premise - the stars are tired .. they are tired of being appealed to, compared to, reached for, told they arent listening, followed, wished upon. they have gone blue - they are tired
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1 - It had to happen - the stars grow tired of humanity
It had to happen sooner or later. The stars were tired of humanity and all the expectations that were undendingly put upon them. Now for our purposes here, some assumptions must be made. Assumptions which are completely arbitrary, and may dance precariously close to science, faith, religion, and philosophy. But what subject doesn't these days. Assumption 1 is, for our story here, we are the only ones looking at 'the stars'. There are no other perspectives if there are no other intelligent races to contend with, and no other animal in the history of the earth that we know of has ever said a thing we could understand. So the assumption, we are alone in our looking at the stars. That means we've had millenia to build up our observations, expectations, emotions, and conclusions. I use 'the stars' itself as as a anthromorphomism, as if the 2000 or so visible from earth were another one of us, only up THERE. Like us and yet unlike us. The metaphors need never end. Some blow up. Some fall, shooting as they go. Some blaze brightly. some not so much. Some are part of pictures we call constellations, which are back by myths from various epochs and earthly cultures. Sometimes they can be seen, other times, even at night, they cannot be. They are dominated by day by the one of their kind we happen to orbit. This appears to be purely by chance. Others of their kind can dimly be seen in vast spiral and other structures in the uber distant background. We take the stars as a two dimension entity, denyng their three dimensional reality. We make endless demands and requests upon them.
Is it any wonder they began to go blue?
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2 - its complicated
This may be a little more complicated than it first seems, this question of WHY humans have always invoked the stars down through the ages. Your first impulse might be to say, well they listen and reflect back what we want to hear! But do they, there's plenty of popular songs for example nowadays to suggest they DONT listen, they are indifferent to our arguments - what we want is literally 'not written in the stars' . hence sometimes our need or at least our wish to somehow rewrite them. Do the stars allow us to vent to them? Yes they do, and that may be a prime reason humanity has always directed their thoughts and eyes towards them, lf not their very voices. So the stars can make us feel better. But they may also go beyond that and provide an outlet or catalyst for helping us think through our own issues, desires, and wishes. We tend to reserve that role to close friends, or spouses, or even pets dont we? But why not also the stars?
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3 - the stars become romantic
We've seen how the stars, seen by humanity alone for all practical purposes, have somehow functioned not only as a springboard for myth itself, but as a kind of surrogate sounding board for our hopes, dreams, and all purpose ventings. But when did romance creep into the equation? How did the stars become romantic is a question we might well ask ourselves, but its one thats tangled up with other sky phenomena like the moon, sunrises, sunsets .. from the get go its hard to even separate pure starlight from moonlight and the spectacular dusks and dawns we have contemplated since we first crawled out of the primordial swamps and looked up. For romance brought emotion into our expectations of the stars. And for every romantic dream fulfilled, how many romantic dreams are dashed upon the rocks of fate or circumstance, or even reality itself? The stars situation only gets more and more complicated as we go along does it not? And from verbal tales round the campfire to poetry and literature to hollywood and shakespeare, those expectations only got amplified didnt they.
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4 - the stars become life cycle dumbed down
One example of a lifecycle, particularly one in which things seem to be getting dumber (if you'll pardon the expression), can be found in constellations and star names. In particular, modern culture seems to regard the stars as simply an anonymous group enterprise - they are seldom called out by name. Whereas poems like Locksley Hall (Tennyson) named the Pleaides, tangled in a silver braid, or mighty Orion stalking, contrast that with today's cultural 'a dream for every star, a song for every star' from So Many Stars, a much recorded tune. Taken anonymously and collectively like this, its no wonder that identity is not only lost, it simply doesnt matter. The stars are a two dimensional anonymous cloud. Here the planetarium of course can help. Or used to - but havent most planetariums returned the stars to this role anyway, fading them into the forgotten background? Specifics to generalities. Why learn the stars - just sing to them?
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5 - planetariums inevitably slide toward the derelict domes
Everything put together sooner or later falls apart, this seems to be a universal truth. This of course ties in with the life cycles people, places, and all things inevitably go through, and hardly anything ends better than it started out. The same can be said about planetariums and the stars they, for better or worse, portrait above our wondering heads. If we fast forward to the endgame of planetariums, they are invariably junked for newer models, only a few of which are snatched up by home planetarium enthusiasts. If we imagine even the world where somehow home planetariums became more and more commonplace, a fun fantasy around these parts, this fate would be equally inescapable. For this reason, my small museum I have constructed what I call 'strange beasts' out of unlikely what you well call 'junk', has now been dedicated to showing a few examples of what that endgame of home planetaria might look like. The derelict domes.
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6 - DOMES not just projectors go to seed
Your first line in the podcast bit is about denouement, and you didn't know it!
I'm intrigued by your perception of things not improving as they are upgraded, but declining. I think most would focus on the planetarium itself--it got better cause we got new equipment! But, you're focusing on the components, which will inevitably wear out or become outdated or in some way decline or be replaced. In your version, progress is decline. It's something of a dark perspective, though not inaccurate, and hints vaguely of a sci fi theme.
i have never seen Willy Wonka, doesnt he have some famous lines? the stuff in the barn, the small stuff, resembles how people describe what a tornado leaves behind. i like that though. theres integrity in something thats been out in the rain for a year and then still works. i found a tiny flicker candle thing, it had been out who knows how long. i flipped the switch and it started flickering. that is now in a place of honor. it paid its dues!
a plot ending - an untying - now that has to be a whole paragraph. for this book idea im writing a paragraph a day on an idea or concept. a denouement, i didnt see that. dam youre good
upgrades now do what? they used to fix bugs. now they cram in features and redsigns we dont want! theres a third paragraph! they redesign things we loved as they were.
but heres the new twist. ive seen the decline and fall of the analog monsters of the midway projectors. salvaged occasionallly but mostly wheeled out to dumpsters. but NOBODY has ever shown a deteriorated DOME - with holes in it .. again, that rain coming in . and it ties into one of my short stories. this is several paragraphs
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7 - A Dark Meloncholy Turn
you said: It's something of a dark perspective, though not inaccurate, and hints vaguely of a sci fi theme.
well its right out of Remi's book to be honest, if you read that final Celine blurb, its melancholy. All this old dusty junk trying one last hurrah to be 'art' or 'science' and ANYTHING before that final dump truck ride into the oblivion of the landfill, or the fire. and all of it was once shiny and out of the box and exciting. curling irons and waffle makers and salad shooters and fake christmas trees, so why not domes and long replaced 'anythings possible' scientific apparatus. and of course its the way im feeling.
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8 - not derelict, demented
the stars were fed up with how they were portrayed in society, they were downright pissed. they were followed, scrutinized, questioned unendingly by scientists, astrologers, and lovers alike. they had to listen to endless wishes, demands, requests to connect up with other distant humans like some sort of magical telephone. and for all this, they were still in the background - sure some stars were, well, stars, but most weren't - they were simply background, 2 dimensional pawns in this 'thing' called the stars. the moon almost alway still got more romance and respect than the stars did. the last straw though was planetaria - first they were digitized, and they didnt want to be. a star burning in the night is about as analog as it gets, converting hydrogen into heavier elements? thats a long way from the 0's and 1's that digital everything consists of. but then even the planetaria became dull lifeless black boxes .. projecting o blase domes. it was time for revolution. it was time for Demented Planetaria....
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