Thea Beldaniel to van Rijn:
"'...they raised us,' she said dreamily. 'Oh, I know the Earthside jargon. I know it gave us deviant personalities. But what is the norm, honestly, Nicholas? We're different from other humans, true. But human nature is plastic. I don't believe you can call us warped, any more than you yourself are because you were brought up in a particular tradition. We are healthy and happy.'
"Van Rijn raised one eyebrow.
"'We are!'" (pp. 529-530)
I could quote more but must stop somewhere. There is much to unravel in Thea's speech.
"'...what is the norm...?'" is a rhetorical question meaning that there is no single norm for humanity. I agree.
"'We're different...'" All cultures differ, as they should.
"'...human nature is plastic.'" It is. But that has both a passive and an active aspect. Passively, we are impressionable and malleable. But we are brought up in particular societies which have been built by collective activity. Each human being is an animal, an active organism. We are social, thus interactive and cooperative. We can be encouraged to be proactive. Some of us are, anyway.
Everyone is brought up in a particular tradition. That alone does not make us warped. But some traditions do.
Are health and happiness enough? I would rather be Socrates unhappy than a pig ecstatic. (Don't say a pig would disagree. Pigs are incapable of assessing and evaluating anything.)
5 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
I can't entirely agree with you, and even less with Thea! It was WARPING for she and her colleagues to have been raised like pet animals/slaves of the Shenn.
Human nature is "plastic" only to a certain degree. Yes, all cultures differ, but that does not mean all cultures are equally good or desirable.
Ad astra! Sean
Human nature is plastic, but you can tell when conditioning is pushing the edges, when you get basic malfunction.
Eg., all the people raised by the Shen have dysfunctional sexual behaviors.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
I did notice how stiff, priggish, and awkward all, but one of the Serendipity people were. The sole exception being Thea Beldaniel, who came closest to being human.
Ad astra! Sean
Notice that the basic reason Sparta eventually collapsed wasn't fighting; they were always great at that.
But they turned out to be bad at -reproduction-. Their numbers dwindled to the point where they couldn't sustain their ambitions.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
I recall reading of how few Spartan CITIZENS became. That could have been ameliorated if Sparta had not become a closed aristocracy refusing to admit new men. They could have taken a leaf from THE CHOSEN, co-authored by you and Dave Drake, and periodically skimmed off the best ten percent from their Helots, adopting them into Spartan families.
Ad astra! Sean
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