Poul Anderson's Psychotechnic Institute uses the science of psychotechnics for sociological manipulation and for psychophysical training.
Anderson's Chereionites developed neurology and psychology until at least one of their number was a universal telepath.
Four practical applications emerge here:
sociological manipulation
mental control of others
psychophysical training
universal telepathy
The first and second are bad.
The fourth is implausible, if not impossible.
The third is highly necessary.
8 comments:
I don't think manipulation of the sort the Second Foundation does is possible; nor historical prediction of a Seldonian type.
History is too contingent, particularly at the level of politics.
Eg., in 60 BCE it was very probable that Roman warlords would dominate the Mediterranean.
It wasn't particularly probable that a united Roman state would do so.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
And the ferocious Roman destruction of Carthage and Corinth in 146 BC made it plain to everybody with working brains that Rome already dominated the Mediterranean world.
Ad astra! Sean
As Virgil put it, "parcere subiectis, et debellare superbos".
Augustus had all sorts of consequences.
Just to name one, something like 30% of the free population of Italy settled in the provinces in colonies he founded, mostly but not all the soldiers he demobilized. He had 65 legions on hand at the end of the civil wars, and only wanted 28 on a permanent basis. And their families and dependents went with them, of course.
That was a massive spur to Romanization and the spread of the Latin language.
So was his policy of stationing legions on the frontiers.
Most legionaries who lived to the end of their hitch (25 years, and about half made it) were already married, unofficially, and it was made official when they mustered out. And nearly all of them settled near their legion's base, on land they were granted or bought with their retirement bonus (12 years pay, plus whatever they saved).
Or they set up in business, using skills they'd learned in the legions -- which were hives of skilled labor, metalworkers, masons, engineers, you name it.
Auxiliaries got Roman citizenship when they were discharged, and mostly settled near the bases where they were stationed -- often provinces away from where they were recruited.
By that time they (and their families) were thoroughly Romanized -- they spoke Latin, just for starters, because it was the command language of the army. They usually picked up most of the rest of the demotic version of Roman culture too. You can tell where ex-auxiliaries settle, for example, in the archaeological record. They buy standard Roman terra siligatta dinnerware (which was mass produced) and other consumer goods. They import wine and olive oil and garum (fish-sauce) because they'd been getting them in their rations all their adult lives.
By Marcus Aurelius' time, it's really amazing how culturally uniform the Empire had become -- from what's now Tunisia to what's now the Netherlands and from Britain to the mouth of the Danube, anybody of any consequence spoke Latin, and the local languages were in retreat even among the commons. Any reasonably prosperous local wore a tunic and lived in the same sort of house and ate the same food and read the same books and approached the world in the same way.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
Fascinating! You reminded me of how Augustus' policy of settling so many mustered out legionaries in those colonies was a huge driver in Romanizing the Empire. But I had not known THIRTY PERCENT of the entire free population of Italy were resettled like that.
After the end of the civil wars I can see why Augustus thought 65 legions were too many and disbanded 37 of them. But maybe 28 legions were too few? If there had been another three or four legions on hand in or near Germany, the disaster of the Teutoberg Forest might have been averted.
Ad astra! Seam
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
Nothing succeeds like success! The overwhelming triumph and power of Rome would generate a massive desire by many to become Romanized.
The major exception to this were the Greek speaking parts of the Empire, the pars Oriens. The language and culture of Hellas commanded huge respect even in Rome. Every upper class Roman of intellectual pretensions learned Greek. Marcus Aurelius wrote his MEDITATIONS in Greek, not Latin.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean: yes, the Empire was bilingual. Incidentally, the areas that spoke Greek also expanded in the Imperial period -- most of Anatolia became Greek-speaking, not just the coast, west of the Armenian and proto-Kurdish zones.
If the Empire had not fallen, I suspect eventually most of the population would have spoken Latin, with a solid Greek minority in the east.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
And large parts of the pars Occidens of the Empire still speak languages descended from Latin: Italy, Spain, Portugal, France, with an outpost in the east, Romania.
There were some exceptions to the dominance of Greek in the Eastern Parts: most Egyptians still spoke Coptic, and Aramaic seems to have been what most people spoke in the Holy Land and Syria.
Ad astra! Sean
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