Hallucination |
In 1985, Asimov published a story called "Hallucination" which seems like an early version of the First Contact with telepathic aliens story that was later expanded to novel length in Nemesis. I read "Hallucination" as re-published in Gold. "Hallucination" has the advantage of being much shorter than Nemesis, so if you are in the market for an Asimov story about a telepathic "group mind" then "Hallucination" might be a good place to start.
neutron star |
In the story, when a young (15 years old Sam) amazingly achieves telepathic contact with an alien life form on "Energy Planet", rather than celebrate the fantastic discovery, all the adults in the story instead harass Sam and tell him that he is hallucinating. Almost immediately upon taking up residence on Energy Planet, Sam is called a troublemaker and told that the "authorities" have been spying on him.
inside the dome on Energy Planet |
image source |
Asimov also published other stories about telepathic aliens such as the 1950 story "Misbegotten Missionary". I've previously complained about Asimov's telepathic "energy beings" in his 1955 story "The Portable Star". Like Asimov's 1983 story "Potential", "Hallucination" included the idea of a human-designed artificial intelligence (computer) providing assistance to humans as they begin to develop telepathic abilities.
It seems like Asimov had a fascination with telepathy and was struggling to find the optimal fictional expression of that interest right up to the end of his life. Asimov is most famous for his telepathic robot Daneel who assisted the development of human telepathy among the Second Foundationers. However, there were no aliens in Asimov's Foundation Saga.
interior art by Paul Orban |
Explore Strange New Telepaths. Another Asimov story about telepathic aliens from 1956 is "Each an Explorer". I recently complained about a 1953 story called "The Infinites" by Philip K. Dick. Dick began with the futuristic depiction of explorers from Earth who were trying to "map and prospect every bit of rock in the galaxy". In Dick's story, his explorers stumble upon an amazing discovery, but in the end that great discovery is discarded.
the more we think about it, the more it falls apart |
Houston, we have an alien. Then, while in the middle of their routine work of mapping the cluster, the spaceship of Smith and Chouns suffers a mysterious failure of the good old hyperatomic motors. Lucky for Smith and Chouns they are close to an Earth-like planet with atmospheric oxygen and plant life that uses chlorophyll; they can land on the planet and try to repair their defective hyperatomic motors. Once on the planet, Smith and Chouns seem to have made an amazing discovery: a form of animal life living in a village. This appears to be the most advanced form of alien life yet found in the Galaxy by explorers from Earth.
cover art by Ed Emshwiller |
Alien Invasion. At the end of the story, we learn that one of the plant species from the cluster can telepathically control animals, turning them into their "slaves". The minds of Smith and Chouns have been telepathically adjusted by the plants, so they hurry back to Earth carrying "plant spores" that will eventually take over Earth, turning humans into the servants of the "plant people".
The telepathic abilities of the plants are so great, they were able to reach out through the depths of space and take control of the minds of Smith and Chouns, convincing them that their hyperatomic motors were not functioning, even-though there was actually nothing wrong with the motors. What might be the physical basis of this long-range plant telepathy?
tales of telepathy |
I don't think I'll ever understand the popularity of "plant people" in science fiction, but having been trained as a scientist, Asimov did give some thought to how telepathic humans and plants might evolve.
telepathic signals in outer space |
technology-assisted telepathy |
Technology-Assisted Telepathy. In the Exode Saga, I imagine that human telepathy is made possible by technology-assisted telepathy that involves nanoscopic endosymbionts. Could a system for technology-assisted telepathy created by an animal species "go wrong" and be "taken over" by dastardly plants? Sometimes I try to imagine how "escaped" nanites might cause problems, but this makes about as much sense as imagining that your laptop computer might escape from you and take over the world. About the worst telepathy disaster I've come up with are the renegade tryp'At.
Next: back to 1941 for "Methuselah's Children"
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