-Poul Anderson, A Circus Of Hells IN Anderson, Young Flandry (Riverdale, NY, 2010), pp. 193-365 AT Chapter Thirteen, p. 286.
How different is that? Maybe I would be able to get along with these Merseian guys. As long as Anderson continued to write about an alien species, he was able to keep adding new details like this one. Merseians are not descended from chattering apes.
How different are Merseian brains? In human brains, thoughts arise unbidden. I imagine that neurons continually interact below the level of consciousness, then some of the interactions become conscious - maybe at random? In a particular Buddhist tradition, we call the unbidden thoughts "natural." There are two possible responses to natural thought:
start to think about it - "natural" thought has become "deliberate";
let it arise and pass - you are practicing zazen, just sitting meditation.
Do some Merseians meditate?
6 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
Not all humans are chatterers! I myself, personally, am inclined to silence altho I'm more than willing to talk to friends. But babbling, random chatter does not appeal to me.
I think it's pretty plain, from the text of A CIRCUS OF HELLS, that Yydwyr the Seeker meditates. I don't think ability to contemplate the Transcendent is limited to humans.
Sean
Humans don't chatter all the time either -- hunters have to learn to be very silent, for instance (and so do soldiers). If Merseians never chatter, it's probably an evolutionary phenomenon. Humans talk not only to convey information, but to build social bonds. They must have other ways of doing it.
Dear Mr. Stirling,
Yes, but sometimes humans chatter the wrong way, at the wrong times, and in ways irritating to others. That has been, as well, my personal observation.
Sean
Yup, but it's mostly a matter of cultural or sub-cultural contradictions; if you've been raised to think of silence as appropriate in some settings, it's extremely irritating to have to listen to chatter then -- and conversely, you'll seem cold and unfriendly to the other people.
Of course, these days you can just plug in your earbuds. I listen to music while working anyway.
Dear Mr. Stirling,
True, what you said about "cultural or subcultural contradictions." I think the more irritating kinds of chatterers have little understanding about when to chatter.
Sean
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