"'World...hunh, the thought's hard to seize. Well, let the Sisterhood try. I'm happy to be a plain male.'"
-Poul Anderson, Ensign Flandry IN Anderson, Young Flandry (Riverdale, NY, 2010), pp. 1-192 AT Chapter Four, p. 32.
I cannot possibly sympathize with Ferok's attitude. Whatever my social role, if I learned that what I had regarded as the world was only a world, then I would want to know (a lot) more. I was appalled when Sherlock Holmes said that he did not care whether the Earth went round the Sun or vice versa. Knowledge is a value in itself and does not need any practical applications.
A typical Anderson character who learns that his world is one of many planets wants to get off it! I would not necessarily insist on that but would want regular contact with extra-planetaries and reports from space travelers. But it takes all sorts to make a world. If Ferok is content to accept his subordinate role and not to inquire further, then that is what makes him happy.
6 comments:
Holmes was espousing total focus on his role; he could know everything relevant to that by excluding the irrelevant.
Dear Mr. Stirling and Paul,
True. Altho I still recall how taken aback I was by Holmes indifference to thing like whether or not the Earth revolved around the sun. And Dr. Watson was certainly shocked!
Sean
Kaor, Paul!
I should have pointed out we do see a restless Tigery eager to get out into interstellar space in THE GAME OF EMPIRE, Dragoika's youngest son Targovi. And was his father Ferok? Dragoika seems to have liked him.
Sean
You'd be surprised how many educated people today have only the vaguest idea of how the physical universe is arranged!
Dear Mr. Stirling,
I find that far too easy to believe! Many people still believe in twaddle like astrology and enneagrams! (Snorts)
Sean
Dear Mr. Stirling,
That's a good point, but it depends on whom you count as "educated."
Best Regards,
Nicholas D. Rosen
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