08/21/18 – Nonpartisan’s Disillusion



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2018-08-21-spacetrawler2c

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I definitely think that wanting to be able to read other’s thoughts is one of those “careful what you wish for” kind of things.

12 Comments

  1. War Pig

    Stanislaw Lem dealt with this in his book, “The Cyberiad”; except it was feelings instead of thoughts. The goal was to make everyone feel what others felt in their area to prevent crime. The vehicle was a potion placed in the community water supply. Instead, it destroyed society. People with chronic pain and women in labor were driven away. Sad people or the depressed were also banished. People gathered around the home of newlyweds, especially on their wedding nights. People with great feelings could charge for feeling great, and people with bad feelings could extort money to keep them away. Eventually society broke down.

      1. andreas

        Lem was certainly a genius, if a bitter one. Among other things because he was lamenting that no matter how over-the-top he would exaggerate the human condition using future sci and downright magical ploys, humanity would invariably exceed his most lurid fantasies even within his lifetime…

        E.g. a case could me made that we essentially have caught up to the scenario that war pig [ ?( ?’??’?)? ´ö` ] laid out, even in the absence of actual mind-reading techniques… (try frowning in public and watch your neighbors calculating the hit that will have on local property prices 😉

  2. Peter Rogan

    Fascinating transition. Out of the random ether into the heart (or other comparable pumping organ) of the conspiracy. Or conspiracies; that part’s not clear yet. Worthy of comparison to Lord Dunsany’s immortal opening line to “The Gibbelins”: “The Gibbelins eat, as is well known, nothing less good than man.”

  3. TB

    Sounds like she has a very impressive range. Like interstellar. That’s a bit scary.

    Heinlein’s “Time for the Stars” had the same setup: communicating between Earth and starships using telepathy between two linked people. In his book telepathy was instantaneous and not limited by light speed.

  4. FawnFawn

    You know, if you find you’ve finished Spacetrawler 2 and don’t know what story to draw next, I think it would be great to expand on this story here! There’s just so much you could do with it, and so many complications you could explore.

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