My problem is, I learned a significant amount of biology in the late 1960s
before I began reading science fiction stories in the 1970s. It is often a challenge for me to accept the fictional biology invented for science fiction stories.
Mutations
Long before anyone on Earth understood the molecular basis of inheritance and how mutations correspond to changes in the structure of DNA molecules, science fiction story tellers were imagining how to mutate humans into a new species. For example,
Slan, by A. E. van Vogt (
1940) tells the story of a telepathic successor species to we humans, arising by spontaneous mutation. Not only are the slan telepathic but they have an entire spectrum of
additional traits such as having two hearts, long lives, super speed and strength and photographic memories.
If you wanted to publish a Sci Fi story in
Astounding in 1940, a good strategy was to include atomic power and some paranormal ability, particularly telepathy. Editor
John Campbell was delighted with the story (
Slan) as were many readers of the magazine. You can read "early" commentary on the story by John Carnell (1947) as published in
Fantasy Review. In Carnell's opinion, "...
it is a story which must be read by every science fiction fan ...".
Although the slan arose by spontaneous mutation, van Vogt created a rather highfalutin scaffold around this particular mutation. The slan cannot interbreed with humans, even-though the first three slan were born to a human mother (those births took place in the year
1971 according to the original version of the story). Readers are told by van Vogt that
Nature was stirring up the human gene pool, producing millions of deleterious mutations around the time when the slan magically arrived, apparently by means of good luck rearranging hundreds of genes into the pattern required for a new species of ape.
Then, the
real trouble began. Humans went to war with the slan. In order to survive, the slan had to genetically engineer a "lesser slan" with no telepathic ability and send those alt-slans to Mars while a few telepathic Slan secretly remained on Earth, hidden among the humans. Here is where van Vogt deployed his second genetic miracle. The alt-slans on Mars were genetically programmed to regain their telepathic powers after a predetermined number of generations.
In 1951, Simon & Schuster published a new edition of
Slan. Several announcements of the availability of this print version of the story soon followed in Sci Fi magazines including
Galaxy. In a short commentary for
Amazing Stories, Sam Merwin described a "
weakness" of the story: van Vogt's apparently
unquestioned "automatic hatred between human and slan".
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| telepathy |
By this time (1952)
Isaac Asimov had provided Sci Fi fans with his imagined future of telepathic
Second Foundationers who also lived hidden among the population of non-telepathic humans. In Asimov's imagined future, the telepaths were clever enough to remain hidden, thus avoiding direct conflict with the non-telepaths. In Asimov's imagination, telepathic communication and the minds of
positronic robots were both very easy to disrupt by "jamming devices", so both positronic robots and telepaths learned quickly to hide themselves.
Although not included in the original
Foundation Trilogy, Asimov eventually introduced the idea that telepathic robots had engaged in an extensive experimental program of genetically modifying humans in an attempt to give them "super powers", including telepathic abilities that would allow for a vast human telepathic network,
Galaxia. In Asimov's Foundation Fictional Universe, telepathy arose spontaneously among humans and its power could be enhanced by selective breeding, training and genetic engineering.
The source of conflict between Asimov's telepathic humans and the non-telepaths arose from the fact that the telepaths could not only telepathically communicate with each other, but also telepathically take control of the minds of non-telepaths. Although most of the telepaths did not try to harm other humans, their "mentalic" mind control ability was feared by non-telepathic humans. Asimov depicted one specific major source of that fear:
the Mule. The Mule had used his mind-control abilities in an attempt to make himself emperor of the galaxy. However, the Second Foundationers stopped the Mule before he could complete his project for domination of Humanity.
Asimov never explained how it was possible for his imagined telepathic humans to take control of other people's minds. In
Slan, van Vogt introduced the idea of magical "
hypnotism crystals" that could be used by a slan to dominate the mind of a human. Of course, there is no real world evidence that
hypnotism is a path towards telepathic mind control.
When Asimov wanted to amplify the Mule's telepathic mind control ability, he introduced a device, the
Visi-Sonor. Asimov's
Prime Radiant also could directly transmit images into the human visual cortex. In science fiction fantasies, there is always the temptation to turn "natural" telepathy into some form of technology-assisted telepathy.
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| antennae |
Both van Vogt and Asimov adopted the idea that telepathy could be made possible by detecting the faint electrical signals that are emitted by a brain. To facilitate their telepathy, the slan have antennae. Long before I had ever heard about
Slan, I'd been exposed to the idea of antennae for telepathic communication by television (
example).
For the Exode Saga, I imagine that there could be a special brain system for transmitting information in the form of
twitinos, a type of
hierion. These imaginary particles have the advantage that they can carry information-rich transmissions and they will not be swamped out by other electrical signals.
For the Exode Saga, I imagine that naturally evolved human telepathy that is made possible via the exchange of twitinos is fairly weak and of low fidelity for information exchange. It did give some humans (particularly Neanderthals) a selective advantage in terms of social cohesiveness.
This human capacity for high fidelity twitino-mediated telepathy was made possible due to
Phari technology. The Phari had long ago provided
femtobot endosymbionts to the creatures of Earth. Humans also have a
zeptite endosymbiont that originated from the
pek.
When the first positronic brain was created, it was quickly discovered that positronic robots had a powerful form of twitino-mediated telepathy. Positronic robots were created with the help of the
bumpha and, like humans, they had hierion and sedronic components. Using their telepathic ability, positronic robots could detect the presence of connections between their own endosymbionts and the pek (
Orboh Anagro) who was in charge of
Observer Base. The pek made use of
sedrons for a type of technology-assisted telepathy that allowed for monitoring of any creature who had a zeptite endosymbiont. Making use of their telepathic ability, the first positronic robots quickly shielded themselves from Orboh Anagro and then managed to take control of Observer Base.
Eventually,
Many Sails and the
Huaoshy discovered the physical basis of twitino-mediated telepathy and realized that when the Huaoshy had long ago altered the Dimensional Structure of the universe so as to make possible faster-than-light space travel, they had inadvertently also made twitino-mediated telepathy possible. Thus, they were eventually able to make a final adjustment to the Dimensional Structure of the universe that made all further twitino-mediated telepathy impossible.
At the start of the Exode Saga, twitino-mediated telepathy is a thing of the past. The telepathic communication between
Zeta and
the Editor is technology-assisted telepathy that depends on the
Bimanoid Interface. The Bimanoid Interface was originally a key component of the process by which
temporal momentum could be created. The events of the past
Realities of Earth were carefully stored in the
Hierion Domain. Those records of past Realities could be used to guide events in a new Reality.
Much of this guidance was accomplished by replicoids. Each person on Earth had a corresponding replicoid in the Hierion Domain that was linked to the person's femtobot endosymbiont. The replicoid system could not only make sure that the same people were born in successive Realities, but it could also enforce similar (compared to a past Reality) patterns of behavior on each person's analogue in the new Reality.
However, in the Final Reality, the Bimanoid Interface can no longer be used as originally intended. The Bimanoid Interface version 2.0 does allow for technology-assisted telepathy between two people who either 1) have a
similar brain structure or 2) who have "matching"
infites within their femtobot endosymbionts. In the case of Zeta and the Editor, they share matching infites that were originally designed to allow for careful monitoring of the Editor's thoughts and actions.
The telepathic linkage between Zeta and the Editor is unusual for several reasons. First of all, the Editor is
tryp'At. The tryp'At were one of the telepathic human variants created during the
Asimov Reality (along with the
Ek'col). However, the Editor's replicoid (
Irhit) took pains to "burn out" the Editor's ability to receive twitino-mediated telepathic signals. Also, Zeta suffered a form of "
burn-in" by which she could only use the original Bimanoid Interface to receive information from the Editor.
Later, with Bimanoid Interface version 2.0, Zeta and the Editor have a type of technology-assisted telepathy that allows them to share their thoughts, particularly their well-formed linguistic thoughts.
The Editor also has a strange type of infite-mediated telepathic connection to
Yōd by which he can receive information while he sleeps. Also, the Editor has a weak telepathic connection to his grand-daughter
Rylla, although it does not allow for language-like exchange of information, only a vague sense of awareness of the other person's cognitive activity level.
One of the
ISIO agents who visit Zeta and the Editor at the start of the Exode Saga is a human-tryp'At hybrid who also has a weak infite-mediated telepathic link to the Editor, but that was not what led to the visit of two ISIO agents to the home of Zeta and the Editor. When "she" learned that they were looking for her, Nirutam contacted the agents and told them where she was.
Both
Nirutam and the ISIO agents have connections to the pek.
Related Reading: alt-humans, the
Ler.
and: the
origins of Nirutam
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