In Anderson's earlier Psychotechnic History, the conflicts that bring down the Solar Union, leading to the Second Dark Ages, then the Stellar Union, leading to the Third Dark Ages, are not only social but also psychological. Sandra Miesel's interstitial commentary informs us that, although external enemies could be defeated:
"...against the enemy within there was no defense. Given the prevailing stage of psychodevelopment, the innate contradictions with individuals and societies could not be resolved."
-Star Ship, p. 252.
Millennia later, a psychotechnician not only mentally controls cosmic forces with his artificially mutated brain but can also control his emotions with:
"...his trained nervous system..." (p. 258)
- so it sounds as if psychodevelopment has at last resolved the contradictions.
Ad astra.
10 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
Recall how I don't believe "The Chapter Ends" is a true Psychotechnic story. It's better understood as a stand-alone one-off work.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
Two ways of looking at it. I think it can make a good conclusion, assuming a lot of time has passed.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
I would need to see evidence from Anderson's works, perhaps from unpublished papers, before I could accept "The Chapter Ends" as a Psychotechnic story. Also, Anderson more and more moved away from the kind of "magical" handwavium we see in that story. I think it's plain he came to believe genetic engineering would either not change human beings all that much or would have undesirable results.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
I think that, if "The Chapter Ends" was in the Psychotechnic time chart from the beginning, then Anderson intended it to be included.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
But the only Psychotechnic we have in the pub. collections was compiled by Sandra Miesel. That's not good enough for me, not when "The Chapter Ends" is so different from the undisputed Psychotechnic stories. I would evidence from Anderson's works/papers to get this question settled.
Ad astra! Sean
I don't think any predictive 'science of history' is possible, because critical events in history are the result of low-probability accidents bouncing off each other.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
Absolutely! The Sarajevo Assassination and its consequences was a stunning example of that kind of low-probability accident.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
But the Great Powers were already primed for war so some other spark would have ignited them?
Paul.
Paul: nope, and any war that took place either earlier or later would have been unpredictably different. WW1 was what it was because it took place in a particular technological and political moment.
Franz Ferdinand was heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne; he had a veto over foreign policy, and he was unalterably opposed to anything that risked war with Russia. Removing him really did change the balance of forces.
And the German General Staff wanted war because they were convinced that by 1917, Russia would be immune to defeat. I think they were wrong, but they really did believe that.
If war had been delayed by 3 years, the German General Staff would have been strongly against it.
Kaor, Paul and Mr. Stirling!
Paul: Besides what Stirling said, I would also suggest the Balkan Wars of 1911-13 seems a more likely spark for triggering a war among the Great Powers. Serbia, Bulgaria, and Greece all attacked the Turks, wresting away all of their remaining European possessions. And then fought each other over the spoils. But the Great Powers refused to be dragged into these conflicts.
Mr. Stirling: It was a tragedy, for Francis Ferdinand, his wife, and the world that they were murdered. He seems to have been a hard-headed, able, and realistic man.
Ad astra! Sean
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