It’s been a while since I read the interplanetary trilogy of CS Lewis, my favorite being That Hideous Strength. Not much that has gone wrong in the world since 1963 would surprise Lewis. He saw most of it coming.
“It must be remembered that in Mark’s mind hardly one rag of noble thought, either Christian or Pagan, had a secure lodging. His education had been neither scientific nor classical—merely “Modern.” The severities both of abstraction and of high human tradition had passed him by: and he had neither peasant shrewdness nor aristocratic honor to help him. He was a man of straw, a glib examinee in subjects that require no exact knowledge (he had always done well on Essays and General Papers) and the first hint of a real threat to his bodily life knocked him sprawling.”
― That Hideous Strength
l’ve written about the space trilogy on Catholic Stand. See The Theology of Science-Fiction: Part II — Paradise Not Lost?
Mark in CS Lewis’ story seems like today’s post-modern millennial, except that Mark can apparently write essays and general papers whereas most people today are unable to put together on paper (real or virtual) in a grammatically correct way two coherent thoughts.
Recently someone at Neutrons’R Us wrote a Condition Report (a deviation event report that documents some procedure, regulation, or standard which was not completely adhered to). There was a long-winded paragraph. No sentence was capitalized. It was full of misspellings. And it was exceedingly difficult to understand given its rambling nature. Yet this person is a bona fide engineer and a graduate of some sort of college.
Folks, these people are idiots and they vote. My apologies for being politically incorrect, but CS Lewis is 100% correct. Their education is neither classical nor scientific. And worse still, they look forward to reliance on artificial intelligence. Indeed, one young person declared that he wanted to use AI to write his condition reports, emails, etc., because writing was so tiresome and useless. May God save us from ourselves because these are the very ones who make prophets of authors like CS Lewis, George Orwell, Aldus Huxley, etc.
One last thing: I make typographical errors and editorial mistakes as we all do. But when I write an official document like a condition report, the old adage from INPO (Institute of Nuclear Power Operations) come to mind: STAR -> Stop, Think, Act, Review. And that applies to far more than the nuclear power industry.
Mea sententia peculiaris sicut civis liber.
My personal opinion as a free citizen.
I heard Andrew Klavan raving about this book. He was saying that he doesn’t get to read any classics for the first time any more, because he’s been reading all his life, but he read That Hideous Strength last year and was blown away by it.