Fractals, or: Reagan Assured Gorbachev of Help Against Aliens

by Peter Watts

Trespassing? Trespassing? You arrogant slant-eyed alien motherfucker, I used to live here!

Genres: Short Stories

18 pages, ebook

First published February 1, 1995

Reviews

[J_BlueFlower · Rating 3 out of 5]

Free download from authors page:
https://rifters.com/real/shorts/Peter...

Fractals, or: Reagan Assured Gorbachev of Help Against Aliens
Peter Watts
Read Octo 2025
18 pages

Hatred is like a fractal: scale-invariant. No matters what level the narrator can always find something to hate. It seems other reviewers did not notice the development of the point:

"It's like hatred is—"
I see galaxies within galaxies.
"—scale-invariant," I finish slowly.

For the baboons in the TV there are two levels.

In absence of the greater threat, destroy the lesser.

For the narrator there are many more. The top level is "Reagan Assured Gorbachev of Help Against Space Aliens"

4 stars for the point made. Although I disagree, it is still an interesting point. Some research shows that hate violence is predominantly due to males with an IQ between 80 and 90. The rest of us are able to live a life (almost) without hating. Rounding all the way down to 3 for the unsympathetic narrator.

[Katherine · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm not exactly sure what Watts was struggling with here, but it almost felt like this short story was being used as an excuse for racism rather than a criticism. This was written during the 90s, when we were all "hey racism is totally fixed now" so perhaps this was more "edgy" at that time.

[Clora · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5. watts was on the verge of making a breakthrough thesis along the lines of "people will always be afraid of the Other for any given size of human social unit." no idea why he connected that with fractals and then didn't finish the analogy

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another ugly one that hasn't aged well. Watts is reaching for a theory of the inevitability of racism but it eludes him, tempting thought the fractal metaphor might be.