Trevelyan and Smokesmith observe a planet whose population has been wiped out by radiation from a nearby supernova:
"Smokesmith...appeared to have no trouble maintaining detachment. But then, he did not feel humanlike emotions..." (p. 110)
We immediately think of Spock although he is only the most visible sf alien without human emotions. I first learned of Spock's emotionlessness in James Blish's first volume of Star Trek script adaptations (see image) because, as a Blish fan, I read this book before I had heard of the TV series which had not reached the UK yet.
But, if an alien does not have human emotions, then what motivations does he have? We need a positive description.
See also Rovian.
2 comments:
Spock has humanlike emotions -- his people do. They just -control- them very strictly.
Kaor, Paul!
Besides what Stirling said above, I would add I think you are going too far. Because if humans are going to interact with other races it's because they will have some things in common, or at least mutually understandable. I like how Anderson said something very similar in Chapter I of A CIRCUS OF HELLS: "It wasn't the differences between them [Merseians] and men that caused trouble, Flandry knew. It was the similarities--in planets of origin and thus in planets desired; in the energy of warm-blooded animals, the instincts of ancestors who hunted, the legacies of pride and war--"
Ad astra! Sean
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