……Smith。不过那些书确实相当古怪。我甚至不会用“超越时代”来形容它们，我觉得应该叫独树一帜（sui generis）。完全特立独行。就是一个天才怪胎的大脑产物。我身边一直备着《The Instrumentality of Mankind》和《The Best of Cordwainer Smith》的闲置备份，几个月前有人问起这两本书。我犹豫了一下才借给他，因为你根本摸不准一个人会不会喜欢……
…Smith. Those books are quite strange though. I wouldn't even call them ahead of their time, I would call them sui generis. Completely idiosyncratic. One brilliant weirdo's brain. I keep spare copies of The Instrumentality of Mankind and The Best of Cordwainer Smith around, and a couple months ago somebody asked me about them. I hesitated before lending them to him, because it's impossible to guess whether a given person will like…
《Norstrilia》我绝对举双手赞成。其实 Cordwainer Smith 所有的书都值得一读，但以《The Instrumentality of Mankind》为背景的故事绝对不容错过。Iain M. Banks 的 Culture 系列小说也神了，尤其是飞船的名字，还有探讨的主题。另外还有《The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy》（或者这算不算太近期的），也是一本……
Norstrilia I absultely second. Actually, all of Cordwainer Smith is worth a read, but stories set in The Instrumentality of Mankind certainly are. The culture novels by Iain M. Banks are also amazing, ship names in particular, but also themes. And then there is The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (or is this too recent) another…
确实如此。我在网上找不到这个信息了，但我记得有个轶事：据说 Cordwainer Smith 曾用当时国际舞台上的局势来解释《Instrumentality of Mankind》的整个时间线。当然，对于其中的（部分）事情，他有着某种特权视角的内幕观察。我主要是在……的时候读的他被翻译成我的母语希腊语的作品。
Yes indeed. I can't find this information online but I remember an anecdote according to which Cordwainer Smith had explained the entire timeline of the Instrumentality of Mankind in terms of current goings-on on the international stage. Of (some of) which he had a certain privileged vantage point, of course. I mainly read his works translated in my native Greek at a time when…
你的观点在早期科幻中并不少见，比如《Zardoz》里的 Eternals、阿西莫夫笔下的 Spacers，或者是 Cordwainer Smith 笔下的《Instrumentality of Mankind》。你可以先想想 Banks、Niven、Stross 等人是怎么写后稀缺（post-scarcity）时代的小说的。我有两点观察：第一，很少有小说会写……
Your viewpoint was not uncommon in older SF, like the Eternals in Zardoz, the Spacers of Asimov, or under the Instrumentality of Mankind of Cordwainer Smith. You might start by considering how Banks, Niven, Stross, and others have managed to write novels about a post-scarcity future. I have two observations. First, few novels are written…
……Smith。不过那些书确实相当古怪。我甚至不会用“超越时代”来形容它们，我觉得应该叫独树一帜（sui generis）。完全特立独行。就是一个天才怪胎的大脑产物。我身边一直备着《The Instrumentality of Mankind》和《The Best of Cordwainer Smith》的闲置备份，几个月前有人问起这两本书。我犹豫了一下才借给他，因为你根本摸不准一个人会不会喜欢……
…Smith. Those books are quite strange though. I wouldn't even call them ahead of their time, I would call them sui generis. Completely idiosyncratic. One brilliant weirdo's brain. I keep spare copies of The Instrumentality of Mankind and The Best of Cordwainer Smith around, and a couple months ago somebody asked me about them. I hesitated before lending them to him, because it's impossible to guess whether a given person will like…
《Norstrilia》我绝对举双手赞成。其实 Cordwainer Smith 所有的书都值得一读，但以《The Instrumentality of Mankind》为背景的故事绝对不容错过。Iain M. Banks 的 Culture 系列小说也神了，尤其是飞船的名字，还有探讨的主题。另外还有《The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy》（或者这算不算太近期的），也是一本……
Norstrilia I absultely second. Actually, all of Cordwainer Smith is worth a read, but stories set in The Instrumentality of Mankind certainly are. The culture novels by Iain M. Banks are also amazing, ship names in particular, but also themes. And then there is The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (or is this too recent) another…
确实如此。我在网上找不到这个信息了，但我记得有个轶事：据说 Cordwainer Smith 曾用当时国际舞台上的局势来解释《Instrumentality of Mankind》的整个时间线。当然，对于其中的（部分）事情，他有着某种特权视角的内幕观察。我主要是在……的时候读的他被翻译成我的母语希腊语的作品。
Yes indeed. I can't find this information online but I remember an anecdote according to which Cordwainer Smith had explained the entire timeline of the Instrumentality of Mankind in terms of current goings-on on the international stage. Of (some of) which he had a certain privileged vantage point, of course. I mainly read his works translated in my native Greek at a time when…
你的观点在早期科幻中并不少见，比如《Zardoz》里的 Eternals、阿西莫夫笔下的 Spacers，或者是 Cordwainer Smith 笔下的《Instrumentality of Mankind》。你可以先想想 Banks、Niven、Stross 等人是怎么写后稀缺（post-scarcity）时代的小说的。我有两点观察：第一，很少有小说会写……
Your viewpoint was not uncommon in older SF, like the Eternals in Zardoz, the Spacers of Asimov, or under the Instrumentality of Mankind of Cordwainer Smith. You might start by considering how Banks, Niven, Stross, and others have managed to write novels about a post-scarcity future. I have two observations. First, few novels are written…