My take on "The Stars Do Not Lie"

“Privacy is just a special case of truth, or its withholding” Out of the readings this week, the one that stood out to me the most was "The Stars Do Not Lie", by Jay Lake. Overall, the story discusses the debate on whether the Earth goes around the sun, or the other way around. The main character is Doctor Morgan Abutti, who has been studying the same part of the sky for many years. He knows that he has found something, but isn't sure what it is yet. He decides to bring his new findings to the Planetary Society, a group more traditional in ideology. Seeing how his society is ruled by religion, this information shocks his peers and he is immediately brought before a treason judge, and could be incarcerated or thrown in prison at any moment. While being overly vague to avoid spoilers, the story then jumps back and forth between Morgan and a high priest who leaves his safe home and undergoes a mission. By the end, both men find themselves having to decide whether they want to enter the dark abyss and gain ultimate truth, but never be able to tell anyone, or remain on the horizon of truth without ever entering it. Lake is definitely not the first author to play with this theme of the suppression of knowledge on society, but his writing style put it in a new perspective to me. So that made me wonder, if we were all forced to choose between truth and comfort, what would we choose? I think it depends on each of our preferences and desire to become fully self actualized, but I'm interested to see how this discussion goes in class. One last thing, what did everyone think about the racism displayed in this society?