S&S vs. SF in BotNS

Dan'l Danehy-Oakes · 22 Dec 2011, 04:29 · from 2011-December.txt.gz

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From: danldo at gmail.com (Dan'l Danehy-Oakes)
Date: Wed, 21 Dec 2011 20:29:57 -0800
Subject: (urth) S&S vs. SF in BotNS
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Jeff Wilson wrote:
> On 12/21/2011 10:58 AM, Dan'l Danehy-Oakes wrote:
>>
>> "psi" is a fancy word for magic.
>
>
> Outside the context of speculative fiction, perhaps.

More specifically, outside the hobbyhorses of John W. Campbell, who
also took up Dianetics, the Dean Drive, and the Hieronymus machine. He
was a nutbar in his later years, but still a pretty good editor.


> It was intended to mean
> a physical process that could occasionally be mistaken for the magic of myth
> and legend but could be studied objectively ?They have very different
> connotations and spiritual implications.

More to the point, it was intended to give the impression that such a
physical process was being discussed. However, no serious physical
mechanism was ever proposed (beyond unspecified "brain mutations" with
no mechanism attached to _them_).

-- 
Dan'l Danehy-Oakes

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