In 4300 AD, Martin Saunders contemplates:
"...the far suns that man had conquered without mastering himself." (p. 189)
"...without mastering himself..." reads like an unexamined cliche. Is it just a given that man can master his environment but not himself? In Anderson's own Psychotechnic History, methods of self-knowledge and self-control are developed. In his Brain Wave, intelligence gains control of instinct. Moves in this direction have already been made in Saunders' timeline. In 4100 AD:
"'...the Council will probably order your temporal deportation as unintegrated individuals. The sanity of Sol will be in danger otherwise.'" (p. 186)
"They even pleaded Belgotai's case to the Solar Council, via telescreen. But the answer was inexorable: the Galaxy already had too many barbarians. The travelers would have to go." (p. 187)
In 50,000 AD, the Dreamer offers to remove the time travellers' neuroses but Belgotai declines.
Self mastery is possible.
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