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Neophyte, v. 1, issue 1, January 1948

Page 10

brain tissue is far from inviolable and a mutational alteration of our thinking apparatus could well endow us with faculties undreamed of -- or rob us of those which we now have.

This possibility provides a fertile field for authors interested in our intellectual future, and many writers have, in the interests of prophecy and good writing, endowed our descendants variously with prescience, telepathy, and other forms of intellectual radar. Foremost is A. E. van Vogt, he having contributed also toti-potency and his supreme classic, the cranium built for two (in World of A). His concept of an extra brain without fission of the mental entity is surely the finest piece of science ficitional writing it has ever been my pleasure to read. Regrettably, lack of space prohibits a consideration of other fine ideas advanced by other able writers; we can only observe that most of those who forsee a change, incline to place it within a short time -- that is, within the next few millennia. (Atomic bombs are a hazard uncomfortably close.) But, however advanced today's ideas may be, perhaps they but lay the foundation for a concept which could reach actuality.

Fundamentally, the extent of our reasoning power has largely dependent upon the average size of the brain. Essentially then, the concept of BBD was logical -- a giant intellect would require a large apparatus to produce it. As an analogy, consider the ordinary mechanical calculator, which will perform certain functions up to a certain limit. To surpass that limit, you must build a bigger calculator; you may eventually construct a machine six stories high, requiring an input of several thousand horsepower, and with it solve problems of surprising magnitude. Suppose that you secure a patent on the dingbat and solicit business from large corporations who have problems to solve. Just as you point out the dotted line for signature, in walks a confident man with a foot-square box under his arm. And away goes your prospective business and all the profits -- because that little box contains a series of electronic widgets set up to give twice the performance of your big machine, with a power input sufficient to light up four lamp bulbs. The moral of this story is that the reasoning faculty may not be the most efficient process -- perhaps it functions the long way around.

Once, we had instinct and were satisfied -- until some gifted individual acquired reasoning powers and so dominated his fellows that his descendants became a race apart, reasoning creatures, retaining instinct merely as a helpful subordinate faculty. And on some future day an infant may be born with a mental faculty above and alien to ours. Not an extension or expansion of reasoning ability is suggested, but rather the power to subject the evidence to a subtler, swifter process of evaluation. Simplification. By constructing a fifty ton cyclotron you can split an uranium atom. That's a difficult method. But if you simply throw a number of uranium atoms together in a box, they will split themselves -- from laughing, no doubt, at we poor humans who have to do things the hard way...even our thinking.

We are told that nearly two-fifths of our brain tissue serves no apparent purpose and that it could be removed without any apparent detrimental effect -- but that is axiomatic that Nature creates no useless organs. The function of this extra tissue cannot lie in the past because, for practical purposes, it has no past. That leaves it locked up in anticipation of a future utilization, as dangerous tools are kept from babies who might hurt themselves playing with forces beyond their understanding...the idea of reserve mental powers released by various methods has appeared often, but always as an extension of present abilities.

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brain tissue is far from inviolable and a mutational alteration of our thinking apparatus could well endow us with faculties undreamed of -- or rob us of those which we now have. This possibility provides a fertile field for authors interested in our intellectual future, and many writers have, in the interests of prophecy and good writing, endowed our descendants variously with prescience, telepathy, and other forms of intellectual radar. Foremost is A. E. van Vogt, he having contributed also toti-potency and his supreme classic, the cranium built for two (in World of A). His concept of an extra brain without fission of the mental entity is surely the finest piece of science ficitional writing it has ever been my pleasure to read. Regrettably, lack of space prohibits a consideration of other fine ideas advanced by other able writers; we can only observe that most of those who forsee a change, incline to place it within a short time -- that is, within the next few millennia. (Atomic bombs are a hazard uncomfortably close.) But, however advanced today's ideas may be, perhaps they but lay the foundation for a concept which could reach actuality. Fundamentally, the extent of our reasoning power has largely dependent upon the average size of the brain. Essentially then, the concept of BBD was logical -- a giant intellect would require a large apparatus to produce it. As an analogy, consider the ordinary mechanical calculator, which will perform certain functions up to a certain limit. To surpass that limit, you must build a bigger calculator; you may eventually construct a machine six stories high, requiring an input of several thousand horsepower, and with it solve problems of surprising magnitude. Suppose that you secure a patent on the dingbat and solicit business from large corporations who have problems to solve. Just as you point out the dotted line for signature, in walks a confident man with a foot-square box under his arm. And away goes your prospective business and all the profits -- because that little box contains a series of electronic widgets set up to give twice the performance of your big machine, with a power input sufficient to light up four lamp bulbs. The moral of this story is that the reasoning faculty may not be the most efficient process -- perhaps it functions the long way around. Once, we had instinct and were satisfied -- until some gifted individual acquired reasoning powers and so dominated his fellows that his descendants became a race apart, reasoning creatures, retaining instinct merely as a helpful subordinate faculty. And on some future day an infant may be born with a mental faculty above and alien to ours. Not an extension or expansion of reasoning ability is suggested, but rather the power to subject the evidence to a subtler, swifter process of evaluation. Simplification. By constructing a fifty ton cyclotron you can split an uranium atom. That's a difficult method. But if you simply throw a number of uranium atoms together in a box, they will split themselves -- from laughing, no doubt, at we poor humans who have to do things the hard way...even our thinking. We are told that nearly two-fifths of our brain tissue serves no apparent purpose and that it could be removed without any apparent detrimental effect -- but that is axiomatic that Nature creates no useless organs. The function of this extra tissue cannot lie in the past because, for practical purposes, it has no past. That leaves it locked up in anticipation of a future utilization, as dangerous tools are kept from babies who might hurt themselves playing with forces beyond their understanding...the idea of reserve mental powers released by various methods has appeared often, but always as an extension of present abilities.