New Black

1951 cover by Wayne Woodard

Here in March, I've had fun writing the first ten chapters and 55,000 words of the science fiction novel "Meet the Phari". In Chapter 12 of that tale, Eynta meets Jenny Ebernal and her robot companion Niel on Ottengla. Niel is one of the telepathic Notteng model of robots crafted on Triskelion who I first wrote about 8 months ago. I previously introduced the idea that with the manufacturing of sophisticated humanoid robots on Triskelion, the human population of that world declined. Is there a link between robotics and population growth and how might that impact the use of Alastor Cluster as a laboratory for breeding human telepaths?

Seventy years ago, in the November 1951 issue of Marvel Science Fiction, there was coverage of the topic of human population growth:

the threat of metal men

It is rather surprising to see the arguments presented by Arthur J. Burks opposed to population control, which include the flat statement that because the Bible says "be fruitful and multiply" there should be no efforts to control the growing human population of Earth. I don't really expect a science fiction magazine to publish a discussion which includes an argument based on the author's interpretation of a religious tract, but there it is. Interestingly, Burks calls the bible science fiction. Burks stated flatly: "If ever population is controlled, man is utterly doomed."

Burks tells his readers that if God and Nature had intended humans to control their population then people would have a breeding season. Burks confidently stated: "Women cannot endure going all their lives without knowing if the can bear children." Of course, that turned out to be wrong. 

New Dawn

During the past 70 years, it has become apparent that when women are educated and allowed to have careers, the human population can even decrease and nations will begin to offer financial incentive$ for having children.

Arguing for population control, Leiber presented his side of the discussion in the form of a science fiction tale that includes population issues on Mars in the 23rd century. Leiber pointed out the difference in population growth rates between urban (fewer children) and rural (more children) populations. Leiber argued that even religious people realize that one should not have more children than can be properly educated. Leiber wrote: "Educate people and raise their standard of living and they'll want to control population increase."

image source

Leiber also mentioned "the robot revolution", which put an end to people doing menial labor. In the past 70 years, the world has seen more and more "mindless work" being automated, leaving people free to do creative work. From the perspective of the 23rd century, Leiber wrote: "Today we take for granted that we plan the size of our families just as we plan our careers."

Standard Value Unit

In that same issue of Marvel Science Fiction there is a Jack Vance story called "Dover Spargill's Ghastly Floater" which is a spiritual sequel to his 1947 story "I'll Build Your Dream Castle". Vance wrote many amusing stories in which the quest for money was central to the plot. 

image source

Most memorable for sheer quantities of cash is The Killing Machine in which the protagonist, Kirth Gersen, steals 10 billion SVU from a notorious criminal. For brevity, I like the line devised by Vance for when the mad poet Navarth in The Palace of Love demands a million SVU. The billionaire Gersen has the money, but he casually asks, "Should I bring you the money in a sack?"

interior art by Vincent Napoli

In Chapter 12 of "Meet the Phari", Eynta finds herself running low on money. Eynta is well over 1,000 years old, but she has never previously had to worry about money because while working with Grean the Kac'hin, she was always kept well supplied with cash. In "Dover Spargill's Ghastly Floater", poor Dover invests 200 million to corner the market on Lunar metal mining, exactly on the same day when it is announced that a cheap and practical means for transmuting one metal into another has been developed. Suddenly the lunar metal mines are worthless, but the hero of the story goes on to use the transmutation technology to make the Moon habitable, turning apparent financial disaster into an opportunity for big profit$.

This image made with Elena17
and yennefer by
Eclesi4stiK available
under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0.

In the case of Eynta, she has just spent 20 years working diligently to help craft the specific types of alien-human hybrids that Grean needs on the planet Yerophet. Believing that one final set of critically important genes is to be found on the planet Kwenslo, Eynta does not let her lack of cash prevent her from traveling across Alastor Cluster to reach the planet Kwenslo. These "lost" genes are needed for Grean's mind clone project and Eynta will obtain them, at any cost.

Eynta is a human-Iidi hybrid with deep purple skin pigmentation derived from her Iidi ancestors. Eynta has memories going back well over 1,000 years, but she occasionally gets a new body. Also, Eynta has access to medical nanites that slow the aging process, so during the events described in "Meet the Phari", Eynta is in a body that is 'biologically' about 25 years old. Given her exotic alien features and access to advanced nanotechnology, how can Eynta quickly raise the money she needs to travel to Kwenslo? See this blog post.

interior art by Frank R. Paul

Also in that 1951 issue of Marvel Science Fiction was "Mountains of the Mind" by Richard Matheson. I first crossed paths with Matheson when I saw "The Enemy Within". I don't think I can adequately express the extent to which I despise 'good vs evil' plots such as that in "The Enemy Within". However, I believe that Star Trek episode was my introduction to duplicating people by using a teleporter, and I can't resist using that imaginary technology in my science fiction stories (older, newer).

interior art by Frank R. Paul

"Mountains of the Mind" reminds me of stories like "Breeds There a Man... ?" because it seems to be about "ancient aliens" who are secretly at work, guiding Humanity into the future. I say "seems to be" because Matheson could not be bothered to explain the source of the amazing technological wonders (such as the 'wave machine') buried under the Rocky Mountains. When protagonist Dr. Fred ditches his sexy girlfriend Katie and goes off to the mountains with Dr. Raschler, they don't actually get to meet the aliens. 😢  

"Mountains of the Mind" raises the question of whether humans could be said to have free will when dealing with super-advanced aliens who can use their super-duper 'wave-machines' to control human thought. It was not until the end of the 1950s that people finally began thinking seriously about miniaturization, so for Matheson, bigger was better. The ginormous 'wave machines' of that controls the Fate of Humanity remind me of the massive technology of the Krell in Forbidden Planet.

Araal. This image made with
  ElfyReborn2 byEclesi4stiK
available under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0.

In the case of the characters in "Meet the Phari" who work as agents for Grean, they can be guided in their behavior both by Grean's telepathic ability and by her use of infites, a form of nanotechnology that allows Grean to edit human memories. Are Grean's helpers therefor nothing but puppets? No. In fact, Grean makes a huge effort to keep her helpers well motivated so that they do not need to be forced into doing what Grean needs to get accomplished.

In Matheson's story, the aliens rely on telepathically sensitive men like Dr. Fred and Dr. Raschler to keep Humanity going, but the poor Docs are forced to give up their cute girlfriends. In contrast, Grean goes out of her may to make sure that her telepathic helpers are very interested in sex. Eynta has had dozens of children down through the centuries, including Araal. In Chapter 12 of "Meet the Phari", Eynta discovers that she is pregnant once again.

Rosicrucianism advertisement in a 1950s Sci Fi magazine.

 

interior art by Frank Freas

This blog post is called "New Black" because I recently read two of Isaac Asimov's more obscure Susan Calvin stories, one of which features the return of Dr. Black, a physicist working at Hyper Base. Black was first used as a character by Asimov in his 1947 story "Little Lost Robot". In an amusing scene from that story, readers learn how Dr. Black's intemperate use of profanities so upset a poor robot that the machine went into hiding.

In the 1955 story "Risk", Dr. Black helps Susan understand why the first "manned" hyperspace flight failed. The robot pilot for that flight was "too strong", so when it threw the switch to activate the spaceship, it broke the "on" switch. The story focuses on the psychological trick that Susan uses to manipulate Black's behavior and trick him into placing his life at risk in order to solve the mystery of the failed spaceship Parsec.

A humanoid robot. Made using
SciFi02 by Eclesi4stiK
available under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0

Asimov depicted Dr. Black as being "anti-robot" in his attitudes. Never having understood Asimov's decision to depict anti-robot sentiments among humans, I was surprised to find myself including the idea in The Alastor Network and "Meet the Phari". If robots all looked like the one shown to the right (above), I might understand how people could dislike them. 

However, I have fun imagining that in the far future there will be more human-like robots such as the one shown to the left. Asimov himself did not entirely avoid the issue of lovable robots and human sex play with robots. Asimov depicted a romance between Gladia and Jander the humanoid robot in his post-sexual revolution (1983) The Robots of Dawn.

Sadly, most of Asimov's imagined robots were depicted as being male. An exception to that general "rule" is found in "Feminine Intuition".

interior art by Enoch Sharp

I only recently read Asimov's 1951 story "Satisfaction Guaranteed". I've previously described how Asimov re-wrote his Susan Calvin story "Liar!" for the 1950 compilation of robot stories I, Robot, so I was surprised by what I read in "Satisfaction Guaranteed". Asimov claimed that he edited "Liar!" because when he wrote it he had not even had a date with a woman. Why then did he turn right around and write "Satisfaction Guaranteed", which in my view is a far more offensive portrayal of a female character? Oh, well, I'm no expert on what will offend people and I admit to having a fairly fundamental dislike for all old Sci Fi stories featuring stereotypical housewives. Susan has too small a role in "Satisfaction Guaranteed" to satisfy me.

Related Reading: "Helen O'Loy" in 1938

Next: eye candy

See also: Chapter 11 of "Meet the Phari"

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