How the Strugatsky brothers’ science fiction went from utopian to dystopian
theparisreview.org
theparisreview.org
That's one of the reasons I didn't want to watch a movie based on the Roadside Picknick. I just didn't want to spoil the world of imagination in my head by watching a movie with someone elses imagined world.
Now, they are my favourite science fiction authors, and I'm really sad that not all of their work was translated to a language I can read.
[1] These book might have different English translation. This is just my half-assed translation from my native language.
The Roadside Piknic is the first enlightenment, so to speak, the bold conclusion that there is no way out, but selfless wish for happiness to everyone as the only way to hypothetically change the world (the way of the East - to focus on inner rather than social development, in hope that a proper social system will naturally follow, at least to some extent - the way of Gita or Spinoza, the way of India, and some Buddhist countries).
I think it's not the way of the East but more like an image created by westerners.
You will break this illusion by simply visiting Thailand, India, Korea or Japan. And it's hard to imagine more materialistic culture than Chinese.
I'm not saying the ideas of Hinduism or Buddhism are bad but look how people actually interpret them:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persecution_of_Muslims_in_Burma
Of course, every good insight about the proper way of living, be it of Upabishads, of Buddha or of Christ has been ruined by social institutions made by its "followers" to get a decent living out of it.
Nevertheless, the emphasis on inner rather than social development is an essence of the Indian culture.
As for China - it is too complicated. In times of the early dynasties they cultivated the same virtues - like statesmanship only for the best educated, etc but China is too big and too diverse and too dynamic to speak about it as one entity.
That's the characterization of their whole work. The single thread running through all their books. They don't explain everything. They always leave something there to marvel at.
Arthur C. Clarke also did this. It's the hallmark of the best science fiction.