Intelligent species differ unpredictably because of:
climate;
ecology;
physiology;
physical appearance -
"...and then within the same species you could get fantastic variations of thought and behavior patterns from culture to culture." (p. 117)
Anderson is generalizing from the single known instance, humanity. See "Homo Sum," where he lists six different kinds of human beings. Because of this human plasticity and diversity, I am confident that there is no unchanging human nature. Anderson's character, Weber, has experience and knowledge of different intelligent species.
Is the following line of argument valid?
A terrestroid planet close to its primary will be perpetually clouded;
therefore, its inhabitants, if any, are unlikely to know much about astronomy;
however, astronomy is "...the father of the sciences." (p. 116);
therefore, any natives are unlikely to be technologically advanced -
- but you never know.
3 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
I remember "Teucan" and its grimly ironic conclusion! And I'm pretty sure I know WHICH human culture or nation Anderson used as a partial model for the alien culture we see in that story. But I prefer not to spill too many beans too soon, so I won't be more specific! (Smiles)
Ad astra! Sean
We're talking about probabilities. Given a large enough sample, you'll get outliers.
Human cultural diversity is broad, but operates within limits.
Eg., so far as I know there is no human society without politics and without political violence. How it's conceptualized, organized and expressed differs very widely; but the phenomenon is universal.
If it's universal, it's inherent.
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