Having posted about ice ships in In Mid-Battle, I searched the blog for previous references and found:
Ice And Fire
Van Rijn At War
The blog is full of repetitions and second and third thoughts. In Torrance On Van Rijn, I described the measurement of brain activity in alien organisms. It occurred to me to contrast the mere measurement of such activity with the detection and interpretation of brain emanations. This prompted a reference to the philosophical mind-brain problem but it did not occur to me until later to make a link to my own article on this subject which can be seen again here.
The tripartite Didonians are intelligent only when conjoined whereas the helmet beasts, I think, remain intelligent even when separated from the gorilloids. The latter, when separated, have a canine level of intelligence with most brain activity comtrolling only animal functions. See Eliminations.
9 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
I don't mind repetitions! I'm enough of a fan of Poul Anderson not to be bothered by second, third, or FOURTH thoughts. The variety that implies helps to keep this blog interesting.
Sean
These folks seeemed like they could have been major "players": star-faring, exploring, really interesting perspectives on things- would be great to discuss the "Mind-Body Question" with them. Wonder if they feel more alive when connected or if it's overwhelming? Do they (and the Didonians) feel sorry for us, we who rarely achieve unity, intimacy, and transcendence of self, while they do it much of the time? Do they envy us for being/feeling whole and complete within ourselves (at least some of the time), when they NEVER are?
-kh
P.S. Am I the only one here who thinks of things like this, or am I just the one crazy/ill-mannered enough to bring them up?
Keith,
The Didonian narrator at the end of THE REBEL WORLDS does say pity the strangers who cannot know oneness.
Paul.
Kaor, Keith!
No, we don't see Didonians envying humans. And I do recall one of the Didonian "entities" feeling compassion for humans. At the literal end of THE REBEL WORLDS we read: "Be not afraid of the strangers with single bodies. Terrible are their powers, but those We can someday learn to wield like them if we choose. Rather, pity that race, who are not beasts but can think, and thus know that they will never know oneness."
So I think Anderson beat you to your suggestions! (Smiles)
Sean
Thank you, Gentlemen. I should re-read these- it's been 30-40 years...
I can imagine religions forming around the multiple-intelligenced beings; attempts by "singles" to emulate them through artificial means...
-kh
Kaor, Keith!
THAT long since you last read, say, ENSIGN FLANDRY, A CIRCUS OF HELLS, and THE REBEL WORLDS? High time you reread them!
As for "religions" based on "oneness," something like that might be seen in the Cosmosism Aycharaych cooked up on Aeneas as a means of tearing apart the Empire by means of jihads. That is, some adherents of Cosmosism might have tried to achieve "oneness." In fact, the tri-bodied entities of Dido was an inspiration for these Cosmosists.
Sean
I was 17 when I read TDOoR- I am now 60. What happened to Cosmenosis (which sounds vaguely what I've heard about Teilhard de Chardin, SJ's thoughts) after Aych was foiled? I vaguely recall Jaan still hearing voices, or something like that...
In David Brin's "Uplift" series, the dominant Galactic races follow what sound like religions, based on what tehy believe happened to the the Progenitors... I wonder if Aych considered something like that to factor in? Also, there's no guarantee that the religious revival would have stopped at the Empire, it could have engulfed the Roidhunate and the Domain as well...
"They that sow the wind, shall reap the whirlwind"
-Hose 8:7
-kh
Keith,
Jaan still heard an inner voice because he still had the false persona imposed by Aycharaych but now he knew what it was.
Paul.
Thanks, Paul. Also, I understand medicine can help with that, too.
-kh
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