Gravity impellors, swearing by Cosmos and a captain who holds that position by virtue of being the psychotechnologist are signs that this story fits into the Psychotechnic History. An unusual civilization has been found at Alpha Centauri where the Traveler had been bound in "Gypsy."
Captain Nielsen says:
"'The laws of mentality are quite definite, and despite large superficial differences between intelligent races, they must follow the same basics in order to be intelligent.'" (p. 168)
Yes, if one word is to be applied to two things, then the two things must have some common features. To be intelligent, organisms must be conscious and must think. I could say, "think logically," but logic is implicit. No one says, e.g., "I am intelligent. I am not intelligent. I have just contradicted myself but that does not matter because I transcend logic and therefore am not bound by it," and, if anyone did say that, then he would not succeed in stating whether he was intelligent. Thus, logic is not, as some think, a limit on thought but simply thought.
Nielsen thinks that it is unreasonable that people capable of interstellar colonization would carry mascots with them - and now Nielson is being completely unreasonable.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
But I would not be in the least surprised that space ships of the future might have mascots, pets like dogs or cats. Besides providing amusement and companionship to the crews (not necessarily an inconsiderable factor), I can see such mascots being useful in a practical sense as well: cats could help keep vermin like rats under control.
In fact, the dangerous beasts which attacked Dominic Flandry and his friends on Altai in "A Message in Secret" descended and evolved from rats which had escaped space ships. An interesting, en passant use of evolution!
Ad astra!
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