In this chapter, we are inside Ivar Frederiksen's point of view and therefore inside a worldview where Terrans are the enemy. That will not last in this novel but it does elsewhere. Near the end of The People of the Wind, an Avalonian Ythrian dies doing what he wants to do, killing Terrans - but "Terrans" do not include human Avalonians and the Terran forces include a Cynthian who dies in the attack. Ivar will consider seeking support from Ythrians and Merseians. We know that there are human beings in the Domain of Ythri. We will learn that there are human beings in the Merseian Roidhunate and also beings of Merseian species, although now called either ychani or zmayi, on Dennitza in the Terran Empire.
Will different intelligent species ever interact like different Terrestrial nationalities? I think that we will be far too alien to each other for that - as did the British sf writer, Bob Shaw, who never recounted conversations between human beings and aliens.
9 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
And I disagree with your last paragraph. However difficult it might be for humans and non-humans to communicate, I do not consider that to be logically impossible. Rational beings of whatever species should be able to begin communicating via simple things like 1 + 1 = 2, 1 + 2 = 3, and so on.
Ad astra! Sean
We do inhabit the same universe. H. Beam Piper did a story on that question -- OMNILINGUAL.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
Yes, all intelligent races live in the same cosmos. I simply don't believe ours is the only such species to exist. And I don't believe writers like Paul and Shaw are correct, that it would be impossible for such races to interact/communicate with one another.
I'm almost sure I read "Omnilingual" far too many moons ago. I need to search among my SF books for it and reread Piper's story.
Ad astra! Sean
Rational species should be able to communicate about maths and science but would they be psychologically and culturally similar enough to interact politically as in the Technic History? That is a different question.
Kaor, Paul and Mr. Stirling!
Paul: Yes, I believe such races should be able to interact/communicate in more ways than by such abstractions as mathematics. Esp. if they are biochemically similar enough to each other to desire the same types of planets. Competition for such planets puts a premium on widening and deepening mutual comprehension, to better conduct commerce, war, and diplomacy.
See as well Anderson's "The Word to Space," which touches on both problems of communication and human/alien religions.
Mr. Stirling: I found it! That is, I went thru three or four collections of SF stories before I found Piper's "Omnilingual," which I started to read.
Ad astra! Sean
Paul: different species interact naturally if they're rivals for the same territory or resources -- that's why wolves kill coyotes whenever they can. Humans can eliminate wolves from an area but not coyotes; wolves are much more effective at keeping coyote numbers down.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
I read "Omnilingual" with keen interest, a story about archaeologists excavating the ruins left by long extinct Martians. The question raised in the story of how to decipher a totally alien language without a bilingual text intrigued me, as did Piper's solution: one of the archaeologists compared the Martians periodic table of elements with ours to find words in both languages with the same meanings. Progress in deciphering would be exponential after that!
Piper pub. "Omnilingual" in 1954 when there were still lingering hopes of finding life, including intelligent life, on Mars. Anderson wrote stories in the 1950's with the same premise: THE WAR OF TWO WORLDS, and "The Martian Crown Jewels.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean: yes, if he'd written it a decade later, he'd have put it on an extrasolar planet. Still a good story, though, and an interesting point.
Piper 'retconned' a good deal of his Paratime universe too -- you might call it subtly subtracting the more pulpish elements. The Paratime part of LORD KALVAN OF OTHERWHEN (which itself was retooled from an interplanetary-adventure story, btw) is much more minimal than in the earlier Paratime story.
Piper was improving right up to the end. His death by suicide was a tragedy for the field, and caused by a bunch of mistakes by other people as much as anything.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
I agree, if "Omnilingual" had been pub. a decade later (1957, not 1954) it would have been a very different story.
Dang, I need to track down LORD KALVAN again!
Piper's death, like that of Walter Miller, was truly tragic! And he might not have committed suicide if his agent hadn't died, delaying good news of more sales of his stories.
Ad astra! Sean
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