Muslim
max_cool said:
1. 1984
2. General Relativity
3. United States Constitution (so it's snot technically a book but I'm bringing it anyway!)

ooooh, I was thinking Principia, but figured why not just up the ante a bit with Einstein.

Every Constitutional Law casebook will have a copy of the Constitution in it, so why not just bring one of those?
 

DarthWoo

I'm glad Grandpa porked a Chinese Muslim
Fresh Prince said:
The Bible, all you need bitches.

Karate%20Bubishi_s.JPG


Damn straight, make sure the entire new civilization learns to defend itself against the evil space aliens who try to invade us in our weakened state.
 

AntoneM

Member
NLB2 said:
Yeah, Einstein is like the same thing except better, but we'll let the society discover that on their own ;).

I actually have had to read 1984 again for class and I think its pretty unnecesary. Perhaps as a warning against facism it would be good, but the example Orwell drew was impossible. Way to inneficient of an economy. Oceania would've been invaded and taken over by any democratic or communist or facist country that didn't have such an insane and really unnecesary public workforce.


But that's the beauty of it, none of the 3 wants to actually take over any of the others. They are enemies for the sake of having a bad guy to rally against, a reason to work, no more no less. A distraction if you will. As for the proletariate, they are kept ignorant of there power, they are indoctrined with an idealogy that tells them that they belong where they are and they accept it.
 

kumanoki

Member
1. Shel Silverstein's Where the Sidewalk Ends
2. How to Win Friends and Influence People
3. Blankets, by Craig Thompson
 

Chony

Member
On Plato's Republic, it gives a very detailed description on how to set up a society, how the class system would work, education, guardians, rulers, auxiliaries, workers, etc. It paints a clear picture of society (aristocracy) and justice. Assuming everything goes to plan, it would be a perfect society.
 

AntoneM

Member
--edit--
this is not the thread to have this conversation in.

summary: I was attacking using Plato's Republic as a choice of book, not only is this no the place but it was intollerant of me.
 

Liono

Member
DarienA said:
I just finished watching once again the 1960 version of the Time Machine, of course graphically it's inferior to the 2002 version, and while many people slight it the 2002 version, including myself the 2002 version has it's moments including the SFX and Orlando Jones portrayal as VOX(what was his line? "I even remember you.... time travel..... practical application....... but truly the 1960 version has a charm all of its own....

Have you read the book? It blows both of those movies out of the water, especially the 2002 version-- though I have to admit the time traveling sequence and that part with the moon breaking apart were nice touches.
 

Triumph

Banned
White Man said:
Finnegans Wake
Tristram Shandy
Illuminatus!

Mine would be an interesting civilization.
I'm gonna party in your world, but live in mine:

1. Das Kapital
2. Days of War, Nights of Love
3. The Prophet
 

0wn3d

Member
Firest0rm said:
1. Game Over
2. Game Over
3. Another copy of Game Over just incase :D

There's no way Nintendo won't become No.1 that way! :)
I thought this was hilarious and is not getting the LOL emoticons it deserves.

:lol :lol :lol
 

Tarazet

Member
Phoenix said:
All this talk about rebuilding civilization and not a single mention of the Karma Sutra :)

That's the best answer I've encountered so far.

Me, I wouldn't bring any books. I'd emphasize the oral tradition.
 
mac said:
-Fahrenheit 451
-1984

There's always the off-chance that those would be horribly misinterpreted. At first I thought:
1984
A Brave New World
(didn't get a third one in before I thought about how horribly that could turn out)

So my list:
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
The Art of Spirited Away

It would be heaven!
 

WedgeX

Banned
1. Encyclopedia
2. Democracy in America - de Tocqueville (you get all the aspects of why America works, including the Constitution and other such things)
3. Crime and Punishment
 

NLB2

Banned
max_cool said:
But that's the beauty of it, none of the 3 wants to actually take over any of the others. They are enemies for the sake of having a bad guy to rally against, a reason to work, no more no less. A distraction if you will. As for the proletariate, they are kept ignorant of there power, they are indoctrined with an idealogy that tells them that they belong where they are and they accept it.
Yeah, I understand how the three countries don't really give a shit about eachother (which is ridiculous in the first place - there will always be real wars) but it would be impossible for these types of nations to gain so much power in the first place. Think about what a country like Japan, which is small both in population and geography, was able to do to Asia during World War II soley due to its greater economic productivity. If large portions of your population are taken up by people doing things like rewriting every official document ever written or spying on the populace, pretty soon some other country is going to invade and conquer your country. This has always happened and it always will happen.
 

hippie

Banned
The New Testament
Communism for Dummies
No Other Choice by George Blake

(yes, I'm serious....I'd create a moral, Bible-thumping, communist society free of materialism, envy, hatred, and loose women)
 

AntoneM

Member
NLB2 said:
Yeah, I understand how the three countries don't really give a shit about eachother (which is ridiculous in the first place - there will always be real wars) but it would be impossible for these types of nations to gain so much power in the first place. Think about what a country like Japan, which is small both in population and geography, was able to do to Asia during World War II soley due to its greater economic productivity. If large portions of your population are taken up by people doing things like rewriting every official document ever written or spying on the populace, pretty soon some other country is going to invade and conquer your country. This has always happened and it always will happen.

Mutually Assured Destruction, if nation 1 wants to invade and take over nation 2 then it is assured that both nations will be destroyed and no one will win.

Think of it like this, if the US, China, and Eurpoe decided it's time to take over the world, they would go about taking over nations that can't effectivly fight back while at the same time avoiding conflict with each other due to the fact that they would destroy each other. The end result is 3 nations none of which are going to perform an all out invation of the others.
 

hippie

Banned
MetatronM said:
You...don't really know much about Communism, huh? :lol

Well, I'm speaking about a Communist economy.....you know...."from each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs." No private property (and thus no materialism) is a biggie.
 

whytemyke

Honorary Canadian.
1. Bible (and I'm not even religious)
2. "The Pelopennesian War" by Thucydides
3. "Peoples History of the United States of America" by Howard Zinn
 

whytemyke

Honorary Canadian.
max_cool said:
Mutually Assured Destruction, if nation 1 wants to invade and take over nation 2 then it is assured that both nations will be destroyed and no one will win.

Think of it like this, if the US, China, and Eurpoe decided it's time to take over the world, they would go about taking over nations that can't effectivly fight back while at the same time avoiding conflict with each other due to the fact that they would destroy each other. The end result is 3 nations none of which are going to perform an all out invation of the others.

Think of it like this, guy. You don't know what MAD theory is. Mutually Assured Destruction theory is the idea that nuclear war will be completely avoided because it's impossible to win. It was only ever used to refer to nuclear conflict, as that is the only type of war in which destruction can be assured. Any other type of war and there are wayyy too many variables to take into account for anybody worth their weight in salt, claiming to be studied in politics and/or military, to risk their credibility getting destroyed by making such a broad, generalized theory.
 

NLB2

Banned
max_cool said:
Mutually Assured Destruction, if nation 1 wants to invade and take over nation 2 then it is assured that both nations will be destroyed and no one will win.

Think of it like this, if the US, China, and Eurpoe decided it's time to take over the world, they would go about taking over nations that can't effectivly fight back while at the same time avoiding conflict with each other due to the fact that they would destroy each other. The end result is 3 nations none of which are going to perform an all out invation of the others.
So then I assume you're for the development of an anti-missle system :)
 

Triumph

Banned
NLB2 said:
So then I assume you're for the development of an anti-missle system :)
I'm all for an anti-missle system. When an actual description of the working elements that doesn't involve "a magical net, woven from unicorn hair and born aloft by pixies and cherubs to protect our airspace evermore, Amen!" is revealed, that is.
 

whytemyke

Honorary Canadian.
Meh. The NMD system is pointless anyways. Russia has already designed a nuclear warhead that renders all the technology we've built for the NMD useless.

Plus, if we DO achieve it, the rest of the world will be pissed. We can start lighting off missiles like bottlerockets if we wanted, with no fear of retaliation. If something like that happened, the USD would tank within a month, as every country would instantly want to collect on their loans to the US which would cripple our economy.
 

DarienA

The black man everyone at Activision can agree on
Liono said:
Have you read the book? It blows both of those movies out of the water, especially the 2002 version-- though I have to admit the time traveling sequence and that part with the moon breaking apart were nice touches.

Yes, but it was EONS ago. The moon breaking apart in the 2002 version was great... apparently they actually had scenes with pieces of it coming down and hitting skyscrapers... but because of 9/11 they scrapped those.
 

Tunesmith

formerly "chigiri"
1. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (5-in-1 book)
2. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (5-in-1 book)
3. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (5-in-1 book)

:D
 

Azih

Member
max_cool said:
--edit--
this is not the thread to have this conversation in.

summary: I was attacking using Plato's Republic as a choice of book, not only is this no the place but it was intollerant of me.
Hey Plato scares the heck out of me too :)

But really my choice of book would depend on how the world ended, you need to warn the new world.
 
D

Deleted member 4784

Unconfirmed Member
I think that even if I could bring books by three different authors I will still choose for them all to be by John Locke.
 

lexi

Banned
Communist Manifesto - Karl Marx
Mein Kampf - Adolf Hitler
Animal Farm - George Orwell

In that order.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom