An Ode to a Vonnegut

Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Editorial, Science

If you didn’t grow up in the late 60’s, then perhaps you weren’t aware of the earliest foresight of Kurt Vonnegut. The genius of the man was that he could take the most inane concepts and turn them into science fiction that often became fact. He was the man who decided the meaning of life was a can opener and that the world would come to an end because of ice-nine, a sliver of which would turn any liquid, including bodily fluids, into a frozen disaster.

The novelist’s heroes, such as Kilgore Trout, were sometimes a reflection of himself; his plots concerned the way our society often fails us. His villains were those who could find a way to ruin the planet, just the way many of us are doing in real life. Gear Live will remember you fondly, Mr. Vonnegut, and we know that Bokonon is pointing his thumbed nose up at you in tribute. Also know that while you lived, he admired you for always being busy, busy, busy and for teaching us the same.