Thursday, 17 July 2025

Feelings Also


Brain Wave, 7.

Corinth and his colleagues, like Isaac Asimov's Second Foundationers, now understand each other well enough to communicate merely by facial expressions and hand gestures. I find this implausible to the point of impossible.

Not only thoughts but also feelings have intensified because they too depend on neural connections. I had not thought of this implication before. However, it explains why so many people not only think more quickly but also feel and respond more intensely.

Helga already feels nostalgic:

"'The old days - the lost innocence. We'll always regret them, won't we? We'll always look back on our blindness with a wistful longing that the new generation simply won't understand.'" (p. 70)

Another predictable reaction.

Innocence lost is a major theme of Poul Anderson's Time Patrol series, appropriate for time travel.

Personally, I prefer the perspective of age to the inexperience of youth - but I do not denigrate people younger than me now! In general, they have a much better understanding than I ever did.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Kaor, Paul!

I agree, a totally unconvincing means of communication by Corinth and his colleagues. As you imply, suspiciously Asimovian.

Ad astra! Sean